Search engine optimization is a term used when a website owner is trying to improve search in rankings to drive traffic to their website. Making changes, often small will get you better placement in results for specific keywords. These changes are often in meta tag data, content writing and overall design of a website.

Many website owners often look to an outside company to provide this type of specific optimization on their website, while results with different companies can vary; the ultimate goal is to get more traffic to the website. Many webmaster do not understand this part of the design process and often search for ways to increase traffic, this article will explain the basics of using the proper keywords and phrases that will help you understand what search engine optimization is about.

The reason that most website owners do not get the traffic that they feel they deserve is because the keywords and phrases are not correct. Choosing the wrong keywords to use for a website will hurt your chances of getting top listing. Most times a simple modification of the keyword used will increase your results, and bring in twice as many users. The key to this is understanding how keywords and phrases play a factor in determining the relevancy of a website with search engine results.

Using an example, we can see how it becomes an important factor in optimizing your website for the correct keywords. A website that sells cards often thinks that "cards", "greeting cards" or other general terms are the way to get traffic. This is not the correct way to approach it. You must use keywords and phrases that are more specific to your products.

Using terms such as "holiday greeting cards" or "personal greeting cards" are a better alternative. Once your rankings and traffic improve you can begin to use more general terms, but you must be an "authority site" on the topic before general terms will be effective.