What is SEO?
The acronym SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.
Optimization is just another way of saying “tune up,” “ready up,” or stage your website the best you can to be included in search engine results. This optimization has rules, and NOBLE SEO can help guide you through the process with its SEO Strategy Service.
What is SER?
SER, or Search Engine Results, are the website listings and advertisements we see on Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo, Brave, etc. after entering a search topic.
Because information, news, and social media are traveling at light speed, packaged up as easily digestible sound bites, this rapid delivery and consumption has shortened our attention span and conditioned many of us to primarily look at page one search results.
This ‘look at a glance’ tendency of page one search results has created a highly competitive environment, with advertisers vying to get their website and advertisements positioned on page one.
AI Overviews have become the new norm atop page one search results competing with advertisers for impressions.
What is SEM?
SEM is Search Engine Marketing.
If you are here reading this, marketing your organization’s website through search is most likely your primary objective. The SEM landscape is complex and highly competitive, as consumers only have so many impressions and time to give. The best we can do is develop a clean web tech stack, build a compelling content library, and tune them up to attract the right audience.
What are Search Engine Algorithms?
Search Engine Algorithms are the secret sauces Google and Microsoft have cooked up to steer us to the websites they believe we are seeking, via the search parameters we entered into their single-line search boxes.
Search engine algorithms are complex predictive data processes driven by machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), based on the billions of data inputs from around the world have entered into these companies’ data repositories.
In theory, the process is simple. Search algorithms fetch and display content based on the words we entered in the search bars. That is called search intent, and algorithms get more refined and sophisticated based on the quantity of inputs provided, our geolocations, and search intent history.
Typically, search intent means a user’s internet search behavior enacted for the purposes of seeking information. One kind of intention, for example, is seeking to purchase branded products or services. A second intention could be directed towards trying to solve a specific problem, like how to repair leaky plumbing or replace a head gasket. Lastly, users could be conducting general online research to broaden their understanding and knowledge about their own personal interests, for example cooking, traveling, religion and world cultures.
Search engine algorithms work in a similar way as physical book libraries; information is stored or indexed, then retrieved when someone requests it. Search engine results that appear on search pages following an executed search are influenced by paid advertising and organic content marketing.
To learn more about improving your organization’s search engine results, read the Knowledge Base entry ‘How Do I Optimize My Website for AI?’
What are AIO, AI Search & AI Overviews?
AIO (Artificial Intelligence Optimization) is the process of designing your website content to be read or crawled by artificial intelligence - namely AI driven search, for example, displayed as part of Google’s AI Overviews. This process is fundamentally similar to SEO with respect to refining your content so that it meets the requirements of being a “go to” reference source for a specific subject matter. AIO also means scaling your website content so that it can be sourced and integrated into more complex summary outputs from LLMs such as Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, and ChatGPT [1].
See corresponding Knowledge Base entries:
‘What are LLMs?’
‘How Do I Optimize My Website for AI?’
‘What is Google EEAT & Why Does It Matter for SEO’
AI Search refers to the evolving search algorithm process that uses natural language processing (NLP) (where search first started) and large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, etc. (where search is now heading) to understand user search intent and serve up very detailed content, specific facts, and insightful information that satisfies that person’s need to answer a question or solve a problem. AI search behaves very much like enterprise statistical data mining software because of its magnitude of asset querying. This big data approach to database querying, once a private endeavor, has now been made public on a free or subscription-based consumer model in AI search.
AI Overviews represent the summarized search results Google and other search engines display above top ranking websites and advertisements. This AI summary is sourced and pulled from a variety of online sources, including discussion boards like Reddit and public websites that publish content related to a user’s specific search parameters.
Think of AI overviews as a time saving mechanism from visiting multiple websites, reading through the various webpages, and synthesizing all that information to develop a takeaway. While not exhaustive, AI Overviews are a convenience feature for conducting quick at-a-glance high-level online research.
What are LLMs?
LLMs is the acronym for Large Language Models, or iterative large data models, developed and built using billions of user search parameters, and millions of pieces of content from websites that are logically connected to a specific search intent from a subject matter perspective.
LLMs are big data on steroids, using mathematical computational processes engineered to summarize complex queries into a relatively quick and simple output.
How Do I Optimize My Website for AI?
Since the goal of search in general, and AI search in particular, is to serve up highly specific and individualized content to its users, the short answer is to design and build your website with useful content for the people you want visiting it. This means providing web visitors (your target audience) with information and subject matter they can identify with and use in their everyday lives.
This is a major shift from old school top-down web blogging to bottom-up content creation. Back in the day, it seemed like web bloggers wrote whatever came to mind on subjects they wanted to explore without taking into consideration an audience interest perspective. While this type of writing has its place, it is indeed more creative in nature. As the internet evolved into a more commerce-oriented platform for consumer goods and services, so did the design and purpose of search. Consequently, as more products and services became available online, search engines followed suit and became more focused on connecting consumers with those goods and services.
This shift in the logic of search had a profound impact on how website content is now evaluated by search algorithms. Think of it, as aforementioned, as connecting consumers with goods and services. It is really no different than that. Search engines like Google and Microsoft, through their proprietary algorithms, want to do a better job at connecting their users to useful content. The more informative and useful content a website has, the better chances search engines will see it as such and point people in that direction to find that site and consume that content.
This may seem a little unclear, even complicated, but NOBLE SEO can help your organization devise a targeted SEO Strategy and make sure your website is communicating with these algorithms with our SEO Performance Service.
For additional information, read the next Knowledge Base entry on Google’s EEAT framework.
What is Google EEAT & Why Does It Matter for SEO?
EEAT stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.
This is Google’s criterion or framework for evaluating your website content, and it’s a good idea to follow this roadmap the best you can for a chance to be included in Google’s search results and AI Overviews. In short, Google wants your organization’s website to be a reliable and trustworthy source in the field related to the content you created and published. For authors or single service providers, Google would expect that person to be a subject matter expert in their specific field. Better content means a better chance at being displayed. EEAT is like your website’s resume broken down into these four sections.
Experience - This pertains both to the organization and the single service provider. In other words, has the organization or service provider worked in the field that the website’s mission or service is advertising?
Expertise - This is a measure of the experience. For example, does the organization or service provider have sufficient and appropriate skills and experience in the field?
Authoritativeness - This part can be a bit subjective inasmuch as it asks us to form an opinion about the organization or service provider based upon us reading up on their experience and expertise. For instance, is the organization or service provider a solid “top of mind” source?
Trustworthiness - Finally, all three categories of experience, expertise, and authoritativeness come together into a larger qualitative judgment that determines whether an organization or service provider is a reliable, credible, and trustworthy source.
The trust value of a website, in terms of its content, is a big thing and can impact your search results. In essence, Google wants quality and trustworthy content for its users just like streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime want high quality movies and television shows for their subscribers. These companies want to attract and retain eyeballs, and content is the lure. Think of it this way, and you’ll start to understand and demystify the groundwork for SEO 2.0.