SEO beginner’s guide

What is SEO?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. SEO is the process of improving your website to score higher positions in Google.

By optimizing your technology, content, and authority, you rank higher in search engines like Google, Bing, and YouTube. This better visibility generates more organic traffic for you.

So you don’t have ads running like with SEA (Google Ads). Moreover, search engines reward you for things like user-friendliness and reliability (EEAT), factors that your online visitors also greatly appreciate.

Free SEO scan

Discover immediately if SEO is right for you, how it works for your business, and where you currently stand.

Or read on for a practical explanation of higher rankings in search engines.

Axl wrote a book about SEO and often shares his knowledge in podcasts, webinars, training courses & here on this page

Goal of this beginner’s guide:

To guide you through SEO; after reading this guide(s), you will have all the knowledge, tools, and mindset to make your website an organic success.

All my SEO knowledge & experience in this beginner’s guide

“SEO can be complex, we understand that all too well. 8 years ago, Axl started building websites. In the meantime, his fascination for search engines grew.

Thanks to his technical background as a developer, he understands which factors need to be in order to satisfy search engines. Everything rests on technology, content, and authority. We have tested the practical implementation over the past few years.

Today, a team of experts is ready at Digital Climax. We share all our knowledge and experience in this guide. This way, you can get started yourself. And as a true SEO nerd, Axl is happy to help you with all (small) questions, no strings attached.”

Axl Van Steenacker

SEO specialist

The 3 pillars of Search Engine Optimization

200 ranking factors? Is it even possible to take all of those into account? Absolutely not. Especially when you know that some of them are as secret as the recipe for Coca-Cola.

In this SEO manual, we give you the tools & factors to rank higher in search engines.

Fortunately, Google itself reveals quite a bit in the Google Search Essentials. It turns out that SEO factors can be traced back to 3 pillars that withstand all updates.

So let’s start at the beginning. The 3 pillars of SEO that form the absolute basis of search engine optimization.

Technology

The technical operation of websites has undergone a strong evolution over the years. Just think of the rise of mobile devices. For several years now, a website must be responsive to satisfy searchers (and therefore Google).

A technically sound website indicates reliability and quality. Essential as a first step in your SEO journey. Get started with the tutorials in the box below.

Content

High-quality content is the foundation of a search engine. After all, the mission of a search engine is to help the searcher find the right information.

So focus on relevant search terms for the best result. But writing SEO texts: how do you start? And is there such a thing as image SEO? (spoiler alert: yes, there is)

An SEO tip: work with content clusters.

Authority

Often considered the most difficult step of search engine optimization. We build authority through linkbuilding.

Google prefers this to happen naturally. A good website with high-quality content naturally attracts backlinks.

On-page vs Off-page SEO

On-page and Off-page SEO are 2 popular terms. Besides the 3 SEO pillars, you also have these types. On-page SEO includes everything on your page. Specifically, technology and content fall under this. You have full control over these factors.

Off-page SEO includes the authority pillar. This is what you build outside of your website. You don’t have full control over these signals since you have to convince other websites to link to you, for example.

AI optimization: the new component of SEO

2026 is all about AIO (AI optimization), also known as GEO. This new term falls under SEO.

AI tools are the new search engines. Depending on the type of search query, people use classic search engines like Google, Bing, … or turn to newer answer engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, Deepseek, …

Digital Climax is proud to launch AIO.

Discover AIO

A new twist on classic SEO

Due to all these changes, we see SEO evolving into “Search Everywhere Optimization”. You haven’t been optimizing just for Google for a while now, but also for Bing, YouTube, TikTok, … and for several years now also for AI search engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, …

Being found in AI means that many voices in the SEO community are moving towards a new interpretation of an age-old term.

SEO is not dead; it is evolving rapidly. On our site, you stay up-to-date on all evolutions, methods, and research regarding search engines.

