Search Engine Optimization is a set of rules and practices that enhance the "findability" of your site by search engines, thus improving your ranking in the search engine results pages. There are many components to search optimization, including proper selection and use of keywords and other metatag information, building your site correctly, and using links to maximize your ranking.
How important is it to optimize my web site for search engines?
If you want to use your website to grow your business, then it is advisable to ensure your site is properly optimized. More than 80% of all Internet users use search to find what they need online. Why hide from potential customers?
There are many components to SEO, and you can choose to implement everything at once, or implement the techniques progressively. Of course, the sooner the changes are made, the sooner you will see the results.
Will I have to redo my entire website to make it search engine optimized?
There are many levels of search engine optimization, and much will depend on how your site was originally built. Changing the site's architecture is usually the most involved alteration. However, there are many other items within your site that can be modified more easily and quickly.
When will I start seeing results of SEO?
The timeframe varies from a few days to many weeks, depending on when your site is re-indexed.
What are search engine spiders?
Search engine spiders (also called "crawlers" or "bots") are programs that browse the Internet for web pages. They index and rank each page they find, based on subject matter and a number of other factors. The spiders work on unique algorithms programmed by software engineers for the various engines.
What is PageRank?
PageRank is a term used by Google that reflects their system for ranking pages on the basis of their importance and relevance to certain keywords. If PageRank likes your page and finds it useful according to its parameters you will receive a high ranking on the search result page.
What is black hat SEO?
Many website use "black hat" techniques in an attempt to trick the search engines for better results. These techniques include page cloaking, link farms, duplicate content, keyword spamming and many others. These methods may work temporarily, but search engines are getting more sophisticated. Eventually, your site will be penalized or banned altogether.
Are Keywords in Domain Names Important?
Yes, keywords in a domain name are taken into consideration by the search engines. We don't know exactly how much of a factor this is in determining search rank, but we know that keywords in a domain name are not weighed nearly as heavily as the keywords in your title tags and page content.
Does the length of a domain name have any effect on SEO?
No, it doesn't.
Is it wise to use hyphens in domain names?
Hyphens may help search engines more easily parse long domain names for keywords, but it's better to just shorten your potential domain name before opting for hyphens. The difference that hyphens make in the search engines is minimal at best. Most engines will still parse the keywords in the domain name regardless of the presence of hyphens.
