21 Important SEO Questions Get Answered for Business Owners

Whenever customers come to us, we typically receive the same type of questions about search engine optimization. So here we have collected the most asked questions we have faced about our SEO industry.

• What is the importance of Domain Authority?

  Domain Authority (DA) is a sign of the health of a site structured through an assortment of measurements. A few of the critical measurements that improve the DA of a webpage are: social profiles leading to the site, earned quality links and cumulative SEO work.

  The better the DA the better chance your ranking will be higher than expected when certain keywords are entered in the search engine. When the battle is tight for competitive advantage, it can be a critical metric to show your company is slightly better than a competitor with the higher ranking in the search engine. Because of it’s importance in keywords, it is usually the first metric identified in search engine optimization.

• What is the importance of a search algorithms?

  Google and other search engines use different algorithms to determine where your website should be ranked. Some of the main algorithms used are Penguin and Panda, while Hummingbird is a new algorithm that has changed the way SEO companies work because it focuses on phrases and conversations about the website as opposed to a simple keyword usage.

  All these algorithms are constantly updated and they are the framework for where you will rank in a search for specific categories. Because these algorithms determine where your page will be ranked, it is vital to know what Google is looking for to make sure you are located where you want.

• Is pay-per-click something I should do?

  It really depends on what type of product you have and what you are trying to accomplish.

  Spending money on Google AdWords for specific terminology may help in a very targeted market while often being a significant cost. Each company is different, with different products and different seasons of selling. Therefore, conducting specific targeting through PPC advertising can be a pricey way to get a small result.

  It can often be true that SEO is best for companies with long run sales and a long term strategy of success that is not seasonally dependent. SEO would help the long term company because it can focus on blogging, mobile, social media, bringing original information to the web, and much more that takes time but build a website to the top of the search. PPC is a short run way to boost a ranking in a limited period of time.

• Why am I not higher than my competitor in the search engines?

  There are over 200 search ranking factors that go into determining where you rank. With so many different variables, it can take time to get higher than your competitor in all of them.

  Even if you do find all the factors are work to rank higher, it is still not a guarantee because the search engines are fluid. They often will update and change their algorithms multiple times a day.

  As with just about any marketing strategy, the best way to approach the consumer is to give them what they want. With a good and constant blog, quality earned links, and a good social media plan you will be able to stay current and on point with any changes to the algorithms.

• I want to rank for this keyword, can you do it?

  Of course. But it could take some time, so make sure to manage your expectations. With all the marketing and SEO strategies we conduct, we work to focus in on the particular keywords of your choice. With the various factors of search engines that are changing, it is important to do it the right way that will last. There is not a completely black-and-white method of increasing your rank for a keyword. We need to remain flexible to adapt to the latest algorithms every day. While we increase your ranking we will make sure to create the best user experience. Search engines are looking for a good user experience on the sites and will rank these sites higher in the search. So adapting, communicating, and conducting it on multiple fronts is the best way to go naturally.

• What is the importance of on-site optimization?

  Without question, it is critical! Without on-site SEO when digital marketing strategies are conducted they will not be fully functioning and efficient. On-site SEO is the backbone to digital marketing.

  For instance, when you purchase Pay-Per-Click ads and arrange it with an immaculate campaign filled with quality links to products and landing pages, it seems great on the surface. You spend a ton of money, burning through your advertising budget, so now you can’t do anything else. You would be blowing all your money fast and unnecessarily, when Google will just change things up on you where you will have to re-address it and put more money forward to keep up with your competition.

  Another relevant fact about on-site optimization is that your Google Adwords accounts have too low a quality score for the keywords because your site is not fully optimized to be seen clearly by Google.

• When should I update my blog?

  With all the changes to the algorithms, it would be great to update your blog as often as you can. It’s most important though to put quality original work on your blogs so Google picks it up and ranks it more favorably. To give you a ballpark figure, 1-3 blogs per week should allow you to have quality content and strong results.

  Have a plan to manage your content that you are putting on your blog. Something that is manageable and possible for you to actually do. If you aren’t comfortable writing, hire someone else to write for you. It should be well written, well organized, and applicable to what your viewers want to read.

  The writings on your blog should bring value to your site. Meaning it needs the relevant information, key buzzwords, and good easy to read flow. Content writing is focused on teaching, leading, and entertaining your viewers so they make it a common stop when they are on the web.

• How much money is necessary for Google AdWords?

  To have a quality digital marketing plan, probably somewhere around $1,000. You want to keep your adverts from falling out of Google’s search after only a couple hours. However, keep in mind that the popularity of the keywords you are using comes into play as to how much work and cost needs to go in.

• Before I start a website, should I conduct a social media campaign?

  It depends on what you are trying to accomplish with your start. If you want to increase your brand awareness before you start then you should conduct a social media campaign before to build up excitement. It can be quite common to start with a social media campaign because it is a way to build up followers and a chance to learn what they want before launching.

  Usually before we launch our client’s websites we like to establish a domain setup with a landing page. So that people can go to the page where they can sign up for updates or find more information about the launch date. The other thing we recommend is to place images or sneak previews of the products to demonstrate what it will be like after the launch.

• How long should my blog post be?

  As we have stated throughout, it is more about quality than quantity. Many users go to blogs to get expert opinions with actual facts and trustworthy opinions they can follow. So it is helpful to go in depth and get the full explanation out on the blog. There is a place for a shorter blog post, but even if it is short it doesn’t mean it is not meaningful. The goal of a good post is to make it something that can be shared, tweeted, and the beginning of a conversation. In general, the blog should be at a minimum 500 words but ideally around 800 words. Quality writing is always the key though.

