This article was downloaded by: [University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill] On: 25 January 2010 Access details: Access Details: [subscription number 713585447] Publisher Taylor & Francis Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37- 41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences, Third Edition Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t917508581

Search Engine Optimization Nicholas Carroll a a Hastings Research, Inc., Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.A.

Online publication date: 09 December 2009

To cite this Article Carroll, Nicholas(2009) 'Search Engine Optimization', Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences, Third Edition, 1: 1, 4613 — 4629

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf

This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden.

The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. Search Engine Optimization

Nicholas Carroll Hastings Research, Inc., Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.A.

Abstract Search engine optimization (SEO) is the craft of elevating Web sites or individual Web site pages to higher rankings on search engines through programming, marketing, or content acumen. This section covers the origins of SEO, strategies and tactics, history and trends, and the evolution of user behavior in online searching.

INTRODUCTION We conclude with a description of SEO regulation, mostly in the form of search engines policing their list- Search engine optimization (SEO) is the craft of elevating ings, and an overview of typical behavior patterns of Web sites or individual Web site pages to higher rankings search engine users. on World Wide Web (WWW) search engines through All the methods described have been or continue to be programming, marketing, or content acumen. The defini- effective SEO to some degree. Changes in search engine tion often includes specifications for increased traffic to a indexing protocols as well as their methods for displaying given Web site, improved quality of traffic, increased search results mean that no strict description of the best profits, or brand awareness. method or methods can remain entirely accurate indefi- In a typical online search on a topic, anywhere from nitely. This entry does not cover pay-per-click, other hundreds to millions of articles may be extracted and forms of online advertising, or the resale of Web site ranked by probability of relevance on a search engine traffic or links. results page (SERP). From the earliest appearance of Because the discipline originated in the mid-1990s, Web search engines, creators of Web sites realized that terminology is still in flux. General references at the end ranking high was vital for visits to their Web sites, since of this entry point to the more authoritative Web sites and users seldom look on even second or third screens of definitions. rankings, let alone the hundredth screen. The numbers of Web sites on the Web increased so rapidly from the be- ginning that the competition for the most desirable top DEFINITION OF HIGHER RANKINGS positions developed rapidly. In this entry, we move through several key aspects of “Higher rankings” in the popular press or lay discussion SEO. First, we define “rankings,” and review the origins generally equates with the goal of having a Web page and history of SEO. Then we discuss what is known as appear in the first 10 or 20 search records for a particular Senegal Science– “Black Hat” and “White Hat” SEO, as the competition for search term, as it is broadly established by tracking that rankings can lead to distortions and misleading rankings, few search engine users will click through to any link Downloaded By: [University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill] At: 06:13 25 January 2010 depending on what techniques are used. beyond the 20th record. SEO professionals usually discuss The heart of the entry concerns SEO methods. We rankings in terms of SERP position (Fig. 1). review keyword selection and then attend to various Before search engines accepted paid advertisements, aspects of the content of the Web pages, such as keyword SEO was considered a unique form of promotion, radi- density, placement, and consistency. We then go on to the cally different from all traditional forms of advertising. technical aspects and review techniques such as keyword It is now more often considered a subset of search stuffing, meta tags, and cloaking, as well as strategies for engine marketing (SEM), and is sometimes referred to as boosting page rank through links from and to other Web “organic search” or “natural SEM,” as opposed to paid sites, with brief discussion of combined strategies and the advertisements placed on the pages of search engines or analytic methods applied to track results. their affiliates. The entry expands into more general issues such as Online commerce was the originating force behind broad vs. narrow targeting, page longevity and rank, geo- search engine promotion and remains the primary driving graphic targeting, and increasing competition. Trends in force behind SEO. Nonprofits and government bodies SEO practices are described from early to present time, as apply some SEO methods but tend to rely on their unique are external trends affecting SEO. identity to assure them a prominent SERP position,

Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences, Third Edition DOI: 10.1081/E-ELIS3-120043453 Copyright # 2010 by Taylor & Francis. All rights reserved. 4613 4614 Search Engine Optimization

Fig. 1 Typical SERP in search for chocolate, showing the first four results.

e.g., the Red Cross, Amnesty International, the Vatican, The early days of search engines were in some ways a the New York Department of Motor Vehicles, or the struggle against pornography. Visitors who started using Peoria Public Library. search engines after 2000 have little conception of how pervasive the online sex industry was at one time, with their records appearing among search results for cooking, art, quilting, travel, and other innocuous subjects. ORIGINS AND HISTORY OF SEO As search engines have grown and become more so- phisticated, and the number of Web sites has increased The term “search engine optimization” came into popular more than tenfold, aggressive maneuvering to rank well in use in 1997–1998 and is frequently attributed to Danny the SERPs has to some extent given way to a focus on Sullivan,[1] then operating “Search Engine Watch,” ranking well in particular niches, and executing well on though Sullivan states he is uncertain who coined it. Pre- fundamentals rather than exercising brilliance in manipu- vious terms included “search engine placement,” “search lating search engines.[4] Science– Senegal engine ranking,” “search engine positioning,” and “search engine promotion,” the latter attributed to Jim Rhodes,[2] author of “The Art of Search Engine Promotion.” Prede- cessors such as Heath[3] in his 1995 article “Pointers on PRACTITIONERS AND SOFTWARE how to create business Web sites that work” did not have Downloaded By: [University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill] At: 06:13 25 January 2010 a formal name for SEO. Early Search Engine Promoters and Reporters The period from the mid-1990s to about 2000 was characterized by broad experimentation on the part of Early SEO innovation was an individualistic endeavor, both search engines seeking a business model and Web primarily developed by small-to-midsize businesses rang- site creators intent on promoting themselves. Search ing from small hotels to makers of custom sports equip- engines were relatively under-powered and minimally ment. Several such niche and popular products were staffed; their primary focus was on keeping pace with the financially successful, demonstrating that SEO was a path growth in new Web sites. SEO quickly became part of the to profit. American “wild, wild Web” metaphor, with more active Web sites with forums for exchange of SEO strategies Web site owners engaging in a huge variety of methods to began to appear by 1996, including still-existing Web gain higher rankings, as described in “SEO Methods.” In sites such as http://virtualpromote.com, http://www. a period when many multinational organizations did not searchengineforums.com, and the archived http://www. have Web sites at all, smaller and more nimble organiza- deadlock.com/promote. tions and individuals aggressively practiced SEO to estab- Web sites reporting on search engines and optimiza- lish a beachhead on the WWW. tion began about the same time, including http://www. Search Engine Optimization 4615

wilsonweb.com, http://www.searchenginewatch.com, and significant indications of entrepreneurial SEO, including http://www.webmasterworld.com. More recent additions blogs on the subject.[8] include http://www.seobook.com/blog, http://www.search engineland.com, and http://www.toprankblog.com/search- marketing-blogs. BLACK HAT VS. WHITE HAT SEO

