SEO FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

What is search engine optimization?

Search engine optimization is the practice of guiding the development or redevelopment of a website so that it will naturally attract visitors by winning top ranking on the major search engines for selected search terms and phrases. Our website SEO Service also takes into account updates like Panda and Penguin by Google.

What is Google Panda

Google launched Panda in February 2011, mainly as a change in its search results ranking algorithm. The main purpose of the update was just to keep those low quality and low content sites away from the top ranking results and give the actual quality sites their due.

As an obvious result, many websites with huge amount of advertising, or those with low quality content, saw a huge decline in the rankings. Ever since Panda was launched, there have been many updates to it ranging to over 22 in total.

What is Google Penguin

Another algorithm update from Google that gave SEO experts another blow was Penguin that was launched in April 2012. The idea underlying the update was simple enough- penalize and decrease the rankings of sites that breach Google’s Webmaster Guidelines set the by the search engine.

This included lowering the search engine rankings of all those sites that practice black-hat SEO techniques like duplicate content, keyword stuffing and cloaking to name a few.

Do I need SEO for my website?

Yes! Having a website is always the first step, the remaining step is getting people to your doorstep. SEO(Search Engine optimization is what you need to get people to your doorstep). You can also invest in Social media marketing, PPC marketing or PR marketing. All are services that we provide.

How long does it take for seo to work?

The time it takes depends heavily on the technique that was implemented. Assuming you’ve rebuilt your site and loaded it onto your server, replacing the old files, you need to be prepared to wait anywhere from a few days (if you use a pay-for-inclusion service) to a few months.

If your site has already been on the Web for some time, and is already listed in all of the major directories, then you will probably begin to see improvements in your search engine rankings within 4-6 weeks.

If your site is not listed in the major directories, then adding it to the directories will have a significant positive impact. If you pay for expedited review of your site at Yahoo, LookSmart, JoeAnt, GoGuides, Business.com and others, than you will see improvement the next time Google, AllTheWeb, Inktomi and others update their spider-driven indices. You need to be prepared to wait for your site to be added to the Open Directory. Some sites have waited over a year to be added.

In the end, a bottom-to-top rebuild of your website will result in an improvement in your search engine rankings rather quickly. You should continue to see improvements for 6-9 months, as the changes to your site are indexed throughout the databases that drive the major search engines.

What are meta tags?

Meta tags are HTML codes that are inserted into the header on a web page, after the title tag. They take a variety of forms and serve a variety of purposes, but in the context of search engine optimization when people refer to meta tags, they are usually referring to the meta description tag and the meta keywords tag.

The meta description tag and the meta keywords tag were proposed so that webmasters would have a consistent method for providing meta document data to user agents, such as search engines. Unfortunately, so many unscrupulous webmasters have abused the meta description and meta keywords tag that search engines have had to de-emphasize their importance.
In addition to the well-known meta description and meta keywords tags, there are other useful meta tags, including the meta http-equiv tag, meta refresh tag, the meta robots tag, the meta copyright tag, and the meta author tag, among others. These tags are used to instruct user agents such as web browsers and search engine spiders on a variety of topics.

For website meta tag generator visit: http://www.onlinemetatag.com/

How do I submit my site to the Google Directory?

To get your site listed in the Google Directory, you need to get your site listed in the Open Directory. The Google Directory is created from the data included in the Open Directory.

Which is the most used search engine?

Google is by far the most used search engine today.

What are meta descriptions? What is the meta description tag?

Though meta description tags are not a major factor search engines consider when ranking sites, they should not be left off the page. Both the meta keywords tag and the meta description tag contribute to your search engine ranking, and the meta description tag influences the likelihood that a person will actually click on the search engine results page and visit your site.

The meta description tag is intented to be a brief and concise summary of your page’s content. Think of the Yahoo! directory. You see your site title followed by a brief description of your site or business. The meta description tag is designed to provide a brief description of your site which can be used by search engines or directories. The meta description tag takes the following form:

When you write a meta description tag, you should limit it to 170 characters or 200 characters at most. You should pick a style and be consistent throughout your pages, writing a unique description for each page of your site. The Open Directory (DMOZ) also a detailed guide to writing descriptions. The key is that you want your description to adhere to W3C standards and be relevant to the content of the page. Again, it is intended to provide a brief summary of the contents of the page.

