What Is Search Engine Optimisation? Everything You Need To Know Search Engine Optimisation is better known as SEO, which is a process of steps to help your website or content rank well in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). SERPs are the pages that come up when you do a search using Google. There is a big difference between paid advertising and SEO. Search Engine Optimisation is an organic ranking, which means you don't pay for the space. Your content or site is optimised to show at the top of the page when someone searches for a product or service you provide. The aim is to get you onto the first page, as seventy-five percent of searchers don't go past the first page of results. There are two very important parts to search engine optimisation. These are on-page and offpage SEO. On-page, SEO is the content you build to improve your ranking. This means incorporating keywords into your content and pages, writing high-quality content regularly, and creating keyword-rich and well-written meta descriptions and tags. Off-page, SEO is what happens behind the scenes, such as earning backlinks. Backlinks are links to content or a page of your website, from another site that found your information relevant. Backlinks are an imperative part of any effective SEO campaign. Then there are white hat and black hat techniques. Some people look for quick gains and quickly move on to something else. In SEO these quick gains are known as black hat SEO and are not recommended. It is sneaky tactics such as automatic link building and keyword stuffing, which may work in the short term, but will not provide long-term results, as Google will find it and penalize or blacklist your website altogether. White hat techniques are building a sustainable online business, focusing on the human audience. You will provide the best content and meet the search engine rules and algorithm updates. Some of the signs of black hat techniques include keyword stuffing, invisible text, cloaking or redirecting, automatic link building, and more. Content remains king in the Search Engine Optimisation industry. Google users are happier when they find results that answer their questions or provide information on what they are looking for. Google is constantly thriving to provide its users with a better experience, directing them to the best content it can find. Several elements come with the content you create to ensure it remains high quality. Until a few years ago, posting any content filled with keywords saw results. Today Google has algorithms in place to ensure that keywords are not stuffed into the pieces and they offer value to the user.