What is SEO in Digital Marketing?

Search engine optimization, better known as SEO, is the art and science of getting people to find your website, go to it and stay on it longer. It sounds simple, but it’s a multi-layered process.

Many businesses worry about being buried beneath their competitors in Google search results. After all, 93% of all web experiences start on a search engine, yet only 9% of content on Google gets traffic!

At Zoe Marketing & Communications, we understand this tension and frustration. In our 35+ years of experience in the Detroit and Chicago markets, we’ve helped businesses navigate SEO in digital marketing. In this blog, we’ll unravel the essentials of SEO in four key parts:

• Defining SEO and its purpose in digital marketing
• The 3 core components of SEO (on-site, technical, off-site)
• How SEO in digital marketing is evolving 
• Ethical practices with SEO 

You’ll gain a clearer picture of what effective SEO looks like — and the scope. Based on that, you can decide what you can start tackling on your own and where you might want help.

Defining SEO and its purpose in digital marketing

SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process of helping people find your website in their search results. Good SEO ensures they click and stick on your site for a while.

SEO boosts your website's visibility. So, when someone types a query into Google (mostly) or Microsoft Bing (a bit), your site is ideally one of the top “hits.” After all, most people never surf beyond the first page of results (at least 75%-90%, depending on the source).

And why does SEO matter in digital marketing? Higher visibility means more visitors, and more visitors can lead to more customers.

The 3 core components of SEO

Search engine optimization has three main layers: on-site SEO, technical SEO and off-site SEO. Each component helps boost your searchability and digital marketing success.

1. On-site SEO

On-site SEO includes optimizing on-screen content and some behind-the-scenes content just for Google. This is the area of SEO you have the most control over, so it’s crucial to start — and maximize — your SEO efforts here.

• Content quality: Every page or blog on your website should address something folks want to know. Is it relevant? Does it resonate and answer their questions? In-depth information is a must (aim for about 750-1,200 words), along with general readability, formatting and grammar. Remember, good content like images and videos also matter.
• Keyword research: Each blog or page should have a targeted keyword based on what people are actually looking up. These are words or phrases people might type into a search engine when looking for content like yours. Start with Google Analytics; from there, tools like SEMRush can dig deeper (it has free and paid versions).
• Meta tags: This content doesn’t appear on your site, but it shows up in Google’s results. They’re short lines of text that explain what’s on the page. Two matter most, and each should contain the keyword you’re trying to “rank” for:

1. Title tags are the overall title of your article. They’re only 50-60 characters.
2. Meta descriptions tell Google (and people) what the article is about. They’re 150-160 characters, max.

• Internal links: Weave links to more of your own (related!) content within each page or blog. This creates a more interconnected website that’s easier for Google to navigate. It can also keep folks on your site longer, building up your traffic and authority.

2. Technical SEO

Technical SEO is the “backstage” nitty-gritty work that makes the user experience, or UX, shine. Keep in mind that if your site isn’t in top-functioning shape, people will leave it. And that will hurt your SEO. A few key factors to consider:

• Website speed: Your website should load within 1-2 seconds. In fact, on mobile devices, if a page takes longer than 3 seconds to load, 53% of users will bounce. This is a sign to Google that your UX isn’t great, which hurts your SEO.
• Mobile optimization: Users (and Google) expect your website to appear in the proper dimensions on a desktop, tablet and smartphone. Most sites are responsive and handle this resizing for you. But it’s still important to be mindful of images, font size, ads and more to ensure they display correctly in all formats.
• Sitemap setup: A sitemap is a list of all the URLs on your website. It’s like a blueprint that tells Google what content you have and how to get there. Setting this up via Google Search Console is imperative. If Google can’t track you, you don’t exist.
• Security: Add HTTPS to your URL to secure your site and protect any personal info people submit. Also, add an SSL certificate to encrypt users’ info as it’s transferred from your website to your database.
• Clean URL structure: Make sure URLs are short and clear. Omit extraneous small words and limit them to about 75 characters.
• Fix duplicate copy: If you have duplicate pages, Google won’t know which is the right one to show in search results. If the dupes are intentional, assign canonical tags to this content to tell Google which is the “mothership.” If not, use 301 redirects, which usually do the trick.

3. Off-site SEO

Off-site SEO comes from outside sources that are pointing to your website. Google wants to ensure others think you’re an expert, too — not just take your word for it. 

• Backlinks: These are links from other websites to yours. This can happen organically with time as you build content. It also takes connecting with other reputable resources, offering them valuable links that could augment their existing content.
• Local SEO: Add your company to “NAP” (name, address, phone) directories like Google Business Profile, local chambers of commerce and national or industry directories.
• Brand mentions: "Name drops" from other reputable companies, even without a backlink, can help your SEO.
• Social media: While it’s evolving, traditional social media doesn’t directly impact SEO. However, posting and advertising on these platforms increases brand awareness, which helps SEO long-term.

How SEO in digital marketing is evolving

Far from static, SEO is in constant flux. Google has about 200 ranking factors — and the algorithms are constantly changing. But here are a few things to keep an eye on:

• Core web vitals: Google is increasingly emphasizing this set of UX-geared metrics. It's related to a page's speed, responsiveness and visual stability.
• Experience: Google changed its “EAT” acronym — short for expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness — to “EEAT,” which adds “experience.” That means it values content produced by someone with firsthand experience on whatever topic you’re covering.
• Helpful content: Google also prizes content that informs and helps people vs. simply includes keywords and is “engineered” to rank higher in search results.
• Generative AI results: As artificial intelligence keeps evolving, so do Google’s search results. Focus on giving direct answers and insights to boost your odds of ranking higher.

Ethical practices with SEO

Finally, it’s worth noting that keeping your SEO practices “above board” is crucial.

While it’s fading, keyword stuffing is a well-known “black hat” practice. This means packing keywords into content too often to get a ranking advantage. Be mindful of using keywords in titles, meta descriptions and headers, yes — but in a way that feels organic and not spammy.

Make sure your SEO follows good “white hat” practices. These include:

• Writing content geared at helping people (not robots!)
• Doing good keyword research, analysis and application
• Building up backlinks through quality writing and honest outreach

Next steps for building up your SEO strategy

Every business has felt some frustration over SEO. It can seem like a maze filled with constant twists and strange terms. And it’s especially challenging if you’re struggling to appear higher in Google search results.

But you now understand how SEO works, especially the three types (on-site, technical and off-site) — and its constant evolution. If you feel ready for some help, talk to us. Zoe Marketing & Communications can help harness your SEO power for better results.

And, whether or not you’re ready to work with an agency, keep leveling up your SEO by learning:

• What a pillar page is and how it can improve your SEO
• Top tactics for a full-funnel marketing strategy