Search engines connect a user’s query to useful pages. SEO works with that system; it does not “trick” it long-term.
Three stages
- Crawl — bots discover URLs via links, sitemaps, and submissions
- Index — store and understand content (if allowed and useful)
- Rank — order results for a query using many relevance and quality signals
Organic vs paid
- Organic: earned placements; slower; compounds
- Paid: ads above/below; immediate; stops when budget stops
Both can appear on the same SERP. Users still skim titles, ratings, and Maps packs.
Query intent
| Intent | Example | Page type |
|---|---|---|
| Informational | “what is EMI” | Guide |
| Navigational | “Nabil bank login” | Official page |
| Commercial | “best ISP Kathmandu” | Comparison |
| Transactional | “buy iPhone 16 Nepal” | Product/dealer |
Case study: Intent mismatch (online pharmacy)
They ranked a promotional homepage for “how to store insulin.” Bounce/pogo-sticking stayed high until they published a proper medical-education article with clear disclaimers and linked to products secondarily. Rankings and trust both improved.
Nepal practice: Check Search Console queries. If you attract “salary” or “job” queries on a service page, fix titles/content or add a careers page — do not only buy more ads.
