15 Most Commonly Asked SEO Questions

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Contact Brightlark today to learn how we can use SEO to kickstart business growth. Our SEO guru, Todd, can answer any questions you might have.

QUESTION 15

How Will SEO Help My Business?

SEO will help your business by driving your potential customers to your website. We call this "qualified organic traffic." It means not just any user, but the users who are most interested in what you have to offer and are ready to buy. You can increase the power of your website through technical SEO (indexing), on-page SEO (great content) and off-site SEO (backlinks). As a result, you'll get more traffic, more leads and see an increase in revenue.

QUESTION 14

How Often Should I Include My Targeted Keyword?

The rule of thumb is that you should speak to your users and not to the search engines. While it's important to use the keyword with some frequency, natural language will rank much higher than a keyword-stuffed piece with little relevance.

QUESTION 13

How Fast Should My Website Be?

Page speed is the rate at which pages load. You've had that experience of clicking on a link and waiting for the content to appear. If your users have to wait too long, it will hurt your SEO. Currently, Google is most focused on usability, particularly on mobile devices. If users lose patience with your site and leave before your content is visible, Google will lower your ranking.

QUESTION 12

What Are Important Metrics to Judge SEO Success?

So you know SEO is important, but how do you know if it's working? As with any of your business metrics, it's important first to define your goals. At Brightlark, we make sure that the primary goal we're trying to achieve is driving traffic, engagement, conversions and revenue to your business through organic SEO. Not through paid ads, but from organic search engine optimization methods. To gauge how we're doing, we look at several factors. For example, Google Analytics shows us the details of organic traffic and engagement. Basically, this means that we can see the road that led someone to your site. Rank-tracking software shows the progression of your site's performance in page rank over time for certain terms and criteria. We're always looking at the data, including:

Organic traffic

These are people who have come to you through organic search and not other channels (Paid, Direct, Social, Email, etc). It’s good to measure pages of interest to determine areas of success as well as areas of opportunity.

Impressions

These are the number of times you've shown up in search results, and whether or not a user has clicked on a link to your site.

Bounce rate

This is the frequency that users "bounce" off your site pages. In other words, it is when someone clicks on your site on Google but leaves without visiting any other page.

Pages per session

This is the number of pages that a single user visits when they come to your site. Depending on the intended purpose of a page, a user will interact with it differently. A user may visit multiple pages throughout your site to research and learn more. They may only visit one page if it includes all the information they need and they’ll move on. However, it’s good practice to keep the user on your site until they perform a desired behavior (download a file, submit a form, make a purchase, etc).

Click-through rate

It's a lot of numbers, but together they tell us not only whether we're doing a good job, but how we can modify our SEO strategy to take advantage of opportunities.

This is the frequency that people who see a link to your page click through to visit your site.

QUESTION 11

What Are XML Sitemaps and Robots.txt Files?

So you want Google to index your site, but are all pages created equally? Your XML Sitemap is essentially a listing of all your pages with encoded signals that tell the search engines which ones are really important. There are also scenarios when you don’t want pages or sections to show up on Google’s results (such as thank you pages or empty category archive pages). If you have a large e-commerce site, for example, you have perhaps tens of thousands of pages, not all of which are relevant for your users. You can use robots.txt or meta robots directives to tell search engines to index or not bother indexing certain pages.

QUESTION 10

Does Social Media Impact SEO?

But remember Google doesn't exist to help you and your business. It's a private company, and social networking sites are its competition. So it probably doesn't want to bolster the importance of social channels. Google does, however, pull in tweets under its breaking news section, which means it does not ignore social altogether.

QUESTION 8

What Is a Backlink and How Does It Help?

A backlink is a link from another site to your website. Since Google bots can't call up your customers to get verification that you're a great business, it relies on backlinks to demonstrate that you are an authoritative and trusted site. That has always been an important ranking factor for Google. Link swapping, however, where you get backlinks through a directory, no longer holds the influence it once did. However, contacting relevant influencers and asking them to link to your site, or getting a mention in original, highly regarded editorial content, will help improve your ranking. A small number of links from high authority websites have a higher impact than many links from low quality websites.

QUESTION 9

Is Having a Mobile-Friendly Site Important?

