Roundtable Discussion: Your SEO Questions Answered

Posted February 12, 2009 By John Rasco |

Many of our clients have a lot of questions about the cost and effectiveness of search engine optimization (SEO). We always lay the foundation for good search engine results by using well-planned semantic code, and for some sites we bring in outside help.

For the past few years we have consulted with RefreshWeb, an Austin search marketing agency, to help clients with keyword research and some SEO input on the information architecture. For this month’s roundtable discussion, we asked the RefreshWeb team the same questions you ask us about search engine optimization. (Note: This article is fairly technically advanced. For a more basic overview of SEO, please see Jean Conover’s article from March 2008.)

TradeMark Media: What are some easy ways to improve my site ranking on Google?

RefreshWeb: Easy is relative. You have to understand keywords – what’s relevant? What are people looking for? What phrases are likely to convert? Research is so important. We like the Google AdWords tool, and it’s free. Here are some tips:

Before you get started, see where you rank! RefreshWeb offers a free SEO ranking report on their site.

Are meta keywords and descriptions still utilized by search engines? If so, what are some best practices for creating them?

Yes. The title tag and descriptions are still very important. Only Yahoo still indexes the keywords tag. The tags need to be unique on each page, so don’t copy tags across the entire site. Here are some tips:

What is more important for SEO, page content or metadata?

Both! The search engines need to be able to see the terms in both places. One without the other isn’t enough, and in the world of search, content is king. Whatever is in the tags has got to be reiterated in the content. Content without supporting tags is weak. And remember that top rankings depend not just on page content, but on the information architecture of the entire site.

After search engine optimization, what guarantee do I have that my site will rank higher?

There’s no way to guarantee this, because Google alone uses over 100 factors to determine ranking, many of which are totally out of your control. The search algorithms change regularly. That said, there are five big factors Google looks at to determine top rankings:

To rank higher, you want to optimize on terms with fewer competing pages. If you do that and have the other factors in place, you should see a significant boost in rankings. One more reason why you can’t skimp on research.

How much should my company plan to spend for SEO to really work?

Depends on the size of your site and competitive position. Good SEO is an investment that takes time and a lot of work. It’s not a quick fix. For full-service SEO, expect to spend $10-50K. Lower-cost providers save you money by making recommendations and leaving the work to be done in-house. As with most things, you’re going to pay for it in one form or another.

What is the average length of time SEO services need to be performed in order to produce results?

90-120 days to see the initial jump, then there’s ongoing, iterative improvement. This is even more pronounced if you keep tweaking the site content and working on the deeper levels of pages. Once your optimized copy is in place, start working on keyword-based external links. This is essential to establishing authority for your site and getting top rankings.

Should a company put its money into optimizing its site for good organic rankings or should it just pay for placement?

Money invested in good design, usability, search engine optimization and sales flow is a much better investment than renting space at the top of the search results. These are long-term solutions. Paying for temporary traffic to a crummy site is short-sighted and doesn’t fix the problem. A great-performing site is a valuable asset to your company.

How can I get rid of an old page from my Web site that’s coming up in Google?

If you have the technical ability, set up a 301 redirect from the old page to the new page. Otherwise, ask a Web professional for help.

For more information about SEO and RefreshWeb, please visit http://www.refreshweb.com. Have more questions? Your friendly TradeMark employees are here to help! Email us at info@trademarkmedia.com or call 512-459-7000.

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About the Author

Founder of Brand X Austin and RefreshWeb, John Rasco has an entrepreneurial gene, a creative bent and a passion for challenging projects.

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4 Responses to “Roundtable Discussion: Your SEO Questions Answered”

  1. Posted February 17th, 2009 at 3:47 pm, by Pat Ramsey

    Great article, John. Very informative. The Google AdWords tool you link to returns a 404. Is this the tool you’re referring to: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

    Cheers!

    Pat

  2. Posted February 17th, 2009 at 4:06 pm, by Sarah Buser

    Thanks for reading, Pat! I’ll take the blame on that bad link. Apparently Google doesn’t like a final forward slash on URLs. http://www.google.com/adwords works but http://www.google.com/adwords/ doesn’t.

  3. Posted February 20th, 2009 at 12:15 pm, by John Rasco

    Hi Pat–

    That is the link to the keyword research tool. To get more accurate numbers for use in optimization, be sure to select Exact match in the drop-down menu.

  4. Posted February 27th, 2009 at 3:18 am, by Justin Brooke

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts on search engine optimization. These thoughts and suggestions will greatly help those who are in need of guidance.

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