Organic SEO refers to the tactics used by website owners to increase traffic to the website without paying for advertising. There are a number of techniques and methods that comprise SEO, all of which are necessary for increasing search engine rankings and thus driving traffic to the website.

There are two primary ways to approach organic SEO. The first consists of making changes to the website itself that will make it more visible to search engines. These are called “on-page factors” and consist mostly of strategically

 using relevant keywords. If your company sells unicycles, for example, then it would be your goal to have your site listed first on the search engine results page displayed when an internet user types the word “unicycle” into the search engine’s search box. On-page SEO means that you would use your keywords in such a way that the search engine understands that your website has the most content relevant to the word “unicycle.”

The second primary way to approach organic SEO is to influence “off-page factors.” This typically includes the number and quality of links that come to your site from other sites. Search engines place a premium on the number of links to your site that are relevant to your content and that come from other well-ranked sites. In other words, a link to your site from a website about gardening wouldn’t be as valuable as a link to your site from a website that discussed how to build unicycles. Your goal, then, is to get links from sites that are relevant to your own site.

Organic SEO is popular for small businesses because it has little or nothing to do with a company’s advertising budget. Organic SEO essentially costs the same for any company, whether it is managed by one person in a garage or by a multinational corporation. Using organic SEO, search engine results are rewarded by a site’s relevance, not by the amount of money it has to spend on advertising. This puts all companies on a level playing field, particularly given the increasing costs of internet advertising.
One of the disadvantages of organic SEO is that search engines regularly alter the algorithms they use to determine search engine rankings, making it difficult for the average business owner to determine exactly which on- and off-page factors to tweak in order to improve rankings. Additionally, it can be time-consuming to consistently analyze the success of organic SEO tactics used.

Fortunately, SEO and internet marketing professionals have years of experience and exposure to search engine algorithms and web analytics. While they are never privy to exact search engine algorithm principles (and you should stay away from any professional who claims otherwise), they have enough experience to know which organic SEO tactics are winners and which are losers. And they can use the data they receive to tweak your on- and off-page factors as necessary. Therefore, you can get around your own knowledge gap about search engine algorithms and web analytics by using the services of an SEO professional, either to complete all of your SEO tasks or to consult with on an as-needed basis.