Search engine optimization, also called SEO, refers to the method of improving visibility of a website in a search engine, often using different methods of manipulating a search engine's algorithm so that the search engine directs searchers that use certain keywords to their website. This article can help you understand the concept of search engine optimization and apply it to your purposes.

For search engine optimization, the first thing you should do is register with Google and other search engines (such as Yahoo! and Bing). You can visit a special site, fill out a very short form with your website address and you'll likely be "crawled," in other words added, by that search engine faster.

There are limits to what a webmaster should do to optimize search engine indexing. Some strategies for SEO can be pushed too far, resulting in spam-like, content-free web pages. Not only are these kinds of pages not appreciated by visitors, search engines will discount them in results rankings and can even drop a website, entirely, if it appears to use unethical SEO tactics.

Use alt tags for images and span element titles to your advantage. Search engines look at a site's code, not what is actually visible to a user, so if your keyword is "cat" and there is a picture of a calico cat on your site, using an alt tag of "a calico cat" for the image will expose the search engine to your keyword even if the user never sees it. The title of a span element works in the same way.

When marketing a product online, make sure your site is as useable and accessible as possible. If your website has problems with the code or can't be viewed by certain browsers, you will lose visitors and therefore sales. Very few people will go to the trouble of switching browsers just to use your site.

Don't use generic words in your key words list, like "computers" and "books". This will generate too many results and will most likely, not show your site at the top. Instead, using more specific words and phrases like "buy cheap computers online," can be less competitive and be more effective for your site.

As revealed earlier in the article, search engine optimization is simply a calculated method of directing people that are searching for a keyword on a search engine, so that they end up with your website showing up as one of the top results found. By understanding and applying the information here, you can maximize the traffic and visibility of your website.