Organic search-engine optimisation is the use of keywords, key phrases and links, relevantly placed in quality website content – without any advertising.
The benefit of organic SEO – as opposed to advertising – is becoming prominent in search-engine results without paying the search engines for the placement.
Placement can be helpful for organisations that can afford it. But if search engines are meant to show results according to how relevant the pages are that they find, then why pay for placement?
Think about what you do when you’re searching online for information. Do you really trust websites that pay to appear on search result pages? Usually, the content of such pages is average so they have to pay to be found. On the other hand, links that “naturally” appear in search results offer the greatest chance of finding relevant content on those pages.
Another advantage of organic SEO is longevity. Organic SEO keeps your website appearing in search-engine results for long periods of time because your website provides the search engines with exactly what they want: relevancy.
Relevancy cannot be achieved by paying for it or by “tricks.” The only way to be relevant is to be relevant, which means constantly generating quality content. Quality content, when found, is not only read, but shared. If you’re producing consistent relevant content, other websites and social media users will link to your material, and that is a magnet for the search engines.
A website that is constantly adding organic content shows that the company really cares for what it presents, and also gives the company a chance to prove its industry knowledge and strengthen its authoritative voice.
Organic SEO also is a lot cheaper than paid listings. Because many webmasters compete for the same spot at the same time, a company often pays a lot to appear at the desired spot on the search-result pages. Even if people click on the ads, the company has to pay for each click. Meanwhile, organic SEO is free and if correctly executed, is just as or more effective than PPC.
Organic SEO has become its own science, and there are many resources for getting better at it.