[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Hero” _builder_version=”4.6.5″ use_background_color_gradient=”on” background_color_gradient_start=”rgba(0,0,0,0.6)” background_color_gradient_end=”rgba(0,0,0,0.6)” background_color_gradient_overlays_image=”on” background_image=”https:\/\/graphicandweb.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/seo_AI_Design_Solutions.jpeg” custom_padding=”110px|0px|110px|0px|false|false” animation_style=”zoom” animation_intensity_zoom=”4%”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.6.5″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” animation_direction=”top” animation_intensity_slide=”3%”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.6.5″ custom_padding=”0px||||false|false” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.27.4″ text_font=”Montserrat|500||on|||||” text_text_color=”#f7f7f7″ text_font_size=”16px” text_letter_spacing=”3px” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_margin=”|||” animation_style=”slide” animation_direction=”bottom” locked=”off”][\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.27.4″ text_font=”||||||||” header_font=”Montserrat|700||on|||||” header_text_color=”#ffffff” header_font_size=”60px” header_line_height=”1.3em” header_2_font=”||||||||” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_margin=”|||” animation_style=”fade” header_font_size_last_edited=”off|desktop” locked=”off”]<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.27.4″ text_font=”||||||||” text_text_color=”#ffffff” text_font_size=”24px” text_line_height=”1.8em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” max_width=”700px” module_alignment=”left” animation_style=”flip” animation_direction=”top” animation_intensity_flip=”20%” locked=”off”]<\/p>\n
SEO stands for\u00a0Search Engine Optimization<\/strong>, which is the practice of increasing the\u00a0quantity<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0quality<\/em>\u00a0of traffic to your website through\u00a0organic search engine results<\/em>.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Fullwidth Image” _builder_version=”3.22″ custom_padding=”110px|0px|110px|0px”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.6.5″ text_font=”Arial||||||||” text_text_color=”#747d88″ text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.8em” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” text_orientation=”center” max_width=”700px” module_alignment=”center” animation_style=”fade” animation_direction=”top” border_radii=”on|3px|3px|3px|3px” border_width_all=”1px” border_style_all=”dashed”]<\/p>\n To understand the true meaning of SEO, let\u2019s break that definition down and look at the parts:<\/p>\n Organic search traffic is specifically any unpaid traffic that comes from SERPs.<\/p>\n You might think of a search engine as a website you visit to type (or speak) a question into a box and Google, Yahoo!, Bing, or whatever search engine you\u2019re using magically replies with a long list of links to webpages that could potentially answer your question.<\/p>\n That\u2019s true. But have you ever stopped to consider what\u2019s behind those magical lists of links?<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how it works: Google (or any search engine you\u2019re using) has a crawler that goes out and gathers information about all the content they can find on the Internet. The crawlers bring all those 1s and 0s back to the search engine to build an index. That index is then fed through an algorithm that tries to match all that data with your query.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]SEO requirements keep changing, and it can be hard to keep up with the latest developments. But if you want your Google rankings to go from unseen to the top of the list, you have to be in the know.<\/p>\n Well-optimized sites get more and more traffic over time, and that means\u00a0more leads and sales<\/strong>. Without SEO, searchers won\u2019t be able to find your site, and all your hard work will be for nothing.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.6.5″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.6.5″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.6.5″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/graphicandweb.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/The-Only-SEO-Checklist-You-Will-Need-in-2020.png” title_text=”The Only SEO Checklist You Will Need in 2020″ _builder_version=”4.6.5″ _module_preset=”default”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Hero” _builder_version=”4.6.5″ use_background_color_gradient=”on” background_color_gradient_start=”rgba(0,0,0,0.6)” background_color_gradient_end=”rgba(0,0,0,0.6)” background_color_gradient_overlays_image=”on” background_image=”https:\/\/graphicandweb.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/seo_AI_Design_Solutions.jpeg” custom_padding=”110px|0px|110px|0px|false|false” animation_style=”zoom” animation_intensity_zoom=”4%”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.6.5″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” animation_direction=”top” animation_intensity_slide=”3%”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.6.5″ custom_padding=”0px||||false|false” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.27.4″ text_font=”Montserrat|500||on|||||” text_text_color=”#f7f7f7″ text_font_size=”16px” text_letter_spacing=”3px” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_margin=”|||” animation_style=”slide” animation_direction=”bottom” locked=”off”][\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.27.4″ text_font=”||||||||” header_font=”Montserrat|700||on|||||” header_text_color=”#ffffff” header_font_size=”60px” header_line_height=”1.3em” header_2_font=”||||||||” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_margin=”|||” animation_style=”fade” header_font_size_last_edited=”off|desktop” locked=”off”] What is SEO? [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.27.4″ […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"\n SEO stands for \u201csearch engine optimization.