Overview

It is estimated approximately 85% of Internet users access information directly via the means of a search engine query. Whether this estimate is accurate, or not, it is undeniable that search engines represent a significant factor in how information is accessed on the Internet no matter what the exact percentage happens to be.

Beyond recognising their significance and paying homage to their influence by designing websites and the pages contained within the site to standard specifications in the normal course of development - a procedure if performed correctly is generally adequate optimisation for the majority of websites - the question constantly arises is there any intrinsic value for a business allocating significant resources in search engine optimisation techniques to improve their ranking?

An affirmative answer is invariably more likely to be correct than not because a substantial volume of web pages are published on the Internet absent of any of the rudimentary optimisation compliant code. There are numerous reasons why this occurs although the most predominate reason can be attributed to laziness by the web page author. Optimising a web page is a thankless, time consuming and tiresome task and most people generally have more important things to do with their time.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO's) experts who derive an income by optimising websites avow there is more to optimising a website than simply making sure all the web pages have compliant optimisation code present. They assert there is a raft of optimisation techniques and strategies to deploy that will make a website more visible to the search engines. This will reflect in higher page rankings in the search results for a specific keyword or phrase.

There is absolutely nothing wrong in the theory or even the practice of optimising a website. A relative proportion of a significant Internet budget allocated to search engine optimisation is generally a very prudent allocation of resources for a business intent on dominating in their particular industry and field of expertise. However, this is highly conditional on the particular circumstances of the business and the industry in which it competes. The budgets need to be sizable with the financial rewards

It is therefore understandable why there is a preoccupation amongst investors in Internet technology to read any and all information that faintly resembles being insightful and offers the potential of an even better understanding of how they function and operate.