**Search engine optimization** **(SEO)** is making websites appear as a top result when someone searches for a term. The search term is called a *keyword*. The results of the search are displayed in search engine's results pages (SERPS) such as those given by Google, Bing, Baidu, Yahoo!, DuckDuckGo, Yandex, Naver, Ask, Aolsearch, Seznam. Another term used to describe search engine optimization is internet marketing or search engine marketing.

On-page SEO
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On-page SEO, or on-site SEO, is optimizing web pages and content for the users and search engines. It refers to the elements and attributes of a website, such as content, HTML, system, CSS, and internal links.

On-page SEO is still practiced by web owners and web development agencies. Websites are ranked by content and use Google keywords to index websites and rank accordingly. In fact, Google’s own "How Search Works" reported that, "The most basic signal that information is relevant is *when a web page contains the same keyword as the search query*. If those keywords appear on the page, or if they appear in the headings or body of the text, the information is more likely to be relevant".

Technical SEO
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Technical SEO refers to the non-content elements of your elements on you site. This applies to elements that affect the optimization and proper operation of the website, such as Site speed, Mobile-friendliness, Crawlability.

Technical SEO is the primary strategy used by website development agencies. Correct and fast operation of the website is a key element that has a fundamental impact on the reception of the website.

Off-page SEO
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Everything that doesn't take place immediately on your website is considered off-page SEO. On-page SEO, which entails things like site structure, content, and speed optimizations, is the process of improving your website. Among other things, link building, social media, and local SEO are all aspects of off-page SEO.

Importance
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SEO has become an important part of marketing campaigns run by businesses to find customers online because 65% of the people who search for something don't look beyond the 5th result of the search engine's results page. Many companies use SEO companies to do the work for them because it takes too much time to do themselves.

Search engine companies like Google, Yahoo, Bing are careful to watch that spam does not affect their search engine results pages by adding filters such as Google's PageRank. These filters are known as algorithms.

Most people do not need to pay for search engine optimization services because usually a website is supposed to show up on the search engines over time anyway. But some online shopping websites may want to show up sooner, and so they pay for search engine optimization from companies that provide it.

White hat and black hat techniques
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When someone uses a method approved by search engines to rank their website, it is called a "white hat technique". If the method is not approved it is called a "black hat technique". Search engines may penalize the sites using black hat techniques by not showing them on search results.

Other websites
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* Google Search Engine Optimisation Guidelines
* Google's SEO guide