What is SEO?


With the rise of digitalization in every aspect of our world, SEO is probably a term that you might have heard at some point. But at the end of the day, can’t really have a concrete idea of what SEO is, because having someone telling you “I’m doing SEO in a fintech company in the AI area for driverless cars” is not that helpful.

SEO is quite complex but can really bring you more leads, and potential customers to your business, especially if you have a website.

But before looking at some tricks and ways to use the power of the internet to your advantage, we first need to establish the basis.

In this article, you will learn about what SEO is and how it basically works.

What is SEO ? 

SEO is an acronym and means “Search Engine Optimization.” In other words, it means “How can I make my website more visible on the internet, using either Google or another search engine?”. You get it, SEO is not that of a fancy word, it just talks about Search Engines like Google.

Concretely speaking, 

Taking it back to the basics, let’s say that the Internet is like a vast shared library, where anyone from anywhere and at any time can put his book on a shelf somewhere. But the same works the other way around, meaning when someone wants to consult a book in the library. But because it contains many books, the user needs to ask the librarian to provide him what he is looking for. And I’m sure  that you have guessed it, the librarian is no more than your search engine, like Google, Bing, Yahoo…

And SEO is all about how you make sure that when a user makes a request (Library), Google (Librarian) brings back the stack of results (books), with your website (your book). But you will tell me, what’s in it for me? Well, nowadays, lots of people, in their purchase habits, first gather information online about something before they buy it. For example, when you look for a pizza restaurant, you will first look on Google which ones are around, and if they have high ratings and so on.

Remember that 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uaC8RXAVobeLtNTkPKrbWSsBRbIM1DK5RtDidjNkhBg/edit?usp=drive_web&ouid=105951778266344462835You need to keep in mind that the first three results displayed after a Google request, gather almost 60% of all clicks. So, if you’re not in that top three, then the chances that the user clicks on your website is less and less likely to happen as you go down the result lists.

Now, let’s go back to our gigantic library. 

Let’s say that you wrote a book on vegan diets and put it on the shelf, along with millions of other books. Just right after, someone walks in, and ask the librarian “I’m looking for a vegan recipe book”. Then, I’m sure, you guessed it; your book will be brought to him. But there’s no way of knowing if he will pick it up. Especially if it is under the stack. (You can try to Google “vegan recipe”).

But what if your book was entitled: “Vegan recipes made with fresh and local vegetables”. And that someone would, again, walk in and ask, “I’m looking for a book on vegan recipes; and made with vegetables that are local and fresh”. Guess, what are the odds, that your book gets on the top of the stack.”

It is exactly the same with your website, you want to make sure that it appears in that top three results. And to do that, you use SEO techniques. The point here, is really to understand your audience. For example, what words people are most likely to use when requesting Google, the type of website content they are looking for and what answers they want to find.

SEO or SEM ? 

Finally, you will tell me, that you could just pay Google to appear on top of the results, in the “advertising” section. But this is called SEM. That’s why we say that SEO is organic because it’s naturally done.

Key take away

→ SEO is about optimization, in a way, that you appear in the top results suggestions on a given search engine.

→ SEO is about knowing your audience and using techniques, so it answers user’s requests and expectations.

→ SEO is free and organic, unlike SEM.

 70% of all clicks are on the top three results displayed

Interested in getting your SEO and increase your online presence? 

recap of what SEO is
Introduction to SEO - A Wavy series
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