SEO FAQs: Everything You Need to Know To Get Started

Your team puts time and effort into building your company website. Websites are the cornerstone of your digital marketing plan; and SEO is a top strategy for making sure you get the most out of your website content. Businesses that have an SEO plan in place are more likely to see the traffic, engagements, and conversions that they want.

If you are new to SEO, or haven’t checked on recent changes and advancements, it may be hard to know where to start. And how does SEO fit in with all of the other digital marketing terms you see online: PPC, CRO, etc.?

Read through these FAQs to learn more about the building blocks of an SEO strategy and what resources you can use to boost your rankings.

What Is SEO?

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process of building and implementing strategies to boost your website’s ability to show up on search engine results. Businesses who use SEO best practices on their online marketing materials will be able to put their content (website, landing pages, blog posts, etc.) in front of potential customers who are using different search terms online.

What Is the Difference Between SEO and SEM?

Search engine marketing (SEM) is an umbrella term that includes SEO, PPC, and other marketing techniques that involve search engines. If you are adding SEO to your digital marketing strategy this year, you are adding SEM.

What Is the Difference Between SEO and PPC?

SEO builds your marketing materials to boost organic traffic. This is traffic that you don’t have to directly pay for. If your SEO is effective, your landing pages will appear at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs.)

PPC stands for Pay-Per-Click. Businesses pay for this type of traffic. PPC efforts give your business more control over where your advertisements and content appears online. If you are looking into PPC techniques, consider Google AdWords marketing.

Which is Better: SEO or PPC?

Both of these strategies can be used separately (or together) to drive traffic to your website. If you want an initial boost in traffic to increase engagement, for example, you might see a resulting boost in domain authority or keyword rankings. Optimising your landing pages will help to improve your Ad Rank on Google AdWords.

The best way to assess whether SEO or PPC is best for your digital marketing goals is to assess your current traffic, current standings, and what steps you need to take to meet your goals.

Is SEO Free?

There are elements of SEO that are more cost-effective than others, but many SEO resources will charge subscription fees for more in-depth audits and services. For example, going through your website to assess and add high-quality links doesn’t cost a set fee, but requires effort and resources from your team.

Before you cringe at the cost of a subscription fee or SEO agency services, consider the potential ROI of SEO efforts. How much will a conversion earn your business? How can your SEO efforts reduce costs per click? As more of your customers focus their attention to mobile, social, and online research, how can you shift your marketing efforts to meet them online?

What Is Domain Authority?

Domain Authority is a scale that was developed to determine how websites could potentially rank on search engines. Websites can determine their domain authority (DA) score by checking online. Various strategies, including link building and content creation, can boost your DA score.

We describe domain authority, and strategies to improve your domain authority, in a recent blog post. Domain authority and keyword rankings go hand in hand. Best SEO practices will improve your domain authority score, whether you want to or not.

What Is the Difference Between SEO and CRO?

SEO can implement techniques for a variety of goals, including driving traffic or increasing domain authority. Conversion rate optimisation (CRO) focuses on a more specific goal: boosting conversion rates. These conversions could be converting to a lead or to a customer. Like SEO and domain authority, CRO and SEO go hand-in-hand, but they use different techniques to meet their goals.

Is SEO Effective?

If you keep persisting, conduct the right research, and build your website with the latest updates to Google in mind, your SEO efforts will pay off. The best way to see the effectiveness of your SEO techniques is to constantly monitor where your traffic is coming from, and what keywords users are searching for when they come to your website.

What Are Common SEO Techniques?

Some of the most common SEO techniques you will encounter include:

• Link Building
• Keyword Research
• On-page Optimisation
• Optimisation and Compatibility for Mobile
• Writing a Business Blog
• Upgrading and Optimising Content
• Improving User Experience
• Monitoring and Updating Website Based on Google Algorithm Updates

Some of these techniques require quick fixes; others require ongoing work to improve your website. When you add each of these techniques into your strategy, consider the time that it will take to produce results and keep your rankings high through algorithm and content updates.

Which SEO Techniques Are Best For My Website?

In order to prioritise your SEO techniques, you will have to assess your current standings and how they compare to your goals for increasing clicks, conversions, and revenue. All of the SEO techniques we mentioned contribute to higher rankings, but will do so in different ways. Do not neglect one SEO technique to focus on another. If you write a business blog

There are ways to go about each of these techniques “honestly.” These are called “white hat SEO” techniques, and are the most effective techniques for promoting long-term growth.

What Is “Black-Hat” SEO? What Is “White-Hat” SEO?

The difference between black hat and white hat SEO is a difference in ethical practices. Black hat SEO techniques are spammy and don’t actually help your rankings in the long run. White hat SEO techniques give your website a more credible reputation, but can take a long time to produce results.

At Digital Squad, we practice white hat SEO techniques. White hat techniques boost keyword rankings in the long run and promote sustainable growth. Black hat techniques give an agency and their clients a bad reputation and block your ability to grow and increase their rankings once Google picks up on their spammy habits.

How Do I Know What Keywords to Target?

Businesses can conduct keyword research to see exactly what buyers are searching for at each step of the buyer’s journey. Resources like SEMRush and Google Keyword Planner can help your business pick keywords that are easier to rank for (based on competitiveness, relevance, and search volume.)

We have written more extensively on keyword research on a previous blog post.

What Research, Other than Keywords, Is Important to SEO?

Keywords will tell you what people are searching for, but more in-depth research will show you how these keywords help users make purchase decisions. Research what potential customers are looking for in a website. If user experience is more important to users than blog content, focus on techniques like decreasing page load time or compressing images. If users want more information for certain questions, ramp up your content creation. Follow users as they conduct research online through each step of the buyer’s journey (and this includes on mobile and tablet devices) so you can put your content in front of users at optimal items.

How Do I Know That My SEO Efforts Are Working?

There are many online resources that monitor keywords, rankings, and conversions. SEMRush, for example, shows the progress of your keyword rankings and the progress of your competitors. Assign measurement and monitoring efforts to a member of your team so it is done regularly and consistently.

Know that SEO strategies don’t produce overnight results. Whether you are trying to appear on the first page of SERPs, increase conversions, or boost your domain authority score, you will have to be patient. Link building, content marketing, and other SEO strategies require months of effort before you can see your page at your goal rankings.  

What Does an SEO Agency Do?

An SEO agency will take all of the strategies mentioned and figure out which are most important for your digital marketing efforts. A good SEO agency will have access to, and know the ins and outs of, all of the resources required to implement these strategies.

How Do I Choose An SEO Agency?

You have probably opened tons of emails from SEO agencies looking for your business. Not all agencies are the same. Before you hire an SEO agency, consider your SEO goals and what elements of SEO you would like to hand over to an agency. We have compiled a list of essential questions to ask an SEO agency while you are making a decision.

From conducting the initial keyword research and site audits to monitoring the results of our efforts, the team at Digital Squad can lead you through building a comprehensive SEO strategy that produces results. Learn more about our process and reach out to one of our experts today.

Megan Okonsky is a copywriter and content marketing specialist with Digital Squad. She is originally from Philadelphia but has landed in Melbourne after traveling for eight months in Southeast Asia and New Zealand. She also teaches vinyasa yoga online.