Search engine optimization is a complicated topic, and it’s not surprising that many people have questions about how to optimize their website. We’ve compiled 101 of the most common SEO questions we get asked from our clients along with answers to help you out!
1) What should I do if my site doesn’t show up in Google?
There are a lot of reasons why your site might not show up in Google, and it’s important to diagnose the problem before taking any action. It could be that there is nothing wrong with your website at all–it just hasn’t been crawled yet (we do periodic crawls).
2) What should I do if my site doesn’t rank well on Google?
If your site ranks poorly, there are a number of things that you can try to get it back in the rankings. You could start by creating new pages for topics which aren’t yet covered and linking them from existing pages or adding more content about keywords to relevant posts.
3) What should I do if my site is penalized by Google?
If your site receives a penalty due to spam, it’s important that you take the necessary steps to remove any offending content.
Please contact our team for more information on how we can help with this issue!
4) What should I do if my site is hacked?
If your site has been compromised, it’s important to take action immediately. The first thing you’ll want to do is change all of the passwords on your website and any other accounts which might have been impacted by this breach. You can also go into Google Webmaster Tools or Bing Webmaster Services and submit a manual removal request to have the offending site taken down.
5) What should I do if my site is slow?
If your website isn’t loading quickly for some reason, the first thing you’ll want to check is where the problem may be. You can contact us with more information and we might be able to help diagnose any issues that are going on or make recommendations about what updates would fix these problems permanently.
6) What should I do if my content is being scraped?
There are many different reasons why your site may be getting scraped, but the most common one is that you don’t have anything in place to prevent it. You can either add a robots.txt file to your website or write some code into an .htaccess file on your web server.
7) How do I SEO my website?
There are many different things you can do to optimize your site, but it’s important that before diving in and doing anything you know how to diagnose any issues. We recommend starting with a web crawler like Screaming Frog or Xenu Link Sleuth which will show you all of the pages on your website along with information about the amount of content, the number of links to each page, and any errors on those pages.
This blog post will have a list of 101 questions that people ask us most often in regards to SEO. This is an excellent resource because it answers many common questions with information from a trusted source.
8) How do I know if my website needs SEO?
Any site that is looking to rank in search engine results pages should be doing SEO. If your site doesn’t rank, it’s because you haven’t optimized for the keywords that are relevant to what you’re talking about.
9) What is the best SEO tool?
There are a number of tools that can be used for SEO, but it’s important to know what you’re doing. If your website already ranks well and there isn’t anything wrong with it, then you may not need any additional help from an outside service or product. However if you think something might be wrong with your site, or it’s not ranking well in the first place, then you may want to use a tool like Screaming Frog for diagnosis.
10) How do I get my site crawled?
It’s possible that there is nothing wrong with your website, it just hasn’t been crawled yet. We have a crawling process which runs periodically and we recommend scheduling an appointment to let us know what you want checked so we can ensure that the appropriate pages are getting indexed by Google for search results.
11) When should I hire an SEO company?
There are a number of different reasons why you may need to hire someone for SEO work. It’s always best to have your site optimized, especially if it is ranking for keywords that aren’t relevant or important. If the content on your website has been scraped and you want it removed, then hiring an SEO company might be necessary as well.
12) How much will it cost to have my website optimized by a professional?
There are a number of different factors that will impact the cost for SEO. For example, if you don’t have any content on your site and it’s been scraped, then we might recommend doing some manual work to re-create or create new pages so there is more substance on the website and offers real value to readers who visit.
13) What is the best SEO company?
The answer to this question will always be subjective because it depends on what you’re looking for. You should research a variety of different options and find one that suits your needs with affordable pricing or lots of experience in doing SEO work, whichever is more important to you. We recommend checking out our blog post which has a list of 101 SEO questions and answers to get some additional information about what we do.
14) Why should I care about Google’s algorithm updates?
Google will periodically update their algorithm as they deem necessary. These updates typically happen without warning and it’s important to have your website optimized so you can rank higher for the keywords that are relevant or popular in search engines now.
15) What is a robots.txt file? How do I use one on my site?