  Keep in mind when writing your blog posts to write about topics you are interested in. When you write on something you enjoy, it will be easier to do research while penning higher quality information.

  Share your blog posts when you finish on sites like LinkedIn, facebook, and other social media sites to increase awareness.

• Is it okay to use the company’s boiler plate product explanations on my product pages?

  Writing your own product descriptions is always the best way to go because you will avoid getting hit by penalties or different algorithm changes. Another thing you should do is to avoid scraped content. Google says that scraped content which they penalize on is when sites simply copy content from another site without adding any new content.

  In regards to product descriptions, if you were to sell 2000 different products on each individual page, there would be copied content on all these pages which would make it prime for punishment. Google wants new and original content, so when it is copied, especially in excess, it will surely be seen and punished. Thus, get to writing original product explanations today!

• How can I get some good reviews of my business?

  Good reviews don’t necessarily help your rankings. However, they are great to add favor to your brand and show the quality of your products. Yelp and Google Places are two spots to generate positive reviews. Making sure you have an active presence on these sites will help your ranking now because with Google’s new updates they place more of an emphasis on Yelp.

• How can I rank for a competitive keyword?

  Through the integration of on-site optimization and quality links on your site while still maintaining your blog regularly. Understand that if you are a new brand it will take some time to compete for the top keywords. We suggest a long term approach when trying to go for these keywords. In our successful approach, we focus on ranking for a package of keywords that are not as competitive first in order to draw traffic. Then when the domain authority goes up the plan can morph to an approach on these competitive keywords to get the traffic you want.

• How do I find keywords that are important for my business?

  Google has a product called Keyword Planner that is free and can help find the most highly competitive keywords. It also will help determine the most popular PPC and different monthly variations of the volume of the search. Next, we will analyze the competition to see what keywords they have success with. It can be good to do something different from your competition and it can be equally positive to do what others are doing. It really just depends on the keywords that are used, the niche, the domain authority, and the current traffic.

• Do I need to have a blog?

  Yes! We have seen that over 50% of businesses have reached new customers from their blog. In order to make sure your website is active, a blog will achieve that for you.

  It keeps the site new. When you update your blog it gives signs to the search engines that you have a living digital organism that is important. It will bring the spider back to your site more often to check for any new updates to improve your ranking and have your pages indexed often.

  Show others what you know. Customers want to purchase products from people who know what they are doing and what they are talking about because it makes them feel like they got the best product out there.

  Lastly, a new blog drives traffic. Every new post creates an opportunity for someone new to view the page and thereby be exposed to your business. Keep from writing articles just about your product, instead, publish blogs on what interests your audience and anything else associated with your product. Express your opinions about the industry you are in. The blog is your avenue to share your voice and allow people to get to know you. This will help you gain new visitors, keep current ones, and develop a stronger rapport with your viewers.

• How relevant is link building today?

  Links are the foundation of the internet, which is not going away any time in the near future. When a link is posted on one site going to another site, it is a vote of confidence. In regards to SEO, it no longer works to get links from sites that are in no way applicable to your site. While working on your off-site content strategies we post articles only on highly sought after industry websites that are strategically aligned with your customer base.

• What about guest blogging? Is it helpful?

  It’s similar to link building, in that it needs to be relevant. SEO is all about quality material now. So if there is ever irrelevant material on the blog or site it will be picked up on and penalized. Make sure when the guest blogging happens the content is useful and specifically for the users. Additionally, the posts should be on industry aligned sites. Do these things, and it can prove a highly valuable asset.

• What are the prospects for SEO down the road?

  Can’t be certain, but here are a couple of ideas.

  Mobile devices continue to blossom. Therefore, the number of searches on mobile devices will continue its upward trend. It has increased every year and has now surpassed desktop searches. In each of your digital marketing campaigns you should think about how people will be using their phones to search, what they are trying to do, and how that applies to your industry.

  Social media will continue to grow. Search engines we believe will value social platforms even more to influence the rankings.

  One big change came recently with the sophistication of searches looking for phrases and conversations. This trend will only continue for the Google’s of the world. Plan on them being able to make sense of the context of any search instead of just focusing on the keywords in the search. They will be able to factor things like location, time, and prior interests.

• Why did my traffic plummet so quickly and randomly?

  We would have to a complete analysis to get the full answer. Regardless, the primary thing you should consider is when did the first drop happen and try to match it up with a specific algorithm update. It could give you insight to what you need to change. Also, you could look through your Webmaster Tools to see if you are subjected to manual penalties.

• How can I sell products aimed at different locations?

  Time, resources, and financials are the critical components. Typically it is best to create different subpages that are specific to diverse countries (eu, or, us, etc.). It is low maintenance and low cost compared to purchasing in country domains (.co, .uk, au, etc.).

• How do images play a part in search queries?

  They will play a part if you provide a description of your photo or video in an ALT attribute tag. It is not yet possible for search engines to make sense of what the image is without the ALT attribute tag. As part of our service, we can optimize photos for you to make sure you rank well in an image search on Google. If you are an e-commerce business it is critical because they are visually based which means if you can optimize your photos you can increase your sales opportunities.

  We hope that we have given you answers to our FAQs. May this help you to improve your business and increase your online viewership.