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Is search engine optimization important?

Google and other search engines have repeatedly been accused of supporting piracy and phishing, promoting spamming and other offenses in the field of the Internet. The reason for such claims was SEO - search engine optimization. SEO has long been recognized as an integral part of the Internet ecosystem, but overshadowed by the actions of fraudsters who use search engine optimization for their own purposes. To combat cybercrime, Google had to change the search engine's algorithm so that SEO techniques did not work. But despite the best efforts of Google, many site owners continue to successfully use SEO.


What is SEO?

In order to understand why SEO remains effective, you need to know what search engine optimization is.
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Optimizing a site means doing everything to ensure that the site is highly appreciated by the search engine. But the search engine is only a program code, the evaluation criteria of which are very different from human ones.

Initially, Google used an incredibly simple algorithm. His robots collected all the links posted on the Internet. The more links to the site were posted, the higher was its rating. The implication was that by the number of links you can judge the popularity of the site and the value of the information posted on it.

Later versions of the algorithm include keyword filters. Now the search engines are trying to determine the theme of the site based on what keywords are most often found on this site.

Of course, defining the topic of the text and how deeply this topic is revealed is a very difficult task for the program. All algorithms are very rude and inaccurate. Therefore, search engine optimization has appeared - the use of the features of the search engine algorithm to improve the position of the site in the results of search engine output at the request of users. Those. ceteris paribus, an optimized website search engine will rank higher than a non-optimized one. There is nothing wrong with that - as mentioned above, search engines algorithms are very clumsy, and the authors of the websites, using SEO methods, simply help the search engine to understand what this site is about and what information is placed on it.

But why does Google seek to destroy SEO?

Black hackers

Hackers - like sorcerers, are white and black.

White hackers do good deeds, for example, looking for and correcting errors in site protection systems, preventing attacks by cybercriminals. They use hacking methods to test the strength of the site and, if necessary, to improve the protection system. Few people know that the hacker community is mostly engaged in creative activities, for example, it is looking for and finding new ways to use outdated equipment and software.

Black hackers, on the contrary, do evil. They steal valuable information, hack sites to get to where they are not allowed access. They also write and send viruses, organize DDOS attacks and in general can turn the work on the Internet into a real hell.

SEO is used by both white and black hackers. The purpose of black hackers is to artificially bring websites containing spam, phishing, viruses or other malicious content to the top search engines. To do this, they did not shun (and still use) such means as forum spam and the creation of a variety of blogs to post links to their sites. If you want spam to be invisible, write “invisible text” in a font whose color matches the background color.

In such ways, hackers created the illusion of popularity of the site, and the search engine, seeing a lot of links to the malicious site, brought it to the top positions in the search results based on user requests.

Of course, Google was not satisfied with this state of affairs, and the company began to look for methods to counter hackers, creating algorithms that take into account the possible use of optimization. But the more Google seeks to eradicate “black” SEO, the more affected are those who use ethical optimization methods, such as using keywords in a text with a certain frequency and exchanging back links with other resources.
As a result, a number of large resources, which have links throughout the Internet, were downgraded or excluded from the search results, and many sites with excellent, professionally written texts appeared on the margins of the network due to the fact that the search engine began to regard them as spam

In some places, the abbreviation "SEO" is already used as a curse word. We have already encountered such a phenomenon. Did you know before reading this article that there are ethical hackers? Many people do not even know about it.

Do you need optimization?

After all the hits that SEO has received, it may seem to some that optimization is no longer necessary. After all, Google has improved its search engine so that it can fairly objectively evaluate the site solely on the basis of its content, i.e. In order for your site to get to the top positions of search results, as a rule, it is enough just to write good texts of a certain subject.

However, SEO is still valid. Optimized sites have a higher rating than non-optimized ones. And all because the search engine is just a program with a strictly defined algorithm, from which it cannot back down without the intervention of the human mind.

Many SEO methods no longer work. Exchange backlinks does not give such results as before. The same can be said about the indexing of hidden values ​​(Latent semantic indexing, LSI), frequent use of keywords, rewrite texts from other resources and some other methods. But the essence of SEO is not in any particular techniques, but to write sites so that they like the search engine, and this essence remains the same no matter how Google changes its algorithms.

What SEO Techniques Should I Use?

Above, we wrote that many optimization techniques no longer work or do not work as effectively. And although the role of specific techniques in the promotion of sites has decreased markedly, there are simple and effective techniques that should be in the arsenal of every SEO specialist.

Excellent results are provided by such well-known techniques as the use of keywords in the headings and the creation of alternative text for images. Google still considers the headline more meaningful than the text itself. Therefore, it is a good idea to remove from the site or minimize flash elements or, at least, not to use text that is important for a search engine.

Meta tags are very important. Even if the search robot is configured to ignore tags with keywords, the page information specified in the meta tags is very valuable for the search engine.

But the best optimization is obtained when it becomes not a technique, but an art. To master this art is possible only through practice, and there are already quite a few people who are engaged in SEO professionally and earn their living from it.

Thus, search engine optimization continues to play an important role in website promotion. It did not lose its power, but evolved from a set of crude techniques to creative activity, the purpose of which is to help Internet users in finding the information they need.

Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/149938/


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