General SEO

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Quick Definition

SEO is the practice of improving a website's visibility in unpaid search engine results through technical, content, and authority work.

In context

Search Engine Optimization covers everything that helps a page rank higher in Google, Bing, and other engines without paying for placement. It spans three pillars: technical SEO (making the site crawlable and fast), on-page SEO (optimizing content and tags), and off-page SEO (earning links and trust signals). Done well, SEO compounds over time and delivers traffic at a lower per-acquisition cost than paid channels.

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Related terms

Page Authority (PA)

Page Authority is Moz's per-page version of Domain Authority, predicting how well a single URL is likely to rank.

Rich Result

A rich result is any non-standard SERP listing enhanced by structured data — review stars, FAQ accordions, recipe cards, event listings, product cards.

Indexing

Indexing is the process of Google adding a page to its searchable database. A page must be indexed before it can appear in search results.

SEM (Search Engine Marketing)

SEM is the broader category that includes both paid search advertising (PPC) and organic SEO — though many marketers use SEM as shorthand for paid search only.

Black Hat SEO

Black hat SEO uses tactics that violate Google's guidelines — cloaking, hidden text, link schemes, scaled spam content, PBNs.

Ranking Factor

A ranking factor is any signal Google uses to determine where a page appears in search results — content relevance, backlinks, page speed, user experience, and hundreds of others.

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