Screaming Frog is a website crawling tool that helps with SEO audits by analyzing website structure, identifying technical issues, and gathering key data like broken links, duplicate content, and metadata. It’s widely used by digital marketers and SEO professionals to optimize websites for search engines. The tool can crawl both small and large websites, offering insights into areas that need improvement for better rankings and user experience.

SERPs do not look the same for every query. How the results are displayed can vary depending on the type of keyword being searched. Key factors that influence the variation in SERPs include:

• Navigational Keywords: Users are looking for a specific website or page (e.g., “Facebook login”). The SERP will often feature the homepage of the website as the top result.
• Informational Keywords: These are queries seeking information (e.g., “how to bake a cake”). The SERP will often display articles, blog posts, and how-to guides.
• Transactional Keywords: Users are looking to make a purchase (e.g., “buy running shoes”). The SERP will likely show product listings, review pages, and paid ads.
• Local Keywords: Users are looking for local businesses or services (e.g., “restaurants near me”). The SERP will display the local pack, which includes a map and business listings.
• Commercial Investigation Keywords: Users are comparing products or services (e.g., “best smartphones 2021”). The SERP may include comparison articles and review sites.

In my experience, understanding the type of keyword being searched allows you to tailor your SEO strategy to target the right kind of content and audience.

There are hundreds of schema types, but don’t worry—you don’t need to know all of them. The most common ones are:

• Organization Schema: For businesses, showing your name, logo, and contact info.
• Local Business Schema: If you have a physical shop, it highlights your address, hours, and phone number.
• Product Schema: Perfect for e-commerce, showcasing price, availability, and reviews.
• FAQ Schema: Great for answering questions directly in search results.
• Review Schema: Displays customer ratings.
• Event Schema: For promoting events with dates and locations.
• Recipe Schema: For food bloggers, with ingredients and cooking times.

How Does Schema Work?

You add schema to your website’s code, usually in JSON-LD format (don’t worry, it’s just a fancy way of structuring data). Once it’s there, search engines read it and might display special features like rich snippets in search results. To check if your schema is set up correctly, you can use tools like Google’s Rich Results Test.

What’s the Impact on Your Website?

1. You Stand Out: With features like star ratings or FAQs, your search result looks more attractive.
2. More Clicks: People are more likely to click on results that give them extra info upfront.
3. Better User Experience: Visitors find what they’re looking for quickly, which can lead to more trust in your site.
4. SEO Boost: While schema isn’t a direct ranking factor, it makes your content more relevant, which helps with SEO overall.

Where Should You Start?

Since you’re just starting, focus on schema types that make the most sense for your site. For example:

• If you run a local business, try Local Business Schema.
• If you’re writing blog posts, use Article Schema.
• Tools like Yoast SEO or Rank Math (if you’re on WordPress) make it super easy to implement schema without needing to touch code.

Finally, remember to test everything! Tools like Google’s Rich Results Test can show you if your schema is working correctly.

A typical SERP is more than just a list of links. It includes a variety of elements designed to provide users with the most relevant information for their search query. Key elements of a SERP include:

• Organic Listings: These are the traditional search results based on relevance and ranking.
• Paid Ads: Displayed at the top or bottom of the page, these results are part of paid search campaigns (PPC).
• Featured Snippets: These are highlighted answers directly pulled from a webpage, often displayed in a box at the top of the page.
• Knowledge Panel: A summary of information about a topic, like a business or a person, that appears on the right side of the page.
• Local Pack: A map with local business listings, particularly for location-based searches.
• Images/Video Results: Sometimes, images or video thumbnails are displayed alongside the organic results.

These elements collectively determine the layout and visibility of your content on the SERP, and optimizing for them is essential for better rankings.

SEO is a long-term strategy, and results can vary depending on multiple factors like competition, industry, and the current state of your website. According to SEO specialists, it typically takes 3 to 6 months to start seeing noticeable results from your SEO efforts.

For beginners, it’s important to be patient and understand that SEO is an ongoing process. In my experience, businesses often start noticing improvements in organic traffic, rankings, and engagement after this period.

However, SEO is not a one-time fix; it requires continuous monitoring, updating, and adapting to search engine algorithm changes. As per my understanding, the key to success is consistency and following best practices over time.