Top Ten SEO FAQs
Search Engine Optimization (SEO), at its best, is an ongoing process. At Loebig Ink, we stay up-to-date with the latest information on the on-page updates and other efforts that can be made to have the greatest impact on visibility for your website. Before the continued efforts and fine-tuning that can keep improving optimization, there is the initial SEO setup. The whole process can be unfamiliar to a new client, so it is natural that we get lots of questions. Here are the top 10 questions we receive about our initial SEO setup process, and the explanations we give to foster better understanding.
1. We have received your recommended keywords. What are the next steps?
The next step for you will be to review and approve the keywords, or to let us know if you have any questions. Once approved, we will begin tracking the keywords for your site as well as for your strongest online competitors for comparison. After that, we will write the metatags to be added to your website. As soon as we have approval for your keywords, we’ll get started!
2. We have reviewed your recommended keywords. Why didn’t you choose these single-word keywords with a higher search volume?
We choose the highest search volume keywords that are most appropriate for the pages we are optimizing. If a local Google search for a given keyword brings up search results that include businesses or organizations that are similar to your business, it is a good contender. Often single words may have a high search volume but are too vague to have relevant search results. For example, there may be many search results for the word “termites,” but “termite control” clarifies the search results and may better describe the content on the page.
3. Why didn’t you choose the specific keyword I suggested? It’s important to us that we rank for it.
If we didn’t choose your suggested keyword, we may have found an equally relevant, higher volume keyword to use instead. Our initial approach is to focus on higher volume keywords that are most relevant for your industry locally so that the website will start ranking for those keywords. Another reason we may not have recommended your keyword is that your site does not currently have a specific page with related content. We can begin tracking your suggested keyword for future use, even though we don’t recommend assigning it to a specific page at this time.
4. If the Cost Per Click (CPC) is so high for this keyword, we won’t be able to pay for it. Can we choose another instead?
We look at the Cost Per Click for each keyword to see how much those purchasing Google Ads are paying for the keyword, which is an indication of its popularity. Our process seeks to increase your organic search results, so you will not need to pay the CPC.
5. The Keyword Difficulty is so high for this keyword. How can our site compete for it?
Similar to how we use CPC, Keyword Difficulty is an indication that many websites are using a given keyword and ranking well for it in Google. From and SEO optimization perspective, a high Keyword Difficulty score lets us know we have chosen a good keyword to target because it is popular and often used on the web. We don’t shy away from keywords based on Keyword Difficulty. Our improvement process competes well for highly sought-after keywords.
6. Why should I use local modifiers in my metatags? I want to go national or international.
Local modifiers are the specific locations that we match to your keywords, such as “mailing services New York,” “fitness center Somerdale NJ,” or “speech therapist Montgomery County PA.” On an initial optimization, we focus our keyword strategy on the physical location of the business. This helps a new website gain a foothold locally since Google has a very strong preference for local searches. We can also use a second geographical area using local modifiers on the pages. Then, an ongoing strategy can build on the initial ranking boost to reach regionally and nationally. To start ranking regionally and nationally, an aggressive blogging and content development strategy is required to be successful.
7. Why should I use my town as a local modifier? No one will ever search for such a small town in Google.
Your keywords and local modifiers not only help people who enter those terms in a search engine to find your website, but they also help establish your presence to search engines themselves. Because Google has such a strong preference for local search, it is imperative to begin your search engine optimization by using your actual location as a local modifier. Once you establish that connection, your site will begin to appear in relevant searches near you whether or not someone typed in the name of your exact city. So by achieving consistently high ranking results for keywords using a local modifier for a small town such as Detour, MD, your ranking will in turn improve in larger cities such as Frederick, MD and the surrounding area.
8. How do I interpret my Initial Keyword Ranking chart?
The numbers next to each of your keywords show where your website is currently ranking in Google for the chosen keywords. A ranking of 1 is the best. It means that when someone runs a search for the given keyword in Google, yours is the first site listed on page one (after paid advertisements/special listings). A ranking of 1 to 10 is on page one, 11 to 20 is page two, and so on. A “100” means the ranking is 100 or above, i.e., the keyword is essentially not yet ranking at all in Google. We provide this chart so you can see where your current rankings are before optimization. We also provide this information about your top online competitors for comparison.
9. Why didn’t you choose the competitors I suggested? The ones you chose aren’t my competitors.
We do take your competitor suggestions into account and they especially play a role in our initial research to determine the best keywords for your website and industry. The competitors identified in the list are based on the array of keywords we optimized for the site. Those are the top competitors in Google for the keywords we are using to optimizing the website. Our SEMRush tool shows us who the top keyword competitors are in an area for a given set of keywords. In many industries, it often happens that real world competitors have done little or no SEO and do not rank for your keywords. Those sites would not be useful benchmark web competitors for SEO purposes.
10. Where do the metatags appear on my website?
The title tag appears on the small tab at the top of a webpage and is barely perceptible on the site. It also appears as the blue heading at the top of a search result. The meta description is not visible at all on your website. It appears only as the brief description just below the heading and web address in a search result:
The H1 is the main heading on a webpage. The H2, if used, is the subheading beneath it. In this example, “Optimize Your Blog” is the H1 and “Blog Writing Best Practices for SEO” is the H2:
We hope this list of FAQs has answered some of the questions you may have had about an initial SEO setup. Feel free to get in touch with other questions you may have about search engine optimization or our SEO services.
Brian Loebig’s dedication to Loebig Ink, LLC and the company’s mission to serve small businesses and entrepreneurs has paid off with an exciting accolade. We are proud to announce that Brian is a winner of Silver Spring’s 2018 Small Businessperson of the Year! The contest was run by the Alignable social media network, which revealed contest winners on Sunday, March 3rd.
There is always another improvement to be made on your online presence. It is important to add fresh content to your website, fine tune your personal branding, and to 
