SEO
Abbreviation with 2 meanings
| Stands for | Search engine optimization |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 2 |
| Categories | Business & Finance |
SEO has two meanings. It stands for Search engine optimization (marketing & advertising) or Seasoned equity offering (stock market & investing).
Meanings of SEO at a glance
| # | SEO stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Search engine optimization | Business & Finance › Marketing & Advertising |
| 2 | Seasoned equity offering | Business & Finance › Stock Market & Investing |
1. Search engine optimization
Business & Finance · Marketing & Advertising Abbreviations
Practice of improving a website so its pages rank higher in the unpaid (organic) results of search engines such as Google and Bing. Work falls into technical SEO (crawlability, speed, structured data), on-page content and keywords, and off-page signals such as links from other sites.
Example: We hired an agency to fix our SEO after organic traffic fell 40% following the redesign.
The term came into use in the late 1990s as search engines became the main way people found websites. Tactics that follow search engine guidelines are called white-hat SEO, while manipulative ones such as buying links or keyword stuffing are black-hat and risk penalties. "SEO" also names the job, as in "our SEO." Since Google added AI Overviews in 2024, practitioners increasingly also optimize for AI-generated answers, sometimes called GEO (generative engine optimization).
2. Seasoned equity offering
Business & Finance · Stock Market & Investing Abbreviations
Issue of new shares by a company whose stock already trades publicly, the term preferred in academic finance for what practitioners call a follow-on offering. Research shows that share prices typically fall when SEOs are announced.
Example: Academic studies find average announcement returns of roughly minus 2 to 3 percent for US SEOs.
The negative reaction is usually explained by information asymmetry: managers may issue equity when they believe the shares are overvalued. In everyday business usage, SEO almost always means search engine optimization, so context matters. Also called a seasoned new issue.
Related abbreviations
More marketing & advertising abbreviations
- RTB – Real-time bidding
- SAL – Sales-accepted lead
- SEA – Search engine advertising
- SEM – Search engine marketing
- SERP – Search engine results page
- SFA – Sales force automation
- SLG – Sales-led growth
- SMM – Social media marketing
See all 111 marketing & advertising abbreviations →