FAQ about SEO Terminology

Q. What is Search Engine Optimization
A. Often referred to as SEO - Google and the other search engines are looking for a whole bunch of factors and the more of these you have in your website, the higher you will rank. Because these factors all relate to your individual business, the more text and behind-the-scenes code that is specific to your business or industry, the better you will rank.

Q. What are Keywords?
A. Keywords are specific main words or groups of words which people will put into their browsers to search for your particular type of business. When Affordable Web Design Ltd's professional web designers works on your website, we take the time to ensure that your most relevant keywords will be put in many places on your website, both in the behind-the-scenes code as well as in the visible text.

Q. What is Ranking
A. This is where you appear when someone puts in a "keyword" to search for a specific type of business. As an example, if you are looking for "web design", just putting in those words will bring up just about every website in the world that talks about web design (currently around 11.4 billion matches when you type that into your browser address bar). However, if you put in "low cost web design", that will specifically pull up relevant websites which have incorporated such matching words (there are currently 2,380,000,000 [2.38 billion] matches).

Q. What does Location-Based SEO mean?
A Today's computer programmes usually "know" where you are located and your browser will pick out the most relevant websites related to the search words people put in where they are located. For instance, if someone is in Calgary and they are searching for an automotive mechanic, the browser they use will usually pull up auto mechanics in their area even if they didn't put the location in their search.

Q. What is a search algorithm?
A A search algorithm is a formula that search engines use to find specific information and determine the importance of a web page and its content. Each search engine has its own search algorithms to determine search engine result rankings of web pages. Although most people refer to searches as "Google", there are several other search engines used around the world. As of 2020, the top 10 search engines around the world were Google, Bing, Yahoo, Baidu, Yandex, DuckDuckGo, Ask.com, Ecosia, AOL.com and Internet Archive.

Q. What are Backlinks
A.- This means linking your web pages to another website's pages, which is one of the very important Search Engine parameters required to rank highly in internet searches. We are all inundated with emails offering thousands of links between sites - backlinks are only effective if those websites have something in common. Just having links to someone's site is not an effective backlink unless that website is talking about the same subject, or has other things in common.

Q. What is a Browser?
A. A browser is a program that allows you to view the contents of websites. The most common browsers used in Canada are Chrome, Firefox and Safari. The old "Internet Explorer versions are no longer supported so won't be able to see a lot of the modern content in websites. Microsoft has come up with the browser called Edge, which replaces the old Internet Explorer technology.

Q. Is SEM the same as SEO?
A. Search Engine Marketing is where people pay to have their websites show up in Google and other Search Engines. When you search for a "keyword" and you see a bunch of sites with the word "ad". This is often referred to as "Pay Per Click". This method can become extremely expensive with very little return, depending on the type of business you offer and how much competition you have in your area.