Frequently Asked Questions
Its acronym SEO, more commonly known as search engine optimization. Optimization is the basis of all SEO practices. Once your brand’s presence (website, content, and social media platforms) is optimized across the internet, you increase its online visibility. Your website will find its way to the first page of the search engine results pages (SERPs). Your online customers will see your business much quicker too.
SEO is the practice of making changes to your online presence, particularly your website, making it more attractive to search engines like Google and Bing. Search engines crawl (or scan) your website to understand what it is about. The best SEO practices make it easy for search engines to understand your website. SEO increases the quantity of organic website traffic and the quality of your site visitors at no additional cost. It doesn’t include any paid media or placement, excluding direct traffic. With a robust SEO strategy implemented on your website, Google will identify it as an authority site and point users in your site’s direction.
There are subtle differences between the various search engines. However, you can usually focus on Google in your SEO strategy since most of your target market will use this leading search engine. Also, the majority of organic traffic is from Google.
It’s advisable to employ an experienced SEO agency or expert, and this cost should be included in your marketing budget. The amount you should expect to pay aligns with the work scope needed to ensure success. A digital agency or SEO expert will charge after considering the project scope and once you have presented your predetermined expectations. The average hourly rate of employing an agency or SEO expert is approximately $150 per hour.
Yes, you can – it takes a bit of know-how and learning by trial and error, but it’s possible to implement a basic SEO strategy across your website. However, SEO is time-consuming, and to do it properly; you need to consider both technical SEO and on-page SEO. What’s more, you will need to keep up-to-date with the algorithms’ changes to the various search engines.
Three factors directly impact your SEO ranking, even if you’ve only implemented a fundamental search strategy on your site. The factors to be aware of are:
Page Load Time — If your website loads too slowly, your visitors will bounce and likely go to a competitor’s website. Google (and all search engines) will rank your website lower because of a slow page load time. This is something to pay close attention to as we draw closer to the significant update confirmed by Google. The Core Web Vitals update in March 2021 will focus on three aspects that directly — and dramatically — impact user experience on your site. In this update, page load time features are paramount to securing your ranking or reaching the top of the SERPs.
Keyword Selection — Your keywords must be carefully chosen, so your website and pages are listed under the correct search terms your ideal customer is looking for.
Content Creation — If you create quality content on your website, your audience will easily find your site and stay on your site to learn more. These increases dwell time which boosts rankings on search engines.
Blogging helps boost your SEO strategy across your site, but only if crafted with optimization in mind. Search engines are looking for the content on your website that will sufficiently answer users’ questions. So, by creating and sharing high-quality and in-depth blogs that address pertinent topics within your industry, you’re likely to be identified as an authoritative source of the searched subject. With on-page SEO tactics, search engines will find your blog more easily.
SEO and pay-per-click or other paid media options work together to boost your website and position your brand as an authority in your industry or niche. SEO often gives you a far better return on your investment than paid media options. That’s not to say that SEO is cheap and easy; it takes a fair amount of time and resources to get it right, but long-term rewards are immense and sustainable. SEO and paid advertising often work together to provide the best results.
It depends entirely on your goals and the search campaign tactics you employ. Most SEO experts will estimate four to six months before you begin to see results. Bear in mind this is when you start to see the results, not when you achieve your identified goals.
SEO is a multifaceted practice that requires many different actions to be taken on a website to be optimized for search. Many people correlate SEO with high-quality content as search algorithms highlight content as an essential ranking factor. Algorithms are looking for content that answers the users’ search intent. If your content speaks directly to your audience, your website will be served up to users by Google. But content alone isn’t good SEO practice. It would be best if you had links from authoritative external sites pointing to your place in the form of a backlink, and these external sites need to have a good domain authority score.
Also, best practice entails complete-blown on-page optimization, which means optimizing your meta content, images, and tags. And then, consider the technical aspect of SEO – does your website have great architecture? How’s the User Experience (UX)? Is it easily navigable? And have you made sure to link your pages internally?
