Search engine optimization guide for 2025

March 31, 2025

William Öhman

SEO

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and refers to various methods used to get your site to rank highly in search results, often called the “SERP.”

This Guide Is for Everyone: From Complete Beginners to Seasoned SEO Pros Looking to Update Their Knowledge on Today’s Algorithms

Why Is SEO Important?

Search engines like Google want their users to find the most relevant content based on their queries. If a page isn’t SEO-optimized, Google won’t understand what the content is about and therefore won’t surface it to users—why would they feature something they can’t vouch for? Make sure your page’s content is clear and well-structured so search engines know precisely what to show.

Pages that rank highly on Google’s Search Engine Results Page (SERP) are those that have been effectively optimized.

What Is the Single Biggest Ranking Factor in SEO?

There’s no single “most important” factor—SEO success depends on many elements working together. Three of the top ranking factors are:

Relevant, high-quality content
External backlinks from authoritative sites
Excellent user experience (fast, mobile-friendly, easy to navigate)

Always remember: Google’s ultimate goal is user satisfaction.

What Is a Search Engine?

A search engine is a service that helps users find information on the internet. When you enter a keyword or phrase, the engine scans its index of web pages for the most relevant matches and displays them in a results list. Google is the world’s most popular search engine.

Search engines strive to deliver the most pertinent information. Before you write a blog post, ensure people actually want to know about your topic—otherwise you’ve just created an untouched page that wastes your time.

Optimizing for Google

This guide focuses primarily on optimizing for Google’s algorithms and guidelines, since roughly 80% of users rely on Google. That said, always verify with analytics where your organic traffic originates—you may find opportunities in other engines as well.

What Is an SEO-Optimized Website?

An SEO-optimized site aligns its content with its goals. A car dealership’s website should feature content relevant to car buyers; irrelevant copy will confuse both visitors and search engines, hurting your SERP positions.

Technically, your site must be built on a solid foundation:

Fast-loading pages for a smooth user experience
Accessibility best practices, such as descriptive alt-text on images and sufficient contrast between text and background

The Three Pillars of SEO

We break SEO into three main pillars. For deeper dives, see our separate guides on Technical SEO, On-Page SEO, and Off-Page SEO.

1. Technical SEO

Even though it may feel less exciting, Technical SEO is as crucial as on-page and off-page work. We often see visually appealing sites with great content that fail because of poor technical setup.

Crawlability & Indexing: Ensure search engines can quickly discover and index your pages.
Page Speed: Aim for a full page load under 4 seconds. Test with Google Analytics 4 (via a GTM tag) or tools like PageSpeed Insights—and optimize accordingly.
Image Optimization: Large or poorly formatted images are a common culprit. We recommend WebP—a Google-developed format that delivers high quality at low file sizes.
Server Performance: A slow server delays every request (HTML, CSS, JS, images). A sluggish server degrades UX and search rankings.
Mobile-First: At least half of your visitors likely use mobile devices. Ensure responsive design, compressed images, and easy navigation on all screen sizes.

2. On-Page SEO

On-page SEO means improving your page’s content through content marketing, meta descriptions, URL optimization, and internal linking.

Content Is (Still) King

High-quality, relevant content helps search engines understand your topic and gives other domains reasons to link to you. In an era of AI-generated, often spammy copy, original, valuable content is more crucial than ever.

SEO-Friendly Copy

Create content that resonates with your audience and ranks well. Start by understanding user intent and integrating the right keywords. Quality and originality trump any quick AI-generated “fix.”

Keyword Research

Perform keyword analysis with tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, or Google Search Console. Export results to a spreadsheet, compare your keywords with competitors’, and group related terms into topic clusters with a central “pillar page.”

Featured Snippets

These “position zero” snippets answer user queries directly. To capture them, align your content with user search intent—answer the question clearly, concisely, and early in the text.

Internal Linking & Anchor Text

Link related pages with descriptive, concise anchor text. Avoid generic phrases like “click here.” Good internal linking helps both users and search engines navigate your site’s hierarchy.

3. Off-Page SEO

Off-page SEO includes tactics that improve your ranking outside your own site: link building, social media, and guest articles.

External Backlinks

Google uses links from other domains as a vote of confidence. Links from high-authority sites (“link juice”) carry more weight. Aim for dofollow backlinks, but recognize that nofollow and sponsored links can still drive referral traffic and brand exposure.

Building Links Organically

Create outstanding content that naturally attracts links.
Analyze competitor backlink profiles with tools like Ahrefs or Screaming Frog; then outdo their content.
Leverage broken-link building: find a broken link on another site, craft replacement content, and pitch it.

Social Media

Share your blog posts and guides on LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, etc., to reach new audiences and spark organic link opportunities.

Guest Articles

Publish on reputable industry blogs or digital magazines. Though sometimes costly, a well-placed guest post can deliver both traffic and valuable backlinks.

Other SEO Strategies & Terms

Local SEO

Vital for brick-and-mortar businesses. Optimize your Google Business Profile and use GEO-tagged images so local searchers find you first.

Reviews

Encourage positive reviews on Google, Yelp, Facebook—social proof boosts trust and local visibility.

E-E-A-T

Stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. While not direct ranking signals, they guide you to produce accurate, valuable content that earns links and user trust.

Black Hat vs. White Hat SEO

White Hat SEO follows search engines’ guidelines—quality content, natural link building, sound technical setup.
Black Hat SEO employs shortcuts (keyword stuffing, hidden text, cloaking, paid links) that risk severe penalties and long-term damage.

Organic Traffic Converts Better

Organic visitors actively seek your offering, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates compared to paid or referral traffic. Investing in SEO often yields ROI between 500–700%, significantly above typical paid ads returns.

Content Refresh & Evergreen Value

If your blog posts have dated content, update them—refresh statistics, republish with a new date, add internal links, and verify external links and images.

SEO Isn’t Just for Google

While Google commands ~93% of global search, other engines—like Bing (5–6% share in Sweden, partly via integrated ChatGPT)—also matter. Check your analytics to prioritize where to optimize.

Our Agency’s SEO Workflow

Crawl the site to identify issues.
Quick SEO Audit (5–10 minutes): review technical, keyword, competitor, and speed metrics.
Technical SEO fixes first, followed by On-Page SEO, then Off-Page initiatives.
Ongoing: SEO is continuous—never “finished.”

Timeline & Expectations

When will you see results? Typically 1–3 months for noticeable gains, but it varies by industry and competition.
SEO vs. Paid Ads: Ads deliver immediate traffic; SEO takes longer but offers superior long-term ROI.

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

Drive both organic and paid visitors toward your goals with clear calls to action, optimized landing pages, and A/B testing. Traffic without conversions fails to deliver results.

Continuous Quality Control

Regularly audit your site for technical errors, ensure pages rank for their intended keywords, monitor competitors, and keep your copy top-notch. Use search engines to uncover user intent and align content accordingly.

Can You Use AI for SEO?

AI is a powerful tool—use it for brainstorming, editing, and refinement, but don’t rely on it for entire articles. Duplicate AI-generated content won’t stand out. Instead, craft unique, high-value copy that outperforms generic outputs.

Why Hire an SEO Agency?

SEO demands time, expertise, and strategy. A skilled agency keeps you on track from day one, avoiding wasted hours and ensuring your investment yields results. If you spend dozens of hours without progress, only to see no impact months later, the opportunity cost is high.

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