Search Engine Optimization (SEO) FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions... Answered.
We have outlined some of the most frequently asked search engine optimization questions, to further assist in helping you better understand the search engine optimization process. At Primary Target Media, we believe in using white-hat search engine optimization practices, to ensure our clients websites comply with all major search engines guidelines. If you have any search engine optimization questions you'd like to see here, simply use the "submit a question" button above.
What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the efforts of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines "natural" or un-paid ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results. Generally, the higher and more frequently a site appears in the search results, the more traffic it will generate from the search engine's users. SEO traditionally targeted just website listing, but in recent years has expanded to include: image search, local search, video search, and more.
As a marketing strategy, search engine optimization focuses on how search engines work, what searchers are looking for, the keywords typed into the search engines and which search engines are preferred by their targeted audience. Optimizing a website for search engines often involves editing its content and HTML, as well as promoting a site to increase the number of backlinks, or inbound links, to increase its popularity and relevancy in the major search engines.
What is Ethical/White-Hat SEO?
Ethical or "White Hat" search engine optimization is to follow guidelines and accepted standards to comply with the major search engines. The use of tricks or cheats are sometimes utilized by "Black hat" practitioners, in an attempt to "fool" the search engines indexing process. The end result of ethical or "White Hat SEO" is often stronger, more sustainable positioning, that can withstand frequent changes made to search engine algorithms.
"Black Hat" search engine optimization uses "frowned upon" strategies that can often produce faster results, but most often are shortly lived. Some Black Hat strategies result in being penalized, or even permanently banned by some major search engines and directories.
Why Can't my Website be Found in Search Engines?
Many factors play a role in a website not performing well in major search engines. Some of the following can affect why your website doesn't rank high in search engines, preventing you from driving more traffic to your website.
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Your website's design may not be SEO friendly.
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Improper hierarchy/link structure.
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May be missing critical information needed, to properly spider/index your website.
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Use of some scripts can prevent search engine spiders or bots from crawling your web site or reading its content.
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Your website might be/may have been using "Black Hat" SEO practices.
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Lack of an effective website sitemap.
Do my Page/File names Play a Role in my SEO Efforts?
Choosing the right page/file names for your web pages (email-marketing.html), play a large role in your search engine optimization efforts. It's also a good idea to use the keyword associated with your filenames structure as the main keyword on the page itself. Also, try to use hyphens instead of underscores when separating words in your filenames structure, and limit them to three or four words at the most.
There is a lot of conversation around why this is effective, but nobody really knows why. Some of us believe that search engines use a combination of your page/file names, coupled with your page's content, to establish it's relevancy on your specific topic.