What Is SEO? Understanding Search Engine Optimization in 2025

Calculating the number of links pointing to any given site helped them do this. This tactic made for terrible user experiences, and instead of laughing at funny jokes, people were bombarded by annoying, hard-to-read text. It may have worked in the past, but this is never what search engines wanted. How do search engines ensure that when someone types a query into the search bar, they get relevant results in return? That process is known as ranking, or the ordering of search results by most relevant to least relevant to a particular query.

This positive experience makes visitors more likely to stay longer and make a purchase. Google uses a multi-step process to discover, store, and rank web pages. With so much jargon and endless advice online, it’s hard to know where to begin. It’s important to make sure there are no technical faux pas that prevent Google from accessing and understanding your website. Note that you may need a web developer or SEO specialist to help you with technical tasks. Many of the other good SEO practices in this guide are good for UX, too.

Learn how to get more business from organic search with our SEO guides for local businesses. This is where you optimize your pages to help search engines understand them. Before you start learning SEO, you need to understand how search engines work. Familiarize yourself with Google’s spam policies before you start link building.

Analyze Competitor SEO Strategies

So, focus on trying to acquire links from authoritative sites in your niche or a closely related niche. Also, place your most important keyword near the start of the title—users will be more likely to notice it. If you’re an Ahrefs user, you can also use the Indentify intents AI feature to see the type of search intent that gets the most traffic. SEO works by creating high-quality, relevant content with good UX about things people search for, and then proving to Google it deserves to rank. For example, if you sell coffee, SEO can help your website show up on the first page of Google BHS Links when people search for “buy coffee”. Higher rankings lead to more clicks to your website, and that means more potential customers for your business.

Use Mailchimp to promote your brand, reach your target audience, and grow your business.

Here’s a beginner-friendly overview of algorithmic and manual search penalties, their differences, common issues that trigger them, and solutions for recovery. It’s also important to note that manual penalties are communicated through Google Search Console, an essential tool for website owners. In the context of SEO (Search Engine Optimization), content marketing plays a pivotal role in attracting search engines and helping your website rank higher for relevant keywords and phrases.

Google SEO Guide: The Ultimate Resource

• Learn how to establish authority so AI models and search engines rely on your content.
• Including search visibility, customer engagement, and listing traffic.
• This step is also where you write titles and descriptions that make people want to click on your result… even when you don’t rank #1.
• Whether for a side hustle, a personal project, or a small business, it’s now easier than ever to create a stunning website without any coding…
• Link building is a major part of this, where other websites link to your content.

This is why having a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy is paramount for anyone who wants to grow their business online. Schema tags and structured data are also important from an SEO perspective. Hence, you have a quick introduction to adding rich schemas and structured data in your website. A strong SEO strategy ensures that your website is easily discoverable by search engines, leading to increased visibility, credibility, and, ultimately, more visitors. However, there is no point in optimizing the title tags of pages that won’t be seen by searchers.