Frequently Asked Questions
Table of contents
What is SEO?
SEO is an abbreviation for Search Engine optimization.
Through the process of SEO, a website slowly becomes more and more relevant in Google searches.
Methods to SEO
SEO is divided into 2 main types which are used on all websites in the entirety of the internet.
This means any changes made to each and every page of a website in order to improve user or visitor experience.
More specifically, what keywords are being used in each page and how.
The above changes to each web page on the website, when done correctly, increases the chance of the page in question coming up in Google searches for the specific keywords used.
Off page optimization are all the steps taken in order to bring back traffic from high ranking websites to your website.
The above is also known as back link building and it is imperative in order for any website to truly rank high on Google.
Some examples of backlink building can be guest posting on a higher ranking website with the agreement that at the end of the post, a link will bring readers back to your site.
Another example is contributor writing, where the author provides expert advise on his field of expertise with the understanding that visitors will come back to the his site for more information.
SEO Tools
An SEO tool can be defined as any online program or software that allows the user to gather ranking related data.
This ranking related data can be anything from last keywords any website ranked for to how many backlinks connect to a specific blog post.
The use of SEO tools has become a must for both online advertising agencies as well as independent website owners.
Some of the more popular SEO tools are Semrush, Moz SEO, and ahrefs.
SEO tools vary in price, and scope of use they offer based on that price.
Normally, the more money paid in either monthly, or yearly membership fee, the more access one is granted within the tool itself.
What is internal linking?
Internal linking is defined as links that go from one page of your website, to another page on your website.
In this page for example, at the very bottom you will see internal links taking you to different parts of my website(blog posts)
Internal linking is an integral part of On Page SEO as it lets Google know your website offers more than just the one page for information.
It is also important because each visitor will have the opportunity to gain/learn more while they are on your site.
What is a Keyword?
A keyword/s is a specific word or phrase that is strategically repeated throughout a specific web page or pages.
The reason for repeating this word is to let Google Crawl bots know what the page in question is about.
The trick is that any keyword being targeted needs to seamlessly fit into the information being displayed on the web page in question.
Google requires the above in order to bring the most valuable, readable information to whoever is a doing a Google search.
It is actually forbidden by Google to simply repeat the same keyword over and over mindlessly in order to rank for the keyword.
The above is known as Keyword Stuffing. The penalty from Google can be your entire website(not just the page where keyword stuffing occurs) being penalized or permanently banned from the internet.
What is a Long Tail Keyword?
If a Keyword is a single word, Long Tail Keywords are longer, more specific phrases that are usually 3 words or more.
An example would be “How to improve SEO”
In the above phrase, the keywords “How to improve SEO” was expanded so it is far more specific.
Long Tail Keywords are very important for smart SEO as they allow information on a page to target very specific niches and search queries.
What is Keyword Density?
To understand Keyword density, Imagine the same word appearing in 200 word document 150 times.
Another way to see it is, if a specific keyword appears 5 times in a 500 word text, that means the keyword density of that word is 5%.
The higher the percentage, the higher the density.
Keyword density is defined as the amount of times the same word appears on a page.
How does Google review my website?
Google uses something called Spiders, crawlers or robots.
Basically the above are all automatic programs setup or created by Google and these programs scan the entire internet in a matter of milliseconds, every time someone searches for something online.
If a person Google’s the words “How to improve my website SEO” Google scanning programs search every page of every website related to SEO in order to provide the best answer to the query.
What you see in the first page after clicking search on your browser is Google scanning programs determine to be the best answer to your query.
What is Crawling?
Crawling is simply how Google and every other search engine comes to find where your website is.
Every millisecond or whenever someone searches for something on Google, crawling takes place across the entire internet.
What is an SEO blog?
An SEO blog is a central page or pages within a specific website which provides educational information to the reader.
Any professional field or topic can have it’s own blog. Blogs are meant to educate on a given subject but also improve the keyword rankings of the website in question.
Within a blog you can find Blog posts, which are essentially the writteng articles for the subject matter in question.
What is a meta tag?
Meta tags can be defined as a summarized group of words or snippet which let you know at a glance what is you are about to read.
Another way of seeing meta tags can be as headlines to articles. So if a meta tag reads “Ultimate guide to On page SEO” then you know once you click the link all the information you read within will provide a step by step guide on improving your On Page SEO.
Meta Tags are very important as it is one of the many key things Google scans for when trying to provide answers to a searcher’s question.
What is a meta description?
If a title tag is the title of a webpage, a meta description is what the title says.
Meta descriptions are also the summarized words located right below the title tag as shown in the screenshot below:
What is white and Black hat SEO?
Withing the world of SEO or search engine optimization, there are 2 ways you can get your pages to rank high on Google searches.
One way is by using white hat SEO techniques. This means you make changes or add information to your website by following legitimate tactics.
Legitimate tactic examples can be providing quality answers to questions and offering quality service.
