In our previous blog, we discussed why online businesses invest in SEO. But knowing why SEO matters is just the first step. As a business owner, understanding key SEO terms—even if you’re working with a digital marketing agency—can help you see the bigger picture, connect the dots, and make informed decisions about your online growth.
In this article, we break down 10 SEO terms—what they mean, why they matter, and actionable tips to not only appear in the search results of your audience/searchers but also capture attention, keep users on your site, and encourage action. Let’s dive in!
1. Keywords — The Foundation of SEO
Keywords are words or phrases that users type into the Google search bar to find answers to their queries. Also known as search queries, these words or phrases help search engines understand the content of web pages and match them to relevant user searches. Hence, today’s businesses strive to discover what words and phrases that users are …. on Google search bar to put them in their content so their websites appear first on Google.
Why Is It Essential for Business Growth?
Incorporating the low-hanging fruit keywords into your site’s content will make your business visible to potential customers.
Example:
A bakery using the keyword “best chocolate cake recipe” can rank high when users search for this term.
Pro tip: Experts suggest using long-tail keywords (e.g., “Easy Homemade Chocolate Cake Recipe”) to attract more targeted traffic with less competition. These keywords are otherwise known as low-competition keywords.
2. Search Intent – Understanding What Your Customers Want
Search intent is the goal of searchers when they look for information on Google. The most common search intents are grouped under four: informational, navigational, commercial, and transactional. But there are others, and they could overlap. For example, someone searching for a “best destination wedding” has a commercial intent (they’re considering a purchase), but they might also be looking for information on shoe features, which overlaps with informational intent.
Why Is It Essential for Business Growth?
Understanding search intent helps you create relevant content that speaks directly to your target audience’s needs and boosts your click-through rate.
Example:
“How to lose weight” → The user wants information (informational intent).
“Best gyms near me” → The user is looking for specific places (navigational intent).
“Treadmill vs. exercise bike” → The user is comparing options before buying (commercial intent).
“Buy treadmill online” → The user is ready to purchase (transactional intent).
Other common search intents:
“iPhone 15 vs. Samsung S23” → The user is comparing products before making a decision (comparison intent).
“Grocery store near me” → The user is looking for the nearest store with good reviews (local intent).
“How to bake sourdough bread” → The user wants a tutorial or step-by-step guide (educational intent).
“Why is my laptop so slow?” → The user is looking for a solution to a problem (problem-solving intent).
Pro tip: Identifying search intent comes to life when you analyze the language, context, and user behavior behind searches. Three key factors count here:
- Keywords in the Query – Words like “how to” show an intent to learn, “best” suggests comparison, and “buy” signals a purchase intent. Matching content to these keywords—guides for learning, reviews for comparisons, and product pages for purchases—ensures relevance.
- SERP Features – If Google shows blog posts and snippets, users want information. If it shows shopping ads and product listings, they’re ready to buy. Structuring content based on what appears in search results increases visibility.
- User Behavior – If people searching “best laptops” mostly visit review sites before buying, they are comparing options. Providing detailed comparisons and reviews helps guide them to a purchase.
3. On-Page SEO – Optimizing Your Website’s Content
On-page SEO is all about making direct changes to your website to help it rank higher on Google. This includes improving your content, using the right keywords, adding clear titles and descriptions, and organizing your pages so they’re easy to navigate. Unlike other SEO methods, it doesn’t involve outside factors like backlinks from other websites. That’s why it’s called ‘on-page’ SEO.
Why Is It Essential for Business Growth?
This strategy helps search engines understand your content better, and it helps boost your ranking on SERPs.
Example:
A company selling hotel products clearly describes each displayed product with Alt text. Alt text is added to an image on a page for two main reasons: to allow search engines and visually impaired readers to recognise the function of an image.
Pro tip: Writing unique, high-value content is one of the most important parts of a good on-page SEO effort. Other important tips from experts include optimizing title tags, improving internal linking, structuring URLs effectively, enhancing page speed, and developing unique, high-value content.
4. Off-Page SEO – Building Authority Beyond Your Website
Off-page SEO is the SEO effort done outside your website (Of the website front or backend). It is usually associated with link building through brand mentions, guest blogging, influencer collaborations, and other reputation-building strategies.
Why Is It Essential for Business Growth?
Off-page SEO helps you build authority in your industry beyond just your website. After all, reputation grows faster when others sing your praises.
Example:
A finance CEO published an article in Forbes, Harvard Business Review, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, TechCrunch, Fortune, Entrepreneur, Inc., and The Financial Times. If their name, title, and company are featured, that increases both industry credibility and website authority..
Pro tip: Experts suggest guest blogging, investing in YouTube content production, encouraging branded searches, and building backlinks as key strategies for a successful off-page SEO strategy.
5. Technical SEO – The Backbone of a High-Performing Website
Some people think SEO is just about keywords and writing quality content. They are wrong. Without strong technical SEO, your site could be slow, hard to navigate, and invisible to search engines. Technical SEO ensures your site runs smoothly, loads fast, and meets search engine requirements so users don’t bounce before they even see your content.
