SEO can improve the quality and quantity of traffic on your website by directing more targeted traffic to the site through keyword search results. Have questions about Search Engine Optimization and how it works? Below are answers to some frequently asked questions we've come across about the basics of SEO.

Q: Should I try to rank well for a single-word term or a phrase?
A: People more often search for multi-word phrases, because they get more relevant results. Use a tool like Wordtracker to decide which keywords and phrases will be beneficial to your website.

Q: My rankings just changed. Why?
A: Changes in ranking can be the result of changes you made to your site, changes competitors made to their sites or changes the search engine made to their algorithm.

Q: Are any of the ranking changes permanent?
A: There is no way to permanently secure your spot in the rankings. Search engines are constantly modifying their algorithms, and every day new pages appear, some of which will by vying for your spot in the rankings.  

Q: Will search engines begin crawling on the homepage of my website?
A: Search engines evaluate each page on your site individually, based on its merits. It’s possible that some of the inside pages could rank as well or better than your homepage. Remember to think of every page on your site as a possible entryway, and make sure it's able to stand alone.

Q:  Can I make some keywords invisible (white letters on a white background)?
A: Search engines are highly sophisticated, and tricks like this will actually get your site penalized.  If you want to rank highly for certain keywords, make sure they are in the content of your page.

Q: Is using JavaScript a bad idea?
A: Search engines are not going to penalize a site for using standard web technology; however they can’t  follow links that appear only in JavaScript. Make sure that somewhere on the page you have a standard <a href> tag that a search engine can follow.