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Searching for an interesting example of what �ؾ��� alumni do with their degrees?

Search no further: a story that appeared this week in The Miami Herald offers an interesting look at Steve Clark, Class of ’96.

Clark graduated with a philosophy degree, but instead of heavy-duty soul searching, he turned his attention to Internet searching and is now a “search engine guru,” according to the story.

An interest in websites that began with helping the �ؾ��� philosophy department update its webpages led Clark to a job building websites professionally. The more websites he built, the more curious he became about how search engines treated his sites.

When he took a job in web development with New York Life Insurance, Clark found himself in charge of drawing attention to the company’s website. There was no budget for advertising, so Clark focused on building the site through search engine optimization, according to The Herald story.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving traffic directed to a website from search engines such as Google or Yahoo. Companies that value the Internet as a channel for their business will often hire firms to improve their returns in search engines. For example, a travel company that specializes in ski vacations would like its website to be the first return for a Google search of the phrase “ski vacation.”

The story says that search engine optimization interested Clark, who now works for SEO consulting firm Tidal Research in Miami, because it combined the technical knowledge of web development with an ability to understand a client’s target audience and how that audience searched for a product.

Click to read more about Clark and other members of the �ؾ��� community who appeared in the media this week.