8.S: Search engine optimisation (SEO)(Summary)

The average website receives a significant proportion of its traffic from search engines, highlighting the importance of SEO.

There are two types of search results:

1. Organic or natural results
2. Paid results.

SEO aims to improve a website’s ranking in the organic results. Search engine optimisation is a fairly technical practice but it can easily be broken down into five main areas:

1. A search engine friendly website structure
2. A well-researched list of keywords
3. Content optimised to target those keywords
4. Link popularity
5. User insights.

Growing trends in SEO include the influence of social content on search results, mobile SEO and local search. Google is placing more and more emphasis on a mobile-first approach.