An_Overview_of_Search_Engine_Optimization
An_Overview_of_Search_Engine_Optimization
Abstract. The present era of digitalization has resulted in and manage the records properly. We have approximately
enormous amount of data lying on the web which demands in 1.8 billion websites registered and the figure became double
quick and easy access to the relevant information. Search in the year 2016 where it hiked from 900 million to 1.7
engines are the powerful platforms that process users’ query billion [2]. However, this process is prevailing but search
sent in the form keyword or a phrase to locate a particular engines are indexing more and more websites and struggling
information stored in their huge databases. But the extensive to guarantee their own market share. It is obvious that
range of sites make it a tedious and endless job to extract the aspects such as the highest ranking and on top of the search
most significant information. Progressively search engines results page have become the need of the hour for any
started adopting certain criteria such as quality of the content
website. Since search engines are responsible to handle 93%
or keyword analysis to rank a website in the organic results.
Since branding is the pillar to business success, companies and
of the data on the web, it becomes very crucial to improve
professionals are competing to make their website superior the efficiency of the search results [3]. Just going online does
from each other’s. This led developers to seek out and analyze not assure a website’s presence in the search results. The
the search engines and it’s working to rank their websites on main motive of any website is to reach the maximum users
the top. Gradually it was known that Search Engine anywhere at any point of time. Thus, the modern fact is that
Optimization (SEO) is the mechanism that determines these we need to adapt new practices, so it is possible to
factors and affects the ranking and visibility of a web page on characterize optimization for search engines as natural
search results. This paper aims to review the literature of process of our job. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the
previous studies and research to help readers gain an insight method of advancing the ranking of web pages by handling
and retrieve necessary information about SEO and its incoming links and website characteristics for unique search
practices. A part of the paper also refers to the general quality words [4]. Search Engine Optimization is the process of
of a website in perspective of SEO. To aid developers and site growing the quality and quantity of the traffic to a website or
owners, we complied list of best SEO techniques that can webpage by increasing the number of visitors to it through
leverage organizations for improved brand development. search results [5][6]. It provides faster and easier access to a
relevant website by appearing it on the top of the search
Keywords. Search Engine, Search Engine Optimization, result page (SERP). Extraction of exact and relevant data is
White Hat SEO, Black Hat SEO, Website Quality, On-Page
the foremost expectation from a search engine and Search
Optimization, Off-Page Optimization
Engine Optimization techniques helps in meeting this
I. INTRODUCTION requirement. There are many paradigms defined by SEO
through which the quality of a web page can be improved.
With the revolutionized world of technology, the Any effort to measure the quality of a website calls for a
software keeps getting faster and more efficient. In this quality model, indirectly or explicitly. In this study we are
progressive era where everything is growing with leaps and trying to classify different types of Search Engine
bounds, search engines are also becoming quicker and more Optimization Techniques and their strategies required to
competent every day. Search engines are the best source for attract maximum traffic on a webpage. To aid better
communicating and finding an information over the internet understanding of search engine optimization it is important
in short span of time. It is a repository of trillions of web to study search engine and its working because it’s a reverse
pages that are indexed to fulfil a user’s search requirement. reasoning process [7].
The history of search engines is as old as when web was
introduced. The very first search engine was Archie, II. SEARCH ENGINES
designed in 1990s to search the File Transfer Protocol files
Search engines are the problem solving programs that
[FTP] followed by Veronica, a text-based search engine [1].
take input as user’s query in form of a word or phrase. It
Now a days, we have countless number of search engines out
goes through its vast database of URLs and returns the best
of which Google, Yahoo and Microsoft Bing are the best
matching sequence of webpages. Below tables distinguish
well-known applications. The data over the web is
search engines based on its working and ways of information
multiplying exponentially which makes it difficult to access
gathering respectively [8][9]:
TABLE I. TYPES OF SEARCH ENGINES BASED ON ITS WORKING
Crawler Based Search Engines Google, Yahoo, Baidu, Yandex and Bing are known as crawler based as they perform the five basic functions
required in a typical search engine that is crawling, indexing, ordering, processing and retrieving results.
Human powered directories Also referred as open directory system, they rely on human-driven activities such as the website owner adds a
description to the site, which in turn is reviewed manually and accepted or rejected based on its relevance.
Hybrid Search Engines They utilize strategies of both crawler based as well as human powered directories. For instance, Google essentially
use crawlers as primary tool and manual indexing as secondary tool.
