There’s nothing I enjoy more than sharing SEO, PPC, and analytics tips with others.
Recently I reached out on Facebook asking for your questions so I could help out where possible.
The questions I received were so good that they’re worth sharing here for everyone to benefit from.
This post is a recap of the questions that were sent in, along with my responses. There’s a bit of everything in here, so get ready for a crash course in multiple facets of SEO.
Question: Does the social graph still come into play on rankings in search?
Answer:
This is a question which is still the subject of contentious debate within the SEO community.
There continues to be studies that show a correlation between a piece of content’s social signals, and rankings of content in Google search.
The debate surrounding this topic stems from the age old argument of correlation versus causation.
Does content rank well because of its social signals? Or, does content receive more social likes and shares because it ranks well?
No matter what the case may be with respect to that argument, there’s no debate that inbound links continue to be one of the strongest ranking factors.
Getting content seen and shared on social media is crucial when it comes to getting others to link to that content.
Whether social signals are a ranking factor or not, social media is where many people discover content for the first time.
When more people are able to discover a piece of content, the more likely it is to get linked to. With that said, I believe social media is an important part of any SEO strategy.
Question: Is Google a reliable source of information? Or does it favor those who pay or “hack” their way to the top?
Answer:
Technically speaking, the opportunity to rank in organic search is open to any business who does all the right optimization tactics.
Although organic listings are an open playing field, businesses who have a budget to pay for professional search engine optimization have an advantage over businesses who do not.
With that said, if a site owner has the time and motivation to learn SEO on their own, they can conceivably achieve high rankings without the need for a huge budget.
Question: When is targeted search coming back to YouTube?
Answer
After reaching out to Google I can confirm this feature has now been re-activated.
Question: What is the ideal blog posting frequency for SEO?
Answer:
When it comes to blog posting frequency, you can’t go wrong with following this advice: the more the better.
Statistically, there is a direct correlation between the frequency of publishing blog articles and increasing organic traffic/rankings.
I cannot give a specific answer, such as “posting X-number of blog posts per week will increase your traffic by X-percent”.
Though I can say content is one of the main driving forces behind SEO, and it is well worth your time to blog as often as you can.
Question: Is it more important to focus on using the right keywords when blogging? Or is it more important to focus on writing the best content for a particular audience?
Answer:
To tell you the truth, both are important. It makes all the difference in the world to research and use the the right keywords in a piece of content.
While using keywords in content is important, make sure not to overdo it. It should sound natural to people reading the content, and look natural to search engine crawlers.
Focusing on publishing the right content for your audience is always key, but content will go a lot further if you do a bit of research first.
When writing content, you should ensure you’re using the same terminology your audience uses when conducting search queries.
Some excellent tools for finding the right terminology include:
Question: What’s your opinion on Net Neutrality?
Answer:
As far as SEO is concerned, it’s important that the web remain equally accessible to everyone – both businesses and their clients.
If internet service providers (ISPs) let big businesses reach into their deep pockets and buy their way into greater organic internet exposure, then it would become more difficult for small businesses to compete.
An inverse problem could occur if users had to pay in order to access certain types of search capabilities. When searching for companies to do business with, lower-income individuals would no longer have access to the same data they do now.
Small companies are having a hard enough time as it is trying to gain exposure on the web while up against bigger companies with larger budgets.
Presuming we continue to live in a neutral web environment, SEO is one of the only ways small businesses can get a lot of high-quality traffic without paying for ads.
Question: Can publishing video improve a site’s analytics?
Answer:
Having video on a website can help with many things. It definitely improves conversions. In addition, if tagged properly with Schema markup and good keywords, it can help with SEO as well.
I should also point out that YouTube is the #2 search engine in the world, so publishing videos on there is another way to help get your business discovered.
Question: Can the owner of a company measure their SEO efficiency simply by going to a site?
Answer:
Google Analytics and Google Search Console are the best free tools for measuring the results of your SEO efforts.
SEMRush is another site that gives a nice estimation of your current search engine visibility.
Google has other great, free tools for things that all site owners need to optimize for. This includes such elements as mobile-friendliness and page speed.
I recommend reading our guide to Google’s free testing tools for more information about everything Google has to offer.
Question: Is a mobile-friendly website crucial for SEO?
Answer:
Very much so! Google is planning to switch to a mobile-first index early next year. That means a site’s SEO-friendliness will be judged first and foremost by how it renders on mobile.
Conclusion
I’m always open to SEO questions. If you need clarification on any of the questions I’ve answered in this post, please leave a comment below.
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