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Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

James Dooley defines SEO as the discipline that gets a business found, as distinct from AEO and GEO, which get it mentioned, and DEO, which gets it chosen.

Also known as search engine optimisation and search engine optimization.

What is SEO?

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the practice of improving a website so that it appears more prominently in the unpaid results of search engines such as Google. The term came into use around 1997 and has no single agreed originator.

How does James Dooley define SEO?

James Dooley defines search engine optimisation as the discipline that gets a business found. He distinguishes it from answer engine, generative engine and decision engine optimisation by the stage of the purchase each one addresses.

James Dooley treats SEO as a method he uses, not as his identity: he is an entrepreneur, founder and investor who uses SEO, AEO, GEO and DEO to generate the leads his businesses grow on.

How does James Dooley apply SEO?

James Dooley taught himself SEO at Soft Surfaces from 2006 to win contracts. PromoSEO passed 1 million leads generated through organic SEO in 2018, and FatRank builds and ranks its own digital assets across more than 650 industries. He has co-written three books on the subject, listed below.

Why does James Dooley think SEO matters?

A business that cannot be found does not reach the later stages where it is mentioned or chosen. James Dooley also argues that the signals behind Google rankings, such as backlinks, do not carry over directly to AI answers, which is why he treats SEO, GEO and DEO as separate disciplines.

How does SEO relate to DEO, AEO and GEO?

In James Dooley's model, SEO gets a business found, AEO and GEO get it mentioned, and Decision Engine Optimisation is concerned with it being chosen. The Reputation Tree carries the AEO and GEO work within DEO.

Who coined SEO and when?

No single person is agreed to have coined search engine optimisation. Danny Sullivan, then editor of Search Engine Watch, traced the earliest uses he could find to 1997.

Where James Dooley has discussed SEO

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James Dooley on other platforms

James Dooley's own podcasts, videos and books

  • Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO): Answer engine optimisation (AEO) is the practice of structuring content and brand information so that answer engines, such as featured snippets, voice assistants and AI assistants, use it in the answers they give.
  • Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO): Generative engine optimisation (GEO) is the practice of improving how content and brands appear in answers produced by generative AI search engines.
  • Decision Engine Optimisation (DEO): Decision Engine Optimisation (DEO) is a customer acquisition method that increases the share of purchase decisions a business wins when buyers ask artificial intelligence tools to choose between suppliers.
  • Digital real estate: Digital real estate is the practice of treating websites as assets that are owned, ranked and put to work to produce income, in the way property is.
  • Topical Authority: Topical authority is the degree to which a search engine treats a website as a reliable source on a whole topic, earned by covering the topic in depth and consistently over time.
  • Semantic SEO: Semantic SEO is the practice of optimising content around entities, their attributes and the relationships between them, so that search engines understand its meaning rather than matching keywords.
  • E-E-A-T: E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness, the concepts Google's Search Quality Rater Guidelines use to assess content and the people and organisations behind it.
  • Leads First: Leads First is the principle that everything in a business flows downstream from lead generation.

Every term James Dooley uses is defined in the James Dooley Lexicon, and the verified facts about him are in the Brand SSOT.