SEO
Why it matters
Searchers have already chosen to look for a solution, so the traffic arrives with intent. One good page can bring visitors for years with no cost per click. For a business selling to other businesses, it also reaches buyers during early research, before any shortlist exists. The trade-off is time. Results usually build over months, so SEO suits a business that can wait, and sits alongside a faster channel such as Paid search.
How to apply it
- Choose the question to answer, using Keyword research.
- Check what the results page already rewards. A list, a guide and a price page are different jobs. See Search intent.
- Write the page with one clear heading, sensible subheadings and the main term near the start.
- Fix technical basics: fast loading, clean addresses, a sitemap.
- Watch clicks and impressions in Google Search Console, and improve pages that are seen but not clicked.
What it is
Search engines such as Google try to show the most helpful page for each query. SEO is everything done to deserve that position without paying for a click. It has three parts that depend on each other.
- Content answers the question a person typed, in the format they expect.
- Technical health lets a crawler reach, read and index the page quickly. See Technical SEO.
- Authority is the trust a site earns when credible sites link to it. See Backlinks.
Common mistakes
- Writing for a term without looking at the results page first.
- Publishing many thin pages instead of a few strong ones.
- Buying links in bulk, which can lead to a penalty.
- Judging results after a few weeks.