What are meta keywords? What is the meta keywords tag?

Though meta keywords tags are not a major factor search engines consider when ranking sites, they should not be left off the page. Both the meta keywords tag and the meta description tag contribute to your search engine ranking. A meta keywords tag is supposed to be a brief and concise list of the most important themes of your page. The meta keywords tag takes the following form:

When you write a meta keywords list, start by scanning the copy on your page. Make a list of the most important terms you see on the page. Then read through the list. Pick the 10 or 15 terms that most accurately describe the content of the page. If you can’t narrow your keyword list down to 10-15 keywords, then the content on your page may be rambling to far. Because of the hyper-competitiveness of the current search engine placement landscape, pages need to be very focused on one or two specific keyword phrases in order to have a chance to get a top ten placement. For example, a page about northern Michigan apples and central Florida oranges doesn’t have much of a chance to win for either “northern Michigan apples” or “central Florida oranges.” To have any chance to win, you need to have one page about northern Michigan apples and one page about central Florida oranges.

Another example: If your page is a list of exercise or fitness tips, and on the page you list tips for things to do before, during, and after a workout, then you need to think to yourself, “what 10 or 15 words or phrases is this page MOST about?” Just because your page mentions dieting in the text doesn’t mean that the page is about dieting. If you want to win for dieting, then create a page about dieting. The ultimate example of a page which is focused and ready for search engine optimization is a page from an encyclopedia. Each page is brief, focused, and has just one theme.
Search engine optimization and the meta keywords tag.

Long ago in Internet time, the meta keywords tag was very useful in helping pages to win on search engines. Unfortunately, so many unscrupulous webmasters have abused the meta keywords tag that search engines have had to de-emphasize their importance. Still, you should not leave the meta keywords tag off your pages.

Meta keywords tags should adhere to the following guidelines: (1) keep your list of keywords or keyword phrases down to 10 – 15 unique words or phrases; (2) separate the words or phrases using a comma (you do not need to leave a space between words separated by commas); (3) do not repeat words or phrases; (4) put your most important word or phrases at the beginning of your list.

Should I duplicate words in similar phrases?

Consider two pages which simply feature large images, for example, pictures of two charts. The first page has the following meta keywords tag :

(1)

The second page has the following meta keywords tag :

(2)

If you search using the keyword phrase “keyword analysis” with and without the quotation marks, the first page will rank higher than the second page every time, all else being equal. The same goes for the keyword phrase “keyword optimization” and for the individual keyword, “keyword.” On the other hand, the second page will win for the keyword searches “analysis” and “optimization.”

Now consider a third page with a picture of another chart. The third page has the following meta keywords tag :

(3)

With the addition of this third page, the results for our competition are shifted. Now the third page, which includes the words and phrases, wins for every single search, including keyword analysis, keyword optimization, keyword, analysis, and optimization.

The answer to the original question above is yes, kind of. You should duplicate words in similar phrases, but you should also enter in the individual keywords. The final optimized keywords list for the original question would be:

What are meta redirect tags or meta refresh tags?

The meta redirect (meta refresh) tag is a meta http-equiv tag which, when inserted into the header of an HTML document, will cause the visitor’s browser to load a new web page after a specified number of seconds have passed after the initial document has loaded, basically redirecting the visitor to the new page. The webmaster specifies the new page to be loaded and the number of seconds that must pass before the new page is loaded. The meta redirect or refresh tag takes the following form:

In the tag above, you can substitute any number for the 4, and you can substitute any URL for http://www.domain.com/link.html. The meta refresh tag should not be used on any page that you want the search engines to index. You should never set the meta redirect to 0, as that will cause problems with Google. The tag is useful for turning your website into off-line slide show presentations, but should not be used online on an optimized site.

How important are meta tags now?

Though meta keywords tag and meta description tags are not the main factor search engines consider when ranking sites, they should not be left off the page. A meta description tag is supposed to be a brief and concise summary of your page’s content. A meta keyword tag is supposed to be a summary list of the most important words on your page. They were both proposed in order to make using the web easier. Unfortunately, webmasters over the years have abused meta tags so much that search engine creators have had to de-emphasize their importance in their algorithms.