Search Engine Optimisation or SEO does exactly what it says on the tin. SEO is work to optimise a website and make it accessible for search engines so that they index the pages and the website can then be ranked for a particular key phrase and shown in search engine results.
Let’s say you are looking to buy a new house. You’ll do a search for ‘houses for sale’ or you might even Google ‘houses for sale + town’ to find houses near you. An estate agent or property comparison site will optimise their website so that it can be found for those words. How well the website is optimised makes the difference between number 1 on page 1 results and page 6+ results.
Search engine optimisation has grown into a huge industry, estimated to be worth over $80 billion dollars in the US in 2020 (Forbes). While elements of search engine optimisation can be technical, and a business might need to bring in SEO expertise for these elements, a small business can do a lot to improve its ranking in-house.
Next: SEO Ranking Factors