What is SEO and How It Works? [Here's the Answer] (2023)

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What Is SEO?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and is the all-encompassing process of helping your website rank higher in the search engine results.

When you type something into Google, Google has to make a decision on which websites to show you.

It looks at hundreds of indicators that are called “ranking factors.”

SEO is the process of optimizing your website to account for these ranking factors…

…so that when someone searches for something related to your business, your website appears on page 1.

There’s a joke in the marketing world that if you wanted to hide a dead body, you’d hide it on the second page of Google- because who scrolls past the first page?!

In reality, most people don’t even scroll past the first 5 results. So if you’re not willing to try PPC so you can be on the paid search results…

…the only thing you can do to be on that first page is to do SEO.

SEO helps your website appear in those top 5 search results for relevant search queries to increase website traffic to your business – organically.

If you want to learn more about what is SEO and how it works, then check out this ultimate guide.

How Does SEO Work?

SEO works by making certain changes to your website design and content that make your site more attractive to a search engine.

You do this in hopes that the search engine will display your website as a top result on the search engine results page.

As we just mentioned, Google’s algorithm looks at hundreds of ranking factors when deciding which websites to present in the search results and in what order.

It’s impossible to change your website to account for every single one, but there are several best practices you can follow to.

For businesses that are just starting to build their website, create their product pages, or going through a website redesign…

…search engine optimization or SEO can feel a bit intimidating.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Even if you don’t have an experienced in-house SEO associate, you can still start making some positive changes to help improve your SEO.

How Search Engines Rank Websites

Search engines like Google and Bing use a number of ranking factors to determine and provide the most relevant content for a particular search term.

But before they are able to do that, search engines first need to crawl and index websites. Here’s what crawling and indexing mean.

• Crawling

Crawling is the discovery process and happens when search engines send search engine crawlers or spiders to find updated and new content.

According to Google, “We use software known as web crawlers to discover publicly available webpages.

Crawlers look at webpages and follow links on those pages, much like you would if you were browsing content on the web.

They go from link to link and bring data about those webpages back to Google’s servers.”

Aside from a webpage, the content could also be an image, video, PDF file, blog post, etc.

But whatever the format is, the content is always discovered by links.

So for you to be found in organic search results, make sure that every page of your website is crawled.

• Indexing

Indexing is the process by which search engines like Google organize information before a search to provide fast responses to the users’ queries.

Generally speaking, Google and other search engines have structured data of web pages and other content that they know about.

And once these pages are indexed, the search engines can now use the information it has about these pages and their content…

…for them to decide on whether to show this content in their search results.

SEO & SEO Marketing

Though SEO meaning and SEO marketing can seem complex due to the different factors that can impact your ranking, page authority, and domain authority.

The process for search engine optimization is easier than it appears to be.

And don’t confuse SEO marketing with search engine marketing too.

That one is different, and if you want to learn about what is SEM, then you can read this post next. But for now, let’s discuss how SEO marketing really works.

How SEO Marketing Works

Search engines want to provide the best service for their users.

This means delivering results on the search engine pages that are not only high quality but also relevant to what the searcher is looking for.

As we’ve mentioned earlier, in order to do this, search engines will scan, or crawl, different web content to better understand what the site is about.

This helps them deliver more relevant results to those who are searching for a specific topic or keywords.

Similarly, the search engines will scan the site to determine how easy it is to navigate and read…

…rewarding those sites that provide a positive user experience with higher rankings on SERPs.

SEO is the process that organizations go through to make sure that their site ranks high in the organic results for relevant keywords and phrases.

For instance, let’s say that you have an article about how to build a birdhouse.

In order to get your content in front of the right people, you would probably do this.

You will try to optimize this blog post so that when people search for the target keyword “build a birdhouse”, it will show up as a top result.

Business owners like you should know that there are many benefits of SEOfor your business.

By improving your SEO, you can work to expand your visibility on the search engines.

This helps you reach your target audience and engage more potential customers.

By creating more engaging and effective SEO-focused content, you can increase your chances of bringing in more targeted organic website traffic.

By adjusting your website and content for greater visibility and readability, you help give your SEO meaning.

You shouldn’t settle for low SERP rankings when you could be at the top.

Factors That Impact SEO Definition, SEO Meaning, And SEO Marketing

Now that you knowthe SEO definition and how it works, you may be wondering “how do I do SEO marketing?” or “does SEO optimization work?”