A text document, often called a robots.txt file, which is placed in the root directory of your site and tells search engine crawlers what pages you don’t want them to crawl or download content from (ex: for privacy reasons).
16) Should I use a content management system like WordPress or Joomla to build my website?
Some content management systems might offer SEO features, but it’s always a good idea to do some research before you decide on which CMS is best for your needs.
17) What are the most important factors in Google rankings?
The ranking algorithm uses more than 200 different variables and there isn’t any one thing that will impact search engine results pages. It’s important to research what features you want on your website, including how many pages there are and the amount of content contained in those pages.
18) What is a domain? How do I know which one to pick?
The name that you give to your website or blog can be called different things depending on who you ask, but typically it’s the web address.
19) What is a URL?
The Uniform Resource Locator, or URL for short, is the location of any file on the internet and there are specific rules that must be followed to create one. The protocol “//” separates all other parts of the url from each other so they can easily be entered by a person.
20) What are the most popular search engines?
Google, Bing, Yahoo and DuckDuckGo are some of the most used search engines on the internet. Google will have an estimated market share of about 70% as they have been around for many years now and offer more features than any other company out there.
21) What is a domain name server?
The Domain Name Server, or DNS for short, will translate the human readable URL to an IP address that computers can understand. If someone types in “google.com”, the computer understands what website to go look at because of this translation process and it’s important to have your site set up in order for this to happen.
22) How do I know if my website is loading quickly enough?
It can take a while to determine whether or not your site is loading quickly because it depends on the device, browser and network speed that someone uses when they visit your site. There are tools available online which will help you to test the load time and see if you need to make any changes.
23) What are some basic SEO guidelines?
Some of the basics include having a description on each page, using keywords that belong or relate to your site in various places (ex: title tags, meta descriptions), adding social media buttons for visitors who might want to share your content with their friends and creating a site map for easy navigation.
24) What is an RSS feed?
An RSS Feed, or Really Simple Syndication Feed, is similar to email in that it will contain any new updates from the sites you have subscribed to. You might want to create one if you’re using WordPress because there are many plugins that offer this functionality.
25) What are the differences between HTML and XHTML?
You might notice a few things about your website if you view it as an html document versus in xhtml format, but typically there is no difference at all. It’s important to know which one you’re using because they each have their own sets of rules when it comes to coding and there are best practices for each.
26) What is a sitemap?
A site map will provide an overview of all the pages on your website in order so visitors can quickly find what they’re looking for without having to search through every page separately. It’s important that you update this page regularly because it will help search engines index your website more quickly.
27) What are meta tags?
Meta Tags, or HTML Meta Data for short, can be used to show how often a site has been updated and what their standard layout is (ex: navigation). They’re important because they provide information about the content of your site to the search engines and can help you rank higher in their results.
28) What is a CMS?
A content management system, or CMS for short, are tools which make it easier for website managers to build websites without having to know any code themselves. The most popular ones include WordPress, Drupal and Joomla! They’re popular because they offer more features than regular websites and are easy to use.
29) What is the difference between a domain name and hosting?
A domain name will be what people type in when visiting your site, like google.com for instance, but this doesn’t actually direct them anywhere yet. You’ll also need to find someone to host your site, or provide the space for it to be viewable on the internet.
30) What is a subdomain?
A subdomain will look like “google-blog” which might contain content from Google about their blog posts and in this case google would be the owner of that domain name. It’s important to have one so that you don’t have to give out your main domain name for others to use.
31) What is a URL?
A Uniform Resource Locator, or URL for short, will be the address of where someone needs to go in order to find what they’re looking for on the internet and it includes three parts: protocol (ex: “h ttps”, “ftp”), domain name (ex: google.com), and path to the file they’re looking for on your site.
32) How do you build links?
A backlink is any hypertext link from a web page that points towards another website, and it’s important because search engines use them to rank websites. The more quality links you have, the higher your site will be ranked in their search results and it’s important to build them naturally with other sites that are related to yours.
33) What is a robots.txt file?
A Robots Txt File can tell crawlers what pages they should not crawl on your website and are typically used to protect sensitive pages or ones that you don’t want indexed by search engines.
34) What is a domain name registration?
A Domain Name Registration will be the process of registering your own personal web address so people can find it online and they’re usually done through an organization called ICANN (International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers).
35) What is DMOZ?
Dmoz.org can be used to find high quality sites related to a certain topic, but they’re not typically search engines themselves so you won’t always see the best results from them. They are sometimes termed as an “Open Directory Project” because anyone and everyone who registers can submit a site to be included in their listings.
36) What is an SEO Expert?
SEO Experts are experts who know how the search engines work, what they look for and will use that knowledge to help you rank higher on them. They’re also typically professionals with experience in other internet marketing tactics like social media optimization as well.
37) What is SEO?
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO for short, are tactics which you can use to increase the amount of traffic your website receives from search engines like Google and Bing. It’s important because it results in more people visiting your site if they’re looking through those search engine listings and it also creates a better experience for them once they get there.
38) What is Google Adwords?
Google Adwords can be used to show targeted ads near the search results on google, and these will typically include your site’s content as well so it creates an additional way people might find you in their searches. It can also help build backlinks if other sites decide to share the content you’re advertising for.
39) What is a backlink?
A Backlink, or hypertext link from one web page that points towards another website, can be important because it’s how search engines rank your site and they take into account both their quantity as well as the quality of them when making that decision. It’s important to build them naturally with other sites that are related to the one you’re building backlinks on.
40) What is a domain?
A Domain Name, or web address which associates your site and it’s content online so people can find it when they search for something in their browser like “google-blog,” is what you register so people can find your site.
41) What is a domain registration?
A Domain Registration, or registering your own personal web address to be recognized on the internet like “google-blog” for example, will typically include doing it through an organization called ICANN (International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers).
42) What is the difference between SEO and SEM?
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, will include things like buying ads on Google’s AdWords platform to show them near your search results. It can also include backlinks which are hypertext links from one web page that point towards another website. SEM, or search engine marketing includes more long-term SEO strategies like optimization, as well as things like paid advertising.
43) How do you know if a site is reputable for doing SEO?
A website that’s been around awhile and has at least one of the following in their list of services or description could be considered: an expert on search engine algorithms, have experience in other internet marketing tactics like social media optimization, or has a list of testimonials from satisfied customers.
44) How do you know if your SEO is working?
You’ll want to use tools that can be installed on your website such as Google Analytics which will monitor the traffic coming in and how they’re interacting with it so you can see how your SEO is performing.
45) How do you know if a site has good quality backlinks?
The best way to find out is by doing some research on the website, looking at their list of services or testimonials from satisfied customers for example, and seeing what they claim to offer in that area. You can also use a tool like Moz to assess the quality of their backlinks.
46) What is Google Adsense?
Google Adsense, which is an advertisement that shows up next to your search results on google or in other people’s blogs and websites you visit, can be used for both long-term SEO strategies as well as short term ones since it can help drive in traffic. It’s important to have a high click-through rate and low bounce rates however so people are interested in the ads you’re offering before they visit your site, and you’ll want to read about their policies on what types of content is allowed as well.
47) What is Google Webmaster Tools?
Google Webmaster Tools is a free tool that will help monitor your website to see if you’re meeting their guidelines on such things as crawl errors, indexing time, and duplicate content for example. It can also be used to submit new URLs or other information about the site which Google’s bots may not have found yet since it’s an important way they rank your site.
48) What is Google Adwords?
Google Ads, or paid advertising on the Google search engine for example, can be used as a short term SEO strategy to drive in traffic from people who are actively looking for the types of things you’re offering. It’s important to have high click-through rates and low bounce rates so people are interested in the ads you’re offering before they visit your site, and it’s also important to read about their policies on what types of content is allowed as well.
49) What is Google Analytics?
Google Analytics, which can be installed on your website for free with a simple sign-up process online or through their app, will help monitor your website to see if you’re meeting their guidelines on such things as crawl errors, indexing time, and duplicate content for example. It can also be used to submit new URLs or other information about the site which Google’s bots may not have found yet since it’s an important way they rank your site.
