SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” It uses different methods designed to enhance your web pages and extend their visibility for organic relevant searches on any search engine that you want to rank for, like Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. To make it simpler, SEO is optimizing a piece of online content so that search engines like Google will show it towards the top of page results.
And because organic search is the most evident way for people to access online content, it’s a smart idea to have a top-notch SEO strategy. This is to ensure your site appears in search engine results pages when someone is looking for products or services related to your business.
Think about it, when someone desired to learn or buy something online, their first instinct is to head to Google, which is the most preferred search engine as we usually know. So if your site is more visible in search results, there’s a greater chance that you get attention and attract more potential customers or even current clients 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 sites 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.
Nick Berns is a web developer & SEO specialist.
