Search engine optimization is a very critical task in the success of any website.

In recent times search engines seem to have complicated this task further by their frequent changes in rules. This has caused lots of anxiety as some of these changes have seen some sites lose virtually all their regular traffic instantly as their rankings have tumbled.

This has further added to the confusion amongst webmasters about search engines and their motivations. But no matter how mad one gets at the search engines, there is little that they can do to change the statistics which clearly indicate that well over 75 per cent of the traffic that most sites receive comes directly from search engines.

However, there is a secret that an increasing number of webmasters have discovered and are putting to good use. Whatever regular changes search engines instigate, their motivation remains the same. Most webmasters forget that there is currently very stiff competition between the leading search engines. More so because it has become abundantly clear that none of the top search engines are interested in the runners up position.

The search engine motivation This stiff competition between search engines is focused on the customer, that is the person who uses search engines to find information online. The preferred search engine and therefore the top one will always be the one that most satisfies the needs of that customer.

So whatever changes search engines make they will always be focused on improving the search engine experience for surfers. It is not too difficult to figure out what those who use search engines want, or even more important, what they do not want. Anybody using a search engine wants to be able to find what they are looking for quickly. Most will be looking for the most detailed quality content on the subject or information that they seek.

This simply means that any website that places its