Frequently Asked Questions About Search Engine Optimisation
This Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) FAQ page is provided as a useful resource to anyone new to SEO who is interested in finding out more about it. It may also be helpful as a guide for more experienced SEO marketing professionals, copywriters, web developers, journalists and all you other media types out there who already have some experience of SEO optimisation techniques. If you have any questions or comments feel free to drop us a line at our contact page or post a comment on our SEO blog.
What Is SEO?
SEO or Search Engine Optimisation to give it its full title, or indeed Search Engine Optimization as our American partners call it, includes a range of procedures to drive traffic to your site and help improve your website’s ranking on the search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask, etc. SEO is a discipline which is often used in conjunction with Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and web marketing strategies.
Why Is SEO Important?
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is important for any business or website wanting to increase its traffic or revenue for two main reasons:
- The higher your website appears in the search engine rankings then the more traffic it is likely to receive.
- The higher the numbers of targeted traffic that are attracted to your website then the more sales and advertising revenue you are likely to achieve.
If your site is optimised properly then more web users will find it more quickly and easily in the search engines, including its individual pages. In turn they are likely to be high quality visitors; i.e. people actively seeking the product, service or information you are offering.
What Does SEO Involve?
The term SEO can involve a variety of techniques such as the arrangement of text on your site, the choice of code for your website, how you use images and links, the ease of navigation of your site and how your site communicates with the search engines. SEO can involve the choice and use of search engine friendly keywords and phrases. SEO can also involve tracking information and research about search visitors to any given website and it can involve analysing info and statistics about pay per click advert sales and conversions. SEO can be all this and more. But in its very essence it involves attracting targeted visitors to your website and helping your business grow via the enormous potential of the World Wide Web.
When Did SEO Begin?
As the internet developed in the early nineties companies became increasingly interested in the benefits of achieving high rankings on the search engines and so they began to progress Search Engine Marketing (SEM) strategies aimed at improving the status of their sites. Search Engine Optimisation, and its abbreviated title: SEO, emerged as a business term in the late nineties.
What is Search Engine Marketing (SEM)?
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a related term to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Search Engine Marketing (SEM) applies to a mixture of operations aiming to improve your website ranking on the search engines but importantly it can be applied to your site’s listings in both unpaid and paid results. The appearance of your site’s ads in the latter’s paid search results pages is crucially important to Search Engine Marketing (SEM). To add to the confusion surrounding SEO terminology other search marketing terms which appear in conjunction with SEM include SEO Optimisation, SEO Web Marketing and SEO Marketing. Again, the goal is always to increase targeted traffic, sales and advert conversion rates.
Is SEO All About Making Money?
SEO may not always be about making more money for a company or individual. It might be about enticing more volunteers to join your charitable or non profit organisation, for instance. Similarly, it could even be about sharing some good news or info on a topic close to your heart to a wider audience. Promoting advice on health matters such as healthy eating would benefit from an SEO input as would other similar campaigns which are primarily about increasing awareness. There are also other occasions where SEO if not exactly altruistic is not always about hard commercialism either. For instance, your SEO marketing campaign could be about improving your organisation’s reputation or branding.
Are There Any Golden Rules Of SEO?
Here are some of the main areas you may wish to look at if you want to make sure your website is working effectively for SEO purposes.
- The quality of your site code – Does you website code comply with current standards?
- The quality of your content – Content is numero uno. For starters it’s useful if it makes sense and is search engine friendly.
- The age of your site – It does help if you have been around for a while and have an established website brand.
- Links – If you have lots of important sites linking to your site, then this is good news.
Basically, a clearly thought out site with reliable code and genuine content, with the most relevant keywords included, will ensure your business has a great chance of a high position in the search engine rankings. More importantly with the correct SEO content you will be targeting your ideal customer base which is the most important thing.
Why Are Incoming Links Important For SEO?
Incoming links from other sites are especially useful for your SEO campaigns because they can improve the search engine ranking of your website. Search engines check links to your site from other sites to help find out what your site is about. These links are important because they also help to tell the search engines how popular your site is. The contemporary wisdom on links and SEO is that it is the relevance and quality of the websites that link to your site that matters the most not the number of incoming links.
What Are SEO Keywords?
SEO keywords are words which appear on your website describing some aspect of what your site is all about. Keywords are also used by web surfers to conduct searches for relevant websites. Crucially, quality SEO copywriting attempts to match your website’s use of keywords with popular uses of such words by web users who are searching for things.
The term SEO keyword is also used in conjunction with phases like SEO search terms, SEO search words, key phrases and SEO search phrases. Significantly, you will see the term ‘search phrase’ used frequently with SEO because whole keyword phrases can be a more effective way of attracting customers to your site than a single key word.
What Are Search Engine Algorithms?
Search engine algorithms refer to the methodologies used by Google and the other search engines to rank your site. Just to make Search Engine Optimisation somewhat of a challenge nobody really knows outside the higher echelons of the search engine companies what the search engine algorithms really are. Estimates vary but it is thought Google has around 200 methodologies for search ranking. The status of these search engine algorithms is not simple. They are not fixed and are thought to be adapted regularly to reflect changes in technology; as well as search optimisation strategies and other cultural changes.
What Is White Hat SEO?
White hat SEO is the use of ethical Search Engine Optimisation practices of the type which fall within Google’s and the other search engines’ webmaster rules and guidelines. White hat SEO can also be used alongside the term: organic SEO. White hat SEO involves the use of good, simple website design and site structure, natural website links and clear and relevant content. White hat SEO is the only advisable and reliable approach to Search Engine Optimisation.
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