The Current SEO Industry “White Hat” SEO typically refers to strategies and tactics that are in concordance with the policies of online search Whether offered as a subset of SEM services or sold alone engines, in a loose tacit agreement to provide Web surfers as organic search, SEO has become a niche industry with with “relevant content.” “Black Hat” SEO describes tac- its own sales forces and conventions. The service may be tics that ignore generally accepted conventions of ethical sold as a one-time audit or on an ongoing basis with WWW behavior to advance an agenda or commercial monthly billing and performance reporting. interest. The focus on search engine policies before other Pure SEO consulting firms now number in the thousands, interests flows from the pervasive position of search primarily concentrated in North America and the United engines, at the mid-point in the process of aggregating Kingdom. Tens of thousands more Web designers and Web page data and delivering it to users. The tilted point developers offer the service as ancillary to building Web of view is buttressed by the oligopoly of major search sites, and an unknown number of Webmasters and Web site engines, with a small number of them processing the vast owners apply SEO methods to their own Web sites. majority of searches, while millions of Web sites vie for Gross expenditures on SEO in 2006 were estimated at high rankings. over USD one billion, with steady annual growth antici- Technically sophisticated tactics are often equated pated. This figure describes organic search and does not with Black Hat SEO, and a focus on high-quality content include paid advertising or most in-house work in smaller with White Hat SEO. However, there is substantial over- companies.[5] lap; few if any tactics can be inherently classified as good or evil. From the perspective of a user, the main criteria of legitimate SEO is whether a given search return is rele- SEO Software (Automating the Process) vant to their interests, regardless of how it achieved its ranking. Most experienced SEO practitioners consider in- Automated Web page submission tools came into being in tent to be the defining factor. the mid-1990s soon after search engines began indexing Typically, methods considered Black Hat SEO develop the WWW. For some years, they were a vital part of SEO high page rankings faster, while those known as White strategy for large Web sites, as manually entering Hat SEO tend to create longer-lasting rankings. A prefer- thousands of URLs into the submission pages of a dozen ence for one approach or the other is not entirely a matter search engines was extremely time-consuming. Submission of the SEO practitioner’s personal preferences; it also tools fell into disuse as search engines became more adept depends on the business model. Web sites or pages pro- at “deep crawling” (following links into the lower levels of moting products and services with short life cycles are Web sites’ file hierarchies). The ones currently in use typi- suited to Black Hat methods, as they do not suffer from cally offer additional features such as help in choosing being “burned,” meaning they have drawn the attention keywords and automated reporting on SERP positions. of search engine administrators and been banned from that Senegal Science– Web analytics tools move beyond automated reporting search engine’s index entirely. (This has also happened to to features such as tracking visitors’ paths through Web [6] sites of long-view organizations such as auto manufacturers Downloaded By: [University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill] At: 06:13 25 January 2010 sites, and integrating the data with financials. when SEO subcontractors acted with an excess of zeal.) Most content management systems, originally focused White Hat SEO is better suited to Web sites that offer on intranets, now include management features for Web products with long life cycles. It is also suited to aca- sites, and many are programmed to allow a significant [7] demic or government Web sites, where there is likely to modification of variables important to SEO. Likewise be a consistent focus over decades—such Web sites often most blogging software includes features that encourage gain high and enduring SERP rankings simply by publish- users to add keywords to the title tags, the Web page ing high-quality content about a particular subject. body, and the filename of a given Web page.

SEO Worldwide SEO METHODS

While search engines are now used worldwide, most SEO In describing SEO it is necessary to distinguish between reporting is about the United States, Canada, and the automated search engines and manually created directories United Kingdom. Activity in other countries must be in- such as Yahoo! Directory (http://dir.yahoo.com) or the ferred. Australia, Ireland, and Russia in particular have Open Directory Project (ODP) (http://www.dmoz.org), 4616 Search Engine Optimization

where listings are added by human editors rather than almost all Web browsers by selecting the “View > Source” automated protocols. or “View > Page Source” option.)[9] SEO describes strategies and tactics for influencing page rank on search engines that use “robots” (http:// www.robotstxt.org/wc/faq.html) or “spiders” to “crawl” Web pages, traveling from page to page through hyper- cols. While directories such as the original Yahoo! ODP pages can frequently be found in SERPs, it is the engines and directories.

