Search engine optimization (SEO) isn’t quite what everyone thinks it is. Yes, it’s an Internet marketing tactic meant to increase a site’s online visibility by increasing its search engine rankings, but it’s so much more than that nowadays. SEO is about creating the best website possible to give users the best quality experience possible. It’s about pleasing the end users, and pleasing the search engine–not “cheating” its algorithms.

To please the search engine, your SEO has to clue them in to what your website is all about. After all, the engines want to deliver their users the best, most relevant content and websites they can find. Relevancy is determined by looking at a number of factors, including: content, performance, authority, and user experience. Content is the most obvious thing it’ll look at, as the content contains all the keywords and phrases. Search engines also want sites that perform well (I.E. work properly), that are being linked to by other authoritative sites, and that are easily navigable, safe and have a high bounce rate.

The old ways of SEO are long gone, and if anything, outdated SEO tactics will only penalize a site’s ranking. Search engines aren’t looking for keyword stuffing, purchased links, and poor user experiences.

Another SEO tactic that’s growing in popularity is Responsive Web Design. Users are accessing the Internet through mobile devices more and more each day. However, some sites aren’t optimized for these smartphones, tablets, and other devices. This results in a poorer user experience. The problem is that there’s such a diverse range of mobile devices, it’s nearly impossible to build a platform catering to each type. Instead, web designers are now using Responsive Web Design, which is an approach at accommodating every kind of device used to access the Internet in one seamless platform.

SEO’s big picture is all about building the best possible website–not cheating the system. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments.