SEO vs. SEF

We often use the phrases Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Friendly interchangeably. In our quests to get the best ranking in Google we're looking for the tools that will do that for us. But, they don't actually mean the same thing and the difference matters. Especially, if you are trying to improve your search engine ranking.

Search Engine Friendly

SEF is what usually gets talked about. We talk about SEF URLs to our content, semantic web pages that search engines can read, adding meta tags to our pages, and using Microformats to better describe our content. This can and will help web pages be indexed more accurately by search engines.

This is where tools like drupal, joomla, and wordpress live. They can create SEF sites that search engines can easily read and understand.

Search Engine Optimization

SEO goes beyond SEF into the content itself. For example, SEO deals with looking for the right keywords to use on a piece of content to help it get a higher ranking. The idea is to preform an analysis on the content (e.g., a blog post or article) looking for ways to change the content so search engines will rank the posts higher.

If a tool, like a CMS, claims to do SEO what they really do is SEF.

The difference is important for site owners to know so they don't stop at implementing a handful of SEF functionality. This is, especially, important for sites like the fshbwl that are just launching and don't get indexed well simply because they are new.