What is SEO, and How Google Made Optimizing Websites Easier
03/19/2026
Google defines search engine optimization, or SEO for short, as the process of adjusting content to make it more search-friendly to increase relevant viewers (Get started with Search: a developer’s guide, Google LLC). While this definition may have some limitations, the key point lies in the objective: increasing the relevant viewers. In this insight, we cover key SEO subcategories, and the free resources Google offers for both experts and novices to improve SEO.
As mentioned, the goal of SEO is to increase relevant viewers (Get started with Search: a developer’s guide, Google LLC). Because optimization techniques involve working on and/or off your website, the topic can take time to grasp. To help understand the topic, it may be helpful to boil SEO down to two categories: on-page and off-page.
What is on-page SEO?
Before defining on-page SEO, it’s important to understand websites to a certain degree. Websites are generally comprised of three parts: the structure (HTML), the style (CSS), and JavaScript, which can provide functionality, integration, and interactivity (How HTML, CSS, and JavaScript work together in web design, HubSpot, Inc., Kenny Lee). But it's imperative that we add a fourth part, content. Content could be user-facing or data not directly for users. One such data is JSON-LD, which is more specific for search engines and AI (JSON for Linking Data, JSON-LD.org). Each of the four categories make up a system in which your search engine results can be helped or harmed by each component.
You may be wondering how styling or CSS could harm SEO. Google has long stated that site speed is an included signal for their search ranking algorithms (Using site speed in web search ranking, Google LLC). Depending on how styling or CSS is integrated into a website and how much styling is used, it can affect site speed. We mention this here only to provide insight into how intricate and broad SEO techniques can be.
With a better understanding of website components, on-page SEO is the process of adding, editing, or removing HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and/or content to optimize a website. On-page SEO typically starts with a thorough technical audit that looks at each of these four components and any data that you may have collected on the performance of each specific page. From there, strategizing happens, followed by an implementation phase.
What is off-page SEO?
Off-page SEO is the process of implementing techniques outside your website to promote and increase traffic. One technique could be creating business listings on various platforms and websites. Google has stated that establishing a business profile with them will enhance your website's coverage in their search results (Establish your business details with Google, Google LLC). Other strategies involve promotions, word of mouth, and even advertising (Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Starter Guide, Google LLC). Acquiring backlinks, which are links from other websites that go to your own site (The Rocket Science Group, What are Backlinks), may help, especially when following best practices (Google LLC, Link spam).
Google's Free SEO Resources
Future insights will cover more on-page and off-page SEO strategies, but we’ll focus on some very important Google resources. One particularly helpful resource is the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Starter Guide (https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/seo-starter-guide). It’s helpful for people wanting a basic and deeper understanding of SEO, and for experienced and novice webmasters to stay current with Google's broader standards and best practices.
For quick SEO, performance, accessibility, and best-practice audits, we use Lighthouse, especially while developing a page (https://developer.chrome.com/docs/lighthouse/). Because it is also integrated into some web browsers, using this during development helps find and address issues before accidentally making it into production. For SEO, it can help determine whether there are missing pieces in your HTML and data that is important to have for SEO, such as missing meta descriptions (Document does not have meta description, Google LLC). One limitation we have found is that HTML may have an alt tag on an image but still pass even without descriptions. Alt tags are used to add descriptions to images and have SEO implications (Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Starter Guide, Google LLC).
To check the data on a website, primarily used by search engines and AI, we like to use Rich Results Test (https://search.google.com/test/rich-results) to ensure Google is seeing and accepting the structured data. In a prior insight, we explain structured data in more detail (https://www.dnhdynamics.com/blog/reviewed-100-plus-dental-websites-in-oregon-for-json-ld-googles-preferred-structured-data).
For more in-depth information about a specific site, Google Search Console can help you understand what might be wrong, provide performance reports, and more (Bing Webmaster Tools and Google Search Console for SEO, DNH Dynamics, LLC). The setup for Google Search Console does require verification.
Although the tools mentioned are great for checking syntax to see if something is wrong. The limitation is when your data or content needs to be adjusted for semantic reasons. Especially for this area, it’s helpful to review guides, such as https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content, or consult an expert. Even if you’re consulting with an expert, it’s important to understand what Google is looking for and trying to suppress when it comes to content on their platform, such as https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies#scaled-content.
References
1. Google LLC. Get started with Search: a developer's guide
https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/get-started-developers2. Hubspot, Inc. How HTML, CSS, and JavaScript work together in web design. Kenny Lee.
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/web-design-html-css-javascript3. JSON-LD.org JSON for Linking Data.
https://json-ld.org/4. Google LLC. Using site speed in web search ranking.
https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2010/04/using-site-speed-in-web-search-ranking- 5. Google LLC. Establish your business details with Google.https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/establish-business-details
6. Google LLC. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Starter Guide.
https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/seo-starter-guide7. Google LLC. Lighthouse.
https://developer.chrome.com/docs/lighthouse/8. Google LLC. Document does not have meta description.
https://developer.chrome.com/docs/lighthouse/seo/meta-description9. Google LLC. Rich Results Test.
https://search.google.com/test/rich-results10. DNH Dynamics, LLC. Reviewed 100+ Dental Websites in Oregon for JSON-LD (Google's Preferred Structured Data).
https://www.dnhdynamics.com/blog/reviewed-100-plus-dental-websites-in-oregon-for-json-ld-googles-preferred-structured-data11. DNH Dynamics, LLC. Bing Webmaster Tools and Google Search Console for SEO.
https://www.dnhdynamics.com/blog/bing-webmaster-tools-and-google-search-console-for-seo12. Google LLC. Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content.
https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content13. Google LLC. Scaled content abuse.
https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies#scaled-content
"... find and address issues before accidentally making it into production."
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