Ah, search engine optimization - one of the vital keys to make your website rank higher.
Over the years, companies and private entrepreneurs have worked on improving their SEO strategies in hopes of improving their visibility online. Strangely, despite all the efforts of digital marketers, there seemed to be a couple of things modern-day marketers still fail to understand about this practice.
Below are 10 questions any SEO specialist, digital marketers and individual site owners should ask when getting into the nitty-gritty of the practice.
Is optimizing a domain name still necessary?
Keyword optimization is important in SEO, but you shouldn�t force it in your primary domain name just for the sake of it. If your domain name has keywords, then that�s fine, otherwise, you don�t have to force it in.
What do you mean by internal links and inbound links?
Internal links are those you use to lead you to another page within your website. Inbound links, on the other hand, refers to pingbacks to your website coming from another one. Both of them are vital to your overall SEO performance so better check them from time to time.
How does crawling and indexing differ from each other?
Crawling is basically the process where search engines have a look at individual pages, examining its content and all. Indexing is like the selection process where they file select pages they want to index. This means all pages are crawled but not everything gets to be indexed.
How long does it usually take to have a concrete SEO result?
This really depends on several factors. Things like the quality of your content, consistency in posting and the response it gets from your viewers are all vital aspects that dictate the results. Big websites whose contents are crawled regularly have a bigger chance of generating results within few days.
Newer sites may have to wait up to a month to see results.
Is it necessary to hire people to handle SEO?
Again, this depends on your needs. Hiring professionals could help you save time. Also, their expertise could come in handy to help your sites rank higher. However, this comes with a certain risk especially if you hire the wrong people.
Unless they are aware of the new rules of SEO, they might only endanger your campaign and may cause your site to be penalized by Google.
How does organic and paid results differ from each other?
Organic results appear on search engines for free, following a certain algorithm. Paid results are those links paid by advertisers so they appear on search engines.
Does meta description still matter?
Yes, it does. But instead of acting as a page description to house keywords for optimization, now it�s more like an important copy for encouraging readers to click and read your content.
Is it necessary to optimize images and video content?
Search engines cannot technically read images so they need descriptions to help them analyze what the photo is all about. Same goes with the videos. When naming your images and adding captions to images and videos, it�s vital to make it concise and clear, making it easier for search engines to identify the specific content.
Is there a limit to the internal links you can put in your page?
As mentioned, internal links help improve your SEO. However, using too much internal links in one post can be interpreted as spam.
As a rule of thumb, only use a link when it�s necessary for your reader�s experience. Also, it�s best to limit internal links per post at a maximum of two.
Is there a solid formula to keep a healthy SEO throughout the year?
Unfortunately, SEO has remained a dynamic practice despite the rules and policies implemented by the search engines. If one wishes to keep their SEO on top of its game, then the best way would be to constantly remain active online. This means providing high-quality content at a regular basis, engaging with readers through social media and so on.
There are no one-time solutions for this. It�s a continued effort all throughout.
Despite the convenience brought about by online marketing to modern-day businesses, it doesn�t take off the time and effort used in doing a full campaign.
Marketers still need to work on it day in and out. In fact, given the rising number of competitors online, it has become even more challenging to ace the rest and create a lasting good impression to the market.
Start by hitting it right on your SEO strategy!
Author Bio:Raphael Rico Zamora is a Filipino Blogger, and a digital marketing enthusiast at
web design Philippines. He loves to write about SEO, content marketing and web design.
