So what has SEO become today you ask?

For starters, the search engines have gone from returning irrelevant and spammy  results to completely personalized and relevant searches via a new ranking system.

Google began its Page Rank system in order to classify Web sites based on their relevance and popularity.  Basically, any site can have the same content as another so the only thing that would differentiate the two is the quality of other sites voting for the one you want to see.  The higher the quality of "votes" one site gets the higher it will come up in search results.

This new ranking system uses about 200 different variables that help determine a Web site?s strength within the web, therefore determining how high it will come up in search engines.  The higher the site comes up for certain keywords, the more money the Web site can generate for its owner.

These algorithms are not disclosed to the public, however, professional SEO companies will utilize proven techniques to help move companies to the top of the search rankings.

Just a few years ago Google released its Personalized Search Results.  Searches returned to each user were based on that same user?s previous searches performed.  If you are logged into Google via Gmail or any other of their products you should be aware that all of your searches will be tracked and customized.

While this may seem creepy to some, it allows companies to track a lot of pertinent information about each user that visits their site.  This kind of quantifiable user behavior reporting allows companies to know exactly where each one of their marketing/advertising dollars is going.

No longer will you have to worry where any of your marketing budget is going. 

Next week we will touch on the future of SEO and how you can expect the information your being served to revolutionize the modern world!