ELIS—Encyclopedia of Library and Information Elements of a Web Page to Be Optimized Sciences

Hypertext Markup Lan- pedia cover” /> guage) is referred to throughout this entry. The markup language and page structure used are explained in Table 1

Body content written for SEO is rich in keywords below the example. (Web page structure can be viewed in and also readable. Proper nouns such as “encyclopedia”

Table 1 Tags and text in a simple Web page

Tags and text in a simple Web page, as seen through an HTML editing tool Explanation of HTML tags and structure

Flag to user’s browser: Begin parsing for HyperText Markup Language Begin the head content (which is not visible in a browser) ranking. While not shown in the body text in a Web browser, it can be seen in the title bar at the top, and is shown as the title of the Web page in almost all search engine listings orient the text towards readers rather than search engines End of the Head section Begin the text visible in a browser

ELIS: Encyclopedia of Library and Headings tags, from H1 down to H6, are the equivalent of chapter and section headings in Information Sciences

books, and are usually considered influential in SEO

Downloaded By: [University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill] At: 06:13 25 January 2010 to store a brief description, typically keywords

Body content written for SEO is The paragraph tag is the fundamental “container” for body content rich in keywords...[etc.]”

Resources

The second-level heading tag may have influence on SERP position, as well as significance for metadata and document readability

See the encyclopedia description for further information on ELIS.

Keywords: encyclopaedia, taylor, This is an unsightly but often necessary addition to the body content, displaying related francis, marcia, bates, mary, niles, keywords in the body text, where the search engines will read and index them. This maack, mack, optimise

practice evolved when search engines stopped indexing meta keywords End of the body element Flag to user’s browser: end of HTML file

Further information on HTML is available at http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/Guide/. Search Engine Optimization 4617

are used instead of pronouns. Initializations such as medium—“ABC” is not only an initialization for the “SEO” are spelled out as “search engine optimization,” American Broadcasting Company, but hundreds or both to include alternate search terms and to increase key- thousands of other organizations throughout nations word density in the Web page. To target both sophisticated that use the Roman alphabet. and lay searchers, common terms such as “acronym” are used in addition to precise terms such as “initialization.” This leads to a fundamental truth about the limits of Concepts are described by all likely variants, such as SEO as a promotional avenue: it can only succeed if “SERP,” “search engine position,” or “ranking.”

people are searching for relevant keywords. If an idea or product is beyond the public’s conception, it cannot be

Further Encyclopedia Resources

promoted through search engines—in contrast to promo-

See the encyclopedia description for TV, or print. This usually makes SEO a poor method for further information on ELIS.

promoting radically new ideas. For example, “anti-gravity

Keywords: encyclopaedia, taylor, belts” is a search only used by 10-year-old boys. francis, marcia, bates, mary, niles, maack, mack, When possible, experienced SEO practitioners perform optimise

keyword analysis before a Web site is built, expanded, or redesigned, using paid or free online tools such as http:// www.keyworddiscovery.com, http://www.wordtracker.com, http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/ Choosing Keywords to Target—The Core of SEO or https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal to view aggregated searches conducted on search engines.