The other way of improving your website ranking is by employing Black hat SEO techniques.
Black hat techniques are defined are a set of tactics or techniques that you take on that do improve your ranking but, violate Google’s terms of service.
Some examples of black hat techniques are content automation or doorway pages.
Violating Googles terms of service can be extremely detrimental to your website as it can lead to Google completely shutting down your entire site.
What is a "dofollow" and "nofollow" link?
Within the scope of on page SEO, “dofollow” links are links that allow someone to come to your website by clicking on a link they found on a separate website.
An example would be a random article you are reading where you want to know more about the author. By clicking on the author name, you will most likely be directed by Google to the author’s website.
A “dofollow” link, when clicked, transfers page authority from the original website to the new website the link leads to.
A “Nofollow“ link is the opposite of the above so even if you click on the author link, it will just take you to a different page within the same website you are reading the article.
A “nofollow” link, when clicked, does not transfer page authority from the original website to the new website the link leads to.
What is a an Anchor text?
Anchor texts are words you can click on that will take you somewhere else within the same page or a different part of the website.
You can try it now by clicking on this link which will take you to one of our most recent blog posts.
What is page/website authority?
Page authority or website authority can be summarized as how good a standing your website has with Google and Google rankings.
There are a couple of things that normally determine the authority of a website:
- How old the page/website is.
- What kind of content can be found on the website.
- How much value that content is bringing to the reader.
What is a title tag?
A title tag can be summarized as the title of a web page.
Title tags normally come up when you search for something on Google.
If you search for keywords “How to improve my website’s ranking” every sentence you see that is highlighted in blue is a title tag.
What is a 301 redirect?
A 301 redirect is way Google tells the website owner that a specific page has been moved or it is not being used when directing people to the website.
Since a 301 redirect is considered an invalid web-page, it is imperative for the website owner to maintain the website and fix any 301 redirects that might come up.
Here at SAAI Consulting, we offer a maintenance package that ensures all of our clients websites are kept up to date.
What are headings?
Headings are a type of HTML tags that tell Google what your blog post/article is going to be about.
Headings are normally numbered from H1 to H6.
H1 would be the most important or top heading and H6 being the least important.
For example, in this article we recently added to the SAAI blog, the heading is “SEO agencies and which one is best for your business size”
What is SERP?
SERP, or Search Engine results page, is the screen you see in front of you after searching for anything on Google.
Here is a screenshot of a regular SERP or results page:
What are Breadcrumbs?
A Breadcrumb path is a detailed located normally located at the top of a search web page which shows the current page name and all other prior link names that were clicked in order to reach the current page:
What is Google My Business?
Google My Business has come to be an integral part of any sucessful content marketing campaign.
Google My Business is basically a free tool offered by Google that allows you to add your office location to Google’s map search directory.
Using Google My Business makes it possible for your website to come up not only with your company name but also with a map of your business location on Google, like this:
As you can see, people will be not only be able to see your business website link but also your physical business location.
What is Search Intent or user intent?
Search or User intent is the reason why people search something on Google.
If you search for “How to mow the lawn in 5 minutes or less” then your intent is to mow your lawn in a faster, easier way.
User intent is usually very specific. So search terms go from “what is a chair” to “How to paint a chair 1950’s style”
What is KPI?
KPI or Key Performance Indicators, is a term used across all fields and professionals planning but I am including here.
For SEO, KPIs are used to measure the success or failure of content marketing campaigns, web design campaigns, and AB testing.
KPIs can be measured in minutes, days, months or years. They can also be measured by location, age and any other demographical statistic.
KPIs are also measured for keyword campaigns, Keyword density and Keyword difficulty.
There are resources online that can provide a number of KPIs per website, for a monthly fee.
Services like Semrush allow you to see all needed KPIs in order to have all necessary data before running a successful marketing campaign.
Here is a look at some of the services they offer where each of the services provides one form or another of KPIs:
What are Organic search results?
Organic search results are all websites that come up on page 1 and more of Google that did not have to pay PPC(paid per click advertising).
In other words, the search results that come up on page 1, after a query is entered into the search box, comes up because they are relevant in answering the search query.
Organic search results appear after Paid search results and look like this:
What is Google Search Console?
Google Search Console is a free metric measuring service provide by Google which allows website owners the ability to track their websites visibility to the rest of the world.
Google Search Console is an invaluable tool as it helps surface a lot of different technical issues with a website as well suggests fixes.
The main dashboard of Google Search Console looks like this:
There are other online services that provide similar metrics to a website such as GTmetrix.com
Due to Google Search Console coming straight from Google, the latter is more trusted than the former.
What is Website Navigation?
Website Navigation is simply the ability to go from one website page to another by clicking on any of the links on the screen.
A good example would be the top menu bar on this page:
Another exaple is the “Table of contents” located at the very top of this page:
What is Robots.text?
Robots.txt file can be defined as as a “scan this page” permission given to Google crawlers when your website is being analysed for keywords, dead links, search intent etc.
