Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process involved in getting the best search engine ranking possible for a website to maximise targeted visitors or traffic. As the exact process of ranking sites by the algorithms that search engines use are a secret, much is still a mystery leading to much confusion by beginner and expert webmasters and even disagreement between SEO professionals. This leads to theories, ideas and suggestions that become propagated as facts with a lot of marketing hype and spin thrown in. In the numerous SEO forums, the same questions come up again and again. The same myths and confusion come up again and again.

The purpose of SEO101 is to address the frequently asked questions, without the spin and marketing hype. At the same time, hopefully a distinction is made between opinion, fact, theory and myth. Where possible the opinions of other experts are linked to.