Search engine optimization (SEO) is the art and science of getting pages to rank higher in search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo. Because search is one of the main ways in which people discover content online, ranking higher in search engines can lead to an increase in traffic to a website.
In Google and other search engines, the results page often features paid ads at the top of the page, followed by the regular results or what search marketers call the "organic search results". Traffic that comes via SEO is often referred to as "organic search traffic" to differentiate it from traffic that comes through paid search.
Paid search is often referred to as search engine marketing (SEM) or pay-per-click (PPC).
SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing, which is just another way of saying search marketing. It’s a broad term that includes both SEO and PPC, all aiming to drive traffic to your site through organic (unpaid) and paid efforts. In simple terms, search marketing is about getting visibility and traffic from search engines using both paid and unpaid strategies.
So, what’s the difference between SEO and SEM? Technically, SEM encompasses SEO.
Things can get a bit confusing because many people today use SEM interchangeably with PPC. This can make it seem like SEO is being left out, but that’s not the case. SEO is just as much a part of marketing as PPC is.
PPC, or Pay-Per-Click, is a type of digital marketing where advertisers bid on specific keywords they want their ads to show up for in search results. When someone searches for those keywords, the ads appear at the top of the results page and if clicked on the advertisers pay-per-click.
It's crucial not to frame it as "SEO vs. PPC" in terms of which one is better. They complement each other and work best when used together, budget permitting.
SEO has evolved significantly since its inception in the early-1990s. It began with webmasters manually submitting URLs to search engines and including keyword-rich meta tags. Early search engines, like AltaVista and Infoseek, used these tags to index content. The late 1990s saw the rise of Google, which revolutionized SEO with its PageRank algorithm, focusing on the quality and quantity of backlinks. Over the years, SEO has become more sophisticated, incorporating user experience, mobile optimization, and content quality as key ranking factors.
Since then, there have been hundreds of algorithm changes, driving marketers to constantly adapt their strategies. The history of SEO demonstrates that a comprehensive digital marketing strategy is the best way to stay ahead. Creating content that genuinely benefits visitors but builds a sustainable and effective online presence.
Search engine optimization is a key part of online marketing because search is one of the primary ways that users navigate the web.
Search results are presented in an ordered list, and the higher up on that list a site can get, the more traffic the site will tend to receive. For example, for a typical search query, the number one result will receive 40-60% of the total traffic for that query, with the number two and three results receiving significantly less traffic. Only 2-3% of searchers click beyond the first page of search results. Thus, even a small improvement in search engine rankings can result in a website receiving more traffic and potentially business.
Because of this, many businesses and website owners will try to manipulate the search results so that their site shows up higher on the search results page (SERP) than their competitors. This is where SEO comes in.
Search engines such as Google use an algorithm or set of rules to determine what pages to show for any given query. These algorithms have evolved to be extremely complex, and take into account hundreds or even thousands of different ranking factors to determine the rankings of their SERPs. However, there are three core metrics that search engines evaluate to determine the quality of a site and how it should rank:
The search engine optimization process involves optimizing each of these core components of search engine algorithms in order to rank higher in the search results.
Understanding how search engines work is only the first step of the process in improving a site's search rankings. Actually improving a site's rank involves leveraging various SEO techniques to optimize the site for search:
Keyword research is often the starting point for SEO and involves looking at what keywords a site is already ranking for, what keywords competitors rank for, and what other keywords potential customers are searching for. Identifying the terms that searchers use in Google search and other search engines provide direction on what existing content can be optimized and what new content can be created.
Once potential keywords are identified, content marketing comes into play. This can be updating existing content or creating brand new pieces of content. Because Google and other search engines place a premium on high-quality content, it's important to research what content is already out there and create a compelling piece of content that provides a positive user experience and has a chance of ranking higher in the search engine results. Good content also has a greater chance of being shared on social media and attracting links.
Because links from external websites (called "backlinks" in SEO parlance) are one of the core ranking factors in Google and other major search engines, obtaining high-quality backlinks is one of the main levers that SEO has. This can involve promoting good content, reaching out to other websites and building relationships with webmasters, submitting websites to relevant web directories, and getting press to attract links from other websites.
In addition to off-page factors such as links, improving the actual structure of the page can have tremendous benefits for SEO, and is a factor that is entirely in the control of the webmaster. Common on-page optimization techniques include optimizing the URL of the page to incorporate keywords, updating the title tag of the page to use relevant search terms, and using the alt attribute to describe images. Updating a page's meta tags (such as the meta description tag) can also be beneficial-- these tags don't have a direct impact on search rankings, but can increase click-through rate from the SERPs.
External links are not the only thing that matters for SEO, internal links (the links within one's own website) play a large role in SEO as well. Thus a search engine optimizer can improve a site's SEO by making sure key pages are being linked to and that relevant anchor text is being used in those links to help improve a page's relevance for specific terms. Creating an XML sitemap can also be a good way for larger pages to help search engines discover and crawl all of the site's pages.
Another SEO strategy that SEO experts utilize is optimizing a website's semantic markup. Semantic markup (such as Schema.org) is used to describe the meaning behind the content on a page, such as helping to identify who the author of a piece of content is or the topic and type of content on a page. Using semantic markup can help with getting rich snippets displayed in the search results page, such as extra text, review stars and even images. Rich snippets in the SERPs doesn't have an impact on search rankings, but can improve CTR from search, resulting in an increase in organic traffic.
As a fairly technical discipline, there are many tools and software that SEO relies on to help with optimizing websites. Below are some commonly used free and paid tools:.
See the results of your SEO efforts can take time, typically between 3-6 months, depending on factors such as industry competitiveness, the quality of SEO strategies implemented, also the website's current standing. Initial improvements might be visible within a few weeks, particularly with on-page optimizations and technical fixes, but substantial and sustained growth usually takes longer as search engines indexes change and as site authority builds. Patience and consistent effort are key to long-term SEO success.
Search engine optimization done properly can have the potential to dramatically increase the amount of traffic that a website receives, but all of that search traffic won’t help grow a business unless it converts into paying customers. This is where conversion rate optimization (CRO) comes in.
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. Successful search marketers know that just getting traffic to a site is not enough, what the traffic does once it arrives on the site is just as important.
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