SEO or "search engine optimization", the process of increasing the number of visitors to a Web site by a high ranking of a search engine. The higher a Web site ranks in the results of a search, the greater the chance that that site will be visited by a internet user. It is common practice for Internet users to not click through pages and pages of search results, so where a site ranks in a search is essential for directing more traffic toward the site.

SEO helps to ensure that a site is accessible to a search engine and improves the chances that the site will be found by the search engine.

The web pages ISC builds are designed to capture unique visitors via search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN. Pages are built around specific keywords, which target your website's specific industry. Pages are then loaded onto the client's server, submitted to the search engines, eventually (this can take up to 8 /10 weeks) get spidered and indexed by the search engine, and receive traffic ample amounts of traffic, which convert into customers.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of making internal changes to a web site's architecture in order to help the site get recognized and ranked more favorably by search engines (such as Google, Yahoo, and Altavista). Specifically, you might adjust your meta tags, page names, or content to accomplish this. This is a free approach to search engine marketing.

The goal of SEO is to achieve high positioning on the results pages of search engines for relevant searches. A successfully optimized site might be listed within the first few results for searches done on the site's company name, brand name, and related keywords and phrases. As such, SEO deals with the free aspect of search engine marketing, and therefore differs from pay-for-placement.

One of the challenges that makes SEO difficult for webmasters is the existence of multiple search methodologies amongst engines. In other words Yahoo's results may be retrieved by a difference process than HotBot. Some search engines have human-powered directories, others have bot-based crawlers to do the work, and yet others are hybrid that mix the two methods. You can read more about "How Search Engines Work" here at Search Engine Watch (www.searchenginewatch.com). Knowing how different engines search your site will greatly influence how you will optimize your site.

Furthermore, one search engines might rank your page based on different criteria than another engine. Typically, search engines look for the following in determining rank:

1. Location/frequency - Search engines check to see if keywords appear at the top of a page and how often they appear on the page. They may look in your meta tags or in the content of your site, or both. Beware that repeating a keyword hundreds of time may disqualify your page from a search engine's results. They may have logic in place to detect this search engine "spamming".
2. Off-the-page - Search engines may also look for external cues or references to determine how popular your page is. This might include how many sites link to you, or how many times your site has been clicked on from a search results page. This way, it prevents too much gaming of the system, while also theoretically providing the best information source to the user.

Now that you know the basics of how results get listed and what search engines are looking for, the next step is to make sure your site is optimized for top search engine results. Focus your efforts on these items:

1. Keywords & meta tags - Choosing your keywords carefully is essential to search engine placement. Maybe you know what your site is about and can describe it in detail, but more importantly you need to know what keywords people will use to search. Pick specific phrases such as "low airfare" or "football scores", as opposed to "airfare" or "football".
2. Placement of keywords - As mentioned earlier, search engines look for keywords placed towards the top of a page. This doubly applies to the page title. Make sure you put keywords in the title tag of each page. Also, be aware that javascript located at the top of the page may work against you, pushing content further down the page.
3. Relevant content - Try not to be overly brief with your text. Since engines look for text and keywords, sufficiently describe what your page is about within the visible content to the reader.
4. Link to deeper pages - HTML links to deeper pages from your homepage will allow search engines to index your site more effectively, as well as find more relevant content about your site on those deeper pages. Be sure to have these links for engines and users, whether as a main menu or at the bottom of your page.
5. Submitting most relevant pages manually - Take the time to submit individual pages manually, but don't overdo it. Submit the ones with the most relevant content or the most optimized with keywords.
6. Resubmit - When you change your site, re-submit your page. This ensures that your site as a search result displays relevant information.