FAQ’S and other things you should know about SEO

A search engine is an online database of websites that allows Internet users to search for information contained on websites listed in the database by “Keywords”. Keywords are words or phrases that Internet searchers are likely to use when looking for information on a specific topic. For example, the words “Chicago hotels” would likely be used when looking for information for hotel accommodations in Chicago, IL. Each search engine has slightly different behaviors and characteristics and are constantly changing their search logic or “algorithms.”

Web Site Optimization is the process of making websites search engine friendly. The process often involves minor modifications to, or additions of, several standard elements of a website.

No. There is no simple solution to attaining high search engine rankings. Search engine optimization (SEO) is time consuming work and requires current and extensive knowledge of the latest search engine guidelines, SEO tactics and web site structures that are most likely to improve rankings. That’s why we’re here 🙂

Webology combines a number of different techniques that collectively optimize your keywords. For example we match your websites H1 tags (Heading Tags) to the snippets that display on a Search Engine Results Page (SERP) by tweaking your top level text copy.

Heading tags, as their name suggests, are used to differentiate the heading of a page from the rest of the content. These tags are also known to webmasters as HTML header tags, head tags, heading tags and SEO header tags. The most important heading tag is the h1 tag and least important is the h6 tag. In HTML coding the header tags from h1 to h6 form a hierarchy. This means that if you skip any of the tag numbers (ie. jump from 1 to 3) the heading structure will be broken, and this is not ideal for on-page SEO.

For example, if your site is introduced with a heading in h1, and a sub-heading in h3, the hierarchy will be broken, meaning the heading structure is not SEO-friendly. The coding should be something like what is shown below:

The h1 tag is the most important tag. Simply put, EVERY page must have an H1 tag to be SEO friendly.

Search Engine Results Page (SERP) looks like the image below. The prime keyword here is *SEARCH* The H1 contains the keyword as does the snippet preview text but – key here is that the overall snippet tells a story while utilizing the primary keyword without overloading the keywords. In less than five seconds you can see that this website is about Search Engine Optimization. The snippet tells the story with intelligently crafted -and optimized – text.

It can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few years. There are many factors which impact how long this will take based on the industry, website age, the level of competition for your desired target phrases, and a number of other factors. A properly optimized site has the best chance for quick results. In most cases we can see results in 2-3 months – and in some cases as soon as one week!

Usually, yes. Each client is different but as a general rule we will need to get in the backend of the site to add some code to your website. If you have a webmaster we will deliver the changes needed for them to execute. If you have an older website or a website that is SEO unfriendly, we recommend you get a responsive, SEO friendly site built asap! Naturally we can help with that too 🙂

Search Engine rankings fluctuate regularly, however, if your site is properly maintained by an SEO  specialist month to month then it is likely that the movement will usually be confined to within the top 10 positions. SEO management requires constant tweaking, updates and oversight. 

Of course you can, but you don’t want to. Good websites are organic – they constantly change, update and evolve. SEO is the same way. We are often asked for short term SEO contracts because our clients just want to ‘get some SEO done and be done with it’ Get er done and and move on.

It doesn’t work like that. SEO is a constantly changing animal.  Throughout the month, we’re doing lot of different tasks – monitoring your website via Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools, performing (live) on-page optimization, answering client questions, monitoring campaigns, making SEO and usability recommendations, all the while correcting crawl errors, broken links, monitoring for bogus back links, even spelling errors on your content! We’re analyzing the information coming in and constantly making adjustments and we stay on top of current research in the SEO field, performing trial and error on our sites, etc.

All that goes away when you “Get er done and and move on” with your SEO. All the work we did for three months can come undone in six.

The answer to this question is with another question. Do you want quantity of traffic or quality of traffic to your site?

What is the value to securing a top ranking for a broad term (like “Doctor”) if that ranking doesn’t convert into engagement of some form? Whether it’s a sale, a customer lead, or product feedback, you need to convert the rankings you have into engagement. Otherwise you are just – well – irrelevant.

The goal of any online marketing campaign should be increased exposure, traffic and conversions. While all of the on-page and off-page optimization we do will most likely increase your rankings over time, nothing is guaranteed. Google changes its algorithm over 500 times a year. While most are relatively minor, every once in a while Google rolls out a major update to their algorithm that may seriously affect your website in a big way. We stay on top of the changes that the search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and Bing make and then we make changes to our process to accommodate them.

There are also thousands of words used each year to search for your site, for your industry,  some of which are “long-tail” (longer and more specific, but are less common). So, if you the focus is on how you’re ranking for those top 10 “short-tail” words (the most popular or frequently searched) you’re missing out on thousands of other terms, “long-tail” terms that may send less traffic, but likely more highly qualified and more apt to make conversions on your site.  As Google starts to look at you as the authority on all things your destination has to offer, you will start to rank for a lot of those long-tail keywords (increasing your traffic), regardless of if you’re ranking #1, 2 or 3 for those prime keywords that you deem most important.

Gets kind of  confusing doesn’t it?  But, again, we’re here to help!