With increase in number of websites, searching for o Search Results: The search results are
information online is a pervasive and critically significant broadly classified into two categories:
practice. In the digital world, search engines hold a dominant
place. Search engine marketing quest for advanced strategies o Organic Results: Also termed as natural
of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in order to bring more result or unpaid result that appear due to
and more traffic to a website. their relevance or validity to the searched
term. They are totally the results of SEO
x Working of Search Engines efforts or in other words we can say SEO
techniques are applied here.
Search engines have become an integral part of our lives.
The internet is flooded with countless websites, which makes o Paid Results: These are the results of
it impossible for us to remember their URLs, thus whenever Search Engine Marketing (SEM) efforts.
a user wants to search for an information he/she enters a They are paid advertisements that usually
keyword or phrase related to their requirement on the search appear on top or right of the web page.
engines like Yahoo or Google. These search engines enlist
Though search engine displays both organic and paid
the results in the form of hyperlinks that lands us to their
result on the same page but at different positions. Search
respective websites. SEO techniques helps in bringing the
engine optimization techniques affects the ranking or
most relevant and useful website on the top of a search
visibility of natural results on a web page. Below image
result. Before discussing Search engine optimization
displays the workflow of a search engine used to process a
techniques it is important to bring some light on the working
user’s search query:
of a search engine that involves number of steps, crawling,
indexing, processing, ordering & retrieving the results [10]. III. BACKGROUND
o Crawling: Also known as bot or spider, it Year 1990 has revolutionized the field of technology
is a program that downloads the web pages since the world received its very first search engine. Initially
available on the Internet. The it started with a prototype “Archie” which indexed the web
spider/crawler discover the content that is pages and enabled users to download them through File
to be added into the search and store it in Transfer Protocol (FTP) [12]. Later in 1993 GNA (Global
its original form in the search engine’s/ Network Navigator) was introduced which was the first
document database. directory of websites introduced by O’Reilly & Associates
[13]. In 1994, search engines like Yahoo and WebCrawler
o Indexing: Indexing is the process of
were invented followed by Altavista in 1995 and Google in
adding crawled web pages to a database
1998 [11] which is the most successful among all the search
called as search index. It can be considered
engines. Research states that out of all the snippets on search
as a digital library consisting of trillions of
result page, 70% of the users do not even scroll to the next
webpages. Indexes generate representation
page instead they find it more convenient to change the
for web pages using their URLs, a single
search phrase and around 60% click only on first three
word or a phrase. It also deposits of the
records known as golden triangle [14]. To aid websites
incoming as well as the outgoing links in
appear in this golden triangle or at least on the first page
the web page.
results, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) was introduced.
o Processing: Search engines process the SEO is the assortment of factors that supports the forward
data by removing the irrelevant web pages listing of websites [15]. Now a days SEO has become
(providing no information on search), integral part of our lives.
stop-word and Stemming. It is done using
some specified algorithms such as Panda, IV. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
Hummingbird and Pigeon [11]. Search results may include image, text, video, news
o Ordering: World Wide Web is a database related search, academic related search or industry related.
of trillions web pages so search engines Search Engine Optimization (SEO) considers internet
have to sort them in order to display them marketing strategy and provides the most appropriate results
according to their relevance. It is also to the users in more faster and easier way [16]. SEO builds
called as calculating the relevancy of the right strategies and powerful techniques to enhance the
web pages. The resultant web pages are traffic to a website by providing it top ranking in the lists of
ordered according to a significant criteria. search results. There are number of paradigms responsible
for the optimization of search engines.
2
Authorized licensed use limited to: University of Hyderabad IG Memorial Library. Downloaded on February 08,2025 at 07:40:45 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
x SEO Approaches Google webmaster has defined certain guidelines that helps
SEO professionals to differentiate between good and bad
A site owner can design a website using some positive or approaches while developing a website. These approaches
negative approaches in order to rank the site on the top. are [17]:
TABLE III. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHITE HAT SEO AND BLACK HAT SEO
Definition Also known as authentic or ethical SEO. It strictly follows It follows illegitimate strategies by breaking
Google’s guidelines and policies to construct a website. Google’s rule to rank a website at highest.
Orientation It is oriented to human audiences as its main aim is to Its main focus is to fool the search engines by
target the requirement of the users. It includes quality including irrelevant back links and spam content.
content that can fulfill the search demand of people. So it is more oriented towards search engines
than human audiences.
