Recent Trends in IT Unit – III
CVM UNIVERSITY
SEMCOM
Vallabh Vidyanagar
Faculty Name: Ami D. Trivedi
Class: TYBCA (SEM-VI)
Subject: Recent Trends in IT
Unit 3: Search Engine Optimization
● Internet Basics
● Internet Marketing
● Search Engines Basics
● Search Engine Algorithm - Vector Space Model
● Using Search Engine
● Search Engine Optimization
*INTERNET BASICS
What is World Wide Web?
World Wide Web, which is also known as a Web, is a collection of websites or web
pages stored in web servers and connected to local computers through the internet.
These websites contain text pages, digital images, audios, videos, etc. Users can
access the content of these sites from any part of the world over the internet using their
devices such as computers, laptops, cell phones, etc.
The WWW, along with internet, enables the retrieval and display of text and media to
the device.
The building blocks of the Web are web pages which are formatted in HTML and
connected by links called "hypertext" or hyperlinks and accessed by HTTP. These links
are electronic connections that link related pieces of information so that users can
access the desired information quickly.
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Hypertext offers the advantage to select a word or phrase from text and thus to access
other pages that provide additional information related to that word or phrase.
A web page is given an online address called a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).
A particular collection of web pages that belong to a specific URL is called a website,
e.g., [Link], [Link], etc. So, the World Wide Web is like a huge
electronic book whose pages are stored on multiple servers across the world.
Small websites store all of their WebPages on a single server, but big websites or
organizations place their WebPages on different servers in different countries so that
when users of a country search their site they could get the information quickly from the
nearest server.
So, the web provides a communication platform for users to retrieve and exchange
information over the internet.
Unlike a book, where we move from one page to another in a sequence, on World Wide
Web we follow a web of hypertext links to visit a web page and from that web page to
move to other web pages. You need a browser, which is installed on the computer, to
access the Web.
How the World Wide Web Works?
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The servers store and transfer web pages or information to user's computers on the
network when requested by the users.
A web server is a software program, which serves the web pages requested by web
users using a browser.
The computer of a user who requests documents from a server is known as a client.
Browser, which is installed on the user' computer, allows users to view the retrieved
documents.
All the websites are stored in web servers. A website occupies a space in a server and
remains stored in it. The server hosts the website whenever a user requests its
Webpages, and the website owner has to pay the hosting price for the same.
There are three main technologies involved in transferring information (web pages) from
servers to clients (computers of users). These technologies include Hypertext Markup
Language (HTML), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and Web browsers.
What is a Website?
A website is the collection of web pages, which are interlinked together and are hosted
from a single domain.
A website is accessible via URL (Uniform Resource Locator), which organizes multiple
web pages into a series that helps users to navigate through them. Mostly all websites
have some important web pages like About us, Contact us, Home page, etc.
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Types of Websites
● Static Websites
Static websites are the ones that have web pages with fixed content. The content
remains the same throughout until any changes are made to it.
These websites have simple plain text, or some may also have rich media content.
Whenever a user visits any static website, the same content is seen, irrespective of the
time of visit.
● Dynamic Websites
A dynamic website shows a variety of content, each time a user visits the website.
These websites are updated automatically, depending on a set of parameters like
templates, content, scripts, etc.
So, every time a user visits a website, the content is renewed. These websites are
created with the help of various software and languages like PHP, Python, JSP, etc.
● Interactive Websites
Websites that communicate and interact with users, using them, are known as
interactive websites. These websites are rich with appealing graphics and engaging
content which helps retains the users.
Users can post their comments or leave feedback on these websites. Interactive
websites are a great way to connect with your users, and most businesses prefer these
types of websites.
They not only help you gauge user’s attention but also, are really helpful in boosting
sales. The cost of developing these websites differs from that of static and dynamic
ones.
What is a web portal?
Web portals are user-centric, and each user has its own password that can be used to
access these portals.
These portals have dynamic content, i.e. the content changes every time a user visits
these portals. There are many web development companies that develop web portals
based on your requirements.
