SEO FAQ'S: COMMON SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION QUESTIONS
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What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and why is it important?
Most companies build websites to be found and most people go to search engines to find websites. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing web pages and websites so that search engines can easily find, index, and present them prominently in search engines. In short, SEO provides a website with visibility amongst billions of web pages. Without SEO, you could have the best looking website in the world but only you will know about it – a virtual billboard in a cornfield.
Why are my rankings on Google™ different than Yahoo’s?
Google™ and Yahoo!, although similar in many rankings tend to differ in the structure and weighting of their SERP algorithms. Yahoo! tends to favor on-page SEO elements such as Content SEO, Keyword SEO, and Website design SEO. Google™ tends to favor more off-page performance such as SEO link building. So if your results tend to be higher in Yahoo! than Google™, you likely need more SEO link building. If they are higher in Google™, then you could benefit by more on-page SEO.
How can I find out the rank of my website?
Most people know there is a problem with their website when it doesn’t show up in the search engines. The problem, as discussed in our section on Keyword SEO, is that most people don’t know what keywords people are using and therefore tend to guess at the words and phrases used to find them. Since 40% or more of these searches tend to be unique “long-tail” searches, it can become very daunting to find your true performance for each. Absent a thorough analysis by an SEO consultant, here are a few places you can start:
- Simply type what you suspect to be the most commonly used words and phrases into the search engines and see if you are ranked in any of the first 10 pages. If you are a local company, make sure to include your local keywords into the search phrases so they are more geo-specific.
- If you have a current website reporting tool (most hosting services provide these with their services) then you should be able to look at the “referring keywords” & “referring URL’s” reports to see what keywords and phrases people are most commonly using to find you. If you cannot click through these reports to see these exact searches, you can simply copy and paste them into the search engines to see where you show-up.
- We have provided a number of time-saving Search Engine Results Page (SERP) tools in our resources section of this website that you can use for free online.
Should I submit my website through website submission services?
Unless you are submitting your website directly to the search engines, you should avoid using third-party services for website submission. The reality is, SEO link building will have the greatest long-term impact and will be the best use of your time and efforts. If you are a local business, it is even more important that you focus on local search engine optimization (SEO) efforts as well.
What are some of the most commonly used search engine research commands?
- related:www.domain.com (shows a list of websites that Google sees as related to that webpage)
- allinurl:keyword (shows a list of web pages that have the designated keyword in their URL address)
- allinanchor:keyword (shows a list of web pages that have the designated keyword in their back links)
- site:www.domain.com (shows all pages in the designated website that Google has crawled)
- cache:www.domain.com (shows the current cache that Google has saved for that webpage )
- allintitle:keyword (shows a list of web pages that have the designated keyword/s in their title)
Why has my ranking recently dropped in Google™?
There are a number of factors that can contribute to a drop in your Google™ ranking but none are more important than a drop in back links. As discussed in our section on SEO Link Building, this is an ongoing process that is ever changing. Over time, links can disappear, drop in value, lose relevance, and even become uncompetitive unless you have a competitive link building strategy in place. So unless you had other more dramatic changes to your website before the drop, start with your back links.
How long will it take for my new website to perform in the search engines?
The ability for a new website to start performing optimally on the search engines is largely a competitive question. If you are launching into a highly competitive area and/or location, it can take months and even years to start fully hitting your stride on the search engines. In less competitive markets and/or regions, success can come within weeks and months. Ultimately, your website will perform better when all five key areas of SEO Optimization are addressed on your website. If you are competing for a position on a search engine results page with websites that have been optimized, registered for a number of years, and/or have hundreds or even thousand of back links, then your results will likely take time to be competitive. The answer starts with proper expectation setting, understanding your competition, and what it takes to be competitive with them.
How much does it cost to optimize a website?
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) should be treated like any other marketing initiative. It all starts with defined business objectives, effective management of those objectives and must have measurable results (ROI). Historically, most companies failed in almost all of these areas and simply wanted “to put up a website.” Now that people are increasingly moving to the web for products and services, most of these companies are struggling to understand how to get their websites visible. But visibility comes at a price and as more competition moves online, the price to compete continues to rise.
Ultimately, with a good SEO consultant firm, there should be a direct relationship between the amount of money you want to spend on SEO and the results you should receive from it. A preliminary analysis provided by an SEO consultant will help determine how your website performs in the five critical SEO optimization areas. But this process should always begin with an understanding of your goals, objectives and competition. Otherwise you will be putting the cart in front of the horse – and wondering where all your money went.
How does search engine marketing (SEM) differ from traditional marketing methods?
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) provides unique capabilities that many traditional market mediums do not. For example, traditional marketing vehicles such as phone books, newspapers, tv commercials, billboards, etc. have too broad reach for most companies. If you have a targeted customer profile, often times these mediums were limited in how well you could focus your message. For example, if you are a personal injury attorney who wants specific cases dealing with various types of motor vehicle accidents, you will find it both challenging and expensive to use these traditional marketing vehicles to your advantage. Moreover, if you also want to target your message in multiple locations, the time and cost can become exponential. But with the search engines, this has all changed.
A properly aligned Search Engine Marketing (SEM) strategy now allows companies the unique ability to become highly targeted and focused in both your message and who you want to see it – your ideal target market profile. Since the search engines primarily index website content base on SEO keywords, you can now structure your website and individual website pages based on who your ideal customers are and how they can best find you in the search engines. This is where a good SEO consultant can help. By taking time to understand who your ideal customers are, an SEO consultant can analyze the behavior of these people in the search engines and how you can best position your presence online so they can find you.