SEF vs. SEO

What are the differences between a search engine friendly (SEF)  and a search engine  optimized (SEO) website? The terms search engine friendly and search engine optimized are talked about all day long, but at the end of the day what businesses want to know is which one is right for them?

 Here's how it breaks down.

Search Engine Optimized:
Search engine companies create rules by which they "rank" sites. The goal of most businesses is to be one of the top ranked businesses when a consumer searches for a product or service - thus increasing the likelihood of converting that search into profit for the business. One of the ways to achieve a higher ranking on a site is to understand the rules set by the search engine companies and try to fit within those rules to the largest extent possible to get a top ranking. For example using carefully researched key words or phrases in text.  However, a website that is based solely on the rules in play the day the website is created is at a disadvantage. Search engine companies know that there are people out there who might try to create sham websites simply to make a quick profit. Thus they continue to change their rules to close any loopholes that might exist to insure that these sham sites don't get a high ranking. These changes require a long term commitment to monitor changing rules to insure the website remains top ranked. This time of commitment is costly to the business because it requires numerous hours of research and changes.

Search Engine Friendly
 The goal of a search engine friendly website is also to help a business maintain a  top ranked site. However the means to the ends is quite different. Under the search engine friendly scenario the website is constructed with the consumer rather than the search engine company in mind. A SEF site will have clear navigation, easily understandable language for a wide-range of consumers and corrects all technological issues that can reduce search relevance. The SEF site does not need daily monitoring to keep up with the changing rules of search engine companies.