It's very important to have a mobile-friendly site. For the past few years, more people have performed Google searches on smartphones than on desktop or laptop computers. The search engine has noticed this trend has rolled out Mobile-First Indexing. This means Google uses the mobile version of your site to decide page rank instead of the desktop version. Sites optimized for mobile have responsive design, easy-to-navigate features, load quickly, make it easy to access the homepage, have short menus and keep users within one browser window, among many other features will help improve your ranking.

QUESTION 7

What Is a 404 Error and Why Should I Fix It?

It’s like driving through a super quick detour rather than ending up at a dead end street. In any event, it's crucial to redirect your old URLs to pages that are still live on your site using 301 redirects. This is great not only for SEO, but to hold onto those people who came to your site. You've done a lot of work to increase website traffic; you don't want anyone to end up in the wrong place without being taken to where they should be.

QUESTION 6

How Long Does It Take to See Results in SEO?

It's true you can sometimes make an immediate impact with SEO, but that's really only if you're fixing a big error. If you're starting off on a solid base when building your site, your SEO will earn trust with the search engines. That's the key word: trust. The more Google trusts your site, the more likely it is to refer your site to its users. Trust takes time, with search engines and with human beings.

QUESTION 5

What Do You Mean by "Indexed"?

If your site has been indexed, which typically happens not just once, but several times as your pages are updated, it means the search engine has added your URL to its library. Indexing is an essential process, as this is the first step toward Google including your site in the search engine results pages.

QUESTION 4

How Do You Rank in Google?

There are over 200+ (and growing) ranking factors that determine how pages are ordered, so the truth is, we don't know precisely how to guarantee a high rank in Google. The search engine's ranking process is done through a proprietary algorithm that's a trade secret under U.S. law. So unless Google decides to open its books to everyone, it's unlikely we'll ever know the full details of how that algorithm works. However, some SEO-savvy researchers have done extensive analysis about page rank and how it works. Google also doesn't leave us completely in the dark. The search engine has a set of best-practice guidelines that we can use to optimize your site in order to get the best response from the search engine.

We do know some basic ranking factors that affect whether Google will refer your site to someone searching. Your content should be relevant and unique, including the keywords you choose to use. It should be easy to navigate your site, with links going from page to page and a clean sitemap. It should be easy to read on mobile, load quickly regardless of device and relevant authorities should link to you. How does Google know if users like your site? They may see how many people go to your pages and stay there. There’s indication that Google uses "dwell time" as a ranking factor, but it may only be for the top 10 results. Search intent is also important: your targeting and quality should match the intent of a person’s search.

QUESTION 3

How Do Search Engines Work?

Search engines may seem like magic, but it's a bit more technical than that. Google and Bing respond to your queries by looking for a website match from a giant library of sites on the web. In order to become part of that library, search engines are like "spiders" that crawl the "web." They find a website, read its pages and index those pages, adding them to the library.

To compile search results, the engine pulls a list of URLs from its index that might be a good match for whatever the user is seeking. Of course, there are millions of pages on the internet, many of which might be suitable for a user. Search engines use a specific algorithm, or computer program, to decide what shows up in results and in what order.

QUESTION 2

What’s the Difference Between Paid Search and Organic Search?

As it turns out, these strategies work best when used in conjunction with one another. Try as you might, you just can't populate your website with every relevant search term. Paid ads can fill this gap, allowing you to capture that segment of visitors your on-site SEO cannot. Visitors click on both ads and organic results. Both drive traffic, and increased traffic results in boosting your organic ranking. So there's no need to choose one or the other.

QUESTION 1

What is SEO?

Off-Site SEO: Search engines want outside evidence you know what you're talking about. In order for your site to rank well, it needs to be verified by an outside authority. Incoming links, local directory listings and influencer mentions are examples of strategies to improve off-site SEO. Technical SEO: Search engines are made up of bots, or computer robots, that decide whether or not your site is worthy of referring to users. Technical SEO makes your site friendly to bots through features such as mobile-friendliness, internal linking, uniqueness of pages and a clean sitemap. Because SEO is always about your site's relationship to the search engines, it's important to work with a marketer who is up to date on the latest changes in search engine algorithms.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jake is an SEO Strategist from Greensboro, NC who fled to the West after experiencing one too many humid East Coast summers. Aside from being a total SEO nerd, Jake loves the NBA, rap music, and craft beer.

Jake Amberg

SEO Strategist

"Answering your questions about SEO is part of what I love about my job. As an expert on online marketing, I find it enjoyable to engage with partners who want to learn more about this vital aspect of the work we do. Here are the questions I get asked the most when explaining our SEO strategies and how I answer them."

