What is search engine optimization?
TL;DR
SEO is the practice of improving your website to rank higher in Google search results. The three pillars are: technical (site speed, crawlability), on-page (content, keywords), and off-page (backlinks, citations). Results take 6-12 months but compound for years.
Detailed answer
- 1.Technical SEO: site speed, mobile, indexing, schema markup.
- 2.On-page SEO: content quality, keyword targeting, headers, meta tags.
- 3.Off-page SEO: backlinks, citations, brand mentions.
- 4.Local SEO: Google Business Profile, reviews, local citations.
- 5.Time to results: 3-6 months for low-competition terms, 12+ months for competitive.
Common mistakes
- 1. Keyword stuffing or thin content that doesn't answer the question.
- 2. Buying backlinks (Google penalizes this).
- 3. Quitting at month 4 before SEO starts compounding.
What to do instead
Build topical depth around 3-5 core topics. Ten high-quality pages on one topic outrank one comprehensive page.
Earn backlinks through valuable content, customer stories, and PR. One link from a respected local site outweighs 50 from low-quality directories.
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