The truth of the matter is that SEO marketing actually works, and proper implementation can help anyone generate great results.

Let’s take a look at some of the factors that can impact your search engine optimization ranking.

Search engine giant, Google will never give away the exact algorithm they use to rank sites.

However, we do have a pretty good understanding of some of the factors that impact search engine results page (SERP) rankings.

These factors include both on-page and off-page factors, which we will discuss below.

Content Marketing

Before we dive into some of the factors of on and off-page SEO, let’s talk about content.

Content is effective in both attracting the search engines…

…and helping your organization make connections with site visitors.

SEO meaning can be emphasized even further through your visual and written content.

The more quality, relevant content pieces that you have on your site…

…the more likely search engines will rank your pages higher on the search engine results page.

Similarly, the more engaging and effective content you have on your site, the more likely your visitors will be to spend some time on your website.

Maybe they’ll even make a purchase.

The secret to creating content that is optimized for both the search engines and your human site visitors is:

…to create a variety of different types of content pieces.

They should be well-written and on topics that are most relevant to your audience. Keep in mind that duplicate content is also a big no-no.

Here are just a few types of online content that you can focus on to help improve your content offering.

And thus, your search engine rankings:

• Blog posts and articles
• Social media content
• Ebooks and whitepapers
• How-to guides and tutorials
• Videos and audio recordings
• Infographics or other visual content

Another important thing to consider when creating content for your site is SEO keywords and phrases.

These are relevant words and phrases that a search engine user might type in when looking for answers to their questions or relevant products and services.

When you create content around these keywords, you improve your chances of ranking higher for these keywords on the search engine results page.

That’s why doing keyword research for your business is an essential factor in optimizing your website.

On the other hand, another factor that can impact your content, and thus your search engine ranking, is how fresh your content is.

Freshness basically refers to how often your organization posts new content to your site.

However, creating brand new content is not the only way to keep your content fresh.

You can also freshen up your content by updating posts, rewriting them to make them more effective, or adding new information and statistics over time.

Though creating content takes time and resources, it will more than pay off in the end.

Search engines love great content and consumers need quality content to better understand the value your organization can provide.

Start off by creating a few blog posts and work to build a following on social media.

Once you have a group of loyal fans and followers, your organization can work to create different types of media to attract and engage new leads.

On-Page SEO Optimization

The on-page SEO factors are those elements that happen on your website.

These are the things that you have complete control over.

This means that you can work to improve these factors over time by following best practices for SEO.

This goes beyond just your content marketing to the deeper levels of your site’s HTML.

Here are just a few of the on-page SEO factors that can help you improve Google search results ranking:

• Title Tag

The title tag on each page tells the search engines what your page is about.

This should be 70 characters or less, including both the keyword your content focuses on and your business name.

• Meta Description

The meta description on your website tells search engines a little bit more about what each page is about.

This is also used by your human visitors to better understand what the page is about and if it’s relevant.

This should include your keyword and also provide enough details to tell the reader what the content is about.

• Sub-headings

Not only do sub-headings make your content easier for visitors to read, but they can also help improve your SEO.

You can use H1, H2, and H3 tags to help search engines better understand what your content is about.

• Internal Links

Building internal links or hyperlinks to other content on your site can help search engines learn more about your site.

For example, if you are writing a post about the value of a specific product or service, you can link to the product or service page in your blog post.

• Image Name and ALT Tags

If you are using images on your website or within your blog content, you will also want to include your keyword or phrase in the image name and alt text.

By including this information, you also help give your SEO definition.

This will help search engines better index your images, which may appear when users perform an image search for a certain keyword or phrase.

When strategically placing your SEO keywords and phrases on your pages, it’s important to avoid over-optimization.

Google and other search engines will penalize your page if it attempts to use keywords too many times throughout the content.

In addition, you want to make sure that each piece of the content focuses on just one or two keywords.

This helps ensure that your content is specific and relevant.

Trying to tackle too many keywords at once may negatively impact your search engine optimization as it often makes for un-focused and thin content.

While site content plays a vital role in your search engine rankings, it’s also important to consider your site architecture.

Part of the optimization process is to ensure SEO definition on all parts of your web pages.

You want to use a web design that makes it easy for search engines to scan or crawl your pages and content.

Building internal links between your pages, using the right anchor texts, creating a sitemap, and submitting your sitemap to search engines…

…can both help improve your site’s crawl ability.

And it can also give your search engines a better understanding of your content.