Time Consumption It expects long-term investment in their websites and takes Those who are expecting a fast return on their
a lot of time to rank a website on top. website usually use it.
Risk There is no risk associated with White Hat SEO techniques There is a high risk of being caught and a
as it is used to enhance the search performance along with website might end to ban or delisted at any time.
maintaining the integrity of the website.
Reliability Though it is slow and steady but it is reliable and long- Due to its illegal practices websites can get
lasting. banned anytime.
Techniques Techniques that are used in White Hat SEO are quality Few techniques of Black Hat SEO are Keyword
content, keywords, keyword analysis, link building etc. stuffing, link farming, hidden texts and links.
3
Authorized licensed use limited to: University of Hyderabad IG Memorial Library. Downloaded on February 08,2025 at 07:40:45 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
estimate the quality attributes in some quantitative way. proper navigation and elements like a good title,
With regard to quality, it is important to differentiate bold headings, links and strong keywords.
between the type of quality to which we wish to refer or
from the perspective of a given standard. In case of software x Web Page Size: The size of a web page is one of the
applications, initially we used to confirm it from the crucial optimizing factors. It is defined as the
viewpoint adopted by the ISO / IEC 9126 standard but now number of files contained in a web page including
it has been replaced by new quality standard ISO/IEC 20510 HTML file as well as graphic and embedded objects.
[21]. A software quality model defines the essential criteria It is recommended that an ideal web page should not
to determine the quality of a product during its development, exceed more than150 KB as this size’s web page can
implementation as well as maintenance. The main purpose of easily be stored in search engine’s database and
a website is to reach maximum people and rank on top of the users can download them fast.
search results. There are plethora of criteria defined by SEO x Page Load Time: The loading time is inversely
that helps in bringing more and more traffic towards it. proportional to the website ranking. More the
OresteSignore states that SEO has a collection of techniques loading time lesser is its position in search results.
that helps in improving the presence and visibility of a Search engines consider this factor in their page
website on search engine result page (SERP). It has ranking algorithms. Excessive use of graphics leads
primarily five attributes including correctness, presentation, to increase in load time. Hence, developers should
content, navigation and interaction that decides the quality of balance a website with respect to its load time.
a website [22]. Though there are many models that define
the attributes of a quality web site but overall a good search B. Title
engine looks for the following attributes into a website [23] x Page Title: It is the sole representative of a website.
x Usability A title should be strong enough to deliver the exact
meaning of the product or service explained in the
x High ranking and rich content of a website website.
x Accessibility – How fast a page loads x Title Length: Title of a web page should not exceed
70 words as suggested by Google. Site developers
x Readable and Comprehensible – Engaging should focus on keeping the strong and effective
multimedia like pictures and videos keywords in the title to increase the weightage of the
x Exhaustive and Pertinent title. Readers should get an insight of the internal
content on just reading the title.
x Updated when necessary and opportune
C. Keyword
x Security x Keyword Location: Location of the keyword decides
x Number and quality of backlinks the website ranking. Crawler traces if the keyword is
present in title, URL, meta tag, anchor text or alt
Evidently, the above mentioned quality attributes text.
structures a foundation for SEO to define its methods more
precisely and clearly. x Keyword Density: Site owners need to select a set of
keywords related to the business of their website.
x Types of SEO Search engines utilize these keywords to classify the
The extensive growth of websites over the past decade website into a specific category. The selection of the
has led to increased competition among webmasters to bring keyword is limited by a factor known as Keyword
their websites on the top of search results. On the other side, density which is termed as percentage of Keyword
it becomes difficult for users also to reach the most efficient proportionate to the total number of words on web
information on the web. For instance if a user wants to page. The recommended percentage of Keyword
search for educational institutions in a city then thousands of density ranges between 2% to 8%.
results will be enlisted in the search engine. It becomes a x Keyword in URL: More the targeted keywords in a
tedious task for the user to sift through each record and URL greater are the chances of a website to be
locate the most relevant information. Hence to benefit both traced and rank high in the search results. The URL
the site owners as well the users, SEO adapts certain should be short and comprehensive to receive
techniques that can help enhance the search results. maximum traffic.