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Types of Web Portals
● Horizontal Web Portals
Also known as, Horizontal Enterprise Portals, these are the general portals that can be
used as a common platform by several companies, to provide all kinds of information,
which a user may require while looking for their services.
Some of the common examples of horizontal web portals are government portals,
educational portals, corporate portals, cultural portals, etc.
● Vertical Web Portals
Also known as Vertical Enterprise portals or vortals. These are the user-centric portals
that provide information related specific company, interest, or services.
A user looking for information about any specific topic or about a particular company
can find these types of portals helpful. If a business wants to share something specific
related to their services, they can opt for expert and experienced web development
services, for getting vertical portals developed, as per their business requirements.
College portals, tender and bidding portals, are a few examples of vertical portals.
Difference between a Website and Web Portal
Both are quite different and can be differentiated in various aspects.
• A website focuses on attracting more users i.e. driving traffic whereas a web portal is
for specific users. It, in a way, restricts or limits the web traffic and allows only
specific users to visit the portal.
• A website does not ask for a login ID and password from the users visiting them, but
in a web portal, every time a user tries to open it, login credential is required. These
credentials are user-specific and are different for every user.
• A website is publicly accessible i.e. anyone on the internet, who knows the URL, can
visit the website and see its content, on the other hand, a web portal is privately
accessible and only members of the portal can visit and see its content, using their
login ID and password.
• The content on a website can be either dynamic or static, the content is dynamic and
every time a user visits these portals, the content change.
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*INTERNET MARKETING
Definition
Internet marketing is the process of promoting a business or brand and its products or
services over the internet using tools that help drive traffic, leads, and sales.
Internet marketing is a broad term that encompasses a range of marketing tactics and
strategies – including content, email, search, paid media, and more.
Internet Marketing concepts
● e-Business: All electronically mediated information exchanges, both within an
organisation and with external stakeholders, supporting the range of business
processes, e.g. e-Commerce, R&D, logistics, administration, etc.
● Intranet: A secure network within a single company that enables staff to access
company information and communicate with collaborators using web tools, such as
email and web browsers.
● Extranet: A secure network that enables internal and external stakeholders, such as
staff, customers, suppliers, etc., to access information and communicate with
collaborators using web tools, such as email and web browsers.
Types of internet marketing
There's a numerous of internet marketing types that encompass different tactics and
strategies, and the few types are listed below.
● Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO is the process of adjusting a website and digital content to improve its organic or
"natural" placement in search rankings. The higher a webpage ranks, the more likely it
is to be viewed by a potential customer.
Search engines (specifically Google) use crawler bots (sometimes called spiders) to
crawl the internet and build an index of the content available online. When a user
searches a keyword, the search engine will provide the most relevant information.
There are two types of SEO: on-page and off-page.
On-page SEO is the manipulations made directly to a web page to increase search
engine ranking. It involves optimizing HTML code, content quality, and content
structure.
Off-page SEO is the SEO practices that take place outside of the website itself, such
as backlinks, link relevancy, and social signals.
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● Content marketing
Content marketing is the creation and distribution of relevant online content in a way
that's strategically designed to attract and convert consumers.
It focuses on communicating with customers rather than selling and is usually better
received.
Forms of content marketing include blog posts, infographics, ebooks, podcasts, case
studies, and webinars.
● Social media marketing
Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms to improve customer
engagement and promote a brand.
While it doesn't necessarily drive sales, social media marketing increases engagement,
builds links, and expands brand awareness.
Popular social media platforms used for marketing include Facebook, Instagram,
and Twitter.
● Influencer marketing
One of the newer types of internet marketing, influencer marketing uses influencers, or
someone with a large social following, to promote their product or service for a price.
This can be highly effective if the influencer is in line with a company's values and
resonates with the company's customers.
● Email marketing
Email marketing is the process of using email to send direct marketing messages to
consumers in an attempt to gain new customers and retain existing ones.
It's one of the most cost effective types of marketing and can be used to reach both a
wide network of customers or a very niche one.
● Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing describes any revenue-sharing plan where an online automated
marketing program lets bloggers and website owners place an advertiser's banner ads,
buttons, or other advertising media on their own website.
