Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of getting your website to rank in search results for your target keyword.

“Target keyword” refers to search queries you enter on the search engine bar. For example, if you have a nail salon business in Dallas, TX, you want to be seen in search results when someone enters “nail salon Dallas” or “nail spa texas.”

“Search results” are pages that rank for your target keyword. This is where search rankings come into place. Search engines reward web pages with content that is most relevant to the search query. If our hypothetical nail salon ranks on the fourth of fifth page of Google search result (there are ten results for every page) for “nail salon Dallas,” then it means that there are over 40-50 sites that provide more relevant and useful data than yours about the search query.

The higher the ranking of a page in search results, the more relevant it is about the target keyword. The methods on how to rank your site on the first result on organic search will be discussed later.

The whole idea of SEO, therefore, is to rank your website on the top spot of search results, if not on the first three spots.