50) What is Social Media Optimization (SMO)?
Social media optimization includes things like using hashtags, posting content people are interested in reading and discussing, as well as having followers who will interact with your posts and help to create a buzz.
51) What is link building?
Link building includes everything from guest posting on other blogs, getting backlinks by recommending them or linking to them on your website, following people who are influential in your niche so they’ll follow you back, as well as doing outreach for example. These links will help to increase your site’s rankings on google by making it seem more reputable and trustworthy to search engines.
52) What are seo backlinks?
SEO links are a type of link that will not only include blog posts you’ve written about the topic, but also other important pages such as services offered or testimonials for example which can help build up trust with search engines.
53) What is short-form content?
Short form content usually includes things like lists or bullet points, which are shorter and more concise than long-form articles for example. This type of content is used because people have a lot on their minds these days so they don’t want to read a lot of text, and it can be used for things like infographics or videos where you skip the words to focus on what’s being said.
54) What is long-form content?
Long form content usually includes articles with more than 1000 words which are typically written in journalistic style. This type of content is good because people have a lot on their minds these days so they don’t want to read a lot of text, and it can be used for things like infographics or videos where you skip the words to focus on what’s being said.
55) What is keyword density?
Keyword density refers to how many times in proportion your keywords are found in relation to the rest of your content. For example, if you have 500 words on a page and 200 are about SEO then that’s 50% keyword density.
56) What is bounce rate?
Bounce rates refer to how many people visit your site but don’t go any further than the first page or section before leaving again without taking action. This is a sign that your site might not be interesting enough, isn’t providing what people are looking for, or doesn’t provide the right type of content.
57) What is SERP?
SERP stands for search engine result page and it’s where you’ll find all the websites which rank in Google at any given time as well as how high they rank.
58) What is SEO?
SEO stands for search engine optimization and it’s the process of getting your site to rank higher in Google through a series of steps such as keyword research, content creation, backlinks, website design and more. It makes sure you’re meeting all their guidelines on everything from crawl errors, indexing time to duplicate content for example.
59) What is search engine optimization (SEO)?
Search engine optimization includes things like using hashtags, posting content people are interested in reading and discussing, as well as having followers who will interact with your posts and help to create a buzz. It also involves getting backlinks by recommending them or linking to them on your website, following people who are influential in your niche so they’ll follow you back and doing outreach for example. These links will help to increase your site’s rankings on google by making it seem more reputable and trustworthy to search engines.
60) What are the best ways to optimize my site for SEO?
The best way to optimize your site for SEO is by doing keyword research and content creation.
61) What are the benefits of optimizing my site for SEO?
Optimizing your site will make sure that you’re meeting all their guidelines on everything from crawl errors, indexing time to duplicate content – which means that not only will it get your site to rank higher in Google, but it will also make sure that you’re not getting penalized and having all of your hard work go to waste.
62) When should I be updating my social media accounts with new content?
You should update your social media accounts with new content about once a week, which will help to show that you’re active and also give people something fresh to read or watch.
63) What is URL canonicalization?
URL canonization makes sure that all of the pages on your website have unique URLs so they rank better in Google for that particular page.
64) What are the negative effects of SEO?
The main downside to optimizing your site for SEO is that it takes time and can be difficult if you’re not familiar with all the different steps involved in building up a website, content creation or keyword research. It also means less time doing other things which may have been more enjoyable before.
65) How can you tell if your keywords are too competitive or too hard-to-rank for?
If your keywords are too competitive or hard-to-rank for, then it might be time to start looking at other options and focusing on a different niche.
66) What is the # of social media followers?
The number of people who follow you on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc., which can help with SEO.
67) How to get started with SEO?
To get started with SEO, start by doing keyword research to find out what keywords you should be targeting and then do content creation.
68) What is a blog?
A blog is where you publish updates on your business or website in the form of articles which are typically shorter than regular posts, have more headlines and links at the beginning and end of the article, and are dated so that readers know when it was published.
69) Do all websites need to have a blog on them?
No, not all websites need to have a blog on them. The only time you may want to include one is if your website has content that needs updating often and there’s no other way for readers to know when those updates are happening.
