Here’s a list of frequently asked questions about SEO! This list will be updated often so be sure to check back.
If you’re searching for an answer on your own, it can helpful to know which sources are reliable. Anything by Moz, Backlinko, Neil Patel, SparkToro, and Search Engine Journal can be trusted!
Frequently Asked Questions about SEO
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT PULSE REPORTS
Question: There are several toxic backlinks on my client’s report. Will you be addressing these?
Answer: Having some toxic backlinks (<50) is likely not going to cause any issues, therefore doesn’t need immediate attention. Issues arise when there are hundreds of toxic links or more toxic links than non-toxic links, as this could be a signal to search engines that the website is spammy. For those reasons, we do toxic backlink checks periodically throughout the year, as needed and remove toxic links from the list.
Question: I noticed for a lot of my clients, the mobile optimization is low, is that normal?
Answer: Unfortunately, many of our sites tend to have low mobile optimization scores. It’s something that we are working with the dev team to address. In the meantime, if you notice a score that’s dropped significantly from one report to the next, please let us know.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS FROM CLIENTS
Client Question: What work does my SEO package include?
Answer: Confirm their package level then refer to the SEO Package Breakdown for a summary of package inclusions
Question: My client asked why we don’t use keywords in social media. What should I say?
Answer: Our SEO keyword strategy covers three main areas of your website: static pages (i.e. the homepage, your restaurant page, etc.), specials and packages pages, and blog content. We work to optimize the content on these pages so that when users search terms related to your area, your B&B/hotel/inn is the best resource. Social media operates differently. When users search terms in Google, Facebook and other social media pages aren’t pulled in the results. So including keywords in social posts doesn’t help in terms of SEO. Our focus for social media is to post engaging content that captures your audience and drives them to your website.
Client Question: What SEO work was done on my site last month?
Answer: Confirm their package level then refer to the Planner Task Log for per-package work done & completed SEO tickets in any given month
Client Question: Why are there errors on my report?
Answer: The errors shown in the SEO report include everything from broken links and server issues to missing page titles and alt text. Some errors are more critical to address than others, and the SEO team fixes these types of errors as soon as they come up. Sometimes a few less critical errors will remain the report. The SEO team is aware of them and will address them.
Client Question: I’m seeing a lot of red in the keyword ranking section on my report. What does this mean?
Answer: assuming there’s a standard level of fluctuation: “It’s natural for there to be slight fluctuations in keyword rankings. Keyword rankings can change throughout the day, and even change based on the user. Drops of 1-5 positions are generally just a result of the ebbs and flows that are inherent to SEO. Our team is closely monitoring your keyword rankings and will jump in and take action if they deem necessary.
Client Question: My total linking domains decreased, what does this mean?
Answer: Total linking domains is the number of websites linking to your site. Links from high quality websites help to build the authoritativeness and trustworthiness of your site. More isn’t always better though – sometimes websites acquire links from non-trustworthy or low quality websites (in other words, spam). The SEO team monitors and removes these spammy links periodically to avoid any negative consequences. This drop in linking domains is a result of those links getting removed.
Client Question: Can you add/remove X keyword from the list of keywords in my report?
Answer: In general, the SEO team is happy to add & remove keywords on this list.
- Adding a keyword: “I’ll pass this insight along to the SEO team and they can do additional research around that topic to see if it’s a valuable addition.”
- Removing a keyword: (for example, they don’t like the term “cabin”) “We are happy to remove this keyword from your tracking and website, however it will likely result in a loss of rankings (and associated traffic) for that keyword.”
Client Question: I used X tool to run an SEO audit and it said my website has X errors. Can you run this report and fix these errors?”
Answer: Every site audit tool will present different information, errors, site scores, etc. Many tools are notorious for displaying an alarming amount of errors (that’s how they get their business). I can assure you that our SEO team’s auditing system is thorough and will pick up on the errors that need addressing so you do not need to worry! I just requested an audit check and your site health is looking really strong on our end (include screenshot, SEO team is happy to provide)
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (MISC.)
Question: How do I know if my website is being found on Google?
Answer: The easiest way is to do a Google search of the business. If the site is showing up in the search engine results page, it is being indexed! (You would see a message in the meta description if the site is not being crawled.)
- If you don’t see any results, check that:
Dashboard > Settings > Reading > Discourage search engines from indexing this site is not checked.
You can also check robots.txt.
