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SEO, or search engine optimization, refers to the enhancement of your website to boost its presence on search engines like Google, Microsoft Bing, and others. This involves optimizing your site for visibility when people search for the products you offer, the services you provide, or information on topics where you possess expertise or experience. Improved visibility in search results increases the likelihood of your pages being discovered and clicked on. The ultimate objective of SEO is to attract website visitors who may convert into customers, clients, or a recurring audience.
Distinguishing SEO from SEM and PPC:
SEM and PPC are frequently encountered terms in the Search Engine Land and the broader search marketing community. To gain a better understanding of these terms and their relationship with SEO, continue reading.
SEO vs. SEM:
SEM, or search engine marketing, is commonly referred to as search marketing. It falls under the umbrella of digital marketing, encompassing both SEO and PPC activities aimed at generating traffic through organic and paid search efforts. In essence, search marketing involves attracting traffic and visibility from search engines through a combination of paid and unpaid strategies.
So, how do SEO and SEM differ? Technically, they are not distinct entities; rather, SEO constitutes one-half of SEM:
- SEO involves driving organic traffic from search engines.
- SEM involves driving both organic and paid traffic from search engines.
However, there's some confusion in today's usage, as many people employ SEM interchangeably with PPC, which will be discussed in the next section. Despite this, it's crucial to recognize that SEO is a form of marketing, just like PPC.
Here's a helpful analogy to understand SEO and SEM:
Imagine SEM as a coin, with SEO on one side and PPC on the flip side.
SEO vs. PPC:
PPC, or pay-per-click, is a type of digital marketing where advertisers incur charges whenever their ads are clicked on by users. Advertisers bid on specific keywords or phrases to have their ads appear among the top results when users search for those terms.
In the context of search marketing being a coin, SEO and PPC represent two sides of the same coin – SEO is the unpaid side, while PPC is the paid side. It's essential not to view it as an "SEO vs. PPC" scenario; instead, they are complementary channels. Ideally, both should be utilized, depending on budget constraints.
It's worth noting that within the industry, SEM and PPC are often used interchangeably. However, on Search Engine Land, when referencing "SEM," it includes both SEO (organic search) and PPC (paid search).
Why SEO Holds Significance:
SEO plays a pivotal role as a marketing channel, primarily because organic search contributes to 53% of all website traffic. This statistic underscores the forecasted growth of the global SEO industry to a substantial $122.11 billion by 2028. SEO delivers tangible business outcomes for brands, enterprises, and organizations of varying sizes.
When individuals embark on journeys such as seeking information, conducting research, making purchases, or engaging in activities, their initial step typically involves a search. However, the landscape of search has become highly fragmented, encompassing traditional web search engines (e.g., Google, Microsoft Bing), social platforms (e.g., YouTube, TikTok), and retailer websites (e.g., Amazon). Notably, 61% of U.S. online shoppers initiate their product searches on Amazon, outpacing those who begin on search engines like Google.
Given the trillions of searches conducted annually, search serves as a primary source of traffic for websites. This underscores the necessity of being "search engine friendly" across all platforms where users might search for a brand or business. The improved visibility and higher ranking in search results positively impact competitiveness and contribute to the bottom line.
SEO gains additional importance due to the highly competitive nature of search engine results pages (SERPs), filled with various search features and PPC ads. These SERP features include knowledge panels, featured snippets, maps, images, videos, top stories (news), People Also Ask, and carousels.
Furthermore, SEO distinguishes itself as a sustainable marketing channel. Unlike other channels where traffic diminishes after the conclusion of a paid campaign or experiences variability on social media, SEO provides lasting benefits. It forms the foundation of holistic marketing, ensuring that every aspect aligns with user preferences.
Types of SEO:
SEO encompasses three primary types:
1. Technical SEO: Optimization of a website's technical elements.
2. On-site SEO: Optimization of website content for users and search engines.
3. Off-site SEO: Creation of brand assets and activities enhancing brand awareness and recognition, including demonstrating expertise, authority, trustworthiness, and demand generation.
Technical Optimization:
Optimizing the technical aspects is fundamental for SEO success. It begins with creating a crawlable and indexable website architecture. Key technical elements include URL structure, navigation, internal linking, page load speed, mobile-friendliness, HTTPS, structured data (schema), and considerations related to web hosting, CMS, and site security.