70) What do I need in order to start getting backlinks?
You’ll first need to have an attractive website that people want to link back to, which means you’ll need content or products that are in demand and popular with your target audience. You can also ask others for a link by linking them on your site or commenting on one of their posts.
71) What is the difference between white hat SEO and black hat SEO?
White hat SEO is the process of optimizing your site for google by following all their guidelines, while black hat SEO involves tricks that are frowned upon and could lead to penalties or a lower ranking in Google.
72) What is on-page optimization?
On-page optimization refers to any search engine optimizations you do on pages which can include changing the title, description or URL of that page to make it more relevant.
73) What is a meta tag?
A meta tag is metadata which provides information about the content on your website and can include keywords, author name and date published. It’s also used in social media sites like Twitter as well so that people know what you’re tweeting about.
74) How to write meta tags?
To create a good meta tag, you’ll want to include three important pieces of information: your keyword or topic in the title followed by what it’s about and who wrote it. You can also add keywords which describe your article at the end if they’re relevant but not required for the article to be indexed.
75) What are the benefits of meta tags?
The main benefit of using a meta tag is that it can help you rank higher in Google and thus become more visible on search results pages or even when people share your content across social media sites like Twitter. It’s also an opportunity for readers to learn about your website, content and voice.
76) What are some of the best ways to improve your search rankings?
There are a number of different things you can do to improve your search rankings including staying on top of content, using images and videos which are properly tagged with keywords and even try out some SEO tools.
77) What is the purpose of meta titles?
Meta titles serve as an overview for what visitors will find when they view that page so it should include a summary of the article and any keywords you want to rank for.
78) What are some examples of meta titles?
Some good examples of meta titles would be: “What is SEO?” or “How To Optimize Your Website For Google” so make sure those words will help your site rank higher in search results.
79) How do you optimize your website for Google?
To make sure you’re optimizing your site and content to rank higher in search results, there are a few things you’ll want to do including create compelling meta titles and descriptions on all of your pages as well as providing loads of relevant keywords throughout the text. You should also include links at both the top and bottom of your pages and videos or images on important topics.
80) What is the difference between 301 redirects and 302 redirects?
A 301 redirect sends visitors to a different page with an address that’s permanent, while a 302 redirect tells Google where you want them to go for now but can change in the future. The latter should not be used for sites that are changing their entire URL.
81) What is a 404 page?
A 404 page occurs when a visitor tries to access content on your site but can’t find it and you should have some sort of message letting them know they’re in the wrong place or pointing them back towards your home/mainpage so they don’t get too frustrated.
82) What is social media marketing?
Social Media Marketing is the practice of trying to gain traffic and website conversions by promoting content on sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Depending on who your target demographic are, you may want to create specific posts for each one with a different tone or voice so that people will know you’re talking to them.
83) What are some best practices for social media marketing?
Some good tips for using social media in your favor would be to comment on other people’s posts related to what you do, post links back to articles or videos that put a spotlight on your expertise and even run contests where they’ll have an opportunity to win something.
84) What are some common social media mistakes?
There are many different things that you could be doing wrong with your social media profiles but one of the most common is not coming up with a specific goal for each post or page so it’s important to know why you’re using this platform and what you want people to accomplish.
85) What is a keyword?
A keyword is the word or phrase you type into Google to find something and it’s important that your site content contains keywords for both search terms as well as the top of pages so people can easily navigate through what they’re looking at without getting too frustrated.
86) How many words should your meta descriptions be?
The length of your meta description will vary depending on where you’re going to post it but in general, the shorter the better. It should provide a brief overview of what visitors can expect when they read that page and might include some keywords from there so people know why this is worth their time.
87) What are the different types of content?
There are four main kinds of content you should be posting on your site: blog posts, long-form articles, videos and images. Blogs are usually shorter but cover a wide variety of topics so they can rank for multiple keywords at the same time while long-form articles give visitors more information in one place about a particular topic. Videos and images are other ways to provide visitors with a visual representation of your content that’s easy for them to digest so it should be clear what you’re trying to say or show in the video title, image description and text as well as captions on videos.
