Optimizing a web site for top search engine ranking increases its chances of appearing at the top of the search engine listings when a searcher makes a query.

Every day, web surfers engage in a hunt -- a hunt for information on products and services. Throughout the day, these consumers enter 200 million queries at major search engines. Nielson/NetRatings estimates that one in three Americans visit a search portal daily. While those numbers are certainly impressive, if your web site isn't optimized, chances are none of that traffic is being diverted in your direction.

Web sites that are not optimized tend to get buried in search engine result pages where consumers rarely look. Even if you have a great web site, without a high search engine ranking, few people will ever find it.

Search engine placement can be a very arduous task. It involves long hours of optimizing content, submitting web sites and analyzing search engine rankings. If things go right, your web site may just capture a top spot in the rankings, if things go wrong however, it may drown in a sea full of millions of other web sites. Due to the complexities of search engine placement, many companies go about it incorrectly and end up in the latter category. Some companies don't realize the importance of search engine placement and never bother optimizing their sites at all.

A survey conducted by the Georgia Institute of Technology reveals that about 85% of people looking for goods or services on the Internet start by using one of the major search engines. If your web site doesn't have a high search engine placement, those seeking to buy your products won't find them and will turn to your competitors. So if you don't want to turn away potential traffic, it is a good idea to get your web site professionally optimized.