Business Strategy DefinedTerm

Search Engine Optimization

Also known as: SEO, Search Optimization

Practice of optimizing websites and content to rank higher in search engine results, including traditional SEO and AI-driven search optimization.

Updated: 2026-01-06

Definition

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is practice of improving websites, content, and technical structure to increase visibility in organic (non-paid) search results. Includes both traditional SEO (Google Search) and growing optimization for AI-powered search engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google’s generative overviews).

SEO is balance between satisfying algorithms and satisfying humans searching.

Traditional SEO Components

Technical SEO: ensure site crawlable, mobile-friendly, fast, structured with schema markup. Google must understand content.

On-Page SEO: titles, descriptions, headings, keyword usage optimized. Content quality, readability, expertise matter.

Off-Page SEO: backlinks from authoritative sites, social signals, brand mentions. External trust signals.

Content SEO: create content answering what people search. Length, depth, originality matter.

User Experience: site usability, bounce rate, time on page, click-through rate. Google rewards sites users love.

Generative Overviews: Google displays AI-generated answers directly in results, not just links. This disrupts traditional SEO—content needs visibility in AI-generated summaries, not just rank high.

New Challenge: how optimize for AI if you don’t know exactly what algorithm favors?

Content Quality Paramount: to be included in AI overview, content must be exceptionally useful, accurate, authoritative. No more quantity; quality reigns.

Modern SEO: E-E-A-T Framework

Google adopted Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness as core ranking factor.

  • Experience: do you have real experience with topic? Or generic advice?
  • Expertise: are you expert in domain?
  • Authoritativeness: is your site recognized authority?
  • Trustworthiness: is site reliable, transparent, secure?

Contemporary SEO Challenges

Algorithm Secrecy: Google doesn’t divulge exactly how ranking works. SEO is reverse-engineering + experimentation.

Rapid Change: algorithm updates frequent. Strategy working today might not tomorrow.

Competition: every niche competitive with millions sites. Ranking top difficult without significant budget and patience.

AI Disruption: AI-powered search changing game. Many questioning if SEO still relevant—answer is “evolves, yes”.

Spam and Manipulation: many attempt system gaming (link farms, keyword stuffing, auto-generated content). Google certainly updated combating this.

Contemporary Best Practices

  • Write for humans first, algorithm second
  • Create better content than what’s already ranking—be 10x better
  • Establish expertise and authority in your domain
  • Optimize for voice search and featured snippets
  • Build authentic backlinks through relationships and content quality
  • Monitor performance: track rankings, traffic, conversion
  • Anticipate AI search: structure content to be extractable by AI

Citation and Attribution: AI models cite sources. Ensure your site cited.

Structured Data: schema markup helps AI understand content structure.

Accuracy: AI evaluates factuality. False claims heavily penalized.

Comprehensiveness: incomplete answers rank lower. Deep coverage preferred.

Sources

  • Google Search Central: Official SEO documentation
  • Moz: “The Beginner’s Guide to SEO”
  • Search Engine Land: SEO and AI intersection
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