5 Decisive ranking factors in 2026

Over the past few years, we have seen many cases and challenges. From our experience, these 5 factors prove to be the most decisive for your online visibility.

1) Keywords & architecture

You build your website architecture based on keyword research. Take a step back and map out your structure. Think carefully about which pages you want to create, process them, and place them in the right spot on your site.

2) Internal links & anchor texts

An internal link directs visitors and search engines to related content in relevant places. The anchor text ensures you know where you’ll end up when you click.

Internal links are the way to make your architecture clear to search engines

3) Keywords in the right place

Keywords remain a guideline in search engine optimization. Place them in the right spots: Page title, H1, subheadings, and naturally within the text.

Also think about synonyms. Using synonyms helps you enormously to attract more organic visitors.

4) High-quality content

High-quality content helps your visitor move forward (helpful content). Google’s systems have become incredibly strong at recognizing this type of content.

When writing, it’s best to focus on your customer and ignore search engines. Make sure you create added value.

5) Backlinks

Originally, backlinks (external links) were the foundation of the algorithm. Today, they are less important than in the early years. Yet they still play a crucial role in helping your website rank higher. During your linkbuilding, focus on quality and relevance (the linking website should be about the same topic as yours).

Attention

These factors are only interesting if your website is technically fully optimized. Technology is and remains the foundation of SEO. That’s why an SEO audit and technical optimization are always the first steps we take.

Important SEO components in 2026

AI Optimization for Content

Structure content specifically for conversational AI and intelligent answer engines by:

Schema markup implementation for clear data communication
Natural language patterns that improve AI interpretation
FAQ structures that provide direct answers to frequently asked questions

Voice Search Optimization

With 30% of all searches now performed via voice, we optimize for:

Conversational keywords and sentence structures
Local searches
Question-and-answer formats that dominate voice search results

Receive a concrete SEO step-by-step plan

Starting with SEO can be overwhelming. Been there, done that. We love sharing our knowledge; you can discover a large part of it here and in our book.

During an SEO scan, we zoom in on how SEO can work for your business:

Concrete tips
Tailored advice
Current positions, keywords & authority
SEO priorities & next steps

This is what you receive from us during an SEO scan.

Claim your SEO scan

SEO: Search Engine Optimization step-by-step plan

Our SEO results

Discover concrete cases in our portfolio about how we have helped companies grow sustainably with SEO.

SEO podcast

Axl was a guest on the “Over marketing gesproken” podcast for an explanation of SEO. You’ll discover the world of search engines in a simple way, with fun anecdotes and clear comparisons.

Watch our SEO webinar again

In our webinar, we take you through the world of SEO. Discover the decisive factors, learn practical tips, and receive tools to get started yourself.

Still have a question? We love to link our experience to your question. Feel free to send us an email and we’ll be happy to help you on your way. Or request an SEO scan.

Request SEO scan

SEO book

We bundled all our knowledge into 1 handy book to take with you. This way, you stay up-to-date on SEO whenever you want. The ideal holiday read for anyone who wants to rank higher.

124 pages full of knowledge
Practical tips & tricks
Get started with search engine optimization yourself

Order the SEO book

Or order at: Standaard Boekhandel, Bol.com

About Digital Climax

Digital Climax is an SEO agency based in Lille, in the Antwerp Kempen. Looking for a partner for SEO in the Kempen or SEO in Antwerp? We have been optimizing websites, creating content, and increasing the online authority of companies and organizations since 2018.

By going all out for the highest positions in our search results, you get more traffic, more leads, and more customers.

The result? Higher revenue. Read more about Digital Climax and discover which profiles work with us and what types of SEO support we can offer you.

Team of SEO specialists from Digital Climax

SEO in practice (white papers)

All our knowledge bundled into white papers. We go into the smallest details and show you exactly how you can rank higher in Google. Because SEO simply requires in-depth knowledge. Search engines expect you to check off all the parameters.

How do search engines work?

Actually, you should ask how Google works.

