What is SEO and How Does it Work?

What is SEO?

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

SEO is a process that requires ongoing effort and maintenance due to the ever-changing landscape of global search engines. However, the ROI (return on investment) can be significant if done correctly.

There are two main types of SEO: on-page SEO and off-page SEO. On-page SEO refers to optimising a website’s content and code to rank higher on search engine results pages. Off-page SEO refers to the promotion of a website through link building and other SEO activities that take place outside of the website itself.

• On-page SEO: All on-page SEO strategies happen on your website.
• Off-page SEO: All off-page SEO strategies happen off your website.
• Technical SEO: All technical SEO strategies happen on your website’s backend.

How does SEO work?

To understand how SEO works, you need to know how search engines work. For example, when you do a Google search, Google uses a crawling and indexing process to find and display results.

Here’s a quick overview:

Crawling: First, Google uses software called spiders or robots to visit websites and follow links on those websites. They index the content they find to create a searchable database of all the information on the internet.

Indexing: After crawling, Google stores all the information it founds in an index. This helps Google return results quickly when you search for something.

Ranking: When you type a query into Google, it uses algorithms to match your query with the best-indexed results. The ranking algorithm looks at how often a word appears on a page, the quality of the content, and other factors to determine which results are most relevant to what you’re looking for.

Google uses over 200 ranking factors in their algorithm, but no one outside of Google knows the exact weighting of each element.

What are the types of SEO strategies?

Every guide on how SEO works should explain the types of SEO strategies, which are:

1. White-hat SEO: A white-hat SEO strategy uses recommended best practices and user-focused tactics to optimise your site. For example, a white-hat SEO strategy might include producing helpful content, improving page speed, and inserting keywords naturally.
2. Black-hat SEO: A black-hat SEO strategy uses disapproved and spammy tactics to optimise your site, like purchasing backlinks, copying content from other sites, or even stuffing keywords on a page via invisible text.

If you want to make SEO work for your business long-term, invest in a white-hat SEO strategy. While black-hat SEO may deliver quick results, it will eventually result in penalties against your site, whether decreased rankings or removal from Google’s index.

Whether you’re brand new to SEO or want to take your optimisation to the next level, we’re eager and willing to help you!

Contact one of our experts today by phone or email so we can discuss what it takes to get started on an effective plan together – there isn’t anything too big that we cannot tackle.