Organic SEO refers to the methods used to help rank a website in the organic (non paid for) search results for any given search term.  These search results are often also referred to as the natural search results.  When you input a query into a search engine like Google, you will be presented with a page of results and in most cases there will be two results shown at the top of the page that appear slightly different to the rest of the results on the page.  These top two results are paid positions; they are advertisers sites who have paid to have their sites listed above the organic search results.

Organic SEO techniques are used to improve the ranking of your site so that it appears on the first page, preferably in the first position, just below the paid for results.  More often than not “organic SEO” is simply referred to as just “SEO” or “search engine optimization” they both refer to the process of website promotion and search engine positioning through certain techniques.

Basically there are two common methods employed by webmasters or SEO companies to achieve a first page ranking in Google.  They are, “Organic SEO” and “Pay per click advertising” {PPC}

The following is a brief explanation of both methods:

Pay Per Click Advertising

PPC advertising is the instant gratification method of ranking your site for any particular search term.  The website owner simply purchases a top position, but it can be costly and if not carefully planned it can result in losses (monetary)
To have your site listed in the paid search results in Google you need to sign up for a google adwords account, once you have done that you can find out all the information your need to start your pay per click campaign.

Here is a basic example of how it works:

If you would like your site to rank for a particular keyword or phrase e.g. “search engine optimization” you can use the adwords keyword tool (anybody can access this tool for free) to find out how many searches (for that keyword) are conducted each month.  You can define where you want gather your data from, a specific country etc, local searches or global searches.  You will then be shown a list of results for your keyword as well as a list of suggested related keywords.  You can then narrow down this information to hide or show certain other factors such as advertiser competition, cost per click (how much it would cost you, per click, to have your site displayed on the front page.  

Once you have gone through the process of choosing your keywords you can then bid on your chosen words (how much you are prepared to pay, per click, for your ad) Paying the top price/ having the highest bid, will result in the highest listing and paying less will result in lower page listings.  You can choose to display your ads on the search results only or on other publisher’s websites.

The cost for any keyword is determined by how many advertisers are paying for that keyword, the advertiser competition and this can range from only a few cents to many dollars per click depending on the niche.  You can also set limits such as how many clicks you want in any given day and how much you are prepared to pay per day, this helps to keep within your PPC budget.

For example if you choose a keyword that costs $1 per click and your budget allows $100 dollars per day, this could potentially deliver one hundred targeted visitors to your site.  You are only charged per click, so if you only get ten visitors, you will only have to pay for those clicks.  

This method of advertising can work well with careful planning, but if not you could end up losing a lot of money.

Tip – If you are going to pay for PPC advertising you need to assume that only a small percentage of your clicks (visitors) will take any action on your site, i.e. make a purchase/sign up for information etc.  For this reason you need to ensure that this percentage of sales will not only cover the cost for the entire days traffic but will also result in a profit.

Organic SEO

Organic SEO (search engine optimization) refers to the methods used by website owners to improve their website positioning in the natural search results for their keywords.  There are two main ways this is achieved, onsite SEO and offsite SEO.

On-site search engine optimization refers to your sites layout/design and content.  A well-optimized site is clearly structured with an internal linking system, the process of linking relevant content together to make it more accessible to visitors and search engines alike.  Your site should also be extremely focused, your content should be relevant and match your tags or Meta data as well as including keyword targeted titles and descriptions.  Your navigation should be easily accessed and straightforward and you should include a site map to aid search engines in finding all of your content.  You should not build pages deep into your site; keep the most important pages at most two clicks from your main pages.

Offsite optimization or SEO for the purpose of gaining a high organic search engine listing is primarily about website promotion and linking.  Not all links are equal; a link from an authority site will weigh more heavily than a link from a forum signature or social bookmarking.  A solid link building technique will get you far above the competition and knowing how to gain relevant top weight links will be your goal, the lower quality links are almost always the easiest to get and the general rule for link building is, get as many links as you can of the low variety but dedicate your time and effort to obtaining the high quality links.

If you are starting your website and want to make it as search engine friendly as possible, you should spend time on the organic SEO, if at a later date you want to expand, then you could consider PPC, but get your feet wet first and learn a few SEO Tips and Tricks to get you started