1) Crawling

Before your website can even appear, search engines must crawl through your website. Online search engines send out crawlers, also called robots or spiders, to index your website. They try to understand and map it out.

2) Indexing

After crawling, your website can be included in the index. Compare it to listing your business in the phone book. The hard truth: not every website makes the cut. The fact that your page was crawled is no guarantee of effective indexing.

3) Ranking

Based on the image Google gets, it decides how high or low the website appears when someone enters a search query. The goal is always to give the user the best possible result. That match is determined based on more than 200 SEO factors.

4) Adjusting

You track your results with Google Search Console & Ahrefs. From there, you optimize further to help your visitors even better. You incorporate synonyms, extra questions, and content that provides value.

The goal of SEO

With SEO, you want to be found in search engines in an organic way. You set up your website so that search engines naturally show it at the top of the SERP. Whether that’s voice search, AI search engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Grok, … or classic search engines like Google, Bing, …

People look for answers to questions. With SEO, you reach more people, attract more leads, and ensure more revenue.

Ultimately, search engines want the best results for their users. Optimizing for search engines therefore means optimizing for your website visitor.

With search engine optimization, you ensure long-term growth. The ideal addition to your short-term marketing campaigns & actions.

Practical SEO tasks

Working on SEO requires continuous follow-up. No one-time tricks or shortcuts. Instead, a focus on long-term quality.

Here we list concrete tasks & actions to make your website rank higher.

Technical optimization: Technology is always step 1 in an SEO journey. Without technology, your website is not (easily) crawlable or indexable.
Competitor analysis: look at your competitors’ websites and learn what they have done in the past to rank. From there, you set up your strategy.
Keyword research: map out relevant keywords & map them to the most relevant page.
Next steps: open Ahrefs & Google Search Console and look for new opportunities & points for improvement.
Content: write new content; no, it doesn’t always have to be blogs. SEO is broader than purely informative keywords. Ensure relevant keywords are present on your website.
Technical follow-up: schedule regular technical checks; we follow this up weekly ourselves. Your website is in motion, and we see in practice that errors can sometimes occur.
Linkbuilding: continue building your authority. Look for mentions on related websites that have already built up some authority themselves.
Test metadata: your page title & meta description have a huge impact as soon as you are in the top 10. They convince searchers to click on your result.
Improve your content: as soon as you write content, you should also update and improve old content. This way, you rank higher step by step.

Frequency

Depending on your speed, you take on the above monthly or weekly. In some organizations, even daily follow-up is possible.

Why is SEO marketing important?

The perfect route, the dream Christmas gift, a solution for the leak in the bathroom… Whoever needs something, searches online.

Just think about it. How many times have you searched for something in Google today? And which result did you click on? A guess: the first or the second. Research shows that they have a 50% chance of being clicked. Yes: as much as all the search results after them combined.

Higher positions in the organic search results therefore yield more traffic for you. That means more visitors you can convince of your product or service. And unlike SEA, you don’t have to pay per click.

Discover 7 more benefits of SEO.

Google’s mission

You can read Google’s mission here. Specifically, Google is constantly working on a better internet. Delivering the right information to their customers (aka searchers).

As soon as you leave black-hat SEO behind and focus on the right steps, you don’t have to worry about algorithm updates.

So you are forced to focus on what your customers are looking for and to deliver that in a high-quality way.

That’s exactly why SEO is the foundation of marketing for us.

The SEO process

SEO aims for the long term, so it’s a process that will keep you busy for a while. We always implement search engine optimization in 3 phases:

SEO startup: Who is the company? Where do you want to go? How are we going to get there? Specifically, this translates into keyword research, competitor analysis, baseline measurement, … We bring all that data together to set up a strategy.
Technical audit & optimization: in phase 2, we fully audit the website, uncover problems, and solve them. This way, we build a technically high-performing foundation to work from.
Content & authority: Once the foundation is laid, you work recurrently to attract high-quality content and relevant backlinks. This way, you work step by step on a website or shop that ranks in the search results. We call this the SEO loop.

