Search engine optimization (SEO)

Difference between SEO and SEA

While SEO aims for organic, unpaid visibility, SEA (Search Engine Advertising) involves placing ads in the search results. Together they form search engine marketing (SEM).

• SEO: Organic ranking through good content and technical optimization.
• SEA: Paid ads for quick visibility in the search results.
• SEM: Combination of SEO and SEA.

Where do users search?

62% of internet users use traditional search engines every day (source: State of Search, Claneo). As Google is by far the most important search engine in Germany with a market share of 95% according to Statista, the main focus in this country is on improving Google rankings. SEO also includes image search, local search results (local SEO), map displays, podcast searches and videos.

AI search engines such as Perplexity

Last but not least, adapting to AI-based search engines such as Perplexity or ChatGPT and AI-generated answers such as Google AI Overview is becoming increasingly important. This area is summarized in marketing under the term Answer Engine Optimization (AEO). The aim is to design content in such a way that it appears in the responses of AI systems, so-called chatbots.

SEO is a pull channel

A major advantage: scatter loss is low, as users search specifically for information. The content displayed therefore directly satisfies a need. This makes SEO a so-called “pull channel”. In contrast, there are “push channels” such as display advertising or meta ads. These channels are more about generating attention in a specific target group.

Long-term effect

Search engine optimization is cost-effective in the long term. Although it requires initial investment, the results of optimization last longer without incurring high costs on an ongoing basis. Unlike paid advertisements, which disappear as soon as the budget is used up, SEO has a lasting effect. This is why search engine optimization is one of the most long-term marketing channels.

Crawling and indexing

Crawling is the process by which search engines search the content of your site. Indexing means that these pages are included in the search index and can therefore be evaluated at all. For a good ranking, pages must be both crawled and indexed.

Internal linking and page architecture

Logical internal linking helps the crawler to find important pages and better assess their relevance. It also makes it easier for users to navigate the website. This goes hand in hand with a clean page structure: How often do users have to click to access certain pages (click depth)? How is the URL structured?

Page loading speed

Fast loading times are important for search engine optimization and the user experience. Google takes the loading speed into account in the so-called Core Web Vitals. The three key figures of the Core Web Vitals stand for the loading speed, interactivity and visual stability of a website. A fast and cleanly structured page is crawled more often and ranked higher.

3. Offpage-SEO

After the on-page SEO work, the off-page optimization of a website begins, with a particular focus on backlinks. These links from other websites show search engines their relevance and increase the authority of the pages. However, it is not the quantity but the quality of the links that is decisive. 

The generation of backlinks can be controlled. On the one hand, good content usually automatically generates recommendations on the web. However, you can also actively encourage relevant websites to link to your content through strategic link building. It is important to build relationships with the right domains in order to strengthen your backlink profile. The better the linking site matches the content of the link, the higher the quality of the link.

Ranking factors

Nowadays, SEO is much more complex than just inserting keywords into texts. Search engines such as Google take around 200 ranking factors into account. It is important to know that the exact number and weighting of these factors are not publicly known. Google keeps the details of its algorithm secret to prevent manipulation. SEO experts therefore focus on a few core factors:

• Quality and relevance of the content
• Backlinks from high-quality and topic-relevant pages
• Technical SEO aspects such as loading times
• User experience and usability
• Mobile friendliness

Keyword research: the basis of SEO

Suitable content can only be created if you know what your target group is looking for. That's why “the right keyword” is at the beginning of an SEO strategy. Keyword research is not that simple. It's about identifying the search terms that your target group uses. The more specific a term (long-tail keywords), the less competition there is - but this usually also reduces the search volume. In contrast, the search volume is high for short-head keywords. However, they are also highly competitive and many websites want to rank for these terms. Common SEO tools help with keyword research and also show the corresponding need behind the search query.

Criteria for good SEO content

In addition to relevance, certain quality criteria apply to SEO content. The so-called E-E-A-T criteria have become established in the industry: Experience, expertise, authority and trustworthiness.

Although these criteria are not direct ranking factors, they play an important role in assessing the quality of content. It can therefore be assumed that search engines rank pages higher that take these factors into account:

• Experience: Do the authors* have practical experience with the topic?
• Expertise: Are the authors demonstrably well versed in the subject area?
• Authoritativeness: Is the source recognized in their field or industry?
• Trustworthiness: Can the information be trusted or is it credible?

Meta information and SEO headings

Even though Google now understands content better, meta information such as title and description as well as headings (H1, H2, ...) are still crucial for search engine optimization. One reason for this is that the search snippet in the search results (SERPs) influences the click-through rate (CTR). The better the snippet matches the search intent, the more likely users are to click on the page. A high CTR, in turn, is a positive ranking signal for Google.

Tips for SEO metadata:

• Every URL should have a title and a description.
• Titles and descriptions should be unique and not repeated.
• The length of the title and description should not exceed a certain number of characters or pixels.
• Both should contain the keyword for which the page should rank.

SEO visibility index

You can also use the visibility index to monitor the performance of your website. As the name suggests, it describes the visibility of a website in the (Google) ranking - you could also describe it as the “market share” of a website on Google. The visibility index increases if your website ranks in the top positions for many search-intensive keywords.