Content Optimization:
Content optimization caters to both people and search engines. The focus is on publishing helpful, high-quality content that covers relevant topics, includes appropriate keywords, is unique, well-written, up-to-date, and multimedia-rich. Optimization for people involves readability, structure, and user-friendly attributes. Key content elements optimized for search engines include title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, image alt text, and metadata for open graph and Twitter Cards.
Off-site Optimization:
While not strictly SEO, various off-site activities contribute indirectly to SEO success. Link building, aimed at acquiring links from relevant, authoritative websites, is a central off-site SEO activity. Other off-site optimization activities include brand building, PR, content marketing, social media marketing, listing management, and managing ratings and reviews.
In essence, SEO operates as a sports team, requiring a robust offense (content optimization), defense (technical optimization), and fan engagement (off-site optimization) for success.
SEO Specializations:
Search engine optimization comprises several subgenres, each requiring distinct tactics and posing unique challenges compared to regular SEO. Five noteworthy SEO specialties include:
1. Ecommerce SEO: Involves additional elements such as optimizing category and product pages, faceted navigation, internal linking structures, product images, product reviews, and schema, among others.
2. Enterprise SEO: Encompasses SEO on a massive scale, dealing with websites or multiple websites/brands with over 1 million pages or based on the organization's size and revenue. It often involves delays in implementing SEO changes and collaboration with multiple stakeholders.
3. International SEO: Focuses on global SEO for international businesses, optimizing multiregional or multilingual websites and adapting to international search engines like Baidu or Naver.
4. Local SEO: Aims to optimize websites for visibility in local organic search engine results by managing and obtaining reviews, business listings, and other local-centric efforts.
5. News SEO: Prioritizes speed for quick inclusion in Google's index and appearance in places like Google Discover, Google's Top Stories, and Google News. Involves understanding best practices for paywalls, news-specific structured data, and more.
How SEO Functions:
SEO operates through a combination of people, processes, technology, and activities, contributing to its effectiveness. The essential components making SEO work include:
1. Understanding How Search Engines Work:
- Crawling: Search engines use crawlers to discover web pages through links and sitemaps.
- Rendering: Engines generate page views using HTML, JavaScript, and CSS information.
- Indexing: Content and metadata are analyzed and added to a database, though not every page may be indexed.
- Ranking: Complex algorithms assess signals to determine a page's relevance and quality for search queries.
Optimizing for different search platforms, such as Google, YouTube, or Amazon, involves considering unique factors specific to each platform.
2. Researching:
- Audience research: Understand target demographics, psychographics, pain points, and questions.
- Keyword research: Identify relevant and valuable search terms and assess demand and competition.
- Competitor research: Analyze competitors' strengths, weaknesses, and content strategies.
- Brand/business/client research: Understand goals and align SEO to achieve them.
- Website research: Conduct various SEO audits to uncover opportunities and issues on a website.
- SERP analysis: Understand search intent for a given query and create content accordingly.
3. Planning:
- Develop a long-term SEO strategy with clear goals, KPIs, timelines, and milestones.
- Set expectations, define metrics, coordinate with stakeholders, choose tools, and allocate a budget.
- Structure a team, implement projects, and document the strategy and process.
4. Creating and Implementing:
- Create new content and advise on content creation.
- Implement changes to existing pages, enhancing content, internal links, and keywords/topics/entities.
- Remove outdated or low-quality content that does not align with SEO goals.
5. Monitoring and Maintaining:
- Monitor website health, traffic fluctuations, page performance, broken links, and other potential issues.
- Address and rectify problems promptly to ensure continuous SEO success.
6. Analyzing, evaluating, and reporting on performance:
Without measurement, SEO improvement is impossible. To make informed decisions about SEO, it's crucial to utilize:
- Website analytics: Set up and employ tools, including Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Bing Webmaster Tools, to gather performance data.
- Tools and platforms: Choose from various all-in-one platforms or select specific SEO tools to monitor performance in specific tasks. Alternatively, custom tools can be created if existing options don't meet specific requirements.
