DefinitionSearch engine optimisation: the practice of improving a website so it ranks higher in the organic (unpaid) results of search engines like Google, bringing in more relevant traffic.
SEO (search engine optimisation) is the practice of improving a website so it ranks higher in the organic, unpaid results of search engines like Google, and so brings in more visitors who are actually looking for what the site offers. It covers page speed, site structure, the words on the page and the links other websites point at you. The goal is not a position for its own sake: it is traffic that turns into orders.
The most common misunderstanding I run into is that SEO is a trick, a set of keywords you sprinkle around or a plugin you switch on. It is closer to running a physical shop well: clear aisles so Google can walk through, the right products on the right shelves, and a reputation that makes people recommend you. Search engine optimization (the American spelling you will see in most tools) rewards websites that are genuinely the best answer to a search, and it punishes shortcuts, usually months after you took them.
Why SEO matters for a webshop
Organic search is the one channel where you do not pay per click. A webshop that ranks on the first page for “wandelschoenen heren” gets that traffic every day, for years, without the cost going up when a competitor raises bids. With Google Ads the visitors stop the moment you stop paying; with SEO last year’s work is still paying out. Every fixed issue, improved category page and earned link stacks on the previous one, which is why I call it compounding.
Understanding how Google works explains where the work goes. Google first crawls your site by following links and reading pages, then indexes what it found (stores it in its database), and finally ranks the indexed pages when someone searches. If your PrestaShop shop generates thousands of filter URLs, the crawler wastes its time there. If a category page is accidentally set to noindex, it never enters the index and can never rank. SEO is simply making each of those three steps go well.
SEO is usually split into three pillars. Technical SEO makes sure the site can be crawled, indexed and loaded quickly. On-page SEO is about the content and HTML of each page: title tags, headings, copy, internal links. Off-page SEO is what happens elsewhere, mainly links and mentions from other websites that give Google a reason to trust you. People often confuse SEO with SEM (search engine marketing), but SEM normally means the paid side: Google Ads and Shopping campaigns. They work best together but are budgeted and measured very differently.
How to measure SEO
The source of truth is Google Search Console. It shows which queries bring impressions and clicks, which pages Google has indexed and which it has skipped, and whether it ran into crawl or Core Web Vitals problems. If it is not connected to your shop I set that up on day one. Next to it I use Ahrefs for rank tracking of the keywords that matter commercially, for backlink monitoring and for comparing your visibility against competitors, and Screaming Frog to crawl the site the way Google would and find the technical issues before they cost rankings.
Rankings and clicks are inputs; revenue is the output. In GA4 I look at organic sessions, conversion rate and revenue per landing page, so we can see that a category page gaining positions actually sells more. I pull Search Console, GA4 and Ahrefs into one Looker Studio dashboard per client, so the owner sees organic revenue, top movers and open issues in one screen. PageSpeed Insights covers page speed, which affects both ranking and conversion.
Common SEO mistakes
Chasing volume keywords. A shop selling espresso machines wants to rank for “koffie”, a term with huge volume and almost no buying intent. The keywords that pay are the specific ones: “espressomachine met bonenmaler” sells, “koffie” does not. I pick targets by intent and realistic position, not by the biggest number in the keyword tool.
Buying cheap links. Packages of fifty links for a few hundred euros come from link farms that Google already ignores or actively penalises. At best the money is wasted; at worst the site loses rankings it had earned honestly. One relevant link from a Dutch trade site is worth more than the whole package.
Redesigning without a migration plan. A new theme or platform (WooCommerce to Shopify, say) changes URLs, templates and internal links at once. Without a redirect map and a before-and-after crawl, years of rankings can disappear in a week. Recovery takes far longer than planning would have.
Measuring rankings instead of revenue. Position three for a term nobody buys from does nothing for the business. If organic revenue in GA4 is flat, the SEO work is not working, however green the rank tracker looks. I report on what the shop earns from search first and on positions second.
How I handle SEO for clients
Every engagement starts with an audit: a Screaming Frog crawl, a review of Search Console and GA4, a backlink check in Ahrefs and a look at the competitors that actually rank for your money terms. The deliverable is a short prioritised list, not a hundred-page PDF. Each item says what the issue is, what fixing it should do for revenue, and who does it: me, your developer or your content person. For most webshops the first quarter is mostly technical fixes and category pages, where the gains are fastest.
For a webshop the category pages are the money pages. “Dameslaarzen” or “led-verlichting badkamer” is searched by people ready to compare and buy, and a category page can serve all of them, while a product page only catches people who already know the exact model. So I make sure categories have real content, clear filters that do not create duplicate URLs, and internal links from the homepage and blog. Product pages get unique titles and descriptions, structured data for price and stock, and clean handling of variants.
SEO is not a one-off project, so after the audit I work in monthly cycles: implement, measure in the dashboard, adjust. Where a client wants ongoing guidance instead of a fixed task list, that runs as SEO consultancy, where I act as the in-house SEO the shop does not have. What a consultant actually does, day to day, is checking crawl reports, rewriting titles, briefing developers, reviewing content and keeping the link profile healthy, consistently and in the right order.
Frequently asked questions
How long does SEO take to show results?
Technical fixes can show an effect within weeks, because Google recrawls and re-evaluates the pages. New content and links usually take three to six months to reach stable positions, and competitive terms take longer. The results then compound: the longer you keep at it, the cheaper each extra visitor becomes. Anyone promising first-page rankings in thirty days is targeting terms nobody searches or taking risks with your domain.
What is the difference between SEO and SEM?
SEO earns unpaid positions in the organic results; SEM, in the way most agencies use the term, buys positions through Google Ads and Shopping. Paid traffic starts and stops instantly and costs per click; organic traffic builds slowly and keeps flowing without a per-click cost. Most webshops need both, and Ads data is a useful shortcut for finding which keywords convert before you invest months in ranking for them.
Does AI search mean SEO is dead?
No. AI Overviews in Google and answers in ChatGPT change what the SERP looks like and can reduce clicks for simple informational questions. But those systems draw their answers from pages that already rank and are easy to crawl, so the same fundamentals apply. For webshops the commercial searches still end in a click to a shop, and well-structured product and category pages are what the AI systems quote and link to.
Can I do SEO myself or do I need a consultant?
You can do a lot yourself: connect Search Console, write proper titles and category texts, fix broken links and keep your site fast. Where a consultant earns their fee is prioritisation and the technical side: knowing which of the two hundred issues in a crawl actually matter, handling a migration without losing traffic, and keeping a shop on track month after month. For a small shop a few hours of advice per month is often enough.