SEO is improving your website so Google understands it and shows it in the free results when people search for what you offer. Google works in three stages: crawling to discover pages, indexing to understand and store them, then serving the most relevant results for each search, and it does not accept payment to rank a site higher.
Step by step
- 1
Crawling
Google's programs follow links and sitemaps to discover your pages, and a page that no link points to may never be found.
- 2
Indexing
Google analyzes a page's text, title and images to understand its topic, and it does not guarantee to index every page it visits.
- 3
Serving results
For each search, Google picks the most useful pages for what the searcher means, taking into account factors such as their language, location and device.
- 4
Technical SEO
Site speed, good performance on mobile, working links, and no indexing errors.
- 5
On-page SEO
Content that clearly answers the question, and a title and description that match what people type into search.
- 6
Off-site SEO
Links and mentions from trusted websites, genuine reviews, and a complete Google Business Profile.
Stuffing a page with keywords is against Google's spam policies, and it harms your site rather than lifting it.
- what does seo mean
- how does search engine optimization work