88) What is the best way to get a high ranking on Google for my website or blog post?
There are some basic steps you can take to improve your chances of ranking higher for certain keywords but the most important thing is content and engagement. You should be posting on a regular basis, updating images that have links back to other articles or videos so it’s easier for people who might not want to click through multiple pages while also engaging with others in the comments section.
89) What are some ways to rank higher in Google?
There are a few things you can do outside of content and engagement that will increase the chances of your ranking well on search engines like: making sure your site is mobile-friendly, using great backlinks when they’re available with other websites or blogs in the same industry and making sure you’re using hashtags in your posts that will help people easily find what they want.
90) What are some ways to increase engagement?
There’s a lot of different things you can do when it comes to increasing the number of comments or shares on social media but one way is by including more images so it’s easier for people to understand what you’re trying to say.
91) What are some of the best things about web marketing?
The most important thing when it comes to your website or blog is that you have something valuable or interesting on there because this will be the first impression someone has and if they don’t find anything worth reading, they’re probably not going to stick around.
92) What are some of the worst types of web marketing?
There’s a lot of different things that can be considered spammy but one common mistake is trying too hard or being overly pushy with your offers and information like popups, ads before videos or anything people don’t want to see.
93) how do you find keywords that have high commercial intent?
To find keywords that have higher commercial intent, you need to first think about what people are searching for in your industry and then start looking at the words or phrases they’re typing into Google.
94) What is a long-tail keyword?
A long tail keyword is one that includes more than three words but isn’t quite as popular or search-able as a short tail keyword.
95) What are some long-tail keywords you might use?
Some long-tail keywords to consider for your website or blog post could be: how to make homemade soap, the best places in LA for brunch and types of cameras explained. You can find these by looking at popular articles in your industry or starting with a few broad keywords and then gradually expanding to more specific terms.
96) What is the difference between SEO, SEM and PPC?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization which includes things like keyword research, backlinks when available and other tactics that will help you rank higher in search engines like Google so people can find your site or blog more easily. SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing which includes tactics like pay-per-click ads that will not only bring in visitors to your website but also rank higher for certain keywords while PPC is short for Pay Per Click and this usually refers to what’s being shown on a search engine like Google when someone does a search.
97) What are some tools you can use for SEO?
There are a lot different things an individual or company might use when it comes to ranking higher in Google and one of the most popular is called Ahrefs which has both free and paid versions as well as others that include SEMrush, Moz’s Site Auditor among others.
98) What are some of the best SEO strategies?
Some of the best effective, long-term based search engine optimization strategies include: making sure your site is mobile friendly and having a great backlink strategy with other websites or blogs in the same industry as well as others that might be relevant to your content.
99) What are some of the worst SEO strategies?
There’s a number of different things that could be considered spammy or disrespectful but one common mistake is trying too hard and being overly pushy with your offers and information like popups, ads before videos or anything people don’t want to see.
100) How do you create backlinks to your website or blog?
There are a number of different things one can do to create backlinks and some include creating content for popular websites, shooting videos that rank well in YouTube and guest blogging on other sites.
101) What is the best way for someone new to SEO to start out?
One of the best ways to get started with SEO is to first focus on what people are typing into Google and then look at the words or phrases they’re using. From there, you can start looking for long-tail keywords that might be relevant to your content (see question 95) as well as others in your industry or who have related topics like them.
If you’re new to SEO and want to start out on the right foot, it’s important to first look at how people are searching for what they need in your industry. Once you have a few keywords or phrases, then we recommend looking into long-tail keywords that might be relevant to your content as well as others in your industry or who have related topics like them. From there, you can focus on creating backlinks with things like guest blogging or shooting videos that rank well on YouTube before finally focusing on making sure the site is mobile friendly and has a great backlink strategy which includes other websites and blogs within an industry of relevance but also those outside of one’s niche. The most effective way to find success with search engine optimization is to first focus on what people are typing into Google and then look at the words or phrases they’re using. From there, you can start looking for long-tail keywords that might be relevant to your content as well as others in their industry or who have related topics like them.
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