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Do you need help with SEO? Here are the most important SEO questions and answers to help you get started on your own SEO efforts or choose the right agency.
This guide covers everything from what SEO is, how it works and why it’s important or when it’s unnecessary. We’ll also answer some of the most common questions about SEO, including how to improve your ranking, how to find the right keywords and whether SEO is worth it. Some of the answers are worth elaborating on and then we will provide a link to a detailed study on the topic.
By the end of this guide, you’ll have a better understanding of what SEO is and how to use it to improve your visibility and traffic. Let’s get started!
Most important questions and answers about SEO
1. What is SEO?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility and ranking of a website or web page on search engine results pages (SERP). It is part of an Internet marketing strategy.
You can read in detail about this topic in the study -> What is SEO?
2. What are the most important ranking factors?
There are countless ranking factors that Google takes into account when determining a website’s final position for a given keyword. Among the most important of these are the fulfillment of user intent, relevance of content to the keywords searched for and the quality of the content, the authority of the domain in relation to the subject matter, the number and quality of links leading to the site from other websites. You can read more about this in the article What affects a site’s position in Google?
3. What are the best ways to improve your website’s SEO?
Another important factor is linkbuilding; you must have inbound links to your site from other reputable sites if you want to rank high in search results. And finally, make sure your site is responsive and looks good on all devices – desktops, laptops, smartphones and tablets.
There is no single answer to this question, as SEO is an ever-evolving and complex field. The most important of the things you can do is to make sure your site provides value content for people interested in the topic In addition, it is worthwhile for you to ensure that:
- Optimize your site’s title and meta description tags;
- Acquiring links from other quality sites;
- Optimizing site images;
- Using keyword research to identify the right keywords to pay attention to;
- Using user intent on selected keywords;
- Make sure your website is responsive, efficient and looks good on all devices with a special focus on mobile. The topic is related to site speed optimization
4. How can you track your site’s SEO performance?
There are several different ways to track the progress of your site’s SEO. One of them is to use Google Search Console This tool provides information such as the number of impressions and clicks your site has received in search results, as well as data on how your site is doing in terms of organic search traffic. You can also use the Google Analytics 4 tool for this purpose. Using GA4 is a bit more complicated because of the user consents needed for data processing.
An alternative but less accurate way to track your site’s SEO progress is to use tools such as Senuto, Semrush, Unamo, Seostorm or strictly dedicated position monitoring tools like Webposition, Asps.pl or Seostation. We describe a selection of these tools in the form of tutorials on our blog.
5. What are some common SEO mistakes?
There are many common SEO mistakes that business owners often make. The most important of these are:
- forgetting keyword analysis; the result is lack of traffic despite intensive content building;
- lack of strong keyword targeting;
- no analysis of user intent;
- no use of converting phrase data obtained from paid campaigns;
- unwillingness to make changes to the site (no synergy with link building campaign);
- duplicated content on the site or unavoidable content;
- lack of real value for the user;
- incorrect use of h1 tags;
- duplicated or worthless page titles;
- incorrect internal linking or lack thereof;
6. What are some common myths about SEO?
1. Myth: SEO is all about stuffing keywords into the content of the page.
Reality: rampant keyword stuffing can have the opposite effect. It’s better to focus on providing valuable and helpful content that will give value to your readers.
Reality.
2. Myth: SEO is a one-time thing you can do and then forget about it.
Reality: SEO is an ongoing process that should be reviewed regularly to keep ranking high and building your visibility.
3. Myth: You need to be an SEO expert to do it yourself.
Reality: While it is helpful to have some knowledge of SEO, there are many resources available online. Read more about this in an article about positioning a website on your own
7. What is an SEO audit?
SEO audit is the process of evaluating a website for its compliance with search engine optimization (SEO) best practices. This assessment is conducted to recommend actions that can be taken to improve visibility and improve Google’s search engine ranking.
8. Who is an SEO specialist?
An SEO specialist (a.k.a. a positioner) is a professional who specializes in website positioning.
Positioners, depending on their specialization, may be responsible for site optimization (e.g. title tags, meta descriptions, h1, h2, h3, h4 header tags, etc.), link building, keyword analysis, competitive analysis, copywriting or technical optimization (optimization crawl budget, Core Web Vitals). Thus, SEO specialists also perform tasks outside the positioned website such as link acquisition through sponsored articles or blog commenting or competitor analysis for visibility.
9. What is an SEO agency?
An SEO agency is a company that provides search engine optimization (SEO) services. These services include implementing strategies and tactics to improve a website’s visibility and ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs).
SEO agencies typically specialize in SEO and offer a range of services such as keyword analysis, competitive analysis, link acquisition, search engine optimization and content marketing. They also often have experience with Google Ads and other forms of paid advertising. In a separate post, I compare the work of an SEO agency and SEO consultant with each other.