Why Does it Matter for Business Growth?
A well-optimized site helps search engines understand and rank your content while providing a seamless user experience. Faster load times, mobile friendliness, and structured data all directly impact traffic and conversions.
Example:
Let’s say you run Pizza Palace, an online ordering site. A customer with weak Wi-Fi tries to place an order. If your site isn’t optimized, it lags, causing frustration and lost sales. But with strong technical SEO—fast servers, clean code, and efficient caching—your site loads instantly, the order goes through, and you keep the customer.
Pro Tips:
To make technical SEO work for you, focus on:
✔️ Optimizing crawl budget
✔️ Using HTTPS for security
✔️ Removing duplicate content
✔️ Improving Core Web Vitals (speed, responsiveness, stability)
✔️ Implementing structured data
✔️ Running regular technical SEO audits
6. Local SEO – Attracting Nearby Customers
Local SEO means optimizing your content for local searches. It is an SEO strategy that makes your business visible to potential customers in your locality.
Why it is Essential for Business Growth:
It helps your business get more visibility on search engines and, in turn, increases your profit. These are the 7 ways to improve your local seo and attract new customers for your business in 2025.
Example:
A website with content optimized with local keywords, such as “New York City Personal Injury Lawyer,” would likely rank high in search results for local searches within that environment.
Pro tips: Experts recommend optimizing your Google business profile, incorporating local keywords in your content, and encouraging reviews to keep your local SEO strategy on point.
7. Meta Description – Making Your Listings Click-Worthy
This is the description of your page, written for search engines. Meta descriptions are what search engines display under the blue links of each website to users on SERPs.
Why it is Essential for Business Growth:
Meta descriptions are important in boosting your click-through rate, providing instructions to search engines, and improving UX.
Example:
Meta description: “SEO has become so prominent in recent years. Do you want to know what SEO means? What is an SEO strategy? Click on this article, and let’s get started.”
Pro tips:
- Keep descriptions clear & concise.
- Incorporate thought-provoking calls to action when appropriate.
8. Content Marketing – Fueling SEO with Valuable Content
Content marketing is the process of creating relevant, valuable, and engaging articles, videos, and other media to attract and retain a specific audience. Unlike traditional advertising, which directly promotes products, content marketing focuses on providing value through informative or entertaining content. The goal is to attract, educate, and retain an audience rather than push immediate sales.
Why it is Essential for Business Growth:
Content marketing is the foundation of SEO. Search engines prioritize high-quality, informative content that answers user queries, making well-optimized content a key driver of organic traffic. Consistently publishing valuable content also builds brand authority and trust, increasing audience engagement and conversions over time.
Example:
A Texas-based fitness company publishes weekly blog posts on topics like “10 Ways to Stay Motivated to Exercise.”
Pro tips: Understand your target audience, optimize for SEO, create a rolling content calendar, and include a clear call to action.
9. User Experience (UX) and SEO – Keeping Visitors Engaged
UX and SEO are intertwined. Search engines like Google prioritize a website with a positive user experience. This is when SEO comes into play. A good SEO strategy will improve the UX on your site.
Why it is Essential for Business Growth:
SEO and UX will positively impact your website, improving search engine ranking, boosting conversion, increasing revenue, and giving you a competitive advantage amongst all other competitors.
Example:
Providing detailed descriptions of your products and adding alt-text to images will improve your ranking on search engine results pages.
Pro tip: A seamless, fast-loading, and mobile-friendly website keeps visitors engaged and reduces bounce rates—both key ranking factors. Google has already laid it bare in its guidelines, which are shared below:
10. Analytics & Tracking – Measuring Success and Adjusting Strategy
Tracking and analytics are the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data on your website to measure the performance and effectiveness of your site. The three main metrics to track are impressions, clicks, and search results, using Google search console.
Here’s an example of such:
Why it is Essential for Business Growth:
Monitoring your site is vital to see what works well for you and what needs to be adjusted for better visibility SERPs.
Example:
The screenshot above shows a Google Search Console report that DMi Agency created for a hair studio in the U.S. It tracks clicks, impressions, CTR, and ranking. This helps the business to understand what services customers are searching for, which pages attract the most interest, and where improvements can drive more bookings and sales.
Pro tips: Set clear goals and KPIs. What is your business objective? Do you want more bookings, higher sales, or increased traffic? In addition, external analytical tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, and MOZ can be used as they provide in-depth competitor analysis, backlink insights, keyword opportunities, and site audits—valuable data that goes beyond Google Search Console.
Make Google Search Work for You with Expert SEO from DMi Agency?
Right now, your ideal customers are searching for businesses like yours. But if your website isn’t ranking, they’re finding your competitors instead.
SEO isn’t just about rankings. It’s about making sure the right people discover your business at the right time. That’s where DMi Agency comes in. Our SEO professional crafts data-driven, customized SEO strategies that help you get noticed, get traffic, and get results.
Let’s start optimizing today. Book a call with our Consultant!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About SEO
What are SEO key phrases?
