What is SEO – Learning the fundamentals
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It refers to the practice of optimising websites and online content to improve their visibility and ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs), like those on Google, Bing, or Yahoo. The ultimate goal of SEO is to increase organic (non-paid) traffic to a website by making it more attractive to search engines and, by extension, to users.
Amongst Search Engines, Google processes over 40,000 search queries every second, amounting to more than 3.5 billion searches per day and approximately 1.2 trillion searches annually worldwide (Internet Live Stats). This immense volume underscores Google’s dominant position in the global search engine market, where it holds a 91.54% share.
In today’s competitive digital landscape, SEO is a critical digital marketing channel because it attracts masses of organic, intent-driven traffic from users actively searching for specific information, products, or services. Unlike paid advertising, which requires ongoing investment, SEO offers long-term benefits by maintaining visibility even after initial optimizations. It enhances brand credibility, as users often trust websites that appear high in search results. Additionally, SEO complements other digital marketing efforts, such as content marketing and social media, by driving visibility and helping to capture leads at various stages of the customer journey. Effective SEO can boost overall marketing ROI by delivering sustainable, cost-effective growth.
In this, and the following articles we will mainly be focusing on search engine optimization specifically for Google searches. We will be using the SEO profession’s terminology, so here is a SEO Glossary to help you out.
The three primary areas of SEO
Most commonly, a website’s SEO activity can be categorized in three areas
- On-page SEO is the practice of optimizing individual web pages to improve their search engine rankings and attract relevant traffic. It includes optimizing content, keywords, meta tags (like title tags and meta descriptions), headers, internal links, and images. It also focuses on enhancing user experience through fast loading times, mobile responsiveness, and clear site navigation, ensuring that each page is both search-engine-friendly and user-friendly.
- Technical SEO is the process of optimising a website’s backend structure to help search engines crawl, index, and understand it more effectively. This includes improving site speed, ensuring mobile-friendliness, using HTTPS for security, creating XML sitemaps, and implementing structured data (schema) to enhance search visibility. It focuses on the technical aspects that support better user experience and search engine accessibility
- Off-page SEO refers to actions taken outside of your website to improve its search engine rankings. This primarily involves building high-quality backlinks from other websites, enhancing brand mentions, and promoting your content on social media and other platforms to increase your site’s authority, trustworthiness, and visibility online.
Other areas of SEO
4. Content SEO is the practice of creating, optimizing, and structuring high-quality content to rank well in search engines. It involves using relevant keywords, providing valuable information, formatting with headings and images, and ensuring content meets user intent. The goal is to attract, engage, and satisfy users while improving visibility in search results.
5. Local SEO is the practice of optimizing a website to increase visibility for local searches. It focuses on improving search rankings for queries with geographic intent, often by optimizing Google My Business, using local keywords, managing online reviews, and building local citations. It’s essential for businesses that serve a specific area or have physical locations, helping them connect with nearby customers.
6. YouTube SEO is the process of optimizing videos to rank higher in YouTube search results and recommendations. This includes using relevant keywords in titles, descriptions, and tags, creating engaging thumbnails, and encouraging likes, comments, and shares. It also involves structuring playlists and using closed captions to increase video visibility and audience engagement on YouTube. It is worth noting that YouTube processes more than 3.5 billion searches daily, highlighting its vast user engagement. Statista
7. E-commerce SEO is the process of optimizing an online store to improve its visibility in search engine results. It involves optimizing product pages, category pages, and metadata with relevant keywords, enhancing site structure, improving page load speed, and building high-quality backlinks. The goal is to attract more organic traffic, increase product visibility, and drive conversions.
8. SEO Web Analytics is the practice of using web analytics tools to measure and understand a website’s organic search performance. It tracks key metrics like traffic sources, user behavior, bounce rates, and keyword rankings, providing insights into how users find and interact with the site. These insights help optimize SEO strategies to improve rankings, engagement, and conversions.
How can you improve your SEO?
By consulting with us, we provide guidance and strategies to improve your website’s search engine rankings and organic visibility. This includes analyzing the site, identifying optimization opportunities, developing a tailored SEO plan, and offering ongoing insights to drive traffic, engagement, and conversions.