What is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation.
It is the practice of increasing the quality and quantity of traffic to your website through organic search results on search engines like Google and Bing.
Key takeaways:
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Organic means unpaid. SEO focuses on ranking naturally, not through paid advertising (which is part of Search Engine Marketing, or SEM).
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The goal is to appear higher on the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs)—ideally on the first page—for keywords and phrases that are relevant to your business or content.
How Does SEO Work?
Search engines use complex algorithms to determine which web pages are the most relevant and authoritative for a user’s search query. This process involves three main steps:
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Crawling: Search engines use automated programs (called crawlers or spiders) to discover new and updated pages on the web by following links.
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Indexing: The search engine analyses the content and stores it in a massive database, or index, so it can be retrieved for relevant searches.
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Ranking: When a user searches for something, the search engine’s algorithm instantly evaluates the indexed pages and ranks them, putting the most relevant and authoritative results first.
SEO is about optimising your website based on the hundreds of factors these algorithms use to rank content.