- Enter your website’s domain followed by robots.txt — example: https://q4launch.com/robots.txt
You should see something very similar to this:
User-agent: *Disallow: /wp-admin/Allow: /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php
If you see something like this:
User-agent: *Disallow: /
Disallow: / — means all directories of your website is blocked from being crawled. In other words, Google should respect those rules, and not index your site.
Question: What should I do about a 500-level crawl error (any crawl error in the 500’s)?
Answer: Keep an eye on it, but there is nothing we can do about 500-level crawl errors. If they persist, it might be time to contact Rich.
Question: What is a 300-level crawl error (any crawl error in the 300’s)?
Answer: 300’s are previously 400’s errors that were fixed.
Question: My client got an alarming email/call from “Mainstreethost.com” or an about an award from “HotelsCombined”. Are these legit or a scam?
Answer: Mainstreethost.com is a spammy website claiming to be a “Google premier partner” – this just means they use Adwords (Q4Launch is a Google partner). If a company is claiming legitimacy this way for organic search traffic, it’s a red flag. HotelsCombined is a scam. More info can be found on How Can You Tell if a Website is Legitimate or Shady?
Question: How do I receive only certain emails from Search Console?
Answer: Unfortunately, it’s all or nothing – you either subscribe and receive all the emails for clients you’re linked to, or you receive none of them.
Question: What’s the SEO best practice for structuring URLs?
Answer: Here are a few guidelines to follow:
- The more readable by a human, the better
- It’s a good idea to include your keyword in the URL
- In general, shorter URLs are better than longer
More advice on structuring URLs can be found here.
Question: How many redirects (for one URL) is too many?
Answer: If a user or crawler tries to access URL A and gets redirected to URL B, no problem. If URL B then gets directed to URL C, it’s okay, but not great (it would be best for URL A to point directly to URL C). If the URL redirect string continues past two hops, it could be problematic, and crawlers often stop following redirect chains after the second hop. Browsers and users are slowed down by long redirect strings. Keep the number of redirects to a minimum for the least amount of problems.
Question: How do I generate a sitemap?
Answer: Type in website URL followed by “/sitemap.xml”
Question: I’m seeing a lot of 404s that look something like “/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/?MD”. What should I do?
Answer: Inspect the URLs to see what kind of pages they are. In some cases like this, they are things that we don’t want to be indexed by Google anyway. They relate to wp-content/ type files, which could be from the website before we launched or from a Yoast issue. For these pages, we will just want to wait until Google deindexes them.
Question: How do I know if a variation of a keyword is similar enough to the original keyword?
Answer: In general, close variations of keywords are totally fine. What is considered a “close variation?” Anything that conveys the same message. For example, if your keyword is “Charleston, SC, restaurants” you could also say “restaurants in Charleston, SC,” “Charleston, South Carolina, restaurants,” etc. Think about your readers first, and what will flow most naturally when read aloud. If you want to be sure, you can do a side-by-side Google search of your keyword and the keyword variation. Are you seeing the same results? That’s a good indication that the keywords are similar enough.
Question: How do I know if all of the images on my website contain alt text?
Answer: One of the best tools for checking alt text on images is the Screaming Frog SEO Spider Tool (weird name, I know). You can download the basic version for free, but it will only crawl the first 500 pages on your site. This is the best we can do right now because we don’t have the paid version. Once you download the program, follow these directions for how to find missing image alt text. If you have a Chromebook or can’t download the software, you can ask me (Haley) and I will export the doc for you!
Question: How do I determine how many pages my website has?
Answer: There are a few ways you can find this out. For a rough estimate, you can do a site search by typing “site:” in front of the website URL. At the top of the page, you’ll see “About ___ results.” This is roughly how many pages are indexed by Google. For an exact number, log into Search Console and find the Coverage section on the left. The number underneath the “Valid” section tells you exactly how many pages are currently indexed by Google.
Question: My client got an email from another website asking to link to their site and have them post a link on their site, but they’re not sure about the legitimacy of the request. Is there a tool I can use or a good rule of thumb to go by to tell if it would be beneficial to use the link or not?
Answer: Overall, most of these requests are spam. You can use the free MozBar extension to check the PA, DA, # of links, and spam score of the website. If the website has a very low PA or DA (less than 20), the website has no links, or the spam score is high, those are immediate red flags. If the email is asking for $$, that’s another red flag. If the website isn’t high quality overall, then a backlink probably isn’t worth it.