Meaning & use
search engine optimization
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountablebusinesscomputing
The practice of improving a website so that it appears higher in search engine results and attracts more visitors.
Grammar: Usually no article: we invest in search engine optimization.
Patterns
- invest in search engine optimization
- search engine optimization for something
Good search engine optimization helped the shop's website reach the first page of results.
She works in search engine optimization for an online magazine.
Slow pages can hurt your search engine optimization.
Common combinations
- invest in search engine optimization
- The start-up chose to invest in search engine optimization.
- search engine optimization strategy
- Our search engine optimization strategy focuses on useful content.
- search engine optimization specialist
- The company hired a search engine optimization specialist.
- improve search engine optimization
- Fast loading times improve search engine optimization.
- search engine optimization tools
- Several search engine optimization tools can check your keywords.
Synonyms and how they differ
- SEO
- SEO is the standard abbreviation and is more common in speech than the full term.
- organic search marketing
- Organic search marketing describes the goal, while search engine optimization names the technical and content work.
- search marketing
- Search marketing is broader and can include paid ads, which SEO does not.
- web optimization
- Web optimization is vaguer and can include speed or design, not only search ranking.
Word family
- optimize verb
- to make something as effective as possible
- optimization noun
- the process of improving something
- optimized adjective
- improved to work as well as possible
- search engine noun
- a website that finds web pages for a query
Commonly confused: search engine optimization or search engine marketing?
search engine optimization vs search engine marketing
Search engine marketing usually includes paid ads, while search engine optimization aims at free, unpaid results.
Practice
Which activity is part of search engine optimization?
Choose one answer.
Search engine optimization aims to improve a site's position in search results. The other options are not aimed at search rankings.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “search engine optimization”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.