15 Most Commonly Asked SEO Questions

ANSWERING YOUR

ANSWERING your

15 Most Commonly Asked SEO Questions

SEO Strategist

Jake Amberg

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

What is SEO?

SEO is an acronym that stands for "Search Engine Optimization." While people typically think of SEO as page rank on sites like Google, it is about making your site friendly to the web and friendly to users. It is about optimizing your website to adhere to search engines' best practices, particularly those of Google. In the very early days of internet marketing, SEO was a simple matter of populating web pages with text that matched what people were looking for. Now it's become much more sophisticated, encompassing three key elements: On-Page SEO: Each of your pages should attract the right kind of user. On-page SEO is creating content, and code, that is optimized for the search engines and the ultimate audience you want to reach. Off-Site SEO: Search engines want outside evidence you know what you're talking about. In order for your site to rank well, it needs to be verified by an outside authority. Incoming links, local directory listings and influencer mentions are examples of strategies to improve off-site SEO. Technical SEO: Search engines are made up of bots, or computer robots, that decide whether or not your site is worthy of referring to users. Technical SEO makes your site friendly to bots through features such as mobile-friendliness, internal linking, uniqueness of pages and a clean sitemap. Because SEO is always about your site's relationship to the search engines, it's important to work with a marketer who is up to date on the latest changes in search engine algorithms.

QUESTION 1

You've probably noticed that search engine result pages (SERPs) are divided into two sections. At the top are paid advertisements, followed by organic results below. Organic results rank because of the on-site, off-site and technical SEO you've put into your website. Paid ads are the outcome of using a service such as Google AdWords, where you pay to have your links show up in response to certain search terms. Now you're probably wondering why you would pay for ads if you have strong organic SEO. As it turns out, these strategies work best when used in conjunction with one another. Try as you might, you just can't populate your website with every relevant search term. Paid ads can fill this gap, allowing you to capture that segment of visitors your on-site SEO cannot. Visitors click on both ads and organic results. Both drive traffic, and increased traffic results in boosting your organic ranking. So there's no need to choose one or the other.

What’s the Difference Between Paid Search and Organic Search?

QUESTION 2

The truth is, we don't know precisely how to guarantee a high rank in Google. The search engine's ranking process is done through a proprietary algorithm that's a trade secret under U.S. law. So unless Google decides to open its books to everyone, it's unlikely we'll ever know the full details of how that algorithm works. However, some SEO-savvy researchers have done extensive analysis about page rank and how it works. Google also doesn't leave us completely in the dark. The search engine has a set of best-practice guidelines that we can use to optimize your site in order to get the best response from the search engine. We do know some basic ranking factors that affect whether Google will refer your site to someone searching. Your content should be relevant and unique, including the keywords you choose to use. It should be easy to navigate your site, with links going from page to page and a clean sitemap. It should be easy to read on mobile, load quickly regardless of device and relevant authorities should link to you. How does Google know if users like your site? They can see how many people go to your pages and stay there. If too many people only spend a few seconds on a page, you'll have a high "bounce rate," which works against you for ranking purposes.

How Do You Rank in Google?

QUESTION 4

Search engines may seem like magic, but it's a bit more technical than that. Google and Yahoo respond to your queries by looking for a website match from a giant library of sites on the web. In order to become part of that library, search engines are like "spiders" that crawl the "web." They find a website, read its pages and index those pages, adding them to the library. To compile search results, the engine pulls a list of URLs from its index that might be a good match for whatever the user is seeking. Of course, there are millions of pages on the internet, many of which might be suitable for a user. Search engines use a specific algorithm, or computer program, to decide what shows up in results and in what order.

How Do Search Engines Work?

QUESTION 3

What Do You Mean by "Indexed"?

QUESTION 5

You can think of your SEO strategy as you think of building your business. SEO takes time until you'll see its full effect, just as it takes a bit of time for you to develop and grow your customer base. SEO is a long-term marketing strategy, and you should see it as a way to make incremental, but significant, gains over an extended time period. It's true you can sometimes make an immediate impact with SEO, but that's really only if you're fixing a big error. If you're starting off on a solid base when building your site, your SEO will earn trust with the search engines.That's the key word: trust. The more Google trusts your site, the more likely it is to refer your site to its users. Trust takes time, with search engines and with human beings.

