Search technology and terminology is confusing for most people — especially new recruits. At Battleship, we always keep our lines of communication open and encourage clients to ask us anything, anytime.
As we learned from G.I. Joe, “Knowing is half the battle,” because awareness is the first step to understanding what you’re up against. In this post, we go back to some basic (and not-so-basic) codes, terms, practices and standard procedures that define the advanced business warcraft we call SEO.
Basic Training Questions
“What is SEO, and why is it important?”
This one is as basic as it gets, but it also reinforces our key objective for every mission. Search Engine Optimization is the process of enhancing a website to rank higher in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).
SEO covers the full spectrum of training and special equipment that enhances visibility and drives organic traffic to your site. Consumers almost exclusively use search engines to find information, products and services now — making SEO crucial for attracting new customers and increasing traffic.
“What are keywords? Why do they matter?”
These are the specific words or phrases that people type into a Google search. Knowing what keywords potential customers are using is like finding out what radio frequency they’re on. Dialing in your keywords ensures that new customers get your message loud and clear.
“What are backlinks all about?”
Think of them like supportive allies outside your fleet. Search engines use backlinks as a sign that your site is one of the “good guys,” which also boosts your site’s content and authority. A good SEO provider will push for relevant, high-quality backlinks from trusted sources, and not just a big pile of random, low-quality backlinks that might sink your reputation.
“What’s white hat SEO? Is black hat bad?”
This is another question that separates the “good guys” from the “bad dudes.” White hat SEO uses ethical tactics that comply with search engine guidelines and aims to improve user experience by providing valuable content. That’s good — and you can expect good, long-term results from it.
Black hat SEO uses sketchy tricks that violate search engine guidelines — such as keyword stuffing, cloaking, and buying backlinks. That’s bad. While black hat tricks might make some short-term ripples, the long-term penalties and damage it can do to your website’s reputation isn’t worth it. Stick with the “good guys.”
“Do I also need SEM? What is PPC?”
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) promotes websites by increasing their visibility in Search Engine Results Pages — often through paid advertising tactics like Pay-Per-Click (PPC).
PPC is an online advertising model where advertisers pay a fee each time their ad is clicked. Advertisers bid on audience-specific keywords so their ads will be displayed beside the organic search results or on related websites. SEM/PPC works better for short-term results, which can be useful at the beginning when your extended SEO strategy is still developing.
“What does CTR mean? What about Bounce Rate?”
Click-Through Rate (CTR) measures the percentage of users who click on a specific link compared to the total number of users who view a page, email, or ad. A higher CTR indicates a webpage is relevant and attractive to users.
Bounce rate measures how many site visitors leave after viewing one page. A high bounce rate may indicate the site didn’t have what they wanted, or that weak points like bad UX page design or slow load speeds need attention. The goal is more glue and less rubber: you want people to stick around instead of bouncing.
Top Gun Questions
“Sir! What’s the deal with Conversion Rate, sir! And CMS? Is my XLM sitemap bad? Do I need to explore Entities and Concepts? Do I have to worry about Cannibalization? And what IS that? Are my Secure Sockets Layers getting loose? How can I tell if my Canonical URL is properly canonical? Is on-page SEO more important than off-page SEO? Wait, there’s also local SEO? What the heck is THAT about, sir!!?”
At ease, sailor. The long answer is everything counts, so it’s all worth knowing. The short answer is you should stay focused on your business by relying on the “Top Gun” talent we’ve built into ours. After almost 25 years on this ocean, we have all the SEO intelligence, tactics and ordinance you could ever need.
Get one of our crew on the horn and we’ll start guiding more business to your shores.