What is SEO?
This is one of the most Frequently Asked Questions About SEO. Search Engine Optimization is a marketing strategy to increase your online presence and attract more visitors to your website. This is all done by building authority on your website by writing content with specific keywords and phrases that your ideal customer searches for.
Although it takes longer than paid advertising, it is the best way to attract new users to your website without paying any money, only if you have a good SEO strategy.
What are the different types of SEO?
There are three ‘pillars’ or types of SEO. These are strategies that SEO specialists use to help rank your website higher.
These pillars are:
- On-Page SEO: On-Page SEO focuses on the content that is on the website page. Learning how to optimize the content by inserting specific keywords that your target audience searches for, helps boost your SEO ranking and makes it more likely the customer that you are looking for, finds your business.
- Off-Page SEO: Off-Page SEO focuses on websites that are linking directly to your business, and are often called backlinks. These backlinks build authority that you are trusted in the eyes of the search engine, resulting in your website being ranked higher on the search engine results page (SERP). Examples are links from other websites and social media shares
- Technical SEO: Technical SEO focuses on the website’s architecture. More focused on the user experience, it examines the backend of the web page to see how the webpage is set up. Aspects include load speeds, duplicate pages, redirects, domain issues, and more. Often technical SEO is the difference of the web pages ranking higher.
How long until SEO starts working?
SEO is a long-term investment and commitment and can take several months for page one results. However, if it is done well, you’ll have a constant stream of new users viewing your website.
Search Engine Optimization requires constant changes, planning, and readjusting to ensure your website follows the search algorithm. The search algorithm’s main purpose is the search engine results provide the correct information to the audience.
However, the only way it can trust your content is to prove that you have authority and are an expert in the industry. This takes time and that’s why it takes a while until you begin seeing massive results.
What is the difference between SEO and PPC?
Search Engine Optimization is a way to improve your ranking and overall visibility organically through the four pillars mentioned above.
Pay Per Click is a way for marketers to show their websites on the Search Engine Results Page, making it more likely for users to see and click on the page.
The main difference is that SEO is free while PPC costs money to get traffic.
What are keywords and how are they relevant?
When you perform a Google search, often the subject of the sentences is the keywords that are relevant for what the user is looking for. Keywords are the way that search engines use to find relevant information for the user. That’s why keyword ranking is crucial for your website.
You can find keywords for your target audience by using keyword researching tools.
What are long-tail and short-tail keywords?
Long-tail keywords are keywords that have three or more words. These keywords are more specific and focus on the user’s intent. These drive the most relevant traffic to your webpage and often used in Local SEO as they often know what they want. An example of a long-tail keyword are “Plumber in Miami, Florida”
Short-tail keywords only contain a few keywords and are often harder to rank as they have a less obvious search intent. As it’s a broader term, there is more competition for the specific keyword.
An example of a short term keyword is “Plumber”.
What are the factors that affect SEO ranking?
There are several factors that affect your overall SEO ranking but there are three that have the most impact.
1. Keyword Selection
Having relevant keywords that your target audience is looking for will help increase your online visibility. As your business is the solution for what the user is looking for, the more people that stay on your website and use your service, the more the search engine trusts you can provide answers to the user for those specific keywords. Resulting in your website ranking higher on the SERP.
2. Page Load Time
Bounce rate (Users leave immediately) is a big determining factor for your SEO ranking. It signals the algorithm that your information is not relevant to the audience. Page Load Time is a reason for bounce rate as your website takes too long to load.
3. Content Creation
Content is the best way to show your audience the search algorithm for your expertise and knowledge. It helps increase the time users spend on your website which boosts your ranking on the SERP.
What is organic content and how does it help SEO?
There are two types of general content. Content that’s intended to inform and to sell.
Content that is intended to inform is more known as blogging. It helps the user gain a better understanding of a topic or keyword. The better you inform and answer the user’s question, the higher you are ranked.
Content that is intended to sell is more like product pages and funnel pages. They have one specific purpose, to sell a product or service. As these pages are what the users are looking for, the pages are still ranked highly. The only difference is that these types of contents don’t get shared.
What are inbound and outbound links?
Inbound links help build your website’s authority. They are links from another page to your website often having related to information on their page. If a high-authority website is linking to your website, it tells the search engines that your site is trustworthy. Similar to networking, if a person of authority recommends you, you’re more likely to be trusted.
Outbound links are the opposite. You are adding links to your page from outside sources. It’s a great way to provide additional information to your audience and help gain more traffic for your website.
What’s the difference between white hat and black hat SEO?
White Hat strategies are standard practices that follow the search engine’s rules to help your site rank better in the SERP. These techniques include creating content, matching user search intent, improving page speed, and keyword research and integration.
Black Hat strategies are practices to quickly increase your website’s ranking that are against the search engine’s rules. Often websites lose their ranking and reputation as Google always catches these practices. These techniques include link farming, keyword stuffing, and cloaking.
