SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results. It involves making specific changes to your website design and content to make your site more attractive to a search engine.

SEO works by optimizing your website’s content, structure, and on-page elements like keywords, meta tags, and images, as well as off-page factors like backlinks, to improve your site’s visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) for relevant queries.

The benefits of SEO include increased website visibility and traffic, higher credibility and authority, cost-effectiveness compared to paid advertising, better user experience, and long-term marketing strategy.

Keywords are words or phrases that users type into search engines to find information. They are crucial in SEO as they help determine where your website will appear in search results. Using relevant, well-researched keywords in your website’s content is essential for effective SEO.

While you can do basic SEO yourself, hiring a professional can be beneficial for more complex strategies. SEO involves a range of skills, including technical website knowledge, content creation, and understanding of search engine algorithms.

SEO is a long-term strategy. Results can vary, but typically it takes 3-6 months to start seeing significant changes in search rankings and traffic, depending on the competitiveness of your industry and the effectiveness of your SEO strategies.