SEO stands for ‘search engine optimisation’; the practice of improving a website’s visibility and rankings in search engine results by engineering the website in various technical and content-related ways. The aim of SEO is to increase the amount of organic (non-paid for) traffic from target audiences. This is done by making the website more relevant and authoritative to the people you are targeting, as determined by the processes and algorithms of search engines like Google.

SEO is a mixture of disciplines that are coordinated to achieve the central goal. These include:

• Keyword research: Identifying keywords and phrases used by your target audience when searching for information related to your website’s content or products. This helps you understand search intent so you can focus your website’s content accordingly.
• On-page optimisation: Adjusting the content and structure of pages across the site to make them more ‘search engine friendly’. Covers things like meta descriptions, use of titles and heading tags, image captions and incorporating relevant keywords you’ve researched.
• Technical SEO: More technical (i.e. non-content) measures that facilitate easier search engine ‘crawling’ and indexing. Includes URL structures, minimising file sizes in order to maximise page loading speeds, XML sitemaps, internal links, mobile responsiveness, etc. Also includes many of the measures employed to promote an optimised user experience.
• External link building: This is key to optimising website authority and reputation. As well as acquiring high-quality backlinks from reputable websites, other measures can include engaging in social media marketing, online reputation management, and influencer outreach.
• Content optimisation: High-quality, relevant and engaging content that satisfies user search intent is critical to SEO success. Pieces that are easy to read, use targeted keywords with descriptive headings and subheadings, and that incorporate multimedia elements, are the mainstay of this brand of SEO.

Effective SEO is an ongoing process that requires continuous analytics and optimisation monitoring, so that strategies can be adapted to remain successful. This means staying up to date with search engine algorithm updates, new industry trends and changes to user behaviour.

SEO plays a pivotal role in driving organic traffic and inbound leads, enhancing brand visibility, establishing market credibility and improving user experience.

• SEO helps businesses improve their visibility by appearing prominently in search results when users search for relevant keywords. Higher visibility leads to increased brand exposure and more opportunities for attracting potential customers.
• By targeting the right SEO keywords, businesses can attract highly relevant and targeted traffic to their website. People actively searching for the right products or services are more likely to visit the website.
• Achieving higher search engine rankings (i.e. on the first page of search results) adds to a perception of credibility and trustworthiness among users. People are more likely to choose businesses with a strong organic presence in search engines.
• A by-product of SEO practices is an improvement in user experience (UX) brought about by optimised site structure, page load speed, cross-platform (i.e. both mobile and desktop) accessibility and user-friendly navigation. Better UX is proven to boost user satisfaction, lengthen website visits and improve sales conversions.
• SEO is a very cost-effective approach compared to other marketing channels like advertising – particularly over the medium to long term – which produces a consistent source of leads. And once a website achieves high rankings, the organic traffic you get attracts no direct costs per click/impression.
• Competitors will be actively investing in their SEO strategy, which makes it even more imperative to have a good SEO programme in place. Gearing your SEO so you appear higher in the search rankings than the competition allows you to capture more traffic and potential customers.