In essence, search engine optimization (SEO) stands for the activities for improving websites to lift their position in the search results of Google and other search engines.
SEO is an elementary part of digital marketing and is particularly important for e-commerce websites. This is because better visibility in the search results ensures more attention from potential as well as existing customers. A higher position in Google is also a significant competitive advantage.
How does SEO work?
Search engine’s bots crawl web pages from site to site and put the collected information in an index. When a user searches for something in the search engine, the algorithms analyze pages in the index, considering numerous ranking factors to determine the web pages’ order on the search engine results page (SERP). Among others, these ranking factors include user experience and content quality indicators as well as technical aspects like website performance.
SEO and advertising – what is the difference?
Unlike paid advertising, SEO targets “natural” or “organic” traffic. When digital marketers target traffic with paid ads, the users land on the website after clicking on these ads. Search engine optimization is generally a complementary process to advertising. When optimizing websites for Google, marketers and content strategists create useful content to attract users to certain search results. For example, if a user is searching for the best car subscription deal in a certain location, their purchase decision can be influenced by a paid ad with a good offer, or an attractive blog post about a car model that they always wanted to try out.
Since ads and SEO give the best results when combined, digital marketers recommend investing in both.
