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Simple Explanation Of SEO And SERP

Andrew Nicholls • Apr 03, 2021

Simple Explanation Of SEO And SERP

General Overview Of SEO

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is a digital marketing strategy that focuses on your websites appearance in the SERP's (Search Engine Results Page) on a search engine.


Here we will be using Google as the example because that is the biggest search engine by far and it is what most people involved in SEO focus their efforts on.


At the end of the day showing up on Google is just math. Google uses a very complex and sophisticated algorithm that determines what shows up for a specific search query. If you have an idea about how this algorithm works and what it is looking for then you can rank any website.


With that being said we have to remember that there are some more competitive markets than others. This just means some websites will be harder to rank for a search term than others and more work will need to be done to get you where you want to be.


This is a very simplified version and I will go into more detail about the different aspects of SEO in later articles but for now I want to keep it simple. Now that you have a better idea of what SEO is, I want to talk a little bit about SERP's.

Components Of A Typical SERP

There are different variations of what a SERP might look like but for the sake of simplicity I will list the 3 main components of a typical search engine results page.

  1. Ads or sponsored
  2. Google my business map pack
  3. Organic listings

Googles Paid Ads

In this section are the paid ads on google. This is where you can pay to have your website show up on the top of the SERP. 

You can do this to get some traffic to your website if you don't have great SEO. Also if your site doesn't rank highly in the organic search results or you have a new website that hasn't had the time to rank yet. 

Depending on the search term you are looking to pay to show up for, the costs can vary as you will be paying a different price based on how competitive that particular search term is.

Google My Business Map Pack

Scrolling down we have the GMB(Google My Business) map pack. This is where the top ranked GMB listings are. To get one of these you have to sign up for one and have your business verified. It is free and usually takes a couple weeks to get the postcard in the mail with your verification number.


This is an important part in building your online presence and I suggest getting one of these. If you need help contact me and I will be happy to assist you.

Organic Listing

Finally, this is the organic listing section. Here is where SEO comes into play the most. To get your website here you first need to have one designed and built out, then published, and after that Google's bots need to crawl your site to get it indexed.


When it is indexed, Google's algorithm starts trying to place you in the rankings based on the on and off site SEO.

This article was meant to get you a basic understanding of what you are looking at when you search for something on google. I will be going into more detail in later articles to better explain each aspect.


If you have any questions or want to know more give me a call. Andrew Nicholls Traffic is here to help.

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