Yet another concern when it comes to your site’s architecture is whether or not your website is mobile-friendly.

Many consumers are searching for information and brands on their mobile devices.

You need to make sure that these users are able to view, read, and navigate your website from their mobile devices.

Don’t forget to optimize your website’s page speed too as users hit the back button if your website takes too long to load. And this can increase your bounce rate.

Not only does this impact the user experience, but it can also affect your SEO optimization.

Off-Page SEO Optimization

In addition to the on-page SEO elements that your organization has control over, there are also off-page SEO factors that can impact your ranking.

Though you don’t have direct control over these off-page factors, there are ways for you to improve your chances of having these factors work out in your favor.

Here are a few of the different off-page SEO factors that can impact your search engine rankings:

• Trust

Trust is becoming an increasingly important factor in a site’s Google ranking.

This is how Google determines whether you have a legitimate site that visitors can trust.

One of the best ways to improve trust is by building quality backlinks from sites that have authority.

• Links

One of the most popular ways to build off-page SEO is through backlinks.

You want to be careful here as spamming sites with your link building is a quick and easy way to get your site banned from the search engines.

Instead, if you want to build links, take the time to develop relationships with influencers and fans who create quality content…

…and will link back to your site in their own content.

• Social

Another important off-page SEO factor is social signals, such as likes and shares.

When it comes to boosting SEO, you want to look for quality shares from influencers.

The more quality content you publish, the more likely you will be to get people to share your content with others.

However, you do not have direct control over what happens outside of your organization.

But, you can increase your chances of improving off-page SEO simply by creating quality content that others will find valuable.

By giving your SEO meaning, you can catch the attention of more search engine users.

The more relevant and interesting your content is, the more likely others will be to link to your content and share it on social media.

The more people trust your content, the more the search engines will as well.

Black Hat Vs White Hat SEO Definition

We’ve discussed SEO and how it works, so let’s break it down even further.

When it comes to SEO, there are two different approaches that organizations take to optimizing their sites for the search engines – black hat vs. white hat SEO.

Some organizations are only interested in SEO so that they can rank their content quickly and make some money in the short term.

Black hat SEO involves tactics that focus on optimizing content only for the search engines.

This means that organizations are not considering the human visitors that will read and navigate their site content.

These organizations will bend or break the rules in order to improve their site rankings to make a quick buck.

In the end, this approach to SEO produces pages that are often difficult for people to read and look a whole lot like spam.

Though the sites may rank more quickly than those that are optimized properly, these sites are often penalized or banned by search engines rather quickly.

Overall, this get-rich-quick approach to SEO ruins the organization’s chance of building a site.

A website that is sustainable and able to bring in new leads for years to come.

On the other hand, white hat SEO is an effective approach tooptimizing your website for search engines and building a sustainable business online.

This approach to search engine optimization involves focusing on the human audience that will be clicking on and reading the site’s content.

By giving your website SEO definition, you ensure that your digital content is easy to find and view.

The goal of this type of search engine optimization is to produce the best content possible on a site that’s easy to read and navigate.

While also following the search engine’s rules for optimization.

It’s important to note that though black hat SEO tactics might help you rank quickly…

…it is inevitable that the search engines will eventually figure out what you are doing and penalize your site.

Depending on the severity of the offense, your site may not be able to come back from the penalties.

The only way to build a sustainable online business that will bring in more organic traffic over time is to follow SEO marketing best practices.

And, create effective content that your visitors will find valuable.

What Is SEO And How It Works: Final Takeaways

After learning aboutand how it works, you can now work to make changes to your site in order toimprove SEO.

And also, boost your rankings on the search engine results page.

Remember, your SEO meaning and effectiveness are impacted by many factors.

But, the most important thing to consider is whether your content is valuable and relevant to your intended audience.

Keep in mind that search engine optimization takes time to work its magic. You won’t experience the benefits of SEO overnight.

In fact, it may take months to enjoy the results of your hard work.

However, following search engines, best practices can help give your SEO meaning.

Creating quality content that’s focused on helping your human visitors is the best way to build a sustainable online business.

And that will continue to bring in new organic site traffic for years to come.

Interested in learning more about how SEO can work for your business? Want to build and give your SEO meaning?

If you’re not happy with your search engine rankings, it may be time to call in an Atlanta SEO company.

The talented team of LYFE marketing provides quality SEO services that will improve your search engine rankings and bring in more relevant organic traffic.

Contact us today to get started!