Have you heard people talking about organic SEO and wondered what it is?
- What is SEO?
- Why is SEO important?
- Why do we talk about it so much in the context of marketing and websites?
Maybe you know a little bit about SEO, but you’re not sure you completely get it. If this sounds like you, you’re in the right place!
Table of contents
What does SEO mean?
The letters S-E-O stand for Search Engine Optimization. SEO helps your business show up on a Search Engine Results Page (SERP) when someone is searching for your product or service online.
For Skagit County businesses, and for anyone wanting to show up better in search, understanding organic SEO is crucial to driving local traffic and attracting customers.
One quick note before we dive in: we’re going to predominantly focus on Google today. There are other search engines out there (Bing, DuckDuckGo, etc.), but today we’ll talk about Google. Google is the most commonly used one, and that’ll keep the conversation simple.
Search Engine Result Page Sections
Let’s look at a search engine result page for someone looking for tires.
Paid ads come first in search results
The first thing we want to look at is the top section. These top few results are actually paid advertisements. It’s very subtle, but you can see that they are ads because they are labeled with small “Ad” text next to the web address.
This top advertisement section is called Search Engine Marketing or SEM. That’s different from SEO because it focuses on paid strategies rather than organic.
Before we move on, it’s important to note that more than 70% of clicks on search engine result pages are clicks on the top three search results, with the top result receiving more than a third of those clicks. So if you want searchers to visit your website and convert into buyers, SEM is an important tactic to include in your marketing strategy.
Local SEO and Business Listings
This next section on the SERP is showing the top Google Business Profile results for this search. For businesses hoping to attract local traffic, especially those with a physical store or location, optimizing your Google Business Profile is essential.
Organic SEO
Lastly, we see organic search results. These are the pages that have been optimized for the keyword we searched (tires in Bellingham) and Google has deemed the most valuable and relevant search results for this query.
Google uses many factors to decide which website is most likely to fit the needs of the person searching. So if someone’s searching for tires and there are other websites that Google says, “Hey, these are probably the more appropriate or the best websites for this searcher,” they are going to put those websites above yours in this list.However, there are a ton of things that you can do to optimize your website and indicate to Google that your website is the best site for these search terms. This work is really specific and can be complicated, but here are some common SEO issues you can fix yourself.
What About AI in Search?
As AI has started to make an appearance in search results, it changes the game. If we change our query slightly, AI Overview appears before sponsored results, pushing local SEO and organic SEO further down in search results.
What does that mean for your business?
It means you can’t really get away with generic content anymore—AI Overviews can answer quick questions. You need to deeply understand your target audience and the things they want to know that go beyond an AI Overview answer.
For example: A few years ago, you might have posted a blog like “How to Change a Tire.” Now, your blog will look something like “Our Insider Tips to Changing a Tire for Beginners.”
It adds your unique perspective that AI can’t replicate.
Are AI Overviews Stealing Traffic?
To some degree, yes. Your decrease in organic traffic has something to do with AI Overviews. However, it also creates a huge opportunity for small businesses.
Previously, you had to either pay to be a sponsored result at the top of the SERP or be a large enterprise organization with high domain authority to be on page one.
Now, AI Overviews will pull and cite resources from any page on the internet it deems to have the best answer. That means even if you’re on page 50 of search results, AI could believe you have a valuable answer and show it at the top of search results, giving you visibility you never would have gotten.
Even though AI is taking some of your traffic, that means the people who DO click on your website after reading the AI answer are much more qualified. They have a genuine interest in what you’re talking about and want a deeper understanding than what AI can give them. So this traffic is more likely to convert someday than all the generic traffic you were getting before.
I know AI is scary, but think of it as an opportunity. We have to adjust our organic SEO strategies a bit and it will take some trial and error, but our businesses can still be successful and grow organically, even with AI.
Why Google Business Listings Matter
Google Business listings are extremely important digital properties. Every business should be the highest-level owner of their business listings and be very protective of who has access to them. It is completely ok to add a trusted contractor or vendor as an editor for these listings, but you must always maintain primary ownership of these.
So why do they matter for organic SEO?
People Trust Google
When customers or clients search for you online, they are assuming the information listed on your Google Business Profile is correct.
If you are not the primary owner and actively managing this listing, it is likely that important details – like your hours of operation, your phone number, or your address – are not correct.
- Do potential customers call the wrong number?
- Are they going to the wrong address?
- Do they assume you’re closed and take their business elsewhere?
Yikes! You’re potentially missing out on new customers because your business information isn’t correct online.
Online Reviews Can Make or Break Your Business
The second thing that’s really important about these business profiles is the online reviews. I’ve seen cases where these listings are gathering online reviews, and the listings are not owned or managed, so the business is not notified that the review was posted.
These reviews, positive or negative, are tied to your business for potential customers to see. If there is a negative review, you want to know so you can address it!
Own Your Business. And Your Business Listings.
The third concern is pretty obvious, I’m sure. Whoever owns or manages your Google Business Profile can decide what is posted on it – with good intentions or with not-so-great intentions. This is where that primary ownership issue comes in. Make sure you know who has the keys to your business listing online.
Now that we all agree that you’re going to own and engage with your business profiles, there is a lot of work that you can do within your Google Business Profile to ensure that your listing shows up above other Google Business Profiles in search results. This gives you a competitive edge and is an important SEO investment.
Almost 97% of SERP clicks happen on the first ten links of a search result. So, for the people who didn’t click on the SEM links at the top, chances are good they are going to click in this Local SEO section! Local SEO is a really important place to invest your marketing efforts.
Get Expert Help With Organic SEO
There are a lot of companies that specialize in this work and can run reports to identify organic SEO opportunities for your website, like us! This is a smart investment if your business relies on website traffic for brand awareness (which most businesses do) or online sales. Reach out to request a free SEO audit and get an actionable list of ways to improve your position on SERPs.
FAQs About Organic SEO
Organic SEO is the process of improving your website so it appears naturally in unpaid search results on platforms like Google. It focuses on long-term strategies such as creating high-quality content, optimizing website structure, improving site speed, and strengthening local search visibility.
Paid SEO refers to paid search advertising—also known as PPC or SEM—where businesses pay to appear at the top of search results. These placements are labeled as ads and require ongoing ad spend to maintain visibility.
No. Search engines do not allow businesses to pay for higher organic rankings. Organic rankings are earned based on relevance, quality, and authority, not budget.
Organic SEO is a long-term strategy. Most websites begin seeing noticeable improvements within 3–6 months, with stronger results compounding over time.
Yes. Search engines still rely on high-quality, well-structured content to generate results. Organic SEO now also supports visibility in featured snippets, local results, and AI-powered summaries.
Absolutely! Local organic SEO helps businesses appear in map listings and local search results by optimizing location pages, reviews, and business profiles.
