What is SEO? An introduction to search engine optimisation

The online world is competitive and just having an online presence is not always enough to make businesses or individuals stand out above the competition. So, what is SEO? And how can it help?

In short, search engine optimisation (SEO) is a form of digital marketing that includes a range of tactics and strategies designed to help a website rank well in search engines like Google and Bing. How you approach SEO will depend on a range of factors, from what sort of site you run, to which audiences you target.

In this article, we’ll provide a basic introduction to some basic SEO concepts, along with some easy tips to get you started.

Why is SEO important?

Search engines, such as Google, Bing and Yahoo are the primary source of organic – not paid-for – traffic for most websites.

When users search using one of these engines – whether that’s for information, products or services – a search engine will display a list of results that are deemed to be most relevant to the query. Most SEOs will refer to the search results as SERPs.

In most cases, users tend to click on the top results, usually ignoring those pages appearing lower down the page. Backlinko.com have provided a range of statistics that you can bear in mind when you think about your rank in the SERPs.

According to their data, the:

no. 1 result in Google’s SERPs received an average click-through rate (CTR) of 27.6%,
no.1 result in Google SERPs is 10 times more likely to be clicked than the no.10 result.

Additionally, their data suggested that improving by 1 position in the SERPs will, on average, result in a 2.8% improvement in your CTR.

A similar study by Search Engine Journal – one of the best-regarded SEO resources online – provided data that supports the research above, showing that, on average:

the no.1 result in the SERPs achieved 28.5% of clicks,
the no.2 result achieved 15.7% of clicks,
the no.3 result achieved 11% of clicks,
the no. 4 result achieved 8% of clicks,
and the no. 5 result achieved 7.2%.

For positions 6 to 10, the percentage keeps dropping to 2.5% in the last position.

What this data tells us is that, in order to succeed online, it’s important to make use of good SEO. And, if you’re thinking about how to market your website, SEO is likely to be the best area to explore first.

Different types of SEO

As well as being a broad marketing concept, SEO also includes a range of types, each of which includes a specific set of strategies and concepts:

On-page SEO
Off-page SEO
Technical SEO
Local SEO
User experience

In the following sections, we’ll briefly explore these different types of SEO.

On-page SEO

On-page SEO optimisation is primarily concerned with the creation of high-quality, relevant content on your site. Typically, content creators will focus on specific keywords or search terms to create pages that provide information to match a user’s needs.

For example, if a user searches ‘what is SEO’, they’ll want a page like this one, that breaks down the basics. They probably wouldn’t want to see a page describing advanced SEO techniques that assume prior knowledge or experience.

As well as being concerned about what keywords are being used, on-page SEO includes optimising things like metadata and article headings, using the right images to improve user understanding, and building a page in a way that is easily accessible.

If you want a rule to take away about on-page SEO, it’s this: always create the best content you can, for the user you want.

Think about what sort of content you are building and how people might engage with it; if a video is the best way to get your message across, use video. If a quiz is going to be better, do that instead. There’s no single approach that will always work, but if you think about the user first, then you’re on the right track.

Off-page SEO

As the title of this section suggests, off-page SEO includes processes and strategies that occur off your site.

Broadly, off-page SEO is the process of gaining mentions from other sources. This usually comes in the form of backlinks – other sites linking to yours – or in social media and brand mentions. Backlinks, in particular, are a massive focus area for most SEO professionals.

The reason off-page SEO matters is that, for search engines such as Google, backlinks are a highly relevant sign of authority. A site that nobody has linked to will, broadly, be seen as not relevant, whereas a site that’s been linked to a lot will be recognised as important. Of course, there is more to it than that.

Over the years, how Google and other search engines track backlinks has changed significantly. In the past, SEOs would try to gain as many links as possible from high domain authority (DA) sites to bolster their ranking. Today, tactics are generally more nuanced.

This is because DA is only part of the puzzle. A strong DA for the site linking to you is always important, but search engines now consider topical relevance a lot more than they used to.

For example, a website selling video games could get a high DA link from a site like the Daily Mail; this is good, but perhaps less relevant than a link from a site operating specifically in the video game sphere, such as IGN.

What this means is that, if you’re building a site and planning to do off-page SEO, you need to consider strategies that will gain you a mixture of backlinks. You’ll want some high DA sites linking, but should also focus a lot more on the sites that might be less well-known to the public generally, but that carries a lot of weight in the niche you’re working in.

Technical SEO

Technical SEO is a type of SEO that focuses on optimising the technical aspects of a website to make it as easy as possible for search engine crawlers – the tools used by search engines to index sites – to access and read content.

Some of the main focuses for technical SEO include optimising website speed, making sure a site is responsive on different types of devices and ensuring a clear URL structure is used. Each of these focus areas has a number of strategies aligned to them, with the complexity varying considerably.

All of these areas – site speed, site structure and responsiveness – are key criteria in search engines’ rank algorithms as they contribute to user experience. How much you need to worry about them as a website owner or manager will depend, to some extent, on how your site has been built.

Typically, the best website builder platforms, such as Wix and Squarespace, will be built in a way that is both fast and responsive across devices. Developed sites, such as custom WordPress domains, may not be.

Often, technical SEO projects will overlap with both on-page optimisation efforts, and also with development efforts.

Local SEO

Local SEO is exactly what it sounds like. It’s the type of SEO where you focus on ranking for certain terms that are specific to a location. This is not the same as trying to rank in a specific country.

