What is SEO?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a method of making a website as friendly as possible to search engine robots. Many sites have inherit problems that can cause a site to not rank well including issues with subject matter expertise, issues with code errors, issues with mobile friendliness, issues with titles and descriptions, etc. SEO aims to improve the hundreds of little things that Google looks for in a quality site.
What is PPC?
Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising is a model of internet marketing where advertisers bid auction-style for ranking within paid search results. These results often appear at the top and bottom of a set of results and are contextually relevant. An advertiser pays for each click that their ad receives. PPC is a great way of breaking into a set of search results.
What is SEM?
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) encompasses both SEO and PPC in order to increase the reach of a website. SEO focuses on increasing ranking within the organic results while PPC focuses on the paid results. When used together PPC can augment your sites traffic where your organic ranking is not competitive enough yet to deliver traffic.
Which is better, SEO or PPC?
Both SEO and PPC have their benefits and drawbacks. When promoting your site with SEO a significant amount of time can pass before you reach a traffic-paying ranking. With PPC your site could rank at the top of the rest within a couple of hours, but for a cost. PPC ads cost money each time a user clicks on the ad so it has a fixed cost.
Does PPC help my organic ranking?
It’s not supposed to… but it does. Every time we start a new PPC campaign for a client we see an increase in organic ranking for phrases they use in the campaign. Why? I think it’s because Google is seeing users come to the site for those keywords and engage. Sites that engage and convert users are sites Google thinks are high quality. That little boost of user engagement and conversion seems to lead to a small increase in organic rankings most times.
Can a program manage your PPC account?
Sure. You can pay for a program but your results won’t be as good as they would be with us. Our services always out-perform programmatic PPC management.
How long will it take for my site to rank well?
It takes time to see ranking increases in the organic results. It can take as little as a few weeks, or as long as six months of ongoing efforts. Why? Because Google likes to deliver consistent results. You have to earn your way to the top. The top five or so rankings in the results are heavily influenced by user engagement so if your site pops into the top results and then drops right back out, it’s probably because users didn’t engage with your site.
What is organic traffic?
The term “organic traffic” means traffic that arrives to a website via the non-paid listings in a search engine.
My web designer says they can do SEO – is that true?
Sometimes. Most web designers are very focused on their main talent; web design. SEO is a very complex job that takes a full-time focus to stay on top of the industry. A professional SEO is probably a better bet than a web designer.
How can engaging an SEO help with my site’s redesign?
An SEO can help your site transition to your new design by ensuring your site maintains its subject matter expertise. SEOs also help by ensuring the new site is at least as technically good as your old site, if not better. SEOs help with code optimization, titles and descriptions, content optimization, URL redirects, etc.
How long has SEO been a thing?
The term “SEO” was coined by Bruce Clay in late 1996. SEOMike got his start with SEO in March of 1997.
Does Yahoo! or Bing matter?
Yes and no. You certainly want to have traffic from all possible sources, but sometimes that can come at a cost. Yahoo! and Bing are more susceptible to spam than Google is so it often takes a lot more “force” to get listed there which can end up getting a site in trouble with Google. Google accounts for about 9% of the searches that happen online with Bing handling about 6% and Yahoo handling about 3%.
What is Mobile First?
Mobile First means that Google decides how a site will rank based on how well it performs on a mobile device. Speed is one critical factor in how Google judges a site but is not the only factor.
Why is site speed important?
Faster sites usually provide better user experiences. Google likes what is best for users, so Google likes fast sites.
