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SEO basics

What is SEO (search engine optimization)?

Updated on November 6, 2026

SEO is the work of making a website appear higher in the unpaid results of search engines for the questions its clients type, through its technical health, its content and the links and mentions it earns.

Three families of work make up SEO. Technical SEO makes the site readable and fast for crawlers. Content SEO writes pages that answer the searches of the audience, one intent per page. Off-site SEO earns links and mentions from other sites, which engines read as trust. Results take months and last as long as the pages stay relevant.

Since 2024 the same work also feeds AI answers: the assistants retrieve indexed pages and cite the ones that answer clearly. On SeoGeoMap, SEO specialities are declared by the expert and GEO specialities are shown only when its site proves them.

Frequently asked questions

How long does SEO take to show results?

Usually three to six months for a site with a sound base, longer for a new domain or a competitive subject. Technical fixes show within weeks; content and links build over months.

Is SEO the same as paid search?

No. SEO targets the unpaid results and costs work, not clicks. Paid search buys ads above and around those results. Both can run together; neither replaces the other.

Related terms

GEO (generative engine optimization)

GEO is the work of making a brand present in the answers written by AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google AI Overviews, through citations with a link and mentions by name.

SERP (search engine results page)

The SERP is the page a search engine shows after a query: unpaid results, ads, and features such as maps, images, snippets and AI summaries, in an order that changes with the question.

Search intent

Search intent is what a person wants when typing a query: to learn something, to find a specific site, to compare, or to buy. A page ranks when it serves the intent behind the words, not just the words.

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