Also called natural search engine listings, these are listings that search engines do not sell. Search engines use search engine robots (computer programs also called search engine crawlers) to find web pages. Once these web pages are found, the search engines used sophisticated techniques to determine what a web page is about and compare that web page with all other web pages that they have found. They then rank those web pages in order of importance–and when a search is performed at their search engine they display a listing of search results that includes those rankings.
Organic search engine listings are different than Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising, which is also displayed on a search engine’s results pages. A company must use a search engine optimizer to optimize their website’s web pages and perform a strategic link building campaign in order to achieve top organic search engine listings. It is often very time consuming to perform these tasks, and as a result, usually costs more than Pay Per click advertising. However, the rewards can be much greater as potential buyers of a company’s products or services view the organic search engine listings different than paid advertising, perhaps more un-biased.