Hello everyone. I'm writing on a paper about SEO-techniques (a task for school). I've chosen Search engine optimization because i'm very interested in it. I still have a big question that is left unanswered. As you all know, SEO is based on a vast number of strategies and techniques. (title tags, keywords, backlinks,...) But I'm wondering, where do al these techniques come from? Is it just by trial and error? Is SEO all about making a guess as how a search engine ranks it results? Is there one person or company who discovered these techniques? Is it the search engine who gives that information (I didn't think so, didn't they keep their alogoritms secret?) Any help or comments would be very helpful and appreciated! Thanks in advance.
That's an everlasting discussion since SEO exists. My opinion (as a search engine optimizer); It's not a sience nor pure guessing. It's a technique - and it's for sure not pure guesswork as my daily work shows. I've set up new sites using my technique and achieved # 1 rankings within weeks, with not more than a few inbound links to enable the site's crawling and no PR for the new site, using "pure" on page optimization for terms with decent competition (between 500.000 and 3.000.000 pages listed on google.com). On the other hand, if you go with link building there is no place for guesswork at all - you just need enough quality inbound links to reach the top. Try a search for - click here - (Competition 1,310,000,000) and you will find the eternal # 1 (adobe) there, while those words are not found anywhere on the page.
If you are writing for your school task and based on your interested, then below material in the link will give you loads of 100% CORRECT INFORMATION and I guess you can also add it your references at the end of book or document http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35291 http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35769 Thanks, Enjoy !
its not guessing and not pure science either. its a method based on some established principles and guidelines. rest is just hard work
I think that SEO falls under that science and art category. There are definite scientific techniques that can be used, we all know the basics, Backlinks, Keywords, Description, Good quality posts. But even with a simple formula you can get nowhere with SEO. That is where the Art comes in. There is a little massaging that goes on with your keywords, backlinks, and how Google sees your site. Quite honestly that is the part that I struggle with.
does those search engine come out a list of guide line, or theory for those SEO that we mention? because I having the same thinking with golasso here, I wonder does all the technique we done, recognize by those search engine?
Part science if you take the time to read things like The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine and lots of Google's patents at the USPTO web site... Part art as in the art of writing or at least critiquing other's writing... A lot of observing... A lot of reading between the lines... A lot of educated guessing... A lot of by testing with live sites... A LOT of praying that you didn't trip a penalty filter at Google... And then repeating and rinsing all of the above over and over ad infinitim.
I have been field-testing SEO techniques for three years now, and it has been my consistent experience that SEO is actually remarkably reliable. If the industry is not very competitive, SEO works like a charm, and quickly. If the industry is competitive, it will take more work and time, but results will come sooner or later - usually with a big jump after months of stasis. Just to clarify - by "SEO" I mean both on-page optimization and off-page inbound links.
From personal experience, what works for one site, does not always work for another site. The search engines are moving towards a very different type of analysis for ranking content. This is evident in the Microsoft BrowseRank discussions, and the Universal Search Indicators that are impacting how well content ranks. Having an understanding of how users interact with sites, content and services offered will come more from observing trends in the marketplace, reading, experimenting and at times, making the best damn guess. Sure there are "techniques" that work ... the basics of SEO, but to reach and remain at the top its much more heuristic than the basics.
great great great Thanks for your answers, they were all very helpful. I'll mention a special thanks to the digital point community in my paper.
Hi, In my opinion, SEO is not a science or not a guessing. It is a best of the best technique to improve your site rank on search engines. Some of the techniques which are used in SEO and they are as follows: 1.Domain & File Names 2.Keyword Phrases 3.Keyword Density 4.Bad Techniques 5.Title & Meta Description Tag 6.Meta Keywords Tag 7.Author & Robots Tags 8.Quality Content 9.Quantity Content 10.Changing Content 11.Avoid Dynamic URLs 12.Frames 13.Site Map 14.Site Themes 15.Site Design 16.Separate Content & Presentation 17.Robots.txt File As well as following these techniques some more working is to be done like article submission,bookmarking, blogging and many more.
for me, SEO is pure science, cause I think search engine bot can't guess, they just count using some secret algorithms. for us, human, some time just guessing cause we don't have that exact algorithms and exact parameter in the exact time that bot server counting. Human vs machine. But human can do experiment to manipulate machine. just for reference: http://www.google.com/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf alexjo