What is SEO in Digital Marketing?
What is SEO in Digital Marketing?
In the digital marketing world, SEO, or search engine optimisation, is one of the key elements which helps to build a business’s online success. If you’ve ever wondered why or how websites appear in the order they do in search engine results pages, SEO is your answer.
Think of SEO as a results page helper, guiding users to the content which is going to be most relevant and useful to them every time they use a search engine. It is a key element of digital marketing that can be a confusing moving target and requires time and persistence to see results. Mastering SEO means your business will reach the right people (your target audience) and help to grow your online presence organically.
Let’s dive into what SEO is, how it works, and why it’s an essential piece of the digital marketing puzzle.
What SEO stands for
SEO stands for search engine optimisation, which is the practice of fine-tuning various elements of your website to make it attractive to both users and search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Optimising your site to make it more useful for users improves your chances of being shown further up on the search engine results pages, improving your chances of your site being seen and clicked on by a user searching for a term relevant to your site.
Think about when you last conducted a Google search. If you’re looking to buy dog food for example, how likely are you to look past the first page of results to find what you are looking for? Odds are, you’re going to click on a website featured on the first page as Google has chosen those sites as being the most relevant to your search. Each one of the websites that have been shown to you has implemented a range of SEO and digital marketing tactics to tell Google they are the right result for you and try to get in front of you first.
Search engine optimisation is a moving target, and is not a simple ‘one and done’ task – although sometimes we wish it was. SEO has to be considered as an ongoing strategy, constantly reviewed and analysed to generate new content and best practices to place your site as high up on the search engine rankings as possible and keep you there. With the right SEO strategy, you can help your site climb up the ranks, bringing it to the front page where more potential customers can see it.
What is SEO?
SEO is the art of optimising your website to make it more appealing to search engines and easier for users to find. Imagine having a great shop tucked away in a hidden alley—SEO brings it right out onto the high street. Even if your website has exactly the kind of product users are searching for, without good SEO, it will make it harder for those users to find your site and purchase from you.
How SEO impacts digital marketing
SEO is fundamental to digital marketing because it drives organic traffic—visitors you don’t have to pay for. Unlike ads, which stop bringing visitors when your budget runs out, SEO has lasting power. Good SEO brings a steady flow of people to your site, building awareness, credibility, and engagement over time.
Why SEO is important
- Visibility: SEO helps ensure that your content reaches people searching for related topics, boosting your brand’s reach.
- Credibility: Ranking well on search engines establishes trust and credibility; people are more likely to trust brands they find on the first page of search engine results pages.
- Cost-Effective: Unlike pay-per-click (PPC) ads, SEO doesn’t cost per click, which makes it a long-term investment in organic growth.
How SEO affects search engines
Understanding how search engines work is the first step in creating a winning SEO strategy. Trying to create content or make website tweaks that appeal to search engines without knowing what those search engines are looking for is useless, your SEO efforts need to be focused on what search engines are looking for (which is always going to be what your users are looking for).
How search engines choose organic search results
When you type a term into a search engine, your search engine assesses various factors associated with your query to determine what you are looking for and show you the most appropriate search results. This analysis is based on multiple elements, including intent, time of day, location, and more. To explain these elements more easily, we’ll use our dog food example again.
Depending on the query you enter, your search engine will try and determine your search intent. Are you looking to purchase something? Research about a topic? Compare prices? The search intent of your query will greatly affect the types of results you will be shown.
For example, if you search ‘dog food’, your search engine will generate results based on the highest likelihood of intent based on previous users’ web interactions from that same search term, which will be buying dog food. On the other hand, if you specified your intent more clearly with ‘best dog foods for golden retrievers’, the search engine may identify your intent as informational, and generate results for top 10 lists or even blog articles alongside some results for golden retriever-specific dog foods. If you search for ‘dog food near me’, the search engine will pick up on your location, and tailor results to show you physical dog food stores near your location at the time you search.
How search engines work
Search engine basics
Search engines use crawlers (or bots) that scour the internet, hopping from link to link to discover new content. Think of these bots as explorers, taking a look at every piece of content, from blog posts and videos to images, and gathering information. These bots evaluate the relevance of webpages to one another and their linked sites, enabling the search engine provider to understand how effectively your site serves its users. We’ll explain more about these bots and how to make your website easier for them to crawl later on.
Indexing and ranking
After exploring, these bots organize the information they find into an “index”—a giant library where content is catalogued by topic, keywords, relevance, and authority. When you type in a search, the search engine pulls results from this library and ranks them based on how closely they match your query.
Relevance and authority
Two major factors influence how search engines generate rankings: relevance and authority. Relevance measures how closely the content on a webpage matches what the user is looking for, while authority is like the trust score—based on backlinks, domain age, and engagement, basically everything the user will not see. SEO helps websites meet these criteria, pushing them higher up in search results.
