It is not a direct ranking factor in Google’s algorithm, but they are crucial for boosting your click-through rates, building trust, and increasing user engagement. A well-crafted meta description helps users quickly understand what they’ll find on your web page, aligns with their search intent, and gently nudges them to visit your site instead of your competitor’s. In short, optimizing your site for SEO makes it easier for your target audience to find your content, products, and services organically—without using paid ads. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of orienting your website to rank higher on a search engine results page (SERP) so that you receive more traffic. The aim is typically to rank on the first page of Google results for search terms that mean the most to your target audience.

On-page optimization

The table below shows the SEO strategy and its effect on user experience. No matter how many times you use a keyword in a blog post or site page if that content doesn’t actually help your visitors better understand their challenges. One of the most important things to remember when it comes to your company’s website is that you need to think beyond the search engines. This improves your online visibility, increasing your chances of being found by relevant customers online. Sometimes your social authority can even impact your SERP ranking.

seo meaning

In this article, we have compiled a glossary of 100 key terms and their descriptions to help you navigate the complex world of SEO. There’s a high chance you can improve the CTR by writing a better title tag and meta description for the page that ranks for the query. As we’ve mentioned in the previous chapter, the title tag and meta description of a page is a good place to put your focus keyword. Title tag and meta description are HTML elements that represent the title and description of the page. They are displayed in the search results or when the page is shared on social media. Putting your focus keyword in the title tag (and, to a lesser extent, in the meta SEO Anomaly description) is very important.

SEO offers a global, 24/7 presence, driving free, organic traffic to your website. The reach is virtually unlimited, and your content is available around the clock. Compared to SEO, social media is more immediate and dynamic, requiring constant effort to stay relevant.

seo meaning

One of the most important factors in local SEO is optimizing your Google Business Profile because Google evaluates and ranks profiles (rather than webpages) in map-based results. According to Semrush Sensor data from September 2024, Google displays images in the top 20 results for over half of U.S. Technical SEO involves improving the technical aspects of your website to enhance its search visibility.

seo meaning

Website optimization

  • You’ll also find links to useful resources from our SEO Blog and YouTube channel throughout, so you can forge your own path to SEO mastery.
  • So if you don’t fall into the categories they want to see, your chances of ranking are extremely low, even if you have all the link metrics.
  • There are many good resources you can find online, and a good portion of them are free.
  • That’s why we offer a free and Premium version of our WordPress plugin, allowing you to get started with SEO without too much trouble.
  • Now that you’ve seen what types of backlinks are the most helpful for your Google rankings, it’s time for me to show you how to start building them.

In truth, SEO-friendly content follows best practices for discoverability, readability and authority. If you’re ready to grow traffic, build trust, and future-proof your presence online, reach out to Andava Digital. With Hummingbird, Google started looking at searches as a conversation and not as a collection of individual words. This paved the way for future developments in searches with artificial intelligence. If potential customers search for your products, solutions, or services, you need SEO to be found and convert browsers into customers. Both SEO and programmatic SEO drive organic traffic to your website, but they achieve this in very different ways.

seo meaning

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).