SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.

SEO is a process of systematically engineering better results in search engines (primarily focused on Google search).

It’s something of an evolving art form that requires an SEO expert to stay abreast of new changes to Google’s search algorithm.

People often refer to Black Hat and White Hat SEO. At it’s most basic it’s about the intent and the tactics that you use to get your site ranked higher in search engines.

White Hat SEO is focused on staying inside the rules that Google lays out when it comes to search engine optimization and it’s what any long term business should be focused on.  Tactics change often and what may have been fine at one time can become a target for Google and the reason that your site may plummet off the top page if any aggressive tactics you use becomes the target of a Google update.

Black Hat SEO tactics are varied and typically only effective for a short period of time. Businesses should use extreme caution when experimenting with what I’ll call ‘hacky’ SEO tactics.  If you are curious, it’s fun to find ways around Google’s guards but I never recommend doing it with anything but a separate, virgin domain.  I refer to these as “bait sites“.  They’ll work till you land a few (or a few million) fish but then just as fast as they worked, they’ll be gone.

Google provides a search console that every website owner can use to see how Google sees their site and where links back to your site are coming from.  You can recover from bad tactics, but it takes time and effort, we focus on tactics that are White Hat SEO focused.

This video outlines 7 simple SEO tactics you can use right now to improve your websites SEO.