If you know your way around redirects, optimizing page speed, crawlability, security and structured data, make those your first priority. If not, let your site builder help you out or hire someone with a background in technical SEO. When that’s done, you can start looking at site structure and the content on your pages. In 1998, two graduate students at Stanford University, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, developed “Backrub”, a search engine that relied on a mathematical algorithm to rate the prominence of web pages.

seo meaning

If you’re not happy with your search engine rankings, it may be time to call in a professional Atlanta SEO company. While site content plays a vital role in your search engine rankings, it’s also important to consider your site architecture. SERPs consist of paid search results and “organic” search results, where the organic results don’t contribute to Google’s revenue. Instead, Google delivers organic results based on its assessment of a site’s relevance and quality. Depending on the type of search query, Google will also include different elements on the SERP, like maps, images, or videos.

seo meaning

Meta descriptions

In comparison, in-house SEO management (and department budgets) can limit your team. These limitations can have a direct impact on the quality and results of your competitor analysis, which can influence your SEO strategy. If you’re new to SEO, it introduces several aspects of technical SEO, which is where the expertise of an SEO agency like WebFX becomes valuable. Once you have your audience researched, you can take the next step towards launching your plan. Companies that excel at SEO have an in-depth understanding of their audience. As an example, our clients have earned more than $10 billion from our strategies.

  • In contrast, general SEO uses broader keywords and emphasizes domain authority and overall content relevance to reach a wider audience.
  • Keywords play a very important role in SEO, Keywords are basically those words or phrases that summarize or describe the content of your webpage.
  • That’s because local listings, like a Google Business Profile with photos, reviews, and address information, build trust and authority by demonstrating that you’re a real company.
  • These activities give you the opportunity to showcase your expertise and reach new people.
  • Any form of content – videos, blog posts, comments, reviews, etc. – that is created by users or customers.

SEO (search engine optimization) is the practice of optimizing the performance of a website by changing its structure and content to increase its visibility and web traffic. The primary goal of SEO is to drive organic (non-paid) traffic to a website by improving its relevance and authority in the eyes of search engines. Link building is an essential off-page SEO technique that aims to increase the number of high-quality inbound links to your website. These backlinks serve as endorsements from other reputable sites, boosting your website’s authority and credibility in the eyes of search engines. Effective link-building strategies include guest blogging, influencer collaboration, and creating compelling content that naturally attracts links. By focusing on acquiring quality backlinks, you can improve your website’s search engine rankings and drive more organic traffic.

seo meaning

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seo meaning

It should be easy for visitors to navigate and read your site from their desktop and their mobile phones. Years ago, there has been a heated debate on which of these two methods work faster in increasing your page rank- white hat SEO or black hat SEO tactics. Visitors take time to engage with your content or if they leave your site quickly, also known as bouncing. However, there are also several factors that are off-page, meaning they are influenced by your visitors or readers.

seo meaning

seo meaning

Google’s algorithms now analyze entities and how they relate to each other rather than words in isolation. This shift enables search engines to provide improved results, even for ambiguous or vague searches. Technically, the clicks from organic search are free, but ranking your website to get those clicks requires time, effort, and potential financial investment. You might need to invest in SEO tools, hire experts, or spend significant time learning and implementing SEO strategies yourself. Start by generating ideas from competitor analysis and your current rankings.

Usually, once you get your technical SEO correct, you may not have to deal with it again. As you can see in the diagram above, paid results have the “Sponsored” label to differentiate them from organic results. To learn more, read our guide on SEO Anomaly the difference between SEO and PPC. Although SEO fundamentals don’t change too frequently, the practices and processes keep evolving constantly. Other than frequent algorithm updates by Google, smart SEOs keep coming up with new and effective SEO tactics. The best way you can learn SEO is by applying the acquired knowledge to an actual website.