SEO FAQ

Find the SEO Answers to your website optimization questions

• What is Search Engine Optimization or SEO?
• How long will it take to get my website indexed by Google?
• How long does it take for SEO results to kick in?
• Can you do SEO once and get great results forever?
• What is search friendly web design?
• How much does SEO cost?
• Why is SEO so expensive?
• Why are keywords so important?
• How do I figure out what my keywords should be?
• How do you apply keywords to my website?
• Will you submit my website to the search engines?
• Should I add a robots follow META tag to my pages?
• Is SEO is a collection of tricks designed to fool search engines?
• Does Google hate SEO?
• Why is link building important?
• Is there automated software that does link building?
• What is deep linking?
• Is PageRank is a good measure of your website’s back links?
• Does having Flash on your website hurt your search rankings?
• Do Blogs get preferential rankings on search engines?

What is Search Engine Optimization or SEO?

Search engine optimization is about getting your website to appear prominently in Google’s results. SEO influences by carefully focusing your efforts on a keyword phrase and using it prominently and tastefully through your website. It is about creating content that is so compelling and interesting that other websites want to link to your content.

How long will it take to get my website indexed by Google?

There is no set time for how long Google will take to initially index your website. This will depend on the popularity and structure of your website. It could be as short as one day to four weeks. If your website has structural issues (how pages interlink), Google may not be able to crawl and index your website.

How long does it take for SEO results to kick in?

This can range from just one month to local niche phrases to 24 months for competitive broad keyword phrases. Of course there are many factors that affect this. A brand new domain increases the time to see results. An older, seasoned domain that has lots of quality backlinks will respond faster.

Can you do SEO once and get great results forever?

In the “old days” of SEO, circa 2000, you used to be able to optimize a website and leave it alone. Even though the basics remain the same of using the keywords in the visible text, search engines are constantly changing and evolving what it takes to be in a top search position. SEO is best done as a continual process.

What is search friendly web design?

The term search engine friendly websites are used to describe a website that can be easily crawled and indexed by the search engines. These are some of the things that make a website search engine friendly.

• Keywords: Always start by identifying your most important keywords.
• Page URLs: Name pages with keywords phrases that describe the page.
• Title Tags: Make the Title Tag unique for each page. Use your most import keyword at the beginning of the tag.
• Text Navigation: Providing HTML navigation links so that search engines can easily crawl the website.
• Page Text: Unique, original, keyword rich content is the key to make your website search engine friendly. 400-600 words of text are ideal.
• Add a blog: Adding a blog to your website is a great way to attract search engine spiders. Each post should be enriched with keywords that are focused on your topics.

How much does SEO cost?

How much will a car cost? It depends on the type of car. With SEO it depends on your website and how competitive of phrase or phrases you are going after. In general, local phrases or niche phrases are less expensive than broader phrases. Many times these more specific phrases will convert better.

Why is SEO so expensive?

SEO is labor intensive. It takes specialized skills, knowledge and experience to do it correctly. Even with the cost of SEO, web marketing is much less costly than offline and print advertising. SEO is the catalyst that attracts traffic to your website so it can make money. Without a regular flow of visitors, your website is as useful as a billboard on the moon.

Why are keywords so important?

Keywords are what your customers think of when they search for what you provide. Choosing keywords is part art and part science. You need to understand the psychology of how and why people search. People search the web to find information, answers and a solution to a problem. Choose keywords and plan which page each phrase will be used on.

How do I figure out what my keywords should be?

Start by creating a list of phrases you think people would use in searching. This will become your intuitive word list. Go to your competitor websites. What phrases are they using that apply to what you sell? Do your keyword research, there are a number of good keyword research tools that help. As you compile your keyword list, start by only selecting phrases that are highly relevant to what you offer.

How do you apply keywords to my website?

Create a page plan for your website and assign 1-2 keyword phrases to each page of your website based on your research. Apply your keywords to each page of your website according to your plan. Use the keywords in your Title tags, H1 tags, visible body text, hyperlinks that link to internal pages, etc.

Will you submit my website to the search engines?

No. This was important to do in the ‘90s. This is no longer true. Spiders crawl through links as long as you have people linking to your site.

Should I add a robots follow META tag to my pages?

No, this is not necessary. The default for search engine crawlers is to automatically follow the links on a page. Adding a robots follow tag will not get your site crawled any faster. If there is content that you so not want crawled or indexed, then you should use a "nofollow" tag.

Is SEO is a collection of tricks designed to fool search engines?

SEO done correctly brings targeted traffic to your website that is searching for what you offer. The object is not to fool the search engines, it is to communicate exactly what your web page and your site is about.

Does Google hate SEO?

No, SEO done correctly simply effectively communicates to Google what your website is about. Google offers advice on SEO methods, offers tools to help do SEO effectively and has spokesmen talking about proper SEO methods. Google employees regularly speak at SEO conferences.

Why is link building important?

Getting incoming links from other websites is very important in your SEO effort. A large number of backlinks from relevant websites signals the search engines that your website is very important. Using your keyword phrases in the anchor text tells the search engines what your web page is about.

Is there automated software that does link building?

No. People are always looking for the easy solution… the magic bullet. Link building is hard work. The natural solution is to add a blog to your website and write insightful original postings that others will want to link to.

What is deep linking?

Deep links are considered more important than home page links in SEO. Deep links are inbound links that point to a specific page on a site other than the home page. Deep linking is considered the more natural linking method that occurs naturally over time on a website.

Is PageRank is a good measure of your website’s back links?

Most people look at Google PageRank that Google displays on toolbars. This PageRank information is about 3 months old and it has been at least 3 months since Google already gave you credit for the links. Second, it is affected by the quality of links and even the number of links on a particular page. Third, the PR info is frequently posted wrong by Google and doesn’t match the Link Popularity credit Google is actually giving you. The best advice… don’t obsess over PageRank.

Does having Flash on your website hurt your search rankings?

It is the absence of text that will hurt your rankings. Having Flash within your website does not hurt. Think of Flash much like any other graphic image; there is no text in Flash for the search engines to read.

Do Blogs get preferential rankings on search engines?

Including a blog in your website won’t magically give you a top ranking on Google. Used correctly, blogs will help your SEO effort. Blogs are a powerful SEO tool because they regularly add keyword rich content to your website, broadcast your message via RSS and attract links.