This Robots.txt file is included with every page on your site that Google should scan.
What is a Sitemap?
A sitemap is the group of web pages that make up a domain name.
Another way of seeing it is, every page you have access to and can click when you visit a website, is a part of that website’s sitemap.
What is a Local Query?
Local Queries are Google searches that are specific to a geographical area:
What is search volume?
Search Volume is the total amount of times a search is made for a keyword, group of keywords and phrases in Google.
What are seed keywords?
Seed keywords are defined as high competition, high value keywords.
An example of a seed keyword would be “Online Marketing” Usually the more general the keyword, the more competition. Here is a snapchat of just how competitive “Online Marketing” is:
What is Anchor text?
Anchor text is defined as an words on a page that you can click into.
In this very same text, the words “Anchor text” are, well an Anchor text. Go ahead and click on it.
Anchor text make it possible for you to be taken to a different part of the internet or a different part of the website when clicking on it.
What is Duplicate content?
Duplicate content is the same text or information displayed on different pages of the same website or across the internet in different websites.
The word “SEO”, can be found on several pages of this website so the word SEO is duplicate content.
The words “What is on this very page can also be considered duplicate content:
What is a Header tag?
Header tags are the titles on each the pages of your website.
Here is an example of the header tag on this page:
What is Link volume?
Link volume is the total amount of links on any specific page within your website or any website on the internet.
What is Thin content?
Thin content is defined by Google as any page on your website that does not provide any value or answers to questions.
What is AMP?
AMP or Accelerated Mobile Pages is Google open framework that optimizes webpages specifically for cell phone or mobile speed.
What is qualified traffic?
Qualified traffic or targeted traffic are all visitors to your site who stay on your site because you are providing the service they are looking for or answering the question they have.
In contrast, Unqualified leads are all visitors who just happened to be directed to your site by clicking on something random after their Google search.
What is referral traffic?
Referral Traffic are all clicks coming to your website from another website.
Referral traffic is the backbone of back linking and it is extremely important when determining how well a website will rank on Google.
What is Domain Authority?
Domain Authority can be summarized as how well your website is being ranked by Google.
Each and every website on the internet gets a Domain authority or (DA) number assigned to it. DA’s go from 1 go 100. A 1 being a brand new website and 100 being a powerhouse that has been around for years(Think Amazon).
What is a Resources Page?
A resources page is an individual page on a website that contains manuals, step by step intructions or other educational material that the visitor can have access to on any specific topic.
A resources page is often added to a website in order to capture email addresses.
In order for the visitor to have access to the educational material, that visitor must first provide his or her email address.
What is a sign up form?
A sign up form is a part of your website which asks for a visitor’s email address, name, query details etc.
It looks like this:
What is Bounce rate?
Bounce Rate is defined as the amount of time it takes for a visitor to your site to leave your site.
Bounce rate is measured in percentages from 1 to 100. 1% being an amazing bounce rate and 100% being the most horrible.
1% bounce rate means that 99% of visitors to your site stayed on the site browsing through once they landed. 100% bounce rate means the opposite, that NO ONE stayed.
What is click through rate?
Click through rate is defined as the percentage of users that click a specific link within your site, or from another site to your site.
Click through rate is measured on percentages, the higher the percentages the better the click through rae.
What is conversion rate?
Conversion rate is the total percentage or the total amount of visitors coming to your site that actually purchased or sign up for something.
Conversion rate is extremely important as it determines the actual amount of money your company will make from it’s website.
What is page speed?
Page speed is how fast a web page loads once someone clicks on a link from Google.
It is also how fast each subsequent page loads within a website.
Page speed is an integral part of a great SEO implementation strategy as it is a big factor in bounce rates and conversion rates.
Page speed is determined in letters going from A to F, with A obviously being better, and F being worse:
Here at SAAI consulting, one of our packages specializes in improving page speed.
What is Minify?
Minify is the process through which a file within your website is reduced in size in order to improve page speed.
For every image file, there are additional characters that can be removed while maintaining image quality.
The less effort it takes your browser to show this image to your visitor, the better the page where the image is located wil rank in Google.
What is TTFB or Time To First Byte?
TTFB(Time To First Byte) is defined as the amount of seconds it takes for a visitors to see your website after clicking into it from Google.
Page speed is one of the most crucial parts a website should be optimized on as it determines both bounce rate and Google rankings.
The slower the loading time the worst the website will be looked on by Google:
What is 10x content?
10x content is a marketing principle for websites that states in order for that website to rank as well as it can in Google, it’s content needs to be 10x better than every other website.
The principle is of course just a good goal to strive for when improving the content of a website as it would be impossible to always have 10x better content than every other website on the internet.
Blog writing for a website’s blog is a perfect example of where this 10x principle can be applied on a regular basis.
This article by Backlinko provides an excellent list of things that can be done to website in order for that website to rank better in Google.
