What is SEO Really About?

When most people hear the term SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), they think of “tricks” to get their website to the top of Google.

What do I mean?

Super short video saying “here is phrase in google, this is what we mean by getting your website to top of google, these here”

SEO is really about three things:

1. Visibility – making sure your business can be discovered when people search for the products or services you provide.
2. Relevance – showing up for the right searches, with content that actually answers the question the searcher had in mind.
3. Trust – building credibility so that both search engines and people see your brand as reliable and worth engaging with.

What do I mean?

Super short video – no tangents

SEO as a Long-Term Strategy

SEO is not about quick wins or gaming the system. It’s about building a strong online presence that grows over time. Every piece of content you create, every review you collect, every link you earn contributes to your digital reputation. And it’s your digital reputation that determines whether Google and AI search engines will recommend your website and/or business to visitors

Think of it as planting a garden: you prepare the soil (technical SEO), plant seeds (content), and nurture growth (links, reviews, updates). Over time, your visibility and authority grow.

The Three Pillars of SEO

To keep it simple, SEO can be thought of in three pillars:

• Technical SEO – the behind-the-scenes health of your website. Things like site speed, mobile friendliness, and making sure Google can crawl and index your site.
• On-Page SEO – what’s actually on your website pages: keywords, titles, headings, blog posts, product descriptions, and how well they match search intent.
• Off-Page SEO – everything that happens away from your website that influences your credibility: backlinks, reviews, media mentions, social signals.

All three work together. If your website is technically broken, great content won’t rank. If you don’t have quality content, links won’t matter. And if you don’t build credibility outside your site, even the most polished content may go unnoticed.

Why SEO Is About People First

The truth is: SEO isn’t really about search engines – it’s about people. Search engines are simply the bridge between you and your potential customers.

When you create content that genuinely helps people, makes their lives easier, or answers their questions, search engines recognise that value and reward it with visibility.

That’s why the foundation of SEO is understanding your audience — what they search for, what language they use, and what problems they need solved.

Action Step

Take 5–10 minutes now to do this simple exercise:

1. Write down in plain English the main thing you want your business to be known for online.
   • Example: “We want to be known as the most trusted electrician for emergency call-outs in Brisbane.”
2. Next, jot down three questions your ideal customer might type into Google when looking for your service or product.
   • Example: “Who is the best emergency electrician near me?”, “What’s the cost of an after-hours electrician in Brisbane?”, “Can an electrician come within one hour in Brisbane?”

Use our template:

Keep this short list handy — it will shape the way you think about SEO throughout the course.