This could also be in the form of promoting a product through a blog or video. A
payment is received for every sale made through a link.
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● Paid advertising
Paid advertising is when advertisers pay to show their advertisements of search
engines and other online platforms.
This is often referred to as Pay Per Click (PPC), meaning advertisers will pay a fee each
time a user clicks on one of their ads.
However, advertisers are now charged in different ways depending on their marketing
objectives. Other means of charging include cost per thousand impressions, cost per
view, and cost per action.
*SEARCH ENGINES BASICS
What is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It is a process designed to optimize a
website for search engines.
It helps websites achieve a higher ranking in search engine results when people search
for keywords related to their products and services. So, it is a practice of increasing the
quantity and quality of traffic to a website through organic search engine results.
The following image shows the basic activities involved in the SEO.
Search results are presented in the form of an ordered list, and the sites which are
higher on the list tend to receive more traffic.
For example, for a search query, the result which is at number one will receive 40 to
60% of the total traffic generated for that query. Only 2 to 3% visitors go beyond the first
page of search results.
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How do search engines work?
Search engines have three primary functions:
1. Crawl
Scour / search the Internet for content, looking over the code/content for each URL they
find.
Crawling is the discovery process in which search engines send out a team of robots
(known as crawlers or spiders) to find new and updated content. Content can vary — it
could be a webpage, an image, a video, a PDF, etc. — but regardless of the format,
content is discovered by links.
2. Index
Store and organize the content found during the crawling process. Once a page is in the
index, it is in the running to be displayed as a result to relevant queries.
Search engines process and store information they find in an index, a huge database of
all the content they’ve discovered and deem good enough to serve up to searchers.
3. Rank
Provide the pieces of content that will best answer a searcher's query, which means that
results are ordered by most relevant to least relevant.
When someone performs a search, search engines scour their index for highly relevant
content and then orders that content in the hopes of solving the searcher's query. This
ordering of search results by relevance is known as ranking.
In general, you can assume that the higher a website is ranked, the more relevant the
search engine believes that site is to the query.
Keyword Research & Keyword Targeting Best Practices
The first step in search engine optimization is to determine what it is actually optimizing
for. This means identifying the terms people are searching for (also known as
“keywords”) that rank the website in search engines like Google.
There are a few key factors to take into account when determining the keywords you
want to target on the site:
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● Search Volume
The first factor to consider is how many people (if any) are actually searching for a given
keyword.
The more people there are searching for a keyword, the bigger the audience you stand
to reach. Conversely, if no one is searching for a keyword, there is no audience
available to find the content through search.
● Relevance
If a term is frequently searched for that’s great: but what if it’s not completely relevant to
the prospects?
Relevance seems straight-forward at first. For example, if you’re selling enterprise email
marketing automation software you don’t want to show up for searches that don’t have
anything to do with the business, like “pet supplies.”
But what about terms like “email marketing software”? This might intuitively seem like a
great description of what you do, but if you’re selling to Fortune 100 companies, most of
the traffic for this very competitive term will be searchers who don’t have any interest in
buying the software (and the person you do want to reach might never buy the
expensive, complex solution based on a simple Google search).
Conversely, you might think a tangential keyword like “best enterprise PPC marketing
solutions” is totally irrelevant to the business since you don’t sell PPC marketing
software.
But if the prospect is a CMO or marketing director, getting in front of them with a helpful
resource on evaluating pay-per-click tools could be a great “first touch” and an excellent
way to start a relationship with a prospective buyer.
● Competition
As with any business opportunity, in SEO you want to consider the potential costs and
likelihood of success. For SEO, this means understanding the relative competition (and
likelihood to rank) for specific terms.
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*SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a theory of psychology that prioritizes the most
fundamental human needs (like air, water, and physical safety) over more advanced
needs (like esteem and social belonging).
Rand Fishkin made a similar pyramid to explain SEO, which is called "Mozlow's
hierarchy of SEO needs."
