What is SEO?

What is Search Engine Optimization?

SEO is a process. It is the act of improving your website in the hope that it will move up in search engine rankings and improving organic traffic to your website. The basic idea is to make your website as “attractive” or “Google Friendly” as possible. This is done through keywords and how they are used in your website, the structure of your website, formatting certain parts of the website in specific ways, as well as a host of other items that all do their part to please Google.

There is a caveat, however. You are in competition for the same spots with your direct competitors, as well as social media sites, larger informational sites, and blogs with great content and authority. It is a constant process which requires monitoring and action to stay current with changes to how search engines treat websites.

What SEO is Not

SEO Is Not An Advertising Program

SEO is not advertising at all. Both are useful and most of the time necessary, but they are fundamentally different. They work independently of each other and do not impact each other. 

SEO is not SEM

SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing, which is a more all-encompassing program that includes SEO. It also has other elements such as paid advertising. SEO concentrates on making your website as perfect as it can be, not only in the eyes of search engines, but your audience as well. Google’s over-riding objective is to make sure their users have good experience. That means your website must offer users a good experience. A good SEO plan is vital, but not the only part in making that experience something Google deems worthy of showing to its users.

SEO Is Not A Quick Fix

SEO takes time. While there are a few things that can be done that will get “relatively” quick results, SEO is a long-term process that takes months to be fully effective and see your web pages moving up in search results. 

With each search, Google compares websites nearly instantaneously and decides who will rank the highest. The goal is to win as many of those decisions as you can.

Also, your website does not live in a vacuum. All of the other websites related to yours, and the search phrase should be using the same SEO tactics as you. Whether or not they do are do it correctly is a large factor in how you will rank. You need to to it better and more completely.