Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process by which a website gains a favourable position at the top of the search engine results (and thereby increases relevant traffic to the website). There are two main types of SEO; Paid for and organic. This section will focus mainly on organic SEO.
Paid for SEO is a method by which to pay to ensure that your webpages appear at the top of a search engine results page for certain keywords. You can pay to rank well for a number of keywords and phrases and if people type these words into a search, your webpages will appear on page one.
This is only ever seen as a short-term strategy; as soon as you stop paying, your page no longer ranks well for those keywords. It can be a way to bridge the gap whilst you implement your organic SEO strategy or it can be a way to rank well as part of a campaign but should not be seen as a long-term solution.
Organic SEO is the process by which a website gains traffic from the “free,” “organic,” “editorial” or “natural” listings on search engines. In other words, it is the way you implement keywords and phrases within your copy, the way you use headings and subheadings, the meta descriptions, the links – both internal and external and the way your copy is shared.
It is the holistic and iterative approach to increasing website rankings and performance within search engine indices based on targeted keyphrases. It is a long-term strategy that encompasses every aspect of online activity including web and social media.