Using this beginner's guide, we can follow these seven steps to successful SEO:
1. Crawl accessibility so engines can read the website
2. Compelling content that answers the searcher’s query
3. Keyword optimized to attract searchers & engines
4. Great user experience including a fast load speed and compelling UX
5. Share-worthy content that earns links, citations, and amplification
6. Title, URL, & description to draw high CTR in the rankings
7. Snippet/schema markup to stand out in SERPs
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TYPES OF SEARCH ENGINE SEO FACTORS
There are four major groups covered by Search Engine Land’s Periodic Table of SEO
Factors:
1. On-page SEO: Content, Architecture, HTML
2. Off-page SEO: Trust, Links, User
3. Toxins
4. Emerging verticals
The elements within each group or subgroup are factors to consider to increase the
site’s organic visibility and rankings.
1. On-page SEO factors
On-page search ranking factors are almost entirely within the publisher’s control. This is
also where it’s critical to balance serving the needs of the audience with making the
pages search engine friendly.
The title of the page or article, the depth of research, keywords used and so on should
all be used with the specific audience’s needs in mind.
HTML headings, anchor text and more should provide clues for both search engines
and the audience about the relevancy of the content.
The site architecture should help search engine crawlers navigate the site and help
users find what they’re looking for.
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2. Off-page SEO factors
The search engines don’t just evaluate what’s on the page and visible to users. Off-
page ranking factors are typically out of the creator or publisher’s direct influence.
Search engines evaluate reputation, the quality of a site’s backlinks, the user’s
geographic location and many other factors to deliver the most relevant results.
Although these factors aren’t as easy to control on a per-page basis, they must be taken
into account when optimizing the site for search.
3. Toxins
When done well, SEO benefits the search engines just as much as it benefits sites.
SEO helps search engines provide users with better search results.
However, using SEO techniques that aim to manipulate ranking signals to gain an unfair
advantage over the competition can backfire.
We group spam and so-called “black hat” techniques into “toxins.” Using them can
result in the pages receiving a ranking penalty or even getting banned from the search
results entirely.
4. Emerging verticals
Voice, local, image and video search have their own special chapter in this guide
because they represent different ways for users to find the content.
Each of these emerging verticals has its own distinguishing features, nuances and
opportunities for brands and publishers.
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*SEO ALGORITHM
A good search engine does not attempt to return the pages that best match the input
query. A good search engine tries to answer the underlying question.
Google search engines use a complex algorithm to determine what results they should
return. The factors in the algorithm consist of "hard factors" as the number of backlinks
to a page and perhaps some social recommendations through likes and +1' s.
These are usually external influences. You also have the factors on the page itself. For
this, the way a page is build and various page elements play a role in the algorithm.
But only by analyzing the on-site and off-site factors is it possible for Google to
determine which pages will answer is the question behind the query. For this Google will
have to analyze the text on a page.
Search engines have evolved tremendously in recent years, but at first they could only
deal with Boolean operators. In simple terms, a term was included in a document or not.
Something was true or false, 1 or 0. Additionally you could use the operators as AND,
OR and NOT to search documents that contain multiple terms or to exclude terms.
VECTOR SPACE MODEL
● Very popular model, even today
o Simple, intuitive
o Useful for weighting, ranking, and relevance feedback
● Documents and query represented by a vector of term weights
o t is number of index terms (i e very large) is number of index terms (i.e., very
large)
● Collection represented by a matrix of term weights
● D1: Tropical Freshwater Aquarium Fish.
● D2: Tropical Fish, Aquarium Care, Tank Setup.
● D3: Keeping Tropical Fish and Goldfish in Aquariums, and Fish Bowls.
● D4: The Tropical Tank Homepage - Tropical Fish and Aquariums.
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● 3-d pictures useful, but can be misleading for high-dimensional space
o Intuition no longer necessarily correct
o Millions of terms (and dimensions)
● Each document ranked by distance between points representing query and
document
o Similarity measure more common than a distance or dissimilarity measure
o Popular: Cosine correlation
▪ Cosine of angle between document and query vectors
▪ Normalized dot-product
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● As retrieval model: No explicit definition of relevance
o Implicit: Closer documents are more relevant.
Disclaimer: The basic objective of this material is to supplement teaching and
discussion in the classroom in the subject. Students are required to go for extra reading
in the subject through library work.
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