There are so many questions surrounding SEO, the Penguin update, Google penalisations, etc. etc., and some of them just need to be set straight. Having said this, setting anything straight when it comes to SEO is a bit of an issue since often no one really knows the answers for sure, perhaps suggesting why there are so many questions.
Here, we will look at a few of the most common questions that need answering.
1) How Does Social Media Affect SEO?
This is becoming one of the most common questions around, and opinions vary quite widely. Although social media marketing has been seen in the past as a separate entity to search engine optimisation, it is becoming closely associated with SEO with the two practices mutually beneficial to each other. Social media indirectly contributes to SEO through generating an audience to share content with and who may eventually create links to your website for you.
However, it is becoming apparent that social media also has some direct contribution to a website’s search engine ranking. Matt Cutts has given us mixed ideas of just how directly social media affects search engine rankings, and more detail can be found at the Nebstone blog. In short, both social media popularity and social media links have some impact on a website’s search engine ranking, meaning social media really is becoming an essential part of SEO and is likely to play a larger role in the future.
2) Does Article Marketing Still Contribute to SEO?
This question is perhaps debatable. Good quality, unique content submitted to quality article sites is probably still effective. However, it may be a mistake to fill it with keyworded backlinks to your website, because this might be flagged as SEO spam and the potential credibility of the article’s backlinks may be shot down.
Having said this, it is worth noting that Matt Cutts is not a big fan of article marketing and suggests leaning away from this (although he doesn’t say it’s ineffective).
3) How do I Increase My PageRank?
A lot of people still think PageRank is an important part of attaining high positions in the SERPs. This may have been true 10 years ago but nowadays, there is really very little correlation between PageRank and search engine rankings. Therefore, the answer to this question is just you don’t need to worry too much about it. PageRank really only tells Google how frequently to crawl that website, so if you have a low PageRank Google may crawl your website less often yes, but don’t worry about your search engine rankings, a webpage with PageRank 1 can easily outrank a webpage with a higher PageRank of 6.
4) How Important Is Domain Name For SEO?
A lot of people ask what they should use as their domain name and how important it is. Domain name can help with SEO yes, but in future, Google may put less weight on this, with numerous complaints that Google has weighted domain names too heavily in the past. Don’t get too worried about domain name though, it’s by no means necessary to have a keyworded domain name. In many cases it may be much better to have a branded domain name, showing customers who you are and creating a more personalised feel to your website. In so many cases, websites with branded domain names are at the top of the search results, because brand matters, and there are so many other effective ways to optimise your website for SEO.
One more thing to mention is not to get over cautious about negative SEO and the idea of being penalised by Google. Google is simply trying to present customers with what they are looking for, and are not trying to look for reasons to penalise everyone! There isn’t often a black and white answer when it comes to SEO, and every so often you just have to make a judgement call on whether something is going to be good or bad for your specific website.
About the Author: This article was written by George at Nebstone, an online marketing agency which offers a range of digital marketing services to help grow businesses online.
