SEO (search engine optimisation) marketing is the process of optimising your website and its content for visibility. An SEO-friendly site ranks high on a search engine results page (SERP) for relevant search queries (also called keywords), such as “ice cream near me” or “how to choose a career,” without the use of paid ads. In other words, when you optimise your site for SEO, you make it easier for internet searchers to find your content, products, and services.
SEO consists of several elements that help search engines like Google and Bing determine what a website is about and how it should rank on a search engine results page (SERP). These elements fall into three categories:
1. On-page SEO refers to a webpage’s content and how it’s crafted. Search engines are looking for content that is relevant to the keyword, satisfies searcher intent, is well-structured and easy to navigate, and offers information that is authoritative within an industry.
2. Off-page SEO refers to the backlinks a site acquires. Backlinks occur when other sites link to pages on your site. The more authoritative and relevant, the better for SEO. Over time, backlinks can contribute to your site’s authority and exposure.
3. Technical SEO refers to the backend aspects of your site, including title tags and meta descriptions that appear in a webpage's source code, the site’s structure and navigation, how pages within a site are linked to one another, and the site’s loading time.
The goal is to optimise elements in all three of these categories and have them operate harmoniously. In this article, you’ll learn why SEO marketing is important and steps you can take to improve your SEO content marketing efforts.