If you're curious about a topic and want to know more, what do you do? Head to the public library to search for a book? Email an expert? Ask your parents? If you're like most 21st-century humans, you find a computer and "google" it. Google is just one option, of course, but in American culture at least, this proper noun used as a verb has come to mean "use an Internet search engine."

You probably have a basic understanding of what a search engine is and does. When you start publishing your own websites, though, it's a good idea to know exactly how search engines work. If you understand the technology behind them, you can build the kinds of websites that search engines "like," and they will reward you by placing your website near the top in a list of search results. That means more traffic for your website, and more exposure for your ideas or products!

The attempt to make a website more noticeable and attractive to search engines is called search engine optimization (SEO). When you optimize, or improve, your web site in this way, you make specific choices or changes in the way it's designed and developed—all with the goal of making it more search-engine-friendly.

This lesson will explain some of the strategies you can use to improve your website's performance with search engines while introducing you to the field of SEO.