10. Who is an SEO Consultant?
An SEO consultant is an expert who specializes in positioning websites on Google. An SEO consultant helps website owners identify and fix problems that may be preventing a website from reaching the highest possible positions in search engine results pages (SERPs). In addition, SEO consultants provide advice on creating effective content, developing link-building strategies and conducting keyword analysis.
11. What are the benefits of SEO?
The benefits of SEO include, but are not limited to:
- increased website traffic;
- higher visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs);
- increased brand awareness and recognition;
- increased site authority and credibility;
- increased website conversion rate;
-> Read about all the advantages and disadvantages of SEO
12. What are the disadvantages of SEO?
SEO also has several disadvantages. First, SEO is relatively expensive. Second, SEO takes a lot of time and effort before you see real results.
13. What are the types of SEO?
There are two basic types of SEO: on-site SEO and off-site SEO
On-site SEO is the process of optimizing a site’s content, structure and metadata (meta title and meta description tags) to improve its visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs). The second type, i.e. off-site SEO, is the process of improving a site’s online reputation and authority through activities such as link building and social media marketing.
14. What is technical SEO?
Technical SEO is the process of improving a website’s visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs) by optimizing a website’s technical infrastructure and on-page content.
Some of the main elements that technical SEO focuses on are: site indexability, indexation in Google, non-functioning links, 404 errors, visibility of links and content to search engine robots, canonical URLs (rel canonical tag), robots.txt file, site map, metatags, etc.
15. What is local positioning?
Local SEO also called local positioning is the practice of optimizing a website for local search results. This can include optimizing a site’s content, address, contact information, as well as building citations and links from other local websites. By improving a site’s visibility in local search results, companies can attract more local customers.
16. What is online store positioning?
Otherwise known as ecommerce SEO. The process of optimizing an online store to rank higher on search engine results pages for queries related to products or product categories. The goal of SEO for ecommerce is to drive more and, above all, quality traffic from search engines to the website, which should result in increased sales and revenue.
17. What is an SEO strategy?
An SEO strategy is a detailed plan by which we will be able to maximize opportunities to gain organic traffic and conversions from search engines.
18. What are SEO tools?
SEO tools are applications that assist SEO efforts. They can help with things like finding the best keywords, grouping them, checking search intent, monitoring positions for selected keywords, analyzing competitor links, analyzing visibility, and identifying potential areas for improvement on the site. On our SEO blog, we describe, among others, MajesticSEO, Senuto or Semrush.
19. What is an SEO plugin or plugin?
SEO plugins are modules used by website owners to extend the functionality of a website with SEO features. There are many SEO plugins available, but all of them essentially work by adding different types of code to a website that help search engine bots better understand the content and structure of the site. This better understanding of the site’s content by the bot can influence the site to rank higher for certain keywords. The most popular SEO plugins for WordPress are Yoast SEO and Rank Math SEO plugins.
20 What are friendly URLs?
SEO-friendly URLs are those that contain keywords that people can use to search for content on the web. Together with internal linking and relevant anchors, they help robots determine the content of subpages. Including keywords in a URL can help those pages rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Tactics for creating SEO-friendly URLs include using hyphens (-) to separate words, keeping URLs short, including categories in the URL and including relevant keywords at the beginning of the URL.
21 What is Google’s SEO algorithm?
The Google algorithm is a set of rules that govern how the search engine ranks pages in its results. The algorithm is a closely guarded secret, but over the years various aspects of it have been revealed by Google itself or those who study it.
The main and official goal of Google’s search engine algorithm is to provide users with the best possible search results. It takes many factors into account, including how relevant a site is to a given query, how much authority it has in a particular industry/niche, how many other sites link to it and what kind. The algorithm also adjusts its ranking based on the behavior of specific users. E.g., if people start clicking on a selected result more often and do not return to the results page again, that page may be rewarded with a higher ranking. Another example would be the presentation of different results to people logged into their Google account.
What you need to know about SEO?
SEO is a set of activities aimed at optimizing a website for Google search. The goal of SEO is to get a higher level of organic traffic and improve your site’s visibility in search engines. Positioning includes both the part relating directly to the website, known as on-site SEO, as well as a number of off-site activities, such as acquiring links to the site.
There are a number of techniques that can be used as part of an SEO strategy, but they all focus on making it easier for search engine robots to read, analyze and index content, and broadly providing users with a positive experience when visiting a site (including providing the right content, at the right time).
No one knows exactly how Google’s algorithm works, but we do know that it takes many factors into account, including relevance, authority, user behavior and others. As a result, SEO is an ever-evolving field, and requires constant effort if you want to compete and get ahead of your competition.
The SEO is a constantly evolving field, and requires constant effort if you want to compete and get ahead of your competitors.
Let's talk!
Hello! My name is Piotr Starzynski and it's a pleasure to meet you in the SEO industry. I have been officially working in SEO since 2006, while I have been working in analytics for several years. I have about 400 analytics implementations for client websites, hundreds of SEO projects and dozens of analytics projects for mobile applications. At Up&More, I am responsible for the Search Engine Optimization and Web Analytics team. If you feel like working with me, I invite you to contact me!