SEO key phrases, also known as keyword phrases, are groups of words that people type into search engines to find information. These phrases help search engines understand what your page is about and match it to the right audience. For example, if you own a bakery and use the phrase “best chocolate cake recipe” in your content, your website has a higher chance of appearing in search results when someone searches for that term. Businesses that choose the right key phrases attract more visitors who are genuinely interested in their products or services.
What are the 5 important concepts of SEO?
SEO revolves around five key concepts: keywords, search intent, on-page SEO, off-page SEO, and technical SEO. Keywords are the foundation of SEO, helping businesses target the right audience. Search intent focuses on understanding what users are looking for and ensuring content aligns with their needs. On-page SEO includes optimizing website content with relevant keywords, headings, and images. Off-page SEO involves building credibility through backlinks from other websites. Lastly, technical SEO ensures a site loads quickly, is mobile-friendly, and is easy for search engines to navigate. When these five elements work together, businesses can improve their search rankings and attract more customers.
What are the 4 P’s of SEO?
Just like traditional marketing has the 4 P’s (Product, Price, Place, Promotion), SEO has its own 4 P’s: Performance, Popularity, Publishing, and Promotion. Performance focuses on website speed and functionality—if your site is slow, visitors leave quickly. Popularity refers to how many other sites link to yours, signaling trustworthiness to Google. Publishing is about consistently creating high-quality, valuable content. Finally, Promotion involves sharing content through social media, email marketing, and other channels to drive traffic. Businesses that master these four areas set themselves up for long-term SEO success.
How can SEO help your business grow?
SEO helps businesses grow by increasing their online visibility, attracting the right audience, and driving more sales. When your website ranks higher in search results, more people discover your brand. It also builds credibility—users tend to trust websites that appear at the top of Google. A well-optimized website ensures that when potential customers search for solutions you provide, they find you first instead of your competitors. For example, a local coffee shop using “best coffee near me” as a keyword can attract new customers searching for a café nearby. SEO is a long-term strategy that, when done right, keeps bringing in customers without paying for ads.
What are the 3 C’s of SEO?
The 3 C’s of SEO are Content, Code, and Credibility. Content refers to well-written, engaging, and valuable articles, blogs, and web pages that answer users’ questions. Code ensures that the website is properly structured so search engines can crawl and index it efficiently. Credibility is about building trust, primarily through high-quality backlinks from reputable websites. Imagine SEO like a best-selling book—content is the story, code is the formatting, and credibility is the reviews that convince others to read it. When all three elements are in place, your website stands a much better chance of ranking higher in search results.
What is the golden rule of SEO?
The golden rule of SEO is simple: Create content for people, optimize for search engines. While it’s essential to use keywords and follow best practices, your content should first and foremost be useful and engaging for real readers. If you focus too much on stuffing keywords or manipulating rankings, search engines will penalize your site. Google rewards content that is helpful, relevant, and easy to read. So, always write with your audience in mind, then fine-tune it for SEO.
What is the golden triangle in SEO?
The golden triangle in SEO refers to a heatmap pattern showing where users focus their attention on a search results page. Studies have found that users typically scan in an F-shaped pattern, concentrating most of their clicks in the top-left section of the page. This means that the first three organic search results receive the majority of clicks. Ranking in this prime position significantly increases website traffic.
What is the 80/20 rule for SEO?
The 80/20 rule in SEO suggests that 80% of results come from 20% of efforts. Instead of spreading yourself too thin, focus on the high-impact strategies that drive the most traffic. This means prioritizing well-researched keywords, high-quality content, and authoritative backlinks rather than trying to optimize every tiny detail. For example, if a business finds that five blog posts generate the majority of its traffic, it should focus on improving and promoting those instead of creating dozens of new ones.
Which technique should be avoided in SEO?
Some SEO tactics can do more harm than good. Black-hat SEO techniques, such as keyword stuffing, buying backlinks, and duplicating content, should be avoided. Google penalizes websites that try to manipulate rankings unfairly. For instance, stuffing a page with the phrase “best running shoes” multiple times in an unnatural way will make the content unreadable and may lead to a ranking drop. The best approach is to follow ethical SEO practices—creating valuable content and earning backlinks naturally.
What is the 10x rule in SEO?
The 10x rule in SEO means that to rank at the top, your content needs to be 10 times better than the highest-ranking result. It’s not enough to just be slightly better than your competitors—you need to outshine them completely. This can be done by providing more detailed information, using better visuals, or offering unique insights that others haven’t covered. If the top-ranking article has 1,000 words, aim for 2,000 words with more research, better formatting, and clearer explanations.
What are backlinks in SEO?
Backlinks are links from other websites to your site, and they play a crucial role in SEO. Search engines see backlinks as votes of confidence—if reputable sites link to yours, it signals that your content is valuable. For example, if a popular fitness blog links to your article about “best home workout routines”, it helps improve your website’s credibility and rankings. However, not all backlinks are equal. Links from high-authority sites carry more weight than those from low-quality sources.
