1. What is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. Boiling it down to it’s most basic definition, SEO is simply the act of affecting change to gain exposure for your website.
2. What is a SERP?
SERP stands for Search Engine Results Page. It is the page that displays your search results after you enter your search query in a search engine.
3. How does Google figure out who ranks first for a keyword such as “online marketing agency”?
Google and other search engines use complex algorithms that utilize many different indicators to rank websites. Truth be told, no one outside of a select team at Google would know everything that goes into these rankings. That being said here are a few things that we do know for sure can affect your ranking:
- The quality of the content on your website
- The relevancy of that content to a searcher’s query
- The number of people that “vote” for your content by linking to it or sharing it,
- Geography, or ranking depending on where you are
- The history of your website and domain, and other factors all play important roles in determining how your website will rank
- Your website’s architecture and how it is built
At the end of the day, our best advice is to provide quality content that people will want to read and share with their friends, colleagues, and followers.
4. Do I need to include keywords in titles and meta tags?
The importance of meta tags as an indicator of relevance to a search engine has been completely written off over the last few years. Title tags & heading tags on the other-hand still play an important role in sending signals of relevance to a search engine.
As part of on page optimisation best practices, it is a good idea to include relevant keywords in these tags, but do so in a natural manner that is makes sense to your visitors. Don’t try stuffing keywords into these tags just for the search engines, it needs to make sense and be relevant for your site users as well.
As a general rule of thumb, write for your audience, not for search engines.
5. How do I get more inbound links to my site?
Not too long ago, it was easy to “game” the system and get many inbound links for no good reason. Things changed and Google now pays more attention than ever to the manipulation of links. Our advice is simple, create quality content that people want to share and promote it via social media, your blogs, etc.
We’ve created and executed successful inbound link strategies for many clients, but it always starts with good content. Don’t try to find (or buy) crappy, irrelevant links – give users something of value instead.
Have more SEO questions? Contact us or send us a Tweet @robertclarkey