Most people have never heard of the term SEO, or search engine optimization. Unless they are in business, they probably don’t have a clue as to how SEO affects them every day. In reality, SEO affects everyone who has ever searched for something on the internet. The order of websites that pop up for an internet search aren’t random. In fact, they are decided by complex algorithms uniquely decided by each search engine (i.e. Google, Bing, Yahoo).
When a user types “best cellphones 2018” into their web browser, also known as a keyword search, they are shown the results that hopefully most apply to that search. The search engines decide the order in which the sites are listed based on relevancy factors, so users only see results related to their search. SEO maximizes the chances of websites to snag one of those top spots by telling the search engine why they deserve to be there. Since most people don’t move past the first page of search results when using Google, Bing or Yahoo, those top spots become critical for a business’ online visibility. Given that there are only ten spots on the first page of any search result, the competition for those limited spots is fierce.