SEO Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some answers to questions clients often ask me.

Q: I want to be number 1! How do I do it?

A: This always comes up. When it does I proceed to ask, “What do you want to be #1 for?” Time and time again the responses I get back range from “I’m not sure” to some type of single keyword.

Hey guys, it’s 2008! Search has evolved from single keyword searches to phrases and tail terms. Instead ofsearching for “thai food” you’ll find people typing in “seattle thai.”

By targeting these specific phrases, the chances that you can own the top search listings increases substantially.

Q: Keywords, OK. Where do I start?

A: Figuring out which keywords to target take time. When we’re blueprinting a SEO campaign, we start by determining what visitors might be searching for. Here are some of the tools we use.

Google Suggest
http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en

Many browsers support “autocompleting”, this features offers search query suggestions to users. For example, as I type “seattle thai” in Firefox, Firefox begins guess what I mightbe looking for. If you know what’s going to be suggested, you can better optimize your site.

Google Trends
http://www.google.com/trends

Google Trends provides temporal data on keyword search data. If you’re trying to determine which keyword phrases you want to target, but are unsure of the direction to head GoogleTrends can show you the average search volume and whether it’s becoming more or less popular.

Google AdWords
http://www.google.com/adwords

Believe it or not, AdWords is useful for more than just paid search. We use AdWords to get a rough estimate on keyword search volume and keyword competition. AdWords accounts are free, signup.

WordTracker
http://www.wordtracker.com

Everybody searches for different keywords. Do you have your keywords covered? WordTracker allows you to trackdown related keywords. If your visitors are searching for “hawks tickets” but you’re targeting “seahawks tickets”, will they find you?

Q: Should I submit my site to web “directories”?

A: It won’t hurt, but don’t waste your time. Anybody who suggests that you submit your site to directories like Yahoo or the DMOZ (a dated, open directory project) have no idea what they’re talking about. On a related note…stay away from “link exchanges” or “web rings.” These will cause you nothing but headaches.

Q: What are some quick and easy SEO methods?

A: I like lists. Here’s some low-hanging fruit, in list format.

1. Make sure your websites XHTMLand CSS validate. Start with the XHTML, you can do it free at: http://validator.w3.org/. Why? Even though your webpages show up correctly, broken code can confuse search engine spiders. If a spider can’t crawl your site, it’ll give up, and move on.

2. Use your keywords in your bodycopy. If you’re targeting “seattle thai” but your body copy is completely unreleated…guess what’s going to happen?

3. Add a footer and link to your homepage with your primary keyword. For example, my blog’s URL is http://www.jonathansng.com; if you look on all of my pages, I link to it as “ruby on rails blog.”

4. Use keywords in your title tag. Again, using my blog as an example I set my title to “jonthan ng – ruby onrails blog.”

It’s 1:00 AM, I should probably get to bed, so that’s it for now folks. I’ll be hosting an event shortly, if this was beneficial to you, be sure to drop in!