SEO may be described in only a few ways. Expand the acronym, and you have, Search Engine Optimization, so that part is easy enough.
But then, we have to get to “What IS SEO?” And, that takes some plain English translation of techno-speak, where we actually have to make sense of something that sounds complex.
Of course, it’s not fair to use the words; Search, Engine, or Optimization, in the definition. So, let’s give it a try, shall we?
Here it is: SEO is the process of making content on websites relevant to the big names you know, like Google, Bing and Yahoo.
The links you get in the list of results returned for the terms you search depends on what the engines find when they look at content available on the web. So, if your web pages have information (meaning lots of words and phrases) on something like, “dog walking” or “dog grooming”, the search engines will get to know your website as a provider of information on those topics. Furthermore, if other people share links to your site, as a recommendation to others for information on the topics of “dog walking” or “dog grooming”, the search engines might start to think your site is a great resource for those topics and rank your site even higher in their results.
Of course, we could go on about all of the things that impact search results and your ranking with search engines, but to answer that one basic question: “What IS SEO?” – you simply have to know that the engines match content to topics, then use that information to return a list of links to someone searching terms that refer to those topics. Think of it as a kind of digital match game, or match making, if you like. The content on your website “matches” what the search users want and the search engines return links to your web pages in those results (SERPs).
Did that do it? Was it plain enough? If not, see below for links to resources for similar answers.
Some even have short videos to show you what SEO means. Enjoy!
- The easy way: Let Google Do It!
- Search Engine Land
- Wikipedia
- Red Evolution
- YouTube