"Search engine submission" refers to the act of getting your web site listed
with search engines. Another term for this is search engine registration.
Getting listed does not mean that you will necessarily rank well for
particular terms, however. It simply means that the search engine knows your
pages exist.
Think of it like a lottery. Search engine submission is akin to you
purchasing a lottery ticket. Having a ticket doesn't mean that you will win, but
you must have a ticket to have any chance at all.
"Search engine optimization" refers to the act of altering your site so that
it may rank well for particular terms, especially with crawler-based search
engines (what these are will be explained later in this guide).
Returning to the lottery model, let's assume there was a way to increase the
odds of winning by picking your lottery numbers carefully. Search engine
optimization is akin to this. It's making sure that the numbers you select are
more likely to win than purchasing a set of numbers at random.
Terms such as "search engine placement," "search engine positioning" and
"search engine ranking" refer to a site actually doing well for particular terms
or for a range of terms at search engines. This is the ultimate goal for many
people -- to get that "top ten" ranking for a particular keyword or search
terms.
Terms such as "search engine marketing" or "search engine promotion" refer to
the overall process of marketing a site on search engines. This includes
submission, optimization, managing paid listings and more.
These terms also highlight the fact that doing well with search engines is
not just about submitting right, optimizing well or getting a good rank for
a particular term. It's about the overall job of improving how your site interacts
with search engines, so that the audience you seek can find you.
