Glossary › Search and marketing
search engine optimization (SEO)
Search engine optimization is the collection of methods used to move a website higher in search engines' unpaid results.
In plain terms
Imagine your shop is in a huge shopping street with millions of stores. Even if your goods are good, if the shop opens in a secluded side street and there is no sign saying what you sell, it is lost. Search engine optimization is the work that moves the shop to the main street: it gets a proper sign, a transparent window display, and clear directional signs.
In practice, this means shaping your website's text, structure, and technical state so that search engines understand what it is about and consider it a reliable answer to people's questions. If someone types 'pediatrician Szeged' into Google, the search engine decides within seconds which ten pages to show first. The goal of SEO is to ensure yours is among them.
It differs from advertising in that you do not pay for the spot here. You earn a good placement; you do not buy it. This comes more slowly and requires work, thus money, but it does not disappear immediately if you stop spending on it for a while. However, it does not last forever: due to competitors and changes in search engines, it must be continuously maintained.
In recent years, the landscape has expanded: many no longer browse search results but ask an AI assistant for a ready-made answer. Search optimization is therefore increasingly about ensuring AI responses cite your page.
How it works
- Crawling: the search engine's automated programs (robots) traverse the web link by link and download the content of pages.
- Indexing: the search engine analyzes and organizes what it finds into a massive catalog, recording what each page is about.
- Ranking: when someone searches, the algorithm sorts possible pages based on hundreds of signals. Such signals include content relevance and quality, loading speed, mobile usability, and whether other reliable sites link to it.
- Optimization: the website owner adjusts the site to these signals. They find out what words people search for, write useful content for these, fix titles and structure, correct technical errors, and acquire links.
- Measurement and refinement: it tracks the position at which it appears for each search, how many people click on it, and keeps improving on that basis. SEO is continuous work, not a one-time setup.
An everyday example
You are looking for a plumber and type 'plumber Győr weekend' into your phone. The map box and the first few results appearing below the ads are not there by chance: these businesses ensured that their website and Google Business Profile clearly list the service, location, and opening hours. The master craftsman without a proper website and business profile ends up at the back, where almost no one scrolls.
Who is affected
A common misconception
Limits and risks
- It acts slowly: results typically appear over months, making it unsuitable on its own for urgent campaigns.
- No one can guarantee first place because the search engine sets the ranking rules, and these can change without prior notice.
- Due to prohibited tricks (bought links, hidden text, mass-produced low-quality content), the search engine may demote or even exclude the site.
- Due to AI summaries, an increasing number of searches end without clicks, so a high ranking no longer automatically means high traffic.
Similar, but not the same
- search advertising (PPC) – There, you pay for clicks on your ad, and traffic stops as soon as you stop spending; SEO targets unpaid search results.
- generative search engine optimization (GEO) – GEO aims to ensure you appear and are cited in responses generated by AI assistants, while SEO concerns ranking on traditional search result lists.
- search engine marketing (SEM) – Search marketing is a broader term: it includes paid search advertising, and many people use it specifically and only for that.
Related concepts
online marketing, search engine marketing
keyword research, link building, technikai SEO, local search engine optimization
generative search engine optimization, search engine, AI search, search ad, AI visibility, tartalommarketing
A brief history
Search engine optimization emerged in the mid-1990s when website owners realized that the ranking of early search results could be influenced. The profession's current form was largely defined by Google's launch in 1998, which also considered links pointing to pages in its ranking.
Where things stand
SEO remains a standard tool in online marketing by the end of 2026, but it is evolving: due to AI summaries by search engines and conversational assistants, the industry is increasingly optimizing for appearance in AI answers as well.
In the news
- Hungarian trade sources: GEO largely builds on SEO, with takeaways from a Vienna conferenceNov 5, 2026 · Marketing
- Google says technical SEO remains key for AI search optimization, and GEO is still SEONov 2, 2026 · Marketing
- Hungarian agencies and providers prepare the market for AI answers with GEO training and explainersOct 26, 2026 · Marketing
- Study: AI Overviews nearly double across five commercial search modifiersOct 21, 2026 · Marketing
- Hungarian industry material on AI visibility: measuring GEO and tasks for small businessesOct 19, 2026 · Marketing
- ChatGPT vs Google: analysis points to a 27x conversion gap for SEO professionalsOct 19, 2026 · Marketing
- Google says for AI content in SEO, effort matters, not the toolOct 16, 2026 · Marketing
- Google pays some publishers for content used in AI answersOct 12, 2026 · Marketing
Also known as
SEO · search engine optimization · search engine optimization · search engine optimization · Search Engine Optimization · search engine optimisation · organic search engine optimization · website optimization
Sources
This entry was machine-edited and has undergone machine expert review; the “In the news” section updates automatically from Agent Age stories.