What Is SEO / Search Engine Optimization?
What is SEO?
SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” In simple terms, it means the process of improving your site to increase its visibility for relevant searches. The better visibility your pages have in search results, the more likely you are to garner attention and attract prospective and existing customers to your business.
How does SEO work?
Search engines such as Google and Bing
use bots to crawl pages on the web, going from site to site, collecting
information about those pages and putting them in an index. Next,
algorithms analyze pages in the index, taking into account hundreds of
ranking factors or signals, to determine the order pages should appear
in the search results for a given query.
Search ranking factors can be considered proxies for aspects of the user experience. Our Periodic Table of SEO Factors
organizes the factors into six main categories and weights each based
on its overall importance to SEO. For example, content quality and
keyword research are key factors of content optimization, and
crawlability and mobile-friendliness are important site architecture
factors.
The search algorithms are designed to surface relevant,
authoritative pages and provide users with an efficient search
experience. Optimizing your site and content with these factors in mind
can help your pages rank higher in the search results.
Unlike paid search ads, you can’t pay search engines to get higher organic search rankings.
