If you’re here because you Googled something like “need help with my website”, then you might well be wondering, “What is SEO?”
Or perhaps you’ve heard the word mentioned and understand that it means “improving your website for search engines” but want a slightly better understanding.
Let’s clear that up for you right away!
What is SEO? An explanation for beginners
SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimisation”, and that means “making your website better so it appears higher in search engines rankings without paid advertisements”. You see, anyone can pay to appear at the top of Google in theory.
Paying to appear high up in search rankings is called Pay Per Click, or PPC, and that is a slightly different thing called “Search Engine Marketing” or SEM. For many businesses, small or global, the costs of Pay Per Click may not be something they can afford.
That’s where SEO comes in.
If you build and maintain your website correctly, you can gain “free” traffic from normal (non-paid) Google search. This free traffic is called “Organic traffic”.
What is Organic traffic?
If you do a search for “plumbers in {insert your town or city here!}”, you will probably see a SERP* something like this: (*SERP = Search Engine Results Page)
Section by section, what you’re looking at is the following:
- “SERP feature” result: this carousel of directories is a special feature that Google has inserted to create a better search experience for people who want to hire a plumber.
- Paid ads (PPC): these results are paid for. Depending on the service or product, a click on these can cost a business a few dollars or pounds
- Local results: the results on the map are free, but they come from a slightly different type of search marketing called “Local SEO”.
- Organic “SEO” results: what we’re talking about today. The
Why should I care about SEO?
If the right practices are followed, SEO can deliver a steady stream of ready and willing customers (or readers) for “free”. Of course, your time is valuable so it isn’t really “free”. But if you don’t have the cash to spend on individual clicks, then SEO is a great bet.
What is the downside of SEO?
There are a few issues that mean SEO shouldn’t always be your first port of call.
SEO takes time
For various reasons, it can take weeks or even months for a page to rank organically on Google. If you need more customers or site visitors fast, you’ll have to think of other alternatives:
- Social media: platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are great ways to be seen
- Paid social media ads: ads on social do cost money, but are cheaper than PPC and can help you increase your customer base
- Email marketing: if you have a customer email list you can use (be wary of GDPR), consider using it to bring old customers back
SEO doesn’t make Google a ton of money
“So what?” I think I hear you cry. Well, when Google is making BILLIONS of dollars from PPC, and nothing from SEO, they try to make advertisers happy. Since Google started in 2002, the appearance of the SERP has changed continually.
Flash back to 2002. If you searched on Google back then, when it first appeared, you would get what SEO specialists call “10 blue links”, like this:
But nowadays a similar search will have a lot of paid-for adverts and SERP features at the top of the screen, and the Organic search results – the actual search engine results – are often a scroll or two below the bottom of the screen.
All is not lost, though. A lot of people know the difference between paid ads and Organic search results… and the difference between paying to be top, and being top on merit.
How does SEO work?
So, you must be thinking, you need to spend money to get a top spot in Paid search. But SEO is free? What’s the catch?
Well, in general, the best websites are the ones with the most authority. If you Google “capital of norway”, you’ll find a lot of established websites such as Wikipedia, the official Oslo tourism website, and the official Norwegian tourism website.
And those are the kind of websites you would expect to see, right? But how can you make your website authoritative?
How does website authority work?
Websites gain authority when other sites link to them. This idea is one of the foundations of PageRank, the algorithmic system that Google patented in the early 2000s to create the most reliable search results.
At the most basic level, every link to a website lends it some authority from the site that is linking to it. So, if your website gets a link from a small blog, it gets a tiny amount of authority from there. But if your website gets a link from the BBC, it gets a lot of authority.
There are also a variety of other important ways that a website displays authority, such as:
- Having quality content that is accurate and well created
- Delivering a fast, smooth and pleasing experience for its users
- Featuring credible writers who are experts in their field
- Being part of an organisation that is regularly mentioned online
To find out more, check out our SEO beginner’s guides.