Why is it called organic search?

Organic search refers to unpaid search results from a search engine. Advertisers cannot buy or influence these results; they are the ones that the search engine considers most relevant to the user's search query. Organic search refers to search results from a search engine that cannot be influenced by paid advertising. Organic search results are ranked according to their relevance to the search term.

Therefore, organic search results don't include ads, but they can include search snippets, such as maps, images, articles, or the knowledge graph. All SEO focuses on organic search and generating organic traffic, although many SEOs also offer search engine advertising, which focuses on paid traffic and is part of the SEM.