What does the word "optimization" mean in Search Engine Optimization?

Question

What does the word "optimization" mean in Search Engine Optimization?

Answer 1

Apply the following Wikipedia defintion of "Optimization" to "Search Engine" and you have your answer....

In computing, optimization is the process of modifying a system to make some aspect of it work more efficiently or use fewer resources. For instance, a computer program may be optimized so that it executes more rapidly, or is capable of operating with less memory storage or other resources, or draw less power. The system may be a single computer program, a collection of computers or even an entire network such as the Internet.

Although the word "optimization" shares the same root as "optimal," it is rare for the process of optimization to produce a truly optimal system. The optimized system will typically only be optimal in one application or for one audience. One might reduce the amount of time that a program takes to perform some task at the price of making it consume more memory. In an application where memory space is at a premium, one might deliberately choose a slower algorithm in order to use less memory. Often there is no “one size fits all” design which works well in all cases, so engineers make trade-offs to optimize the attributes of greatest interest. Additionally, the effort required to make a piece of software completely optimal—incapable of any further improvement—is almost always more than is reasonable for the benefits that would be accrued; so the process of optimization may be halted before a completely optimal solution has been reached. Fortunately, it is often the case that the greatest improvements come early in the process.

Optimization can occur at a number of levels. At the highest level, the design may be optimized to make best use of the available resources. The implementation of this design will benefit from the use of efficient algorithms and the implementation of these algorithms will benefit from writing good quality code. Use of an optimizing compiler tends to ensure that the executable program is optimized. At the lowest level, it is possible to bypass the compiler completely and write assembly code directly. With modern optimizing compilers and the greater complexity of recent CPUs, it is most often difficult to write code that is optimized further than what the compiler generates, and few projects need resort to this ultimate optimization step. However, a large amount of code written today is still compiled with the intent to run on the greatest percentage of machines possible. As a result, programmers and compilers don't always take advantage of the more efficient instructions provided by newer CPUs. Since optimization often relies on making use of special cases and performing complex trade-offs, a fully optimized program is usually more difficult for humans to comprehend and hence tends to contain more faults than unoptimized versions.

For more information here is the Wikipedia link...

===> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimizatio...

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Answer 2

optimization means to get the maximum performance out of something-in this case it means getting the most/best hits on a search

Answer 3

To make something perform at its peak.  The "optimum". /