What does SEO do?

SEO is short for “search engine optimization.” It is a long-term marketing strategy employed in order to improve a website’s visibility and organic search results in google and other global search engines.

When executed correctly, SEO can result in higher web traffic levels, better ROI, increased leads and sales, and improved brand awareness and visibility.

SEO works by optimising a website for Google’s algorithm, which is constantly changing and evolving. This involves optimising both on-page and off-page factors, such as website content, site structure, backlinks, and much more.

Executing an effective SEO strategy can be complex and time-consuming, but the rewards are well worth it. If you’re looking to improve your website’s visibility and organic search results, contact an experienced SEO agency today.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization, more commonly known as SEO, is the practice of making changes to a website so that it performs better in search engine results pages. This can be done through optimising the website’s technical configuration, content relevance and link popularity. When done correctly, this will result in higher rankings for the website’s pages on SERPs.

Search engines favour those websites that offer a great experience to the user while also ranking high on relevant keywords. This includes, but is not limited to, using important keywords in titles, meta descriptions and headlines (H1), having descriptive URLs that include keywords rather than a series of numbers, and utilising schema markup to clarify the page’s content meaning. By following these tips, your website is sure to improve its ranking amongst search engine users.

How do search engines work?

When a user enters a search query, search engines scour the internet for relevant results. They do this by surveying and “understanding” the myriad of websites that make up the web. To determine what results to display for each search query, they use a sophisticated algorithm.

Why SEO focuses on Google:

The vast majority of people equate the term “search engine” with Google, which currently holds about 92% of the global search engine market. Since Google is the primary source for most searches, SEO primarily focuses on methods that will please this major player. Understanding how and why Google works should be a priority for anyone interested in pursuing SEO as a career path.

What Google wants:

Google’s goal is to provide its users, or searchers, with the best search experience possible. That implies giving users the most relevant results as quickly as feasible.

The search term (the user input) and the search results (the output) are the two basic components of the experience. Let’s assume you’re looking for “Mailchimp guides and tutorials.” This is a simple, clear query. Google understands what you want, and it provides a helpful page as the top organic result – Mailchimp’s own page with that title. From Google’s standpoint, this is an excellent search result and a positive user experience since it is likely that the person will click on the top option and be satisfied with the outcome.

How Google makes money:

People trust and value Google’s search engine, which is why it makes money. It does so by providing useful search results.

When you search on Google, sometimes there are Advertisements listed at the top of the page with an “Ad” next to them. These businesses have paid for this privilege, and Google makes money off of these pay-per-click ads every time somebody clicks on one. You can purchase your own ad space through AdWords. Generally, you’re more likely to see these types of Ads during more general searches.

Aside from the tiny label, these search results appear to be exactly the same as other search results. Of course, this is by design, since many people click on these results without realising they are advertisements. This is why Google relies on it. Advertising revenues accounted for more than 80% of Google’s $182.5 billion. As a result, while search functions remain its core product, the company depends on its advertising business.

The anatomy of search results:

On page, there are two types of SERPs: organic and sponsored. Organic search results do not contribute to Google’s revenue and instead rely on Google’s assessment of a site’s relevance and quality to generate them. Different components may appear on the SERP depending on the sort of search query, including maps, photos, or videos.

The number of advertisements on a SERP is determined by what customers are looking for. If you type in the word “shoes,” for example, you’ll almost certainly encounter a lot of top results that are ads. In fact, to reach the first organic result, you’ll have to scroll way down the page. Because there’s a good probability that the searcher is attempting to buy shoes online and numerous shoe businesses would pay for a feature in AdWords’ ad results for this query, this kind of query frequently generates many ads.

On the other hand, if you search for something like “Atlanta Falcons,” your results will be different. Because this search is primarily concerned with the professional American football team by that name, the top results are related to them. It’s still a less clear query, though. News stories, a knowledge graph, and their homepage are among the top three outcomes. These three types of results at the top suggest that Google does not know exactly what you want in your query, but it does offer fast routes to learn about the team, read their most recent news, or visit their website.

Advertisers are unwilling to bid for the keyword “Atlanta Falcons” because there is no purchase intent behind the query. If you change the query to signal that you might be shopping, such as “Atlanta Falcons hat,” then the SERP results will feature more sponsored results.

The role of SEO

The goal of SEO is to improve your position in organic search results. There are several ways to optimise AdWords, shopping, and local listings.

Even though it may look like organic listings are being pushed down on SERPs by all the other competing elements, SEO is still a powerful and profitable endeavour. There’s a lot of potential for ROI considering Google processes billions of search queries every day. However, it does require some initial investment as well as continuous effort to secure and maintain good rankings. Even so, once you achieve that ranking, each click from thenceforth is complimentary.

Conclusion:

So, what is SEO? In short, it’s a long-term marketing strategy employed in order to improve a website’s visibility and organic search results in global search engines like Google. It can be used by businesses of all sizes to increase leads and sales from potential customers who are already looking for the products or services you offer. If you’re interested in learning more about how SEO can benefit your business, contact us today. Our team of experts will be happy to discuss your specific needs and create an SEO plan that will help you reach your goals.