Regardless of preferred methods, White Hat or Black Hat, Content content or technical, the most critical part of effective SEO is deciding which keywords to target for high rank- At its simplest, the content-focused approach to SEO is to ings. While search engines continually work to improve tell the story thoroughly and precisely, in hopes that the their ranking algorithms, they are not clairvoyant; target- words (content) will find a fit with search engine indexing ing the right keywords is still the foundation of reaching [10] algorithms, and rise in the rankings for particular search the right audience. terms. The presumption in this strategy is that the writer’s A self-centric viewpoint will usually lead an organiza- words will also find harmony with the terms used by tion to aim at high rankings for its own name, services, searchers, and if the writer does have the same interests— agendas, or products. For example, the Raffles Hotel or and frame of reference—as the target audience, this by the band U2 might focus on targeting searches for their itselfcanresultinhighlysuccessfulSEO.(Conversely, own name, in a reasonable belief that most potential cus- Web pages written in ignorance of either subject matter or tomers are specifically seeking them, rather than hotels in audience may achieve high SERP positions, but not neces- Singapore or rock music in general. sarily for the keywords that draw the desired audience.)[11] While this may be a successful strategy for broadly A highly content-oriented strategy is often seen in Web known organizations or people, it is considered poor- sites that were conceived and designed by an individual or quality SEO when an unknown product, service, or agenda small group. Content-oriented Web sites or sub-sites may is being advanced. Products and agendas without name Senegal also come into being in an organization with no SEO Science– recognition are better served by targeting a generic search strategy at all, such as a department of a university, where term such as “stainless steel ball bearings” than a term like the authors are discussing the same or related subjects. Downloaded By: [University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill] At: 06:13 25 January 2010 “Smith Ball Bearing Company.” A multinational company such as General Electric or Hitachi—that manufactures a Density huge variety of products—might likewise target searches for the products rather than its own company name. Keyword density receives attention because it is easy Regardless of whether the focus is on the organization to understand and simple to calculate through online or the products, SEO can fail when names are chosen density-checkers such as http://www.keyworddensity. without forethought to online search, particularly when com. (Such tools are easily found through search engines they compete with long-established names. Two examples: with the term “keyword density analyzer.”) Though the effectiveness of intentionally repeating key- Any product named “Guardian” must compete in the words throughout a Web page is debated by SEO practi- SERPs with dozens of well-established newspapers tioners, a search for highly promoted products such as throughout the English-speaking world. “loans,” “chocolate,” or “discount shoes” will return nu- Organizations using initializations that might be merous high-ranking Web pages with the core keyword unique in a local telephone directory frequently face repeated dozens of times, and keyword densities reaching obscurity when competing for recognition in a global up to 7% or higher of the page’s content. (However, 4618 Search Engine Optimization

exceptionally high-density pages can suddenly plummet in of that field led virtually all search engines to stop indexing the SERPs or be dropped from the index entirely if search meta keywords. As a result, SEO practitioners reluctantly engines classify them as examples of “keyword spam- turned to placing them as a visible footer on the Web page, ming,” described in the Technical strategies section below.) though this compromises the esthetics of page design. Some Conversely, using a set of keywords only once in a examples of keyword (or “tags”) line listings: Web page usually results in SERP obscurity, even if the Synonyms, cognates, and closely related terms for a set is extremely precise. For example, even “dodo bird medical page about trigeminal neuralgia, formerly called nesting” returns tens of thousands of Web pages, and of tic douloureux: the first few dozen search engine records, almost all will “Keywords: tic douloureux, neuropathy, facial pain, have the three keywords used several times. face pain.” Many SEO practitioners and analysts favor well-written Tangential terms (statistical outliers) for a site on veg- content over keyword density, as search engines become etarian diet: better at differentiating between conventional prose and “Keywords: low sodium, low fat, organic.” deliberately enhanced Web pages. This school of thought Variants on the author’s name for a Web page written says that content should be primarily aimed at humans, not by Jon Smythe: search engines, and that good writing not only entices users “Keywords: John, Smith, Smyth.” to read and act, but is better search engine bait in the first Common misspellings for a travel Web site about place. The belief is often expressed as “Content is king.” Colombia: “Keywords: accommodation, Columbia.” Placement (However, when a keyword tag is used to repeat words already in the body content, it simply becomes “keyword The placement of keywords in a Web page is a significant stuffing”—see “Keyword Loading” below.) factor in SEO, since search engine algorithms accord more weight to certain positions, whether visible or within tags Consistency (see Table 1). Notable areas for placement include: Building a Web site with a consistent pattern of clearly Visible in Web page related keywords is commonly known as creating a Inside heading tags “theme.”[13] A Web site with a clear theme stays on a single Placed at the beginning (top) of a Web page. topic or closely related topics throughout its pages (barring Within outbound links, i.e., “anchor text” (example in such standard pages as “Contact Us”). This strategy builds Table 1). the overall ranking of the Web site and, as a consequence, Placed NEAR other keywords (generally within 10 words). the SERP positions of the individual Web pages. Visible in SERPs and browser title bar The concept “clearly related” restricts thematic rank- Inside the HTML