After data collection, reporting on progress is essential, either through software-generated reports or manual methods. Performance reporting should narrate a story and occur at meaningful intervals, usually comparing to previous reporting periods, such as year-over-year comparisons, depending on the website type.
SEO is an Ongoing Process:
SEO is a continuous effort. Search engines, user behaviors, and competitors are always evolving. Websites change over time, and content becomes outdated. Processes should continually improve and become more efficient.
In summary, there's always something to monitor, test, or enhance. As Bruce Clay succinctly put it, SEO is only complete when Google stops changing things, and all competition ceases.
How to Learn SEO:
Now that there's an understanding of what SEO is and how it works, the next step is to learn more. Keeping up with the latest SEO news, research, best practices, and developments should become a regular habit, whether daily, weekly, or monthly. Attending at least one or two events per year is also a valuable investment.
Due to the constant evolution of searcher expectations and behavior, along with advancements in technology, staying informed is essential. Trusted resources and tips to grow as an SEO professional include:
**Search Engine Land’s SEO resources:**
Search Engine Land, covering SEO since 2006, offers news stories and contributed articles featuring SEO tips, tactics, trends, and analysis. Subscribing to Search Engine Land’s free email newsletter provides a daily roundup of the latest SEO news and insights.
The Guide to SEO by Search Engine Land walks through the fundamentals of search optimization, providing tactical tips for improving website visibility.
**Google’s SEO resources:**
Google provides essential SEO resources, including the Search Essentials guide, SEO starter guide, and search quality evaluator guidelines. These documents cover technical requirements, spam policies, best practices, and how Google evaluates content quality and website authority.
Developing SEO Skills:
Learning SEO involves hands-on experience and experimentation. Building websites on topics of personal interest, trying various tactics, and analyzing results are effective ways to deepen SEO knowledge.
Beyond experimentation, attending search conferences like SMX Advanced (June) and SMX Next (November) offers dedicated SEO tracks with insightful speakers and presentations. Other learning options include websites, blogs, publications, books, ebooks, videos, podcasts, webinars, conferences, courses, training programs, groups, newsletters, following experts on social media, forums, and more.
Caution is advised to verify information accuracy, as some resources may contain outdated or incorrect SEO information. There are no universal truths or big secrets in SEO – success requires dedicated effort across all phases to enhance visibility, clicks, traffic, authority, conversions, sales, and revenue.
Distinguishing SEO from SEM and PPC:
SEM and PPC are frequently encountered terms in the Search Engine Land and the broader search marketing community. To gain a better understanding of these terms and their relationship with SEO, continue reading.
SEO vs. SEM:
SEM, or search engine marketing, is commonly referred to as search marketing. It falls under the umbrella of digital marketing, encompassing both SEO and PPC activities aimed at generating traffic through organic and paid search efforts. In essence, search marketing involves attracting traffic and visibility from search engines through a combination of paid and unpaid strategies.
So, how do SEO and SEM differ? Technically, they are not distinct entities; rather, SEO constitutes one-half of SEM:
- SEO involves driving organic traffic from search engines.
- SEM involves driving both organic and paid traffic from search engines.
However, there's some confusion in today's usage, as many people employ SEM interchangeably with PPC, which will be discussed in the next section. Despite this, it's crucial to recognize that SEO is a form of marketing, just like PPC.
Here's a helpful analogy to understand SEO and SEM:
Imagine SEM as a coin, with SEO on one side and PPC on the flip side.
SEO vs. PPC:
PPC, or pay-per-click, is a type of digital marketing where advertisers incur charges whenever their ads are clicked on by users. Advertisers bid on specific keywords or phrases to have their ads appear among the top results when users search for those terms.
In the context of search marketing being a coin, SEO and PPC represent two sides of the same coin – SEO is the unpaid side, while PPC is the paid side. It's essential not to view it as an "SEO vs. PPC" scenario; instead, they are complementary channels. Ideally, both should be utilized, depending on budget constraints.
It's worth noting that within the industry, SEM and PPC are often used interchangeably. However, on Search Engine Land, when referencing "SEM," it includes both SEO (organic search) and PPC (paid search).
