Starting with SEO? Here are the 10 questions I get asked most often—with straight answers, no fluff.
1. How Long Does SEO Take to Work?
Answer: 3-6 months for new sites, 1-3 months for established sites.
Google needs time to crawl your content, index it, and evaluate it against competitors. New domains take longer because they lack authority. Competitive keywords take longer than niche ones.
Reality check: Anyone promising Page 1 rankings in 2 weeks is lying.
2. What's the Difference Between On-Page and Off-Page SEO?
On-Page SEO: Everything you control on your website (content, keywords, meta tags, page speed, internal links).
Off-Page SEO: Everything outside your website (backlinks, brand mentions, social signals).
Think of it this way: On-page = what you say about yourself. Off-page = what others say about you.
3. What is Domain Authority (DA)?
Answer: A score (1-100) created by Moz to predict how well a site will rank. Higher = better.
Important: DA is NOT a Google ranking factor. It's a third-party metric. Google doesn't use it. It's useful for comparing sites but don't obsess over it.
4. Do I Need Backlinks to Rank?
Yes. Backlinks are one of Google's top 3 ranking factors.
Why? They're votes of confidence. If authoritative sites link to you, Google assumes your content is valuable.
Quality > Quantity: One link from a high-authority site beats 100 links from spammy sites.
5. Why is My Competitor Ranking Higher Than Me?
Possible reasons:
- More/better backlinks: Check with Ahrefs or SEMrush
- Older domain: Age = trust
- Better content: Longer, more detailed, better formatted
- Better on-page SEO: Title tags, headers, internal links
- Faster site: Page speed matters
Don't guess—analyze their site and find the gap.
6. How Many Keywords Should I Target Per Page?
Answer: 1 primary keyword + 2-3 related keywords.
Don't keyword stuff. Write naturally and focus on covering the topic completely. Google understands related terms (semantic SEO).
Example: If your primary keyword is "email marketing," related keywords might be "email campaigns," "email automation," "email list building."
7. Should I Focus on High-Volume or Low-Volume Keywords?
Both. But prioritize differently:
- New sites: Start with long-tail, low-competition keywords
- Established sites: Mix of both
Low-volume (100-1,000 searches/month) = easier to rank, faster wins. High-volume (10K+ searches/month) = harder but more traffic potential.
8. What's More Important: Content or Backlinks?
You need both. But if forced to choose:
- For informational content (blogs, guides): Content > Backlinks
- For competitive commercial keywords (product pages, services): Backlinks > Content
Best strategy: Create great content FIRST, then build backlinks to it.
9. How Do I Measure SEO Success?
Track these metrics:
- Organic traffic: Google Analytics (Sessions from Organic Search)
- Keyword rankings: Track your top 10-20 keywords
- Backlinks: Number + quality (use Ahrefs/SEMrush)
- Conversions from organic: Leads, sales, sign-ups
Traffic without conversions is pointless. Focus on revenue-driven metrics.
10. Can I Do SEO Without Technical Knowledge?
Yes—for basic SEO. You can:
- Write great content
- Optimize meta tags
- Build backlinks
- Use WordPress plugins (Yoast, RankMath)
But you'll need technical help for: site speed optimization, schema markup, fixing crawl errors, and JavaScript SEO.
Final Thoughts
SEO isn't rocket science, but it takes time and consistency. Start with the basics (SEO fundamentals), create great content, and build quality backlinks. Results will follow.