Local SEO strategies are designed to make sure that your website is found when people are looking for it in a specific area. For example, if you run a restaurant with a website, you will probably want to focus on Local SEO so that, when someone searches for ‘restaurant in my area’, they’ll find your site.

Bear in mind that, if you are trying to rank for locale-specific terms, you still need to consider on-page SEO, off-page SEO and technical SEO too. Even though you are targeting people nearby, specifically, you still need to give them a high-quality experience.

Local SEO strategies include creating content specifically targeting your local area. For example, include terms like ‘restaurant in London’ on your homepage if you are a restaurant based in London. It will also mean making the most of Google Map functionality, and equivalents on other search engines.

User experience

User experience (UX) is sometimes treated as separate from SEO and is usually considered to be a different skill set. However, user experience has become one of the most important ranking factors for search engines such as Google, meaning that anyone running a website should bear it in mind.

There are a huge number of factors that can influence user experience, some of which have been mentioned in earlier sections. Site speed and responsiveness are two such examples.

As with on-site SEO, one of the most important things to consider with UX is how people want to engage with your content. If they want an easy-to-read article, that’s what you should provide; if they want a tutorial video, that’s what you should provide.

Just as importantly, you should consider how accessible these types of content are. Throwing pop-ups and ads at a user might be good for your revenue – and might be in the commercial strategy for those looking to create a business website – but they will also directly impact your users’ experience.

For a site to offer good UX, it needs to be easy to use and navigate. While you’re getting started online, you should test as often as possible with a wide range of people to ensure that your site is accessible and user-friendly.

Types of SEO: Top tips

To perform well on Google and other search engines, a website will need to make use of a range of strategies and techniques. The types of SEO mentioned above will form an important part of your approach to organic marketing.

In a nutshell, when you’re thinking of the different types of SEO, you can use the summaries below.

On-page SEO: The key to on-page SEO is to create high-quality content that matches user intent. Consider what a person would expect to find when they land on your page and match that as closely as possible.
Off-page SEO: When you think about off-page SEO, think carefully about the activities and strategies you can employ to drive traffic and links to your site from other sources. This will primarily revolve around building backlinks, but can also include social media marketing.
Technical SEO: A site needs to build correctly so that it can bring in organic traffic. Technical SEO includes a range factors, like site speed, URL structure and internal linking.
Local SEO: If you run a high-street business, then you will want to consider Local SEO. This is the best way to make sure your business appears first online when people search for your service or product in their area.
User experience: Though some people don’t consider it a part of SEO, user experience (UX) is vital to improve website performance. Consider how people navigate your pages and how easily they can access content.

Key SEO terms: glossary

There are a range of terms and buzzwords that get thrown around when you look for SEO tips. In this section, we’ll provide a quick introduction to some of the most common.

Keywords

If you start researching how to do your own SEO, ‘keywords’ is probably the first term you’ll come across.

In a nutshell, keywords are the terms and phrases that users enter into a search engine. Keywords are also known as queries.

When you begin writing and publishing content, you should conduct keyword research, using a tool like SEMRush, to identify the terms your audience is most likely to search. With this research, you can then identify the keywords you should use in your site content to make it clear to search engines and users that your page is relevant to them.

Take a look at our what is keyword tracking page for more information.

Organic traffic

Organic traffic is the term used in digital marketing to define any visits to your site that have come from a search engine. You can visit our what is Google Analytics page for more information on how data can be tracked.

It is primarily differentiated from other other forms of traffic, such as:

Direct Traffic – where users have specifically come to your site
Referral Traffic – where users have arrived on your site through a link on another site
Paid Traffic – where users have arrived on your site by clicking on a paid ad
Social Traffic – where users have arrived on your site from social media

SEO professionals concern themselves most with organic traffic, though some will also pay close attention to direct and referral traffic too.

If you are planning to use paid advertising – also known as search engine marketing (SEM) – or social media marketing then you might also need to keep an eye on those forms of session.

Backlinks

Backlinks is a term meaning links from another site.

As mentioned in the off-page SEO section, backlinks are enormously important to how well a site ranks. Gaining relevant and high-authority backlinks is a massive priority for most SEO professionals.

Unlike backlinks, internal links are sites that you use on your own site to provide click-through opportunities for your visitors.

Internal links are important for SEO, sitting in both the on-page and technical SEO fields, that help users and search engines to discover relevant information within your site.

Internal links will be made up of two main elements:

the anchor text, the linked words that appear on the page
the target link, the URL you want people to visit when they click the anchor text

What anchor text you choose is important. As a rule, it should make it clear to users what they can expect to find on the next page. A misleading internal link can be detrimental in the long-term.

What is SEO: Final thoughts

The main goal of SEO is to drive organic traffic to a website. By improving your page rank, your pages can appear higher in search results, ultimately improving the number of sessions your site receives.

Typically, organic traffic provides a high return-on-investment, and in many cases offers a better conversion rate than paid alternatives.

Bear in mind that SEO is a field that is evolving every month and year. What works today might not work tomorrow and Google, Bing and Yahoo are always updating and improving their algorithms to improve the quality of their search results.

It’s essential that website owners and SEO professionals keep updated on the latest trends to make sure they’re responding appropriately.

Bryn Glover

Bryn is the founder and editor of WebsiteJumpStart. He has worked in the digital field for over a decade and was editor for Startups.co.uk - the UK's leading small business website - and for NerdWallet UK before launching WebsiteJumpStart to help people and businesses get online with ease.

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