Are the goals similar?

[Mary]

Do all Web sites have similar goals for doing SEO?

Mary

[webhostinguk-Sam]

The ultimate goal of every Web site in doing SEO is to improve ranking and enhance business. Yet, not all sites have similar goals. Some might be interested in attracting traffic of any type. Such sites can be optimized to rank highly for most commonly used keywords. On the other hand, many businesses focus on specific keywords which generate quality business. The sales enquiries which are generated by the targetted traffic are more potent and the conversion ratio can be high. In this way the expense of managing huge traffic is saved and higher revenue can be earned.

[paul]

I think the goal of all webmaster is almost same as they wish to bring their site in top of the relevant search result, otherwise without SEO it will be like the customers drive to your shop and they don't find you there.

[Peter]

The goal is to gain a Higher Rank in search engines i.e to gain placement on page 1 or page 2 because, generally most searchers don't bother going through the thousands of websites the search engines bring up for almost any search request. Searchers typically go through the first or second page seeking the most relevant listing.