Search Engine Optimization or SEO as it is abbreviated, is not a passing fad; it is here to stay. The basic definition of Search Engine Optimization is ‘a technique through which content of a website is designed, manipulated and improved such that the unpaid traffic is increased, thereby increasing the website’s visibility and popularity among users’. By unpaid traffic, we mean those users who search for particular thing and are directed to the most relevant website by the search engine. It does not mean those users who click on a link (although they have none but idle interest or curiosity in it) because it proffers some attractive prize or intriguing fact – this is paid traffic because the owner of the website pays for such advertisements to be cast in popular virtual space like news or auction websites.

Search Engine Optimization has several algorithm based techniques for increasing the visibility of a website. Search Engine Optimization consultants recommend that a website built on a particular topic should contain near to exhaustive information about that topic so that it provides all the details on that subject that a potential visitor would look for. Since it is not possible to load all the details on the homepage, it is recommended that the website is designed in such a way as to provide details stage by stage through hyperlinks and back links. This means each page needs to have relevant content to what is trying to get across to the visitor. This makes it easy for a visitor using the website to sift through information and get to what he or she is looking for. This is a highly valuable Search Engine Optimization technique because search engines find this type of structure to be most suitable for indexing. And the better a search engine perceives a website to be, the better the chance of the site getting a good page rank while being indexed.

Search Engine Optimization is particularly important for e-Commerce sites such as e-retailers because their profits and success depend on the number of hits (visitors) the website gets, the number of such hits that actually get converted into sales and the number of satisfied customers among them who would come back to make a repeat purchase or recommend the site to their friends and family. For this to be possible, e-retailers realize that Search Engine Optimization has to be backed by other support strategies such as viral marketing. Viral Marketing is responsible for the promotional messages and advertisements we get on our e-mail as well as show up on our Facebook pages. It is very important to define a overall internet marketing strategy when working with a website as it is the lifeline to your success.