Why SEO Holds Significance:
SEO plays a pivotal role as a marketing channel, primarily because organic search contributes to 53% of all website traffic. This statistic underscores the forecasted growth of the global SEO industry to a substantial $122.11 billion by 2028. SEO delivers tangible business outcomes for brands, enterprises, and organizations of varying sizes.
When individuals embark on journeys such as seeking information, conducting research, making purchases, or engaging in activities, their initial step typically involves a search. However, the landscape of search has become highly fragmented, encompassing traditional web search engines (e.g., Google, Microsoft Bing), social platforms (e.g., YouTube, TikTok), and retailer websites (e.g., Amazon). Notably, 61% of U.S. online shoppers initiate their product searches on Amazon, outpacing those who begin on search engines like Google.
Given the trillions of searches conducted annually, search serves as a primary source of traffic for websites. This underscores the necessity of being "search engine friendly" across all platforms where users might search for a brand or business. The improved visibility and higher ranking in search results positively impact competitiveness and contribute to the bottom line.
SEO gains additional importance due to the highly competitive nature of search engine results pages (SERPs), filled with various search features and PPC ads. These SERP features include knowledge panels, featured snippets, maps, images, videos, top stories (news), People Also Ask, and carousels.
Furthermore, SEO distinguishes itself as a sustainable marketing channel. Unlike other channels where traffic diminishes after the conclusion of a paid campaign or experiences variability on social media, SEO provides lasting benefits. It forms the foundation of holistic marketing, ensuring that every aspect aligns with user preferences.
Types of SEO:
SEO encompasses three primary types:
1. Technical SEO: Optimization of a website's technical elements.
2. On-site SEO: Optimization of website content for users and search engines.
3. Off-site SEO: Creation of brand assets and activities enhancing brand awareness and recognition, including demonstrating expertise, authority, trustworthiness, and demand generation.
Technical Optimization:
Optimizing the technical aspects is fundamental for SEO success. It begins with creating a crawlable and indexable website architecture. Key technical elements include URL structure, navigation, internal linking, page load speed, mobile-friendliness, HTTPS, structured data (schema), and considerations related to web hosting, CMS, and site security.
Content Optimization:
Content optimization caters to both people and search engines. The focus is on publishing helpful, high-quality content that covers relevant topics, includes appropriate keywords, is unique, well-written, up-to-date, and multimedia-rich. Optimization for people involves readability, structure, and user-friendly attributes. Key content elements optimized for search engines include title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, image alt text, and metadata for open graph and Twitter Cards.
Off-site Optimization:
While not strictly SEO, various off-site activities contribute indirectly to SEO success. Link building, aimed at acquiring links from relevant, authoritative websites, is a central off-site SEO activity. Other off-site optimization activities include brand building, PR, content marketing, social media marketing, listing management, and managing ratings and reviews.
In essence, SEO operates as a sports team, requiring a robust offense (content optimization), defense (technical optimization), and fan engagement (off-site optimization) for success.
SEO Specializations:
Search engine optimization comprises several subgenres, each requiring distinct tactics and posing unique challenges compared to regular SEO. Five noteworthy SEO specialties include:
1. Ecommerce SEO: Involves additional elements such as optimizing category and product pages, faceted navigation, internal linking structures, product images, product reviews, and schema, among others.
2. Enterprise SEO: Encompasses SEO on a massive scale, dealing with websites or multiple websites/brands with over 1 million pages or based on the organization's size and revenue. It often involves delays in implementing SEO changes and collaboration with multiple stakeholders.
3. International SEO: Focuses on global SEO for international businesses, optimizing multiregional or multilingual websites and adapting to international search engines like Baidu or Naver.
4. Local SEO: Aims to optimize websites for visibility in local organic search engine results by managing and obtaining reviews, business listings, and other local-centric efforts.
5. News SEO: Prioritizes speed for quick inclusion in Google's index and appearance in places like Google Discover, Google's Top Stories, and Google News. Involves understanding best practices for paywalls, news-specific structured data, and more.
How SEO Functions:
SEO operates through a combination of people, processes, technology, and activities, contributing to its effectiveness. The essential components making SEO work include:
1. Understanding How Search Engines Work:
- Crawling: Search engines use crawlers to discover web pages through links and sitemaps.
- Rendering: Engines generate page views using HTML, JavaScript, and CSS information.
