What Is SEO?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the art and science of ranking pages high in search engines like Google. Since search is one of the main ways in which people find content online, ranking high in search engines can increase traffic to a website.

In Google and other search engines, the results page often consists of paid ads at the top of the page, followed by regular results or what search marketers call "organic search results." Traffic that comes through SEO is often called "organic search traffic" to distinguish it from traffic that comes through paid search. Paid search is often called search engine marketing (SEM) or pay-per-click (PPC).