Organic search is the free search engine results page that appears in response to a user's query. Search engines like Google display a list of search results to the user. The system automatically selects relevant results that will provide the user with the desired answer. Organic search is a primary source of traffic for many websites. This type of traffic is very valuable to website owners because it is free and stable.
The organic search consists of several elements and may vary depending on the user's query. The organic search page may include:
- videos — if the search engine determines that videos are the best response to the user's query, they will be displayed on the search results page in a carousel;
- images — the system may show pictures that illustrate the user's query;
- news block — if the user is searching for something with fresh news, the organic search will show it;
- answer block — the organic search page may immediately display an answer to the user's question, eliminating the need to visit a website, for example, when searching for the meaning of a term;
- «People also ask» block — the system may display questions related to the user's query, along with quick answers;
- company page — if the user is searching for a specific organization that has a profile in Google My Business, its data will be displayed in a separate block.
The distinctive feature of organic search is that site ranking is free. The system itself decides who to rank and in what positions. But this does not mean that website owners cannot influence organic search results. For example, the main ranking factor for sites is relevance. The task of the site owner is to create content that maximally corresponds to the users' queries. Then their chances of reaching the top of organic search increase significantly. Another important ranking factor is the mobile version of the site. Search engines evaluate the mobile version of the site based on its functionality, speed, and content. Site owners who have taken care of this also increase their chances of success. In addition to these, there are many other ranking factors, some of which are hidden.
To promote their site in organic search, website owners need to engage in search engine optimization or SEO for short. SEO is a complex of actions for internal and external site optimization. SEO helps to attract organic traffic to the site and rank the site's pages at the top of search results for specific queries. SEO specialists work on the site's content, structure, and HTML code. As a result, the site occupies higher positions in organic search.
