Search Engine Marketing and SEO FAQ
We are often asked questions about
SEO,
SEM and
Pay Per Click.
SEO questions are most common. Without giving away too many secrets we have a short FAQ below.
Click the
Pay Per Click link if you would like to learn more about our
PPC and SEM management services or
contact us +1 949 857 1831
What is SEO?
SEO or Search Engine Optimization is a technique used to create website code that will help your website rank better in the search engines. Also known as Organic positioning. Each company may have slightly different techniques.
What is SEM?
SEM or Search Engine Marketing is a term used for all techniques to achieve maximum exposure for your website, including SEO, PPC (Pay Per Click), Press Releases and Social Media Networks. Every website is different and SEM techniques should be tailored to individual websites depending on the site infrastructure and target market.
What is best - SEO or SEM?
If you have a limited budget we recommend starting with SEO and and then PPC with a managed budget. If your website was developed by Corporate Pages it will be optimized already. We recommend a managed PPC campaign and good SEO. Over time introduction to Social networks such as Twitter, face book is a good idea. There are many aspects to good SEM. SEM is a constant "Tweaking" strategy to provide ultimate exposure for your website.
Which search engine should I optimize for?
Google. Google is by far the most searched engine. We have found that sites optimized for Google will also perform well in Bing/MSN and Yahoo.
Can I optimize dynamic pages?
A dynamic page is a page that gets populated from data within a database or other external means, or it is a page that changes. A good example would be a PHP page (Static pages are HTML or HTM). PHP pages have nasty address lines and it is thought the BOTS have a harder time indexing these address strings. At Corporate Pages we run our servers with the Apache Mod_rewrite module compiled. This enables us to make your PHP files search engine friendly.
What is Mod_Rewrite and how can it help me?
Mod_rewrite is an Apache server module that enables us to change or "re-write" address url strings. Mod_rewrite is a very powerful apache module that does much more. A skilled programmer can easily make your dynamic URL's search engine friendly using this technique. Mod-rewrite is also useful to force www. in front of your URL (or not) and to permanently re-direct pages in a SEO friendly manner as well as much more.
Can SEO companies really have a special relationship with search engines?
The answer is NO. Companies might do many PPC campaigns and be good SEM experts, but that is as close as it gets.
What is a Robots.txt file and should I have one in my site?
A robots.txt file should exist in your root directory. This little text file can direct the BOT to index certain pages. BOTS will eventually index your site anyway if it is coded correctly. The robots.txt file will speed things up as well as if a SERP site map is implemented (Not discussed here). The robots.txt is most powerfully used to tell the BOTS what to NOT index. You can read more about the
robots.txt here
What is Key Word Density?
Most SEO experts agree that Key Word density is a very important factor with regards to Organic Web Positioning. Key Words should be grouped together throughout your web pages and using special tools your Key Word Density percentage can be checked.
What are ALT Attribute?
The ALT attribute is used to specify Alternate text to an image. This Attribute should be used intelligently to describe your images and can include your Key Phrases if applicable. Over use of the ALT attribute will get you banned from the SERP's.
What is CSS and how can it help my SEO?
A CSS file (Cascading Style Sheet) is an external file (in most cases) that controls the look and feel of your website. CSS cannot directly help you with SEO.
It is known that <h1> tags and other similar tags boost SEO if they have your Key Phrases within them. The problem is <h1></h1> (heading text) the text is too big and looks terrible. CSS can control how you <h1></h1> will look on the page so you can still use this tag to optimize your site.
Does every page on my website need optimizing?
Yes, you should carefully optimize every web page. If you have a time limitation or are already live start with your home page and then move to the next most important pages.
Can a company guarantee organic positioning?
Your Organic position in the search engine is decided by the search engine algorithm and there are many variables, including your competition, over optimizing, domain name age, site ranking and much more. A company should not make any guarantees in this area.
What is a Sandbox?
SEO is a series of technical marketing techniques used to improve a web site's rankings in search engines like Google. Identifying good keywords, developing quality links, code validation and content markup are central to SEO.
What is Google Page Rank?
If you have the Google bar installed in your browser you will see each website has a rank. Google will rank your site from 0-10 depending how they rank its importance. Factors include important in bound links to your site and domain name age and much more. Other SERPS like Alexa will rank your site too.
Check your Google page rank or download the Google Bar for your browser.
How can a link to my site (IBL) from a well ranked site help me?
It is agreed that all SERPS especially Google and MSN count a high ranked In Bound Link to your as a a major decider in your organic page positioning. These links are considered far more important if they have relative content to your site as well as coming from a highly ranked website.
What it anchor text and how can it help me?
Anchor text is the text in a link. You can use your key words in your anchor text to achieve better positioning. An example of it's use might be - checkout our hosting plans - Notice the inclusion of "Hosting Plans" in the link. Here is a bad use of Anchor text for the same link - Check out our services.
Overuse of anchor text in links is a bad thing and can get you sand boxed as well as throw your key word density off.
What is DMOZ and how can this directory help my site?
The DMOZ is a directory. If you can get your website indexed there it will help you. It is hard to get indexed and each entry is manually checked by a human still. It is free.
http://www.dmoz.org/
What are SERPS?
SERP's is short for Search Engine Result Pages.
What is an Algorithm?
An Algorithm or sometimes shortened to ALGO is a mathematical
formula that Google and other Search Engines use to rank websites
Why is GEO Targeting so powerful?
Geo targeting is very powerful if you only operate in a certain area. A good example would be a dentist. As a dentist you would typically only be interested in patients from your surrounding areas. You could more easily target this traffic as you would have less competition
What is the "Link Command" and how can it help me?
If you wish to see how many back links your website has in Google simply type the command in their search box like this link: www.corporatepages.com - This check can bring some false links.
What is BOT?
A BOT is a software application and is typically used to spider and document website information form the source code of the website. More info on
BOTS
How important is my domain name for SEO?
Over the last few years it has become known that the age of your domain name will play an important part in your site positioning. It is also important to try and include your most important words or phrase in your domain name without making it too long.
