There are a few different people who hear the word SEO; knows enough to be dangerous, an SEO expert, or the complete SEO novice. The point of this blog is to break some of the barriers between each of these people. Here I am going to answer most of the questions that I have ever received in my 3.5+ years, at Nextfly Web Design!
Nextfly’s Top SEO FAQs
Below are the top questions we have received about SEO. If you do not see your question on the list, do not hesitate to reach out!
Question: What does SEO stand for?
Answer: SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. This is the process to increase the appearance of your website on Google Search. The goal of SEO is to have your website show as close to the number one spot as possible, which assists in the quality and quantity of traffic to your site.
Question: What is On-Site SEO?
Answer: On-Site Optimization is the most critical step in the journey of favorable search engine
rankings with Google, Yahoo, Bing, Etc. This is a one time process that includes:
- keyword research
- logical directory structures
- optimized permalinks
- heading tag optimization
- internal linking
- sitemap generation
- robots.txt generation
- Google Analytics integration
- visitor sitemap (if applicable)
- alt tag optimization
- bold keywords
- and much more!
Question: What is domain authority?
Answer: The domain authority of a website is directly correlated to where/if the domain is able to rank on a search engine. Some of the areas that affect the domain authority are how long the domain has been around, the number of quality pages on the site, and the quality of links within the site.
Question: What is On-Going SEO?
Answer: On-going SEO is the marathon strategy of improving your website rankings. As mentioned below, Google loves seeing fresh new content on a website. The more often you post the better you will rank within a search query. During On-Going SEO we like to continually add new keywords and new locations (example: Indianapolis Web Design, Indianapolis Digital Marketing, Greenwood Web Design, etc). Adding different keywords to the same location can boost all of the location’s page. The same goes for adding new locations to one keyword.
Question: How many pages should I add and optimize a month?
Answer: This varies for each of our clients. The main thing Nextfly will look at while determining how many pages you should have a month is how competitive your market is. We will also look at your domain authority compared to others that are ranked highly in a search query.
Question: What is keyword research?
Answer: Keyword research is one of the most important steps when it comes to SEO. This is the research that will help you decide which terms and locations your website should be optimized for. During the keyword research phase, you are looking for the terms that your guests may search you (example: the term you may have used to search for Nextfly would be Indianapolis Web Design).
Question: Does blogging help SEO?
Answer: This is one of the best questions. YES! Having a website with thematic blogs can most certainly assist your SEO strategy. Not only does thematic blogging ensure that you are constantly adding new content to your site, but it also can help boost your main keywords/pages.
If you were shopping at the mall in July and you came across a store that still had Thanksgiving decorations in the window, the chances of you going in there are slim to none. This is the same idea that Google has. If you have a website, but you don’t update it, what makes your content more relevant than someone who is updating their website monthly? Chances are the website who is posting most often will show up higher in a search query.
Question: Do links to other websites hurt my SEO?
Answer: This is a trickier question. Yes and No. If you have added links the correct way, they can help improve your SEO rankings.
- To have a good link, you need to make sure the link ads value to your topic.
- You also need to make sure you have that link open in a new tab. Having a link open in a new tab will ensure that visitors do not ‘lose” your site after going to the new one. The longer a user is on your site, the better it is for your SEO.
- Another way to make sure you have liked correctly is by making sure you have added a “No-Follow” tag to the link to keep the “SEO Juice”
Question: Does having an SSL Certificate help my SEO?
Answer: ABSOLUTELY! Even though this is not one of the biggest factors of an SEO score, it is still an important one! Google would much rather send website visitors to a secured site, over a site that has no security measures in place.
Cannot Find Your SEO Question in the List Above?
If you cannot find the question that you had in the list above, feel free to reach out to a representative. We would be more than happy to answer any and all questions you may have. We love to continue to add to the list!