My introduction to search engine optimization

Part 1 of Michelle's Diaries

(December 2002) Pandia has asked a newcomer to the search engine promotion industry give her view of the ins and outs of optimization and marketing.

By Pandia Guest Writer Michelle Stoltz

Confession time; when I first met an SEO, I was too embarrassed to ask exactly his job description entailed. Yet when I was offered the chance to learn Web development and ultra-secretive Search Engine Optimization (SEO) I didn't wait around.

In my first month, I've managed to find out why it's such a difficult industry to define. Talk about a job description which surely isn't that common. No Grandma, I work with search engine spiders, not in a pet shop...

So here I am in my first month, getting familiar with everything that involves Search Engine Optimization. There are so many things to consider when optimizing a Website.

I was under the impression that search engine optimization involved some seriously strenuous hard coding (visions of Java programming), but instead it involves a combination of things that are all interrelated; how to make the Website easier to navigate around for a potential user, while at the same time being visually appealing with good, growing content and still be spider friendly. I know that I have just skimmed the surface as a SEO newbie, but I certainly feel less confused.

I have visited a few forums (notably Webmaster World and Spider Food) and not feeling quite up to scratch to argue with someone over their search engine optimization ‘theories'.

I have come to the conclusion that there are no set ways or rules that you have to adhere to when optimizing a Website. I think this is part of the reason that search engine optimization has remained such an elusive term.

Different SEO's have traveled different paths and gained their own unique specialty. No one can claim that they are the definitive authority on SEO. If they are, it's certainly a question of for how long? A constantly shifting set of algorithms, partnerships and alliances, keep us all on our toes.

At any given time the requirements for a top ten rank can change and everything that the optimization was based on could be blown out of the water, and it's back to square one! Take for example, the recent change by Yahoo! to favor Google results (with a slight tweak) over their previous US $ 299 directory listing for their own search.

In my short time of learning and gaining search engine optimization skills, I have come to realize that I will have to be on my feet all the time, always improving on what I have learnt and looking for new 'unexplored' gaps in this forever changing industry. One cannot afford to be too complacent.

This is a challenging industry – it's measured by top ten results (show me a client who doesn't want those). That's right – I will be visiting those forums, asking questions and experimenting on sites. Ok so my eyes burn after checking so many SERPS (search engine results pages) but I'm bitten.

Right now I'm scanning through reams of information – preferred keywords versus unusual potential niche or gaps, tweaking pages, submitting them, waiting patiently. If you're looking at venturing into SEO as a career or are also on a steep learning curve, watch out for future articles as I learn and ask those questions we're all too often scared to ask.

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