Diff: SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)

'''Search engine optimisation''' ('''SEO''') is the work of improving a website so that search engines can discover, crawl, understand, index, and present its pages more effectively. It mainly concerns unpaid search results, rather than paid search adverts.

SEO is not a trick for forcing a page to rank. A useful SEO process makes a site clearer for both search engines and visitors. It deals with page structure, technical access, useful content, metadata, internal links, performance, mobile usability, and evidence that a page is trustworthy enough to show for a query.

The purpose of SEO is to make relevant pages easier to find. A search engine has to discover a URL, fetch it, understand the content, decide whether it should be indexed, and then decide when it should appear in search results. SEO removes barriers from that chain.

For a business, publication, community site, or wiki, SEO can help people reach the right page without needing to know the site's internal navigation. For a search engine, good SEO provides clearer titles, headings, links, text, and technical signals.

== Search Engines and Indexing ==

Search engines use crawlers to follow links and collect pages. A crawler may discover pages through links, submitted sitemaps, feeds, or other known URLs. Pages can still fail to appear in results if they are blocked, broken, duplicated badly, too thin, or not useful enough for the search engine's index.

Google's Search Central documentation separates basic eligibility for Google Search from further SEO work. Its starter guide describes SEO as the next step after meeting search essentials: improving a site's presence in Search through practical changes.

== Technical SEO ==

Technical SEO deals with whether the site can be reached, crawled, and understood. Common work includes:

* Clean URL structures that do not create unnecessary duplicate pages.

* Correct status codes, redirects, canonical links, and error pages.

* XML sitemaps and sensible internal linking.

* Mobile-friendly layouts.

* Fast pages with images, scripts, and styles kept under control.

* HTTPS, stable hosting, and secure configuration.

* Robots.txt and meta robots rules that block only what should be blocked.

* Structured data where it genuinely describes the page.

Technical work matters most when a site has many pages, faceted navigation, old redirects, duplicate paths, JavaScript-heavy rendering, or migrated content.

== Content and Relevance ==

Search engines try to match pages to user intent. A page is more likely to work well when it has a clear topic, accurate title, useful headings, original text, and enough detail to answer the likely query. For a wiki, that means a page should explain the subject plainly, link to related pages where useful, and cite sources for claims that depend on current facts.

Keyword research can be useful, but content written only for a crawler usually reads badly to people. Repeated phrases, filler paragraphs, hidden text, and irrelevant headings make content worse. Good SEO usually looks like good editing: remove confusion, explain the subject, and make the page easy to scan.

== Links ==

Links help search engines discover pages and understand relationships between subjects. Internal links connect related pages on the same site. External links can cite sources, point readers to official documentation, or provide further reading.

Backlinks from other sites may also affect visibility, but link schemes, paid links that pass ranking credit, spam comments, and artificial networks can create search penalties. Search engines generally prefer links that exist because the page is genuinely useful.

== Structured Data ==

Structured data is machine-readable information added to a page. It can describe articles, products, organisations, events, breadcrumbs, media, and other items. Google states that most Search structured data uses Schema.org vocabulary, while Google's own documentation decides which properties matter for Google Search features.

Structured data should match visible page content. It should not invent ratings, prices, dates, authors, or relationships that are not actually present.

== Local and Specialist SEO ==

Local SEO focuses on searches with a place-based intent, such as nearby shops, services, venues, or public offices. It can involve consistent names, addresses, phone numbers, business profiles, local landing pages, opening hours, and reviews.

Other specialist areas include ecommerce SEO, news SEO, image SEO, video SEO, international SEO, and technical SEO for large sites. Each area has its own risks. For example, ecommerce sites often struggle with duplicate product variants, while news sites depend on speed, trust, and clear article metadata.

SEO is normally measured through a mixture of search impressions, clicks, click-through rate, rankings, indexed-page counts, conversions, and crawl reports. Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools show search-specific data. Analytics tools show what visitors do after arriving.

Rank tracking alone is weak evidence because search results vary by location, device, personalisation, query wording, and time. A better review looks at whether relevant pages are being indexed, whether useful queries are improving, and whether visitors are finding what they came for.

== Bad Practice ==

Bad SEO usually tries to manipulate search results without improving the page. Examples include copied content, doorway pages, keyword stuffing, hidden text, cloaked pages, mass-produced low-value pages, and link manipulation. These methods may create short-term movement, but they can also damage trust, waste crawl budget, and make a site worse for readers.

* [[Domain name system]]

* [[Cloud Computing]]

* [[Website]]

* [https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/seo-starter-guide Google Search Central: SEO starter guide]

* [https://developers.google.com/search/docs Google Search Central documentation]

* [https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/intro-structured-data Google Search Central: structured data]

* [https://www.bing.com/webmasters/help/webmaster-guidelines-30fba23a Bing Webmaster Guidelines]

* [https://schema.org/ Schema.org]

[[Category:Web]]

[[Category:Search]]