SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

SEO encompasses technical, content, and off-page strategies to help search engines understand and rank your website, driving organic traffic.

Why it matters

• Organic search drives 53% of all website traffic.
• Higher rankings lead to significantly more clicks (position 1 gets ~27% CTR).
• SEO provides sustainable, long-term traffic unlike paid advertising.
• Understanding search intent helps create better user experiences.

SEO pillars

• Technical SEO: Site structure, performance, crawlability, indexability.
• On-page SEO: Content optimization, keywords, meta tags, internal linking.
• Off-page SEO: Backlinks, brand mentions, social signals.
• User experience: Core Web Vitals, mobile-friendliness, engagement.

Technical fundamentals

• Fast page load times (Core Web Vitals: LCP, FID, CLS).
• Mobile-responsive design (mobile-first indexing).
• Clean URL structure with keywords.
• XML sitemaps and robots.txt configuration.
• HTTPS security (ranking factor since 2014).
• Structured data (Schema.org) for rich snippets.

Content optimization

• Keyword research to understand search intent.
• Quality content that satisfies user queries.
• Proper heading hierarchy (H1, H2, H3).
• Meta titles and descriptions that encourage clicks.
• Internal linking to distribute page authority.
• Regular content updates to maintain freshness.

Measuring success

• Organic traffic growth (Google Analytics).
• Keyword rankings (Ahrefs, SEMrush, GSC).
• Click-through rate from SERPs.
• Domain authority and backlink profile.
• Conversion rate from organic traffic.

Common mistakes

• Keyword stuffing instead of natural language.
• Neglecting technical issues (broken links, slow pages).
• Duplicate content across pages.
• Ignoring mobile optimization.
• Building low-quality or spammy backlinks.