Developers can take into account these criteria to bring their
website on the top of the search results. These techniques can x Keyword in Meta Tag: Website owners attach a short
be majorly divided into two categories description of the website known as Meta Tag. In the
[11][24][25][26][27][28]: list of search results, it appears just below the link of
a website. The use of powerful keywords in this
On-Page Optimization: As the name suggests it is short summary enhance the search results. Search
directly related to all the elements on a web page. They are engines also get an idea of which keywords should
directly under the control of developers. It is most significant be indexed for searching this particular website.
and widely used SEO technique.
x Keyword in Alt Text: Alt text is a short overview of
A. Web Page pictures or videos placed in a web page. Search
x Web Page Structure: To ensure a web page is SEO- engine needs to properly index all the objects of a
friendly, it should be structured and well organized. web page so a brief transcript of images and videos
A web page is always dominant to others with
4
Authorized licensed use limited to: University of Hyderabad IG Memorial Library. Downloaded on February 08,2025 at 07:40:45 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
with appropriate keywords is essential for search improve the website visibility. Optimizing websites is a
engine optimization. sequential process which starts from the layout of the
websites and includes all characteristics like title, tags, links,
x Keyword in Anchor Text: Refers to the text graphics etc. The performance of search results is not only
appearing as hyperlink in a website and links to limited to the physical attributes of a website but it is also
another document. Webmasters must use keywords enhance by back-end processes like branding and advertising
in the anchor text to increase the page ranking. on social networks. SEO is a never ending process because
D. URL webmasters need to continuously keep them updated with its
techniques as well the content of the website to enhance the
x URL Length: Search engines prefer the websites web page ranking.
with short and clear URL. It is easier for crawlers to
trace a website with targeted URL. Fast evolving and maturing technology will enforce SEO
techniques to progress accordingly. We have mentioned
E. Links many factors affecting the visibility of a website in search
x Outgoing Links: A webpage containing more engines. Though a lot research have been going on in the
number of unique outgoing links that refers to other field of optimizing search engines but it is still vague to
websites often ranks higher in search results. They measure the impact of optimizing factors on search results.
determine the structure and architecture of a web In future we can build a robust model to calculate the impact
page. of SEO factors on search engine ranking.
Off-Page Optimization: It covers the tactics that are not REFERENCES
directly related to the website. The pillar behind off-page
[1] Sharma D, Shukla R, Kumar Giri A, Kumar S, “A Brief Review On
techniques are link building which means the links pointing Search Engine Optimization”,9th International Conference on Cloud
to your own website from other web pages. They are called Computing, Data Science & Engineering (Confluence), 2019
as back links. We can consider it as citation i.e. how many [2] Total number of Websites - Internet Live Stats, available at
websites refer to our website. Search engines prefer websites https://www.internetlivestats.com/total-number-of-websites
with more number of back links as they ensure the [3] Lemos, J. Y., & Joshi, “Search engine optimization to enhance user
qualitative content and credibility of a website. interaction”, International Conference on I-SMAC (IoT in Social,
Mobile, Analytics and Cloud) (I-SMAC). doi:10.1109/i-smac.2017
F. Links [4] Malaga, R. A. “Search engine optimization – Black and white hat
x Link Popularity: It depicts the popularity of a approaches. Advances in Computers”, 78(1), 1-39, 2010
website by calculating the number of number of web [5] Enge, Eric, et al. "The art of SEO: Mastering search engine
optimization." 3rd ed., O’ Reilly Media 2015
pages linking to it. Web Impact factor (WIF)
[6] Rahu, Ghulam Ali, et al. "Extending Off-Page Search Engine
developed by Ingwersen estimates the importance of Optimization (SEO) techniques based on Google SEO techniques
Link popularity by evaluating the influence of Web model." Science International 2016
area through number of incoming links. [7] Hui Z, Shigang Qin, Jinhua L, Jianli C, “Study on Website Search
Engine Optimization”, International Conference on Computer
x Link Reputation: Back links should have quality Science and Service System, 2012
content and keywords similar to the search terms. [8] “What are Different Types of Search Engines”, available at
https://www.webnots.com/what-are-different-types-of-search-
x Social Network: Placing links on social networking engines/
sites like Facebook, twitter, Instagram enhances the
[9] Cui M, Hu S, “Search Engine Optimization Research for Website
traffic on your website. Promotion”, International Conference of Information Technology,
Computer Engineering and Management Sciences, 2011
x Groups: One can join forums like Reddit and post
[10] Khanna S, Vivekanand O "Concept of Search Engine Optimization in
links of their website. This not only increases the Web Search Engine", in International Journal of Advanced
traffic to our website but builds a good reputation Engineering Research and Studies IJAERS/Vol. I, Issue I, Oct-Dec,
across web. p. 235- 237, 2011
[11] Mittal, M. K., Kirar, N., &Meena, J. “Implementation of Search
V. CONCLUSION & FUTURE SCOPE Engine Optimization : Through White Hat Techniques” International
Conference on Advances in Computing, Communication Control and
Rapidly growing scope of digitalization is driving Networking (ICACCCN), 2018
professionals to adopt advanced SEO techniques for strategic [12] “Archie (Search Engine)” available at
marketing and sales. From the above research it can be https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archie_(search_engine).
