6. Search Engine Optimization

This chapter discusses how an organization can get its website, blog, or other social media pages higher on the (natural or organic) results page of search engines. This topic is highly relevant as Internet users are more likely to visit search results that are at the top of a results page. In order to decide which web pages appear higher on a results page, search engines typically evaluate which web pages are more relevant after applying an indexation mechanism. Such an indexation mechanism will rank web pages by means of so-called spiders. In response, web page owners can try to obtain higher ranks in search engines by applying search engine optimization (SEO) for internal improvements (e.g., on-page or on-site) and external improvements (e.g., link related). Alternatively, the importance of user experience optimization is increasing. This chapter offers the reader some tips and tricks to apply SEO and to evaluate which websites, blogs, or social media pages are more SEO friendly than others are.