SEO Marketing: What It Is and How to Get Started

By URL structure we mean the format of your permalinks (also known as slugs). It is highly recommended that a breadcrumb menu allow users to return to the previous level and eventually to the homepage. Search engines work by crawling a website’s homepage and following any links from there to discover and index more pages. For example, if you have different pages for desktop and mobile with the same content, you need to tell Google that these pages are the same. You can read this guide, which provides step-by-step instructions on how to optimize your XML sitemap. Run a free SEO analysis to uncover site issues, competitor gaps, and ranking opportunities.

Besides images, a website may include other multimedia elements such as videos, podcasts, and audio. If you don’t do it, Google will only index one of the versions or get confused, which can negatively affect your rankings. A canonical URL tells search engine crawlers which version of a page they should index. If you have a piece of software, physical product, consulting service or ANYTHING of value that you sell, you can easily turn that into dozens of high-quality backlinks.

seo meaning

Find low-hanging keywords you can rank for easily

seo meaning

When actively building links, it’s important to avoid black hat activities, and rather focus on more organic link building. A few years back, SEO focused on tactics like excessive keyword use and link farming. As search engines grew smarter, strategies shifted towards creating quality content and building organic links, prioritising relevance and value for users.

seo meaning

However, other websites and blogs would likely mention both SEJ and SER on lists of popular search engine news publications. The rate (expressed in a percentage) at which users click on an organic search result. This is calculated by dividing the total number of organic clicks by the total number of impressions then multiplying by 100. Google is placing emphasis on E-A-T to reduce disinformation online, especially in YMYL niches such as health and finance. In these spaces, building the authority of an author is recommended for a brand to show credibility, even if it currently doesn’t influence ranking. Customer data and behavior analytics tools can give content managers insight into the kind of content site visitors want.

Traffic

seo meaning

As we said, the goal is to provide results that match the search made by the user. Now that you know more about SEO, you can start using this method to help your business grow. They use these engines to answer questions, find products and services, and more. Google and Bing catalog, index, sort, and arrange all web pages on the Internet to deliver the best search experience for users. You can use tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Ahrefs to monitor your progress. Depending on your business, you may find it challenging to track the full results of your SEO strategy.With professional SEO management, you can resolve this problem.

  • SEO involves making your site more appealing to both users and search engines.
  • In the past, links from directories were highly sought after (e.g., DMOZ), leading to widespread abuse and overall devaluing of this sort of link building.
  • Conversion rate optimization involves using methods such as A/B testing to make changes to websites and measure the impact they have on a site’s conversion rate.
  • The progress made by putting SEO techniques into practice will need to be constantly monitored.

Backlinks from trusted websites signal authority and improve rankings. This increased visibility can drive more organic traffic to your site, as users are more likely to click on links that are accompanied by an AI Overview. Ranking higher in search results increases your website’s visibility, driving more clicks from users actively searching for your content, products, or services. Unlike paid advertising, this traffic is sustainable and grows when you maintain optimization efforts. As expected, an SEO-friendly website will get you more traffic from search engines as it will likely run higher in the SERPS (search engine results pages).

Compare branded and non-branded searches

seo meaning

This is a great way to stay informed about any dramatic changes without spending all the time glued to the screen with the data tables. Most analytic tools will allow you to set up email alerts that will notify you if certain conditions are met. That’s why it’s always good to look at the bigger picture rather than obsessing about every little change on a daily basis. SEO Anomaly The bounce rate metric shows the percentage of visitors who left the website without any action. A high bounce rate is not always a bad thing but in general, a lower bounce rate is almost always better.