Now, we know that when search engines come to your site to request documents, and hopefully add them to their public index, they are doing so to solve a problem. If we attempt to understand that problem, and can make our site part of the solution to that problem better than the next site, we can get more traffic from search engines.

So ... What is a search engine's problem - and how can my site be a part of the solution?

Let's think out the first part. A search engine exists for a reason of course. That core reason is to bring a person looking for information together with a document on the web that has that information. Every time that match is made, the brand is strengthened, the user is happy, the likelihood that that person will use them again - and perhaps the other services that make them money.

How does a search engine solve that problem? It employs a formula. No one knows for sure how the formula works. But one thing we know is that it is calculating something. What would that be?

The best match for the request typed into the query box, naturally. So what would it have to calculate to come up with a result that continues to bring the searcher together with good information?

Well, first it would have to take all of the documents it found, then organize them by topic somehow, then rank the best topic. Part of the grade your site is going to get is based on how much it is perceived to be on the topic listed, and then how it measures up against other documents it may find.

Links have a great deal to do with guestimating the equation, as does what you're stating on your site- indicating that you're within the proper topic counts.

But it's not just about that, or linking, or filling content deficits.

Links are often a good measure of a site's popularity, but they aren't necessarily an end unto themselves. Attacking from a keyword position isn't enough either. And if you concentrate only on filling content deficits, sure you'll amass what adds up to be a considerable increase in traffic, but you will find that focusing on that alone will be not just a chore, but a time-consuming one.

Of course we know that quick fixes don't work - most software you can buy to help you cheat the search engines doesn't even work short-term, and can result in permanent banishment of a site.

So what is the Secret to Building an Algorithm-Proof Site? We'll review that in the final part of this series.