SEO and paid search ads
Should you decide to venture into creating ads for your business, whether it’s via Google Ads, Facebook, or any other ad platform, you’ll need to consider your website’s SEO. A search engine determines which organic results to display based on SEO, and they apply the same principle when selecting the appropriate ad for a user.
How search engines measure SEO
Search engines evaluate several SEO factors, including:
Keyword relevance
Your website should target keywords that your preferred audience is likely to search. Conducting keyword research and identifying the specific keywords which are most relevant to your audience will help show search engines that your content aligns with a user’s search query.
Page load speed and user experience
While you might not think website speed is important, major search engines certainly do. If your website performs poorly, it reflects negatively on your site, indicating that it is not optimised for user experience. As a result, your site could drop in search rankings.
This also applies to how easy your site is to use. For example, if your e-commerce website has a poor checkout interface making it difficult to purchase your product, this tells search engines that your site isn’t fit for purpose, and negatively affects your search ranking as the engine won’t want to signpost users to a site which doesn’t help them complete their journey.
Mobile-friendliness
As mobile phones have become a second computer for most users, the percentage of web users browsing on their smaller mobile screens than desktop screens has increased immensely. Most websites now must be optimised for mobile use, and those which aren’t can be left behind on search engine result pages.
Content quality
As we know, users don’t just go onto a website to buy things. Information such as blogs, articles, white papers, and more provide significant value to users and help to show search engines that your site can offer users a wide variety of value outside of the products or services it sells. The practice of optimising a website’s content is often called content marketing and requires long-term strategies to ensure consistent improvement and a positive impact on SEO.
These elements, and many more, are just some criteria search engines use to determine where your site should rank.
Elements of search engine optimisation
Now, let’s break down the three main elements of SEO: on-site SEO, off-site SEO, and technical SEO.
On-site / On-page SEO
On-site SEO refers to optimisations you make directly on your website to make it more relevant and user-friendly. Here’s what it involves:
Content quality and keywords
Keywords are the words people type into search engines to find what they need. Including relevant keywords in your content can improve your chances of appearing in search results. But content quality is equally important—high-quality, informative, and engaging content is more likely to keep readers on your page, signalling to search engines that your content is valuable and going to be helpful to users.
Internal links and user engagement
Internal links connect different pages on your website, helping users navigate and discover more of your content. This strategy also helps search engines understand the structure of your site and can improve rankings.
Off-site / Off-page SEO
Off-site SEO focuses on actions taken outside your website that impact your rankings, mainly through building authority and credibility.
Backlinking and authority building
Backlinks are links from other websites pointing to your site. When reputable sites link to you, it’s like a vote of confidence, signalling that your content is trustworthy and valuable. Search engines trust reputable sites, so when they link to your site it shows you are reputable too. The more high-quality backlinks you have, the more likely search engines are to rank your site higher.
Link building can be an effective way to improve your website’s SEO, however, poor link building by buying links or gaining them from unreputable or low-value websites can do more harm than good, so it’s best to only seek links from sites which relate to your business and will have a positive impact on how search engines view your site.
Social signals and brand mentions
Although social media signals aren’t a direct ranking factor, they can indirectly improve SEO. When people share your content on social media or mention your brand, it increases your visibility and credibility, both of which are beneficial for SEO.
Technical SEO
Technical SEO focuses on the backend elements of your site, ensuring it’s easy to navigate for both users and search engines.
User experience (UX) and non-content optimisation
Site speed, mobile-friendliness, and HTTPS security contribute to a positive user experience. Search engines prioritize sites that are easy to use and accessible from any device.
Crawlability and site structure
Your website’s structure should be easy for search engine bots to navigate. A well-structured site with clear paths and minimal broken links helps search engines efficiently crawl and index your pages, boosting your ranking potential.
Talk To Media and SEO marketing
If you’re new to search engine marketing and optimisation, you may find many aspects of search engine optimisation daunting, especially when trying to factor in executing an SEO strategy alongside your regular business responsibilities.
Here at Talk To Media we have a team of SEO and content marketing specialists who can help you develop your website’s SEO and improve your ranking on search engine results pages. Whether you’re a small local business with a small budget, or a nation-wide operating organisation wanting to rank no.1 on Google, our team of friendly specialists can tailor a strategy specific to your business’s needs and budget.
Get in touch with us today and kick-start your business’s SEO.
SEO may seem complex, but it’s all about making your website visible and valuable to both users and search engines. By optimising for SEO, you’re investing in a long-term strategy that can bring sustainable traffic, improve brand credibility, and drive conversions. So, whether you’re a seasoned marketer or new to the digital world, understanding SEO and implementing these strategies can help you stay competitive in today’s online landscape. Dive into these practices, and watch your site’s reach and impact grow!
