What Is SEO? Understanding Search Engine Optimization in 2025

The first step in search engine optimization is to determine what keywords you’re optimizing for. SEO, or search engine optimization, is the strategic process of enhancing a website’s visibility and ranking on search engine results pages to increase organic traffic and online presence. Black Hat SEO refers to unethical and manipulative practices used to deceive search engines and artificially improve a website’s search engine rankings.

Entity-Oriented Search

You may want to consider SEO Anomaly unpublishing some or all of these—just make sure to set up redirects. Here’s how to use advanced SEO techniques to optimize your site’s performance. Start your free trial with Shopify today—then use these resources to guide you through every step of the process.

You will quickly see how many clicks and conversions your ads are generating on search engines. If you just want to try with free tools first, you will find lots of them online. Ahrefs provides fourteen free SEO tools, one for every aspect of SEO, including your central SEO dashboard called Webmaster Tools.

Google Analytics

Pages that best match a search query appear higher in results, driving more clicks. Organic searches drive most website traffic, making SEO one of the most powerful digital marketing strategies. Whether you’re running a blog, an online store, or a local business site, understanding SEO can increase your reach and success.

If you’re serious about improving search traffic we do recommend reading the Beginner’s Guide to SEO front-to-back. We’ve tried to make it as concise and easy to understand as possible, and learning the basics of SEO is a vital first step in achieving your online business goals. Basic technical knowledge will help you optimize your site for search engines and establish credibility with developers. Learn what search engine optimization is, why it matters, and all the need-to-know basics to start yourself off right.

• The number falls down to 15.8% for the second result and 11% for the third.
• The higher your pages appear in search results, the greater the chance they are discovered and clicked on.
• If you want a more comprehensive approach, our professional SEO services provide a dedicated account manager, complete SEO audits, tailored strategies, and access to industry experts.
• In the complex and ever-evolving world of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), having access to accurate and comprehensive data is crucial for making informed decisions.
• Many SEO experts consider your meta titles, or title tags, and meta descriptions to be some of the strongest SEO signals that you can send Google.

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These phrases reflect how people naturally search and how competitors are framed. The Ordinary baked them into every touchpoint including press releases, product descriptions, interviews, and influencer campaigns. Because AI models value research content so highly, they often surface these types of citations above more conventional brand messaging. Generative engines prioritize information that feels authoritative, and that includes data. But what’s interesting is that the data source doesn’t always have to be the brand itself. For example, when you search for McCallen personal injury lawyer, Patino Law Firm has the Google Map Pack for the keyword.

Behind Majestic is an advanced link intelligence map, which is perfect for grasping your website’s place on the Internet. After you have a basis for your SEO strategy, you can get started with on-page SEO. Checking your SEO via an in-depth audit will help you understand which areas of your site need the most help. Many of these elements can be optimized after you’ve published your content. Except for the URL, which you should avoid changing unless absolutely necessary.

The rest of this guide will walk you through how to implement these optimizations step-by-step. But feel free to keep the checklist open so you can follow along. The tool lets you know if you have your keyword in all the key locations like the H1 and body content (more on why this matters soon).