As search engines have become the fastest and easiest way to gather information, many companies have invested a fortune in trying to be one of the first listings searchers see. Research supports the concept, noting that people are far more likely to click on listings near the top left-hand portion of the screen, which just happens to be where most search engines display them.
With that boom in search engines has come a boomlet of search-engine optimization (SEO) consultants. These IT wizards study how the search engines work and then retool websites to make them more attractive. Instead of focusing on the humans who read the information on the sites, they target the crawlers and spiders that lay the groundwork for search engines.