concluded that SEO has gained a huge popularity and [13] "Global Network Navigator" available electronically at
significance in our daily lives. Our study has concluded that http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gl obal_Network_Navigator
deep knowledge of SEO is not only important for business [14] N. Gudivada V, Rao D, Paris J, “Understanding Search Engine
success but it also establishes a trust with its targeted users. Optimization”, Published by The IEEE Computing Society, October
The survey of our research found that implementing tools 2015
and techniques of SEO ensures sustainable growth and high [15] Tsuei, H., Tsai, W., Pan, F. et al. “Improving search engine
traffic for a website. optimization (SEO) by using hybrid modified MCDM models”,
Artificial Intelligence Rev 53, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10462-
Websites adhering to SEO guidelines confirms authentic 018-9644-0, 2020
and qualitative content resulting in building trustworthiness [16] Londhe S, Deshmokh H, “Review Paper on Search Engine
and originality. It encourages webmaster to avoid unethical Optimization”, International Journal of Engineering Science and
Computing, Volume 7, Issue No.4, April 2017
practices like spamming and damaged backlinks. For
[17] Matt H, Gupta R, Agarwal S, “Search Engine Optimization in Digital
improved and long-lasting success it is important to follow Marketing: Present Scenario and future Scope”, International
White Hat SEO methods. A due diligence of both, on-page
as well off-page optimization techniques is required to
5
Authorized licensed use limited to: University of Hyderabad IG Memorial Library. Downloaded on February 08,2025 at 07:40:45 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
Conference on Intelligent Engineering and Management (ICIEM),
2020
[18] Rampton, John, DeMers J, “The 2014 Beginner’s Guide to SEO,
Search Engine Journal, Alpha Brand Media, 2014
[19] Giomelakis D, Veglis A, “Investigating Search Engine Optimization
Factors in Media Website”, Digital Journalism, 4:3, 379-400, DOI:
10.1080/21670811.2015.1046992, 2016
[20] Zimmer, Michael, “The Externalities of Search 2.0: The Emerging
Privacy Threats when the Drive for the Perfect Search Engine meets
Web 2.0.” First Monday 13(3), 2008
[21] Dehraj P, Sharma A, Grover P.S, “Incorporating Autonomicity and
Trustworthiness Aspects for Assessing Software Quality”,
International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 7(1.1), 421-425,
2018
[22] Oreste S, “A Comprehensive Model for Web Sites Quality”,
Proceedings of WSE2005 – 7th IEEE International Symposium on
Web Site Evolution - Budapest, Hungary - ISBN 0-7695-2470-2, p.
30-36, September 26, 2005
[23] Offutt J, ”Quality Attributes of Web Software Applications”, IEEE
Software, https://doi.org/10.1109/52.991329, March 2002
[24] Patil Swati P.1, Pawar B.V.2 and Patil Ajay S., “Search Engine
Optimization: A Study”, Research Journal of Computer and
Information Technology Sciences, Vol.1(1), 10-13, February 2013
[25] Ziakis C, ValchopoulouM et. al, “Important Factors of Improving
Google Search Rank”, Future Internet, 11, 32;
doi:10.3390/fi11020032, 2019
[26] Wang F, Li Y, Zhang Y, “An Empirical Study on the Search Engine
Optimization Technique and Its Outcomes”, 2nd International
Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Management Science and
Electronic Commerce (AIMSEC),
doi:10.1109/AIMSEC.2011.6011361, August 2011
[27] Patil Swati P.1, Pawar B.V.2 and Patil Ajay S., “Search Engine
Optimization: A Study”, Research Journal of Computer and
Information Technology Sciences, Vol.1(1), 10-13, February 2013
[28] Sharma S, Verma S, “Optimizing Website effectiveness using various
SEO Techniques”, 7th International Conference on Signal Processing
and Integral Networks (SPIN), 2020
6
Authorized licensed use limited to: University of Hyderabad IG Memorial Library. Downloaded on February 08,2025 at 07:40:45 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.