SEO consultants came about in response to the needs of big search engines or of webmasters who wanted to increase the visibility of their websites in natural search results. The groups were developed to provide free optimization advice based on ethical SEO principles. The consultants were Ratioil, a French SEO company; and thus, the first wave of SEO consultants was brought to the market by French SEO companies with leading expertise in France.

There followed a period when SEO was mainly presented as a mechanical and automated technique with websites made to achieve high artificially inflated search engine positioning. It suited the big websites that could afford expensive SEO consultants. But, as the Internet became more accessible and capable of accessed by millions of people, White Hat SEO emerged. This term indicates that the optimization is done with the design and content in mind, and does not proceed with just following keywords and linking. It is also about quality content that is created with consideration to keywords, links and other relevant facts and procedures. Moreover, the process of website optimization includes keyword research, technical advice on website development, content development, quality submission to directories and sites, optimization of blogs, social networking, RSS and XML, and other similar activities.

Like the earlier forms of optimization, White Hat SEO also calls for ethical practices. Respected SEO firms Employ White Hat SEO specialists that would help their clients create and maintain SEO-friendly websites. Among the recommended tactics of White Hat SEO, the two main ones are:

1. On-page technical assessment. This is usually the start of the process. The SEO experts would check the current website structure in order to take on the task.
2. Content development. The SEO consultants would give their clients a story about the content domain, the material composed with keywords, and the processes involved in the development.

The content development process involves keyword research, research on the topics most related to the website, and the assessment of the most viable keywords and keyword combinations. The projects also normally involved keyword research, the assessment of the relevancy of the keywords, and keyword usage on the web pages.

Like the previous process, optimization experts would also create a continual stream of new as well as optimized content in order to assure their clients that never again would they venture into a new territory; and that their websites would always be kept at the foremost in the organic search results for their clients.

Static SEO.This is a relatively new term that came into usage around 1997. It is basically related to white hat SEO. White hat SEO optimization is a relatively cheap and long term technique that is used by SEO companies to promote client websites. It is a technique that offers long lasting results.

Some of the common services performed by an SEO company would be pay per click (PPC) advertising, search engine marketing, e-mail marketing, social media marketing, content marketing, and the optimization of blogs, press releases, and articles.

White hat search engine optimization is used throughout the SEO process.

E-mail marketing is the technique of writing and sending e-mails to current and future customers to create a balance of body awareness and Intent around the products and services offered.

Social media marketing is the latest technique in the online marketing. It offers a platform to various online companies to showcase their products and services alongside advertisements.

Content marketing is the copying of print matter, content, and other types of media content, such as images, sounds, and video clips, without altering its meaning or purpose, to show instead on another medium.

OLEDS. The logic that is used to convert data stored on a computer into a form that can be displayed on a monitor. An example of an XML file is the insurance XML file.

Web analytics is the process of collecting data from the user’s computer in order to create a clear picture of their experiences on the site.

GOOGLE. The search engine that provides organic search results to users based on their search terms.

SEM. Search engine marketing. This is the paid advertisements that are displayed on the search engine results pages. Advertisers, often times referred to as sponsors, pay for their place on the results page. In Google, these ads are called Google AdWords.

PPM. Pay-Per-Mile. This is a technology that links a website to another site in hopes that the second site will provide links back to the first. Similar to organic SEO, they maintain the integrity of the original site and do not just create a duplicate website.

PR. Page Rank. This is a measurement that Google uses to show the “importance” of the links to the target site.

SE. Search Engine. The overall system that a search engine uses to find information and then ranks that information based on its relevance to the search terms being used by the search engine users.

SEM. Search engine marketing.