Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an integral part of the Internet industry. Companies and businesses take the help of SEO professionals and specialists who provide guidance on using the web to promote their products optimally. The art of diverting an internet users 'clicks' on certain words to a specific website by using 'natural or algorithmic searches is called SEO.

Of course to take the role of an SEO expert, you need to be extremely computer savvy. SEO experts are necessarily inquisitive people who have the ability to decipher the ways and means a search engine uses to build a search ranking list. Understanding that requires the nerd to be conversant with the script of the major search engines providers viz. Google, Yahoo and MSN. You must also carefully follow trade news and the chatter on the 'blogosphere' to find out which company is collaborating with whom.

The biggies and even the small-time companies reportedly pay substantial amounts of money to the primary search engine providers to make certain that their products show up on the top ten in the ranking list of a search. The top ten search finds are important because most people tend to click through only the top ten sites ranked on the search result page. Some call it 'unfair trade practices'. The label "Internet Gold Diggers" is sometimes used derisively to describe SEO consultants. Is such criticism warranted? Perhaps this looks to be a query that will go in circles, an open debate this is really.