Our SEO process is therefore based on the 3 pillars. We also see the 3 pillars as chronologically executable: first technology, then content, and only then authority. After all, there’s little point in placing content on a website with technical errors, and links to low-quality content bring little added value.

So start at the beginning, set your sights on the long term, and focus on quality. That’s the best advice we can give you for SEO success. Advice that we put into practice daily.

The basic principles of search engine optimization

Technology, content, and authority are not just the 3 basic pillars of search engine optimization. They also form the basis for your SEO strategy. Just quickly write some blogs and hope you end up at the top of the organic search results?

The chance of you succeeding at that is very small.

It’s a better idea to focus on a logical order, on quality, and on the long term.

First, you get your website technically right, then you create high-quality content, and then you strengthen your link profile.

In doing so, you always keep essential matters like the search intent of your target audience and the user-friendliness of your website in mind.

Such a mapped-out strategy obviously takes time. So keep in mind that Search Engine Optimization usually only yields business results after several months.

EEAT, a solid foundation for your SEO

Crawlers collect all online content. The algorithm is responsible for ranking the search results when someone enters a search query. With small adjustments every day and a major Core Update every few months, that algorithm is regularly changed. Whether the search results still provide the best answer to the search queries is evaluated by Search Quality Raters. They base their evaluation on four important parameters:

Experience: Google values first-hand experiences, for example with a portfolio.
Expertise: use jargon and explain it, and regularly publish helpful content about your specialty.
Authoritativeness (Reputation): what do others say about you and can you back up the claims you make?
Trustworthiness: the combination of the previous three and a little bit more, for example, an SSL certificate.

Important to remember: EEAT is therefore not a direct ranking factor. However, meeting these four conditions increases the chance that you will score high in the search results.

The role of SEO in marketing

With search engine optimization, you optimize pages. If you do that well, your pages will score now and in the coming years. It is therefore the ideal long-term strategy.

Yet marketing is broader than that. You also want to achieve short-term results. So ensure a good mix of short-term (e.g., ads) and long-term strategies (e.g., organic content on your website or social media).

When it comes to SEO, think carefully about your SEE-THINK-DO framework. Start with your DO keywords. They yield results the fastest since the search intent is very commercial.

SEO & SEA (Search Engine Advertising)

SEO and SEA go hand in hand. Every search query shows ads above, below, and nowadays also between the organic results. With SEA, you advertise in Google. You pay for this per click on your ads. That is also the biggest difference with SEO, where you don’t pay per click.

You set up a SEA campaign in Google Ads. Unlike SEO, you generate results almost immediately. That’s why we view SEA as a short-term strategy.

SEO and SEA complement each other perfectly. For example, you learn from SEA campaigns which keywords work for you. SEO optimizations then ensure that your SEA clicks become cheaper.

Both terms fall under SEM (Search Engine Marketing)

Our advice:

Set up a SEA campaign to quickly learn what works. At the same time, get started with optimizations for your website. This way, your clicks become cheaper. An optimized website makes your ads in Google (and other channels) convert better.

So view your marketing as a whole. Our specialization is in SEO, we do nothing else, which means we can help you perfectly with this part. Just know that marketing goes broader than purely and only SEO.

Demand capturing with search engines

You have a question, you type that question into the search engine, the search engine gives an answer.

It’s that simple.

We all do that en masse today. The average person searches 3 – 4 times a day in a search engine.

With SEO, you ensure that you get to provide the answer.

So you are going to capture an existing question; we call that “demand capturing” in the marketing world.

The advantage is that people indicate themselves that there is a problem/need and you can simply provide the solution.

What is not possible with SEO is creating demand. You can only capture what people type in. An innovative product that no one knows will therefore likely have little to no benefit from high positions.

To score high, you need to prove to search engines that you know what you’re talking about, that your answer is the best one out there, and that you are reliable.