Search engines are the prime information source for millions of Internet users worldwide. Having a web site positioned highly in search engine results is vitally important to the success of any site, regardless of its content.

A web site that has been optimized for the best search engine positioning possible can see a dramatic increase in traffic from these sources. Increased traffic usually translates into increased ad revenue or direct sales, making a web site far more valuable and profitable.

The primary method for ensuring high search engine positioning for any web site is to have that site reviewed for prime search engine optimization. A specialist in the techniques of search engine optimization (SEO) can help to ensure a web site has the highest placement in search engine results under that site's target keywords or phrases.

A web site's target keywords or phrases are what the average search engine user would type into the search engine to find the information or products that is located on the site. For example, if a person is using a search engine to look for cat food with organic ingredients, they might search for 'organic cat food' or 'natural cat food'. A web site featuring these products would want to be ranked highly on these keywords or phrases in search engine results, especially major engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo.

Competition for the prime search engine results listings are highly competitive. Landing a place in the first page of listings for a desired search keyword or phrase can mean a seriously increased amount of traffic for that web site. Most Internet users do not go beyond the first page or two of search results when looking for information. If a web site is buried 10 pages deep in search engine results for their target keywords, it is unlikely to be found by the majority of searchers.

Even small changes to a web site can sometimes dramatically increase the site's search engine positioning. One easy way to increase a web site's rankings and thus it's visibility in search results is to seed the site with keyword rich content. For example, the cat food site could add pages of content about the health values of organic cat food to help increase the site's search engine results ranking.

Placing links to a web site on other related web sites, especially those with high search engine results rankings, can also help to boost a site's visibility in searches. This technique of increasing the number of inbound links to a web site is called 'backlinking'. Having a large number of inbound links to a site from other highly ranked web sites can mean huge growth in a web site's traffic and rankings in search engine results. It is important to know, however, that 'spam' linking can actually be detrimental to a web site's ranking in the search engines. Links back to a web site should be real, well-ranked sites with related content. An example of good backlinking for an organic cat food site would be incoming links from content rich sites on pet health and wellness.

Hiring a search engine optimization specialist is often the easiest way to ensure a site is optimized to achieve the highest ranking possible in the major search engine results for that site's target market keywords. An SEO expert can review a web site to make sure it is being indexed properly by all the major search engines. They will also work to optimize coding and content to rank highly under the right marketing keywords and phrases for that site's content or products.