If you are an aspiring blogger, a digital marketer or a business owner, you have probably seen the term SEO thrown around. But what does this three-letter-term exactly mean? SEO is short for Search Engine Optimization. For many entrepreneurs and newbie marketers, learning this concept can feel like a nightmare.

Before you get lost in the complexities, let us first discuss what it is and why it is worth studying.

Everybody who owns a website wants to land a spot on the first page of Google search results. Understanding search engines first will help you grasp the idea of SEO. Think of Google as the library – a place where you can look for information.

Let us pretend that you want to know more information about “farming.” The librarian will most likely ask you the aspect of farming you want to know about. You respond by saying you want to learn how to grow an organic vegetable garden in your backyard.

By giving these specific gardening keywords, your librarian can provide you with the best information you need. But how does your librarian determine the best information, or in this case, data for your need? This is where SEO comes in.

Webmasters, marketers, and bloggers read and learn about search engine optimization to make sure that their site is visible to search engines like Google or Bing. Without it, the sites will remain outdated, and Google will quickly overlook websites that are not optimized.

Because Google is an artificial intelligence machine built on algorithms and learning abilities, it detects properties like content, keywords, links, and much more to determine if your site is worthy to be presented to their users. Here are some basic key terms that you should know.

Optimization stands for the techniques, strategies and tactics used to invite and garner more visitors to your website. In other words, the more you continue to optimize your website for SEO, the more you gain visitors to your site. The amount of visitors, data sent and received by visitors is called traffic.

Another definition you need to familiarize yourself with is the term keyword. This is the key phrase or the sets of words used by the users in Google to find what they are looking for. Popular keywords have, if not hundreds, thousands of monthly searches. So getting a position for one of them will be tough.

As you learn the ropes and apply SEO, you will eventually get there. Furthermore, you will soon be introduced to other terms as you continue to study this subject. Let us now talk about why SEO is essential to every webmaster by citing an example.

One huge aspect of SEO is learning how to strategically and efficiently use keywords. Ranking for a popular keyword or key phrase could bring you as much as 40,000 visitors a month. However, there are other factors to consider here as well.

Let us say that the keyword you used averages 200 searches a month, and you rank number one for this particular search. Even if your profits are low, there is still an enormous potential for high earnings. Regardless of whatever product or service your site offers, ranking on top of these keywords nevertheless equates to high-profit potential.

An important detail to learn is before you start optimizing, you need to strategize appropriately. Some techniques can deliver your site a good reputation, but there are also wrong tactics that can pull your stats down and even get your site penalized. This means for every post you publish, every page you create within your domain, it needs to have its purpose. Here is an excellent article about differentiating whitehat SEO with blackhat SEO.

If you are a business with a marketing budget, you can use an SEO agency to help you develop your brand and get trusted by search engines. If you have established your website, one important detail to remember is to keep it updated by adding quality content. But there are also specific rules to follow when it comes to creating content for SEO. Right now, publishing content for the readers is the essential way to keep your website current.

You have to target your readers’ interests and cater to their informational needs to ensure that they stay engaged with your site. Call-to-action techniques such as downloading an e-book, leaving their emails for discount codes or inviting them to sign up for free trial services can help bring more business in. This is particularly essential for websites who are selling products or services.

You need to remember that when you do not optimize your site, there is very minimal chance of landing that first-page spot on the search engine results page (SERP). And honestly, people rarely check the second page.

SEO helps drive more traffic and valuable leads to your business. If you do not want to spend a lot of money on costly advertising, it is your best choice. Here is a link to the General Guidelines to help Google find, index and rank your site.