What is SEO?

SEO stands for search engine optimisation. It is the practice of improving your website so that it appears higher in the unpaid (organic) results of search engines like Google and Bing, bringing more of the right visitors to your site without paying for each click.

Increasingly, SEO also covers how your business appears in AI answers, such as Google’s AI Overviews and assistants like ChatGPT, because they draw on the same signals.

How search engines decide what to show

Search engines work in three stages:

1. Crawling: automated programs, such as Googlebot, follow links to discover pages.
2. Indexing: Google reads each page and stores what it is about.
3. Ranking: when someone searches, Google orders the indexed pages by how relevant, useful and trustworthy they are for that search, also taking into account things like location and device.

SEO makes sure your pages pass each stage, and stand out at the last one.

SEO involves three main areas

1. On-page SEO: making changes to your website

On-page SEO is about the content of each page: researching the words your customers search for, writing pages that fully answer those searches, and making the subject clear through page titles, headings, descriptions, images and internal links between your pages.

2. Technical SEO: making your site easy to crawl and use

Technical SEO covers the foundations: fast loading, good Core Web Vitals, mobile-friendly design, HTTPS, a clear site structure, sitemaps, and making sure the pages you want are not blocked or duplicated. If these are broken, even great content can struggle.

3. Off-page SEO: building your reputation outside the website

Off-page SEO is about how the rest of the web sees you: links and mentions from relevant, respected websites, reviews, and for local businesses, a strong Google Business Profile. These signals help Google judge whether your site is a trustworthy source.

Why SEO matters for a business

• It reaches people when they are looking. Someone searching “emergency plumber near me” or “accountant for small business” already wants what you offer.
• It keeps working. Unlike ads, which stop when you stop paying, good rankings bring visitors month after month.
• It builds trust. Many people trust organic results and well-reviewed businesses more than adverts.

For a better insight into the factors influencing a website’s rankings, see the graph below:

How an SEO campaign works

1. Audit: a review of your website’s technical health, content and links.
2. Research: your market, your competitors and the searches worth targeting.
3. Optimisation: fixing technical issues and improving or creating the pages that should rank.
4. Authority building: earning links, mentions and reviews.
5. Measurement: tracking rankings, traffic and, most importantly, enquiries and sales.

Most businesses start to see measurable results within three to six months, with competitive searches taking longer. SEO is ongoing, because competitors and Google’s systems keep changing. For a practical walkthrough, see how to get on Google’s first page.

SEO – Is it worth it?

For most businesses, yes. Paid ads deliver traffic immediately, but SEO builds an asset that keeps bringing visitors long after the work is done, which usually makes it the better return over time. The two also work well together.

SEO can also go wrong: random changes based on conflicting advice online can lower rankings rather than raise them. If you want to understand who can help, read what an SEO consultant does for a business, or see the typical cost of SEO help in the UK.

Wondering what SEO could do for your business? Ask for a free website review.