How Long Does It Take to See Results in SEO?

QUESTION 6

Most likely, you've seen a 404 error during your adventures on the web. You've probably linked from another website, only to find the page no longer exists. While you want high-authority sites to link to you, if you remove that page and the outside source doesn't update its link, users get a 404 error.According to Google, a 404 error does not detract from your SEO because it does not reduce the engine's ability to crawl your site. However, some experts dispute this. In any event, it's crucial to redirect your old URLs to pages that are still live on your site. This is a 301 redirect, and you've probably seen that too. After receiving a message that the URL is out of date, you are redirected to a new page.This is great not only for SEO, but to hold onto those people who came to your site. You've done a lot of work to increase website traffic; you don't want anyone to end up in the wrong place without being taken to where they should be.

What Is a 404 Error and Why Should I Fix It?

QUESTION 7

Sites optimized for mobile have responsive design, easy-to-navigate features, load quickly, make it easy to access the homepage, have short menus and keep users within one browser window, among many other features will help improve your ranking.

Is Having a Mobile-Friendly Site Important?

QUESTION 9

A backlink is a link to your website. Since Google bots can't call up your customers to get verification that you're a great business, it relies on backlinks to demonstrate that you are an authoritative and trusted site. That has always been an important ranking factor for Google. Link swapping, however, where you get backlinks through a directory, no longer holds the influence it once did. However, contacting relevant influencers and asking them to link to your site, or getting a mention in original, highly regarded editorial content, will help improve your ranking.

What Is a Backlink and How Does It Help?

QUESTION 8

There's a debate within the SEO community about whether social networking sites, like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, affect page rank. As we know, Google isn't talking, but it's clear social channels have some SEO impact mostly by increasing brand awareness and, by extension, increasing the likelihood other sites will link to yours. But remember Google doesn't exist to help you and your business. It's a private company, and social networking sites are its competition. So it probably doesn't want to bolster the importance of social channels. Google does, however, pull in tweets under its breaking news section, which means it does not ignore social altogether.

Does Social Media Impact SEO?

QUESTION 10

So you want Google to index your site, but are all pages created equally? Your XML Sitemap is essentially a listing of all your pages with encoded signals that tell the search engines which ones are really important. If you have a large e-commerce site, for example, you have perhaps tens of thousands of pages, not all of which are relevant for your users. You can use robots.txt, an aspect of code, to tell search engines to not bother indexing certain pages.

What Are XML Sitemaps and Robots.txt Files?

QUESTION 11

It's a lot of numbers, but together they tell us not only whether we're doing a good job, but how we can modify our SEO strategy to take advantage of opportunities.

This is the frequency that people who see a link to your page click through to visit your site.

Click-through rate

This is the number of pages that a single user visits when they come to your site. Ideally, a user should land on one page but click through to several others before leaving.

Pages per session

This is the frequency that users "bounce" off your site pages. In other words, it shows how often people stay for a mere number of seconds and leave.

Bounce rate

These are the number of times you've shown up in search results, and whether or not a user has clicked on a link to your site.

Impressions

These are people who have come to you through search and not paid channels.

Organic links

So you know SEO is important, but how do you know if it's working? As with any of your business metrics, it's important first to define your goals. At AdVision, I make sure that the primary goal we're trying to achieve is driving more revenue to your business through organic SEO. That means more conversions, not necessarily through paid ads, but organic search engine optimization methods. To gauge how we're doing, we look at several factors. For example, Google Analytics shows us the details of organic sessions. Basically, this means that we can see the road that led someone to your site, such as a specific search term they entered into Google. Rank-tracking software shows the progression of your site's performance in page rank over time for certain terms and criteria. We're always looking at the data, including:

What Are Important Metrics to Judge SEO Success?

QUESTION 12

How Fast Should My Website Be?

QUESTION 13

How Often Should I Include My Targeted Keyword?

QUESTION 14

How Will SEO Help My Business?

QUESTION 15

Contact Brightlark today to learn how SEO can kickstart your business growth.

Sound like this may be a fit for your business?

jUMP TO:

Organic links

These are actions that you want people to take on the site. Such as downloading a file after submitting their information, making a purchase, or simply submitting a contact form. Organic conversion metrics are one of the most powerful forms of insight. Make sure you’re tracking important behavior!

Conversions and goals