If you want to understand SEO, you need to start with the questions: What is Google? & What is Google trying to accomplish?
What is Google?
Google is a business.
Think about that for a moment. What service does Google actually offer? Google is in the business of providing you with the best answer to your search query.
That also means Google wants to ensure that no matter what you need to know, you’ll find it within the websites it provides.
So, if you want to show up for—let’s say—SEO, that means your service page “SEO in Edmonton Alberta | Designed Life Marketing,” offering your services, pricing, and service area, is not enough to convince Google that you’re answering all the questions people might have about SEO.
Instead, your job is to convince Google that you not only provide the best answer for that search query but that your website serves as a complete answer hub for everything related to that topic.
What Does Google Offer?
A free to use search engine.
Yes, Google offers a search engine. In fact, it dominates over 90% of the market share for search engines as of 2026.
It continues to hold this dominance by consistently providing the best answers to people’s questions. When someone searches for information and gets poor results, they lose confidence. Over time, they might even stop using Google altogether.
Because of that, Google has a serious problem to solve: it must always deliver helpful, accurate, and relevant information.
How Does Google Make Money?
Advertising.
That’s it—short, sweet, and to the point.
You don’t pay to use Google. You can hop onto their search engine anytime, type in your question, and BAM—all the answers you want, for free!
Or… is it really free?
Actually, you have an agreement with Google the moment you use their search engine. The deal is simple: you get access to Google’s information, and Google gets access to your search behavior. It tracks what you search for and where you’re searching from.
That data helps Google target you with ads. However, that’s a whole different blog topic, so let’s stay focused.
How Google Decides What Content to Show
Now that you understand Google’s goal, let’s talk about how it decides which content to show in search results.
Google scans millions of websites and evaluates them on a scale of 2–99. The Google Authority Score (GA)—sometimes referred to as the “Google Trust Score.” This number represents how trustworthy Google believes your website to be. The higher your authority score, the more likely it is that your pages will rank.
Don’t panic—I’ll be writing an entire blog about the Google Authority Score soon. For now, let’s stay on SEO.
Essentially, Google looks for content that helps people the most. It prioritizes material that not only answers the direct question being asked but also provides helpful context following the E.E.A.T. framework: Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness. And, of course, it values content that is unique.
In other words, Google always asks one key question:
“Does this content solve the searcher’s problem better than everything else?”
How To Communicate to Google What Content You Are Offering.
You did it—you took the time, answered a specific question, and provided the best possible answer. However, does Google actually know that you did?
While content will always be king, structure plays a major supporting role.
Start by making sure that the question you’re answering appears in both your title and the first paragraph. This helps Google verify that your page is genuinely about what it claims to be about.
In addition, use proper heading structure throughout your content. Each heading should logically support the one above it.
A great way to double-check your structure is to use the Details Extension for your browser. Open the page you want to review, and make sure you have one H1, followed by H2s that support the H1, and H3s that support the H2s.
Soon, I’ll publish a full blog dedicated to why heading structure matters so much in SEO.
You should subscribe to my email updates—choose SEO Guidance to make sure you don’t miss new posts.
Why SEO Is About Helping People First
Many people think SEO is about tricks—but it’s not. It’s about helping people first.
Some look for shortcuts or ways to “beat the system.” Occasionally, those tactics work… but only for a short time. Eventually, you’ll have to pay the piper. Rankings start to slip, usually in a slow downward spiral, until they hit rock bottom. Once you’re there, you could be stuck in Google purgatory for six months.
During that time, nothing you do—no matter how honest—will reverse it faster. When your site finally recovers, you’ll be starting from square one, just like a brand-new website.
In the end, SEO is about helping people and adding real value. The better you help someone, the more Google will trust your content. And that’s what SEO is really all about.