\u201d It\u2019s the practice of increasing both the quality and quantity of website traffic, as well as exposure to your brand, through non-paid (also known as \"organic\") search engine results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the acronym, SEO is as much about people as it is about search engines themselves.<\/em> It\u2019s about understanding what people are searching for online, the answers they are seeking, the words they\u2019re using, and the type of content they wish to consume. Knowing the answers to these questions will allow you to connect to the people who are searching online for the solutions you offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If knowing your audience\u2019s intent is one side of the SEO coin, delivering it in a way search engine crawlers can find and understand is the other. In this guide, expect to learn how to do both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you're having trouble with any of the definitions in this chapter, be sure to open up our SEO glossary for reference!Check out the SEO glossary <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Search engines are answer machines. They scour billions of pieces of content and evaluate thousands of factors to determine which content is most likely to answer your query.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Search engines do all of this by discovering and cataloguing all available content on the Internet (web pages, PDFs, images, videos, etc.) via a process known as \u201ccrawling and indexing,\u201d and then ordering it by how well it matches the query in a process we refer to as \u201cranking.\u201d We\u2019ll cover crawling, indexing, and ranking in more detail in Chapter 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As we said earlier, organic search results are the ones that are earned through effective SEO, not paid for (i.e. not advertising). These used to be easy to spot - the ads were clearly labeled as such and the remaining results typically took the form of \"10 blue links\" listed below them. But with the way search has changed, how can we spot organic results today?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, search engine results pages \u2014 often referred to as \u201cSERPs\u201d \u2014 are filled with both more advertising and more dynamic organic results formats (called \u201cSERP features\u201d) than we've ever seen before. Some examples of SERP features are featured snippets (or answer boxes), People Also Ask boxes, image carousels, etc. New SERP features continue to emerge, driven largely by what people are seeking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, if you search for \"Denver weather,\" you\u2019ll see a weather forecast for the city of Denver directly in the SERP instead of a link to a site that might have that forecast. And, if you search for \u201cpizza Denver,\u201d you\u2019ll see a \u201clocal pack\u201d result made up of Denver pizza places. Convenient, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s important to remember that search engines make money from advertising. Their goal is to better solve searcher\u2019s queries (within SERPs), to keep searchers coming back, and to keep them on the SERPs longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some SERP features on Google are organic and can be influenced by SEO. These include featured snippets (a promoted organic result that displays an answer inside a box) and related questions (a.k.a. \"People Also Ask\" boxes).<\/p>\n\n\n\n It's worth noting that there are many other search features that, even though they aren't paid advertising, can't typically be influenced by SEO. These features often have data acquired from proprietary data sources, such as Wikipedia, WebMD, and IMDb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While paid advertising, social media, and other online platforms can generate traffic to websites, the majority of online traffic is driven by search engines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Organic search results cover more digital real estate, appear more credible to savvy searchers, and receive way more clicks than paid advertisements. For example, of all US searches, only ~2.8%<\/a> of people click on paid advertisements.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat goes into SEO?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
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How SEO works<\/span><\/h2>\n
What is SEO?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What's that word mean?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Search engine basics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Which search results are \"organic\"?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Why SEO is important<\/h2>\n\n\n\n