- Indexing: Content and metadata are analyzed and added to a database, though not every page may be indexed.
- Ranking: Complex algorithms assess signals to determine a page's relevance and quality for search queries.
Optimizing for different search platforms, such as Google, YouTube, or Amazon, involves considering unique factors specific to each platform.
2. Researching:
- Audience research: Understand target demographics, psychographics, pain points, and questions.
- Keyword research: Identify relevant and valuable search terms and assess demand and competition.
- Competitor research: Analyze competitors' strengths, weaknesses, and content strategies.
- Brand/business/client research: Understand goals and align SEO to achieve them.
- Website research: Conduct various SEO audits to uncover opportunities and issues on a website.
- SERP analysis: Understand search intent for a given query and create content accordingly.
3. Planning:
- Develop a long-term SEO strategy with clear goals, KPIs, timelines, and milestones.
- Set expectations, define metrics, coordinate with stakeholders, choose tools, and allocate a budget.
- Structure a team, implement projects, and document the strategy and process.
4. Creating and Implementing:
- Create new content and advise on content creation.
- Implement changes to existing pages, enhancing content, internal links, and keywords/topics/entities.
- Remove outdated or low-quality content that does not align with SEO goals.
5. Monitoring and Maintaining:
- Monitor website health, traffic fluctuations, page performance, broken links, and other potential issues.
- Address and rectify problems promptly to ensure continuous SEO success.
6. Analyzing, evaluating, and reporting on performance:
Without measurement, SEO improvement is impossible. To make informed decisions about SEO, it's crucial to utilize:
- Website analytics: Set up and employ tools, including Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Bing Webmaster Tools, to gather performance data.
- Tools and platforms: Choose from various all-in-one platforms or select specific SEO tools to monitor performance in specific tasks. Alternatively, custom tools can be created if existing options don't meet specific requirements.
After data collection, reporting on progress is essential, either through software-generated reports or manual methods. Performance reporting should narrate a story and occur at meaningful intervals, usually comparing to previous reporting periods, such as year-over-year comparisons, depending on the website type.
SEO is an Ongoing Process:
SEO is a continuous effort. Search engines, user behaviors, and competitors are always evolving. Websites change over time, and content becomes outdated. Processes should continually improve and become more efficient.
In summary, there's always something to monitor, test, or enhance. As Bruce Clay succinctly put it, SEO is only complete when Google stops changing things, and all competition ceases.
How to Learn SEO:
Now that there's an understanding of what SEO is and how it works, the next step is to learn more. Keeping up with the latest SEO news, research, best practices, and developments should become a regular habit, whether daily, weekly, or monthly. Attending at least one or two events per year is also a valuable investment.
Due to the constant evolution of searcher expectations and behavior, along with advancements in technology, staying informed is essential. Trusted resources and tips to grow as an SEO professional include:
**Search Engine Land’s SEO resources:**
Search Engine Land, covering SEO since 2006, offers news stories and contributed articles featuring SEO tips, tactics, trends, and analysis. Subscribing to Search Engine Land’s free email newsletter provides a daily roundup of the latest SEO news and insights.
The Guide to SEO by Search Engine Land walks through the fundamentals of search optimization, providing tactical tips for improving website visibility.
**Google’s SEO resources:**
Google provides essential SEO resources, including the Search Essentials guide, SEO starter guide, and search quality evaluator guidelines. These documents cover technical requirements, spam policies, best practices, and how Google evaluates content quality and website authority.
Developing SEO Skills:
Learning SEO involves hands-on experience and experimentation. Building websites on topics of personal interest, trying various tactics, and analyzing results are effective ways to deepen SEO knowledge.
Beyond experimentation, attending search conferences like SMX Advanced (June) and SMX Next (November) offers dedicated SEO tracks with insightful speakers and presentations. Other learning options include websites, blogs, publications, books, ebooks, videos, podcasts, webinars, conferences, courses, training programs, groups, newsletters, following experts on social media, forums, and more.
Caution is advised to verify information accuracy, as some resources may contain outdated or incorrect SEO information. There are no universal truths or big secrets in SEO – success requires dedicated effort across all phases to enhance visibility, clicks, traffic, authority, conversions, sales, and revenue.
