Search engine optimisation is one of those industries that works behind the scenes. The kind of business that the vast majority of people have no idea exists, but that effects their lives on a daily basis.

Whilst nearly everyone will have used Google at some point - billions of searches are made each day by millions of unique users at some point - very few people will have any idea about exactly how the search engine gives them relevant results. If they do, then they might actually have some idea about just what search engine optimisation is and how it works.

Still, even these people would probably be shocked at the size of the industry and the passion of the little community that has sprung up around it. Known internally as SEO, it's a complicated little world of technical intricacy and constant debate that the average outsider will find slightly incomprehensible.

If you're still wondering what search engine optimisation is, prepare for the info-dump. SEO is all about improving the volume or quality of we traffic for a web page - whether it's an ecommerce site, a blog or an online gallery - through one specific source: search engines. Whilst it's an internet marketing strategy, it's not commonly thought of as "search engine marketing.'' This is because SEO stands separate to buying advertisements in search engines; ultimately, it's about making a site appear higher in search rankings.

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