What is SEO in 2026

My post contentSEO also known as search engine optimization is a marketing tool used to gain free organic traffic to your website using keyword research tools. The better SEO tactics the higher your website will rank on google. Platforms such as semrush and ahrefs can assist in keyword research that is viable for SEO.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a marketing strategy designed to drive organic traffic to a website through effective keyword research and optimization techniques. Implementing strong SEO practices improves a website’s ranking on Google. Platforms such as SEMrush and Ahrefs provide valuable tools for identifying high-performing keywords and optimizing content for search visibility.

How do search engines actually work?

Search Engine Crawling

Search engine crawling occurs when new webpages are discovered, the crawlers will then use links within the webpage to discover other webpage information that can be used to identify the website niche.

Search engine crawling occurs when new web pages are discovered. Crawlers navigate the links within these pages to gather additional information, which helps identify the website’s niche and overall content structure.

Search Engine Indexing

Search engine indexing occurs when the crawlers decide whether the discovered content is worthy to be saved in a database, this is determined through how valuable and useful the content is or if the content is unique.

Search engine indexing takes place when crawlers evaluate whether discovered content should be stored in a database. This decision is based on the content’s value, usefulness, and uniqueness.

Search Engine Ranking

Search engine ranking only occurs when crawling and indexing is completed, ranking on google is determined by the 3 SEO pillars such as technical optimisation, on-page optimisation and off-page optimisation.

Search engine ranking is determined after crawling and indexing are complete. A website’s position on Google is influenced by the three core pillars of SEO: technical optimization, on-page optimization, and off-page optimization.

Paid search vs. organic search

Position

Paid ads tend to be positioned at the top of google search results while organic ads will appear at the bottom of the paid advertising.

Paid advertisements typically appear at the top of Google search results, while organic listings are displayed below the paid ads.

Time

Paid ads vs organic ads are different according to timely results, Paid ads can drive traffic quickly to your website while organic ads can take weeks, months or years to receive a decent amount of traffic.

Paid ads and organic ads differ in terms of the speed of results. Paid advertising can drive traffic to your website almost immediately, whereas organic traffic typically takes weeks, months, or even years to build substantial volume

ROI

ROI also known as return on investment is easier to analyse than organic ads, paid ads can be measured through certain metrics on google analytics however organic ads are harder to measure.

Return on Investment (ROI) is generally easier to measure for paid ads than for organic campaigns. Paid advertising performance can be tracked using specific metrics in Google Analytics, whereas assessing the impact of organic ads is more complex.

Traffic

Generating traffic is a common goal among paid and organic advertising, the goal is to provide high value topics or information that users will research about.

Driving traffic is a primary objective of both paid and organic advertising. The aim is to offer high-value topics or information that attract user interest and engagement