I spend a lot of time hanging out with my ideal readers and there have been some prevalent SEO questions that I would like to answer. The objective of this post is to answer some of these questions. It will help you understand the intricacies of SEO.
1. Should I submit my site to the major search engines?
Great question! Some people think that you need to submit your site often to the search engines. Honestly, it’s a one time thing. Now, it can take the GoogleBot up to 45 days to index a particular page. To speed up this process, there are two things you can do:
- guestpost on other sites in your niche to raise the PR (page rank) of your site
- link your site with Google webmasters tools and take advantage of the ability to have content indexed within 48 hours
One note on PR, there are really only a few benefits nowadays. First, higher PR sites typically sell for more than lower PR sites. Second, higher PR sites stand a better chance at getting indexed quicker. Third, it can be significantly easier to obtain better rankings.
2. What is my competition like?
To some of us seasoned marketers, this is a no-brainer. For others, it’s a legitimate question. First, I suggest you have a very clear understanding of the search terms you’re trying to have search engine visibility for. You can take this list and follow the following steps:
- Use Google Chrome
- Browse via ‘Incognito window’
- Manually enter search terms and see what Google is currently ranking
When analyzing your competition, you need to pay attention to things like: PR, domain authority, links to the domain, links to the post URL, and how well the site or page is optimized for your search terms.
3. What domain extension should I have?
It sucks when you finally come up with a great domain name idea and come to find out that the .com version isn’t available. Here’s what I suggest: manipulate the domain idea until you find a .com version. People automatically think .com when they hear any website domain. If you absolutely love the .org or the .info or whatever, go with it. I absolutely love my blogging.org domain, as blogging is an excellent word to have in the domain name. So.. there are exceptions..
A few more thoughts. Most domain extensions serve specific purposes. For example, if you weren’t a school, then there’d be no need to have a .edu extension; same goes for .gov if you’re not a government. Having a .co, .biz, or .info doesn’t necessarily put you at a disadvantage. Keep your ideal customer in mind and pick the one that best suits them.
4. How can I find out where I stand in the Google rankings?
Honestly, this is a total time waster. People forget that the amount of money they make is directly correlated to specific activities. Blogging with a purpose and promoting that content so that it ranks well is an income generating activity. Finding where you rank, not so much.
Now, obviously everything has its place. I just don’t want you spending too much time dinking around trying to find out where you rank. Having said that, here’s a simple process you can follow.. unless you want to invest in a quality ranking tracking tool:
- Follow the bullets in Step 2
- Stop once you get to page 10. (Any more than that is spending too much time)