Amidst all the terms and acronyms in the web design, hosting and web business world is SEO. SEO is search engine optimization. Simple enough, right? Well, actually SEO is an ever-changing and rather complex process, and one that should be thought of as an ongoing task with each website you own or manage.

While there are many aspects to search engine optimization, keeping up to date on the newest is critical for the best search results page rankings. While SEO integrates content, keywords, site design and back linking, one new and very critical component to good search engine rankings is unique, high quality content. Meta tags, keywords and phrases and more also play into modern SEO and web marketing strategies.

Search engines today are looking for more than keywords. Engine algorithms, including Google's are being reworked to look for unique, new and quality content. Fortunately, new, unique, well-written good quality content appeals not only to search engine spiders, but also to your site visitors. If you have the keywords, anchor text, and back links in place, but your rankings still are not what you would like, think about making certain that you are keeping your content new and unique.

While you may be familiar with keywords, for instance search engine optimization for an article such as this one, the concept of key phrases may be new. Key phrases are short phrases that are likely to be typed into a search bar together. When planning and working on your site content, include likely key words and key phrases for your topic to increase the likelihood that your site will come up on a given relevant search.

Meta tags are just one part of the answer to the what is SEO question; however, they are an important one. Today, your page title and actual content are more important for results page rankings and SEO than Meta tags. Visitors to your site cannot see Meta Tags, however search engine spiders can see them. Meta tags are located in the "HEAD" section of an HTML document, and may include the author's name and email, copyright information, and most importantly, a description and also keywords.

When working to answer questions about what is SEO, keep all elements of proper white hat optimization in mind. Take the time to regularly read up on the latest SEO news, and think of optimization as an ongoing process not a one-time site revamp.

BlueWaterArticles.com: - What Is Search Engine Optimization ie SEO

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Article written by S Dawkins of Web Development for Webmaster Articles. Learn more SEO techniques from a constantly updated site. Visit us at http://www.webmasterranks.com