SEO Crash Course to Get Found (GF102) Professor: Lee Odden , TopRank Online Marketing

SEO Crash Course to Get Found Lee Odden @leeodden TopRank Marketing .com

TopRank Marketing .com Founded 2001 Minnesota Digital Marketing & PR Agency Search, Social Media, Online PR Consulting, Implementation, Training

Founded 2001 Minnesota

Digital Marketing & PR Agency

Search, Social Media, Online PR

Consulting, Implementation, Training

Lee Odden, CEO, TopRank Marketing SEO Consulting: PRSA.org Marketo.com PRWeb.com McKesson.com OneLegal.com TopRankMarketing.com TopRankBlog.com [email_address] @leeodden

Search Marketplace & Why SEO Search Engine Fundamentals Google Breakdown Keywords Search Engine Friendly Website Link Building Analytics Agenda

Search Marketplace & Why SEO

Search Engine Fundamentals

Google Breakdown

Keywords

Search Engine Friendly Website

Link Building

Analytics

Search Demand 285 million watched TV monthly *Nielsen A2/M2 Three Screen Report Daily newspaper circulation 48.4 million *Audit Bureau of Circulations & Pew 14 billion core searches monthly *comScore Media Metrix

Fish Where the Fish Are Market distribution of the major search engines Google 63.7% Yahoo! Sites 20.5% Microsoft Sites 8.3% Ask Network 3.8% AOL 3.7% Source: comScore April 2009

SEO = Increased Conversions Source: Forbes Ad Effectiveness Survey June 2009 SEO is the most effective Online Marketing tactic for generating conversions

Case Study: Fabric Retailer Overspending on ads SEO & Linking increased web visitors by 214% 5,332 inbould links 60+ Top 10 rankings including “fabric stores” Search sends 80% of web site traffic Reduced marketing spend Increased sales jandofabrics.com

Overspending on ads

SEO & Linking increased web visitors by 214%

5,332 inbould links

60+ Top 10 rankings including “fabric stores”

Search sends 80% of web site traffic

Reduced marketing spend

Increased sales

Case Study: Online Games 6 month old site, little traffic SEO & Social increase web traffic by 4,400% 23,614 inbound links Top 10 Google rankings for phrases like: “online puzzles” 300,000 visitors per month Now sells advertising as well as products smart-kit.com

6 month old site, little traffic

SEO & Social increase web traffic by 4,400%

23,614 inbound links

Top 10 Google rankings for phrases like: “online puzzles”

300,000 visitors per month

Now sells advertising as well as products

What Happens With No SEO? What we see

What Happens With No SEO? Help/Contact Us About Us Careers Press Partners Corporate Information Legal Store Locator WARNING: Email Scam © 2009 adidas Adidas has no ranking for “men's running shoes” first 10 pages on Google What search engines see:

What Happens With No SEO? What we see

What Happens With No SEO? Sales, new gear and more: Visit a store: From our blog The Cleanest Line® Backyard Adventures: Toiyabe Trails - Part 1 Mention Nevada to most folks and what comes to mind is Las Vegas glam and desert heat. Truth be… Product Testing - Whale Watching with a Wee One "Signatures" from Sweetgrass Productions Coming this Fall Subscribe to The Cleanest Line RSS feed E-Fiber Favorites Men's Polo Shirt Men's Simple Synchilla Jacket Men's All-Time Shell Women's Netty Dress Women's R1® Full-Zip Jacket Kids' Live Simply T-Shirt Freewheeler Voluntary Recall: Lotus Designs, Inc. is notifying consumers that the Mildwater PFD, may pose a potential casualty hazard. If you own the Mildwater PFD, the Fishing PFD or the Patagonia Fishing Vest please read this important notice. PATAGONIA® CLOTHING & GEAR Men's Apparel: Shirts, Pants, Footwear Women's Apparel: Shirts, Skirts, Yoga Travel Gear: Luggage, Packs, Totes, and Backpacks Kids': Jackets, Pants, Fleece for Children Accessories: Posters, Blankets, Books Web Specials Welcome to the Web site for Patagonia, a designer of outdoor clothing, outdoor gear, footwear, and luggage. Patagonia specifically makes hard shells, soft shells, rain jackets, ski jackets, ski pants, organic cotton clothing, sportswear, travel clothing, Patagonia fleece, technical Regulator® fleece, Synchilla® fleece, Capilene® underwear, Capilene Baselayers (and base layers), luggage, packs, backpacks, totes, haul bags, rolling luggage, wetsuits, rashguards, board shorts, surfboard bags, hats, caps, visors, bucket hats, belts, socks, books, posters, flying discs, and Patagonia shoes. For the young ones in your life we also make children's clothing, kids' apparel and baby clothes. Our online store, retail stores and independent dealers offer women's outdoor clothing and men's outdoor clothing, including jackets, outerwear, gear, sportswear, shells, pants, bibs, vests, pullovers, hats, gloves, waterproof jackets, waterproof pants, and windproof fleece for a variety of outdoor sports like skiing, snowboarding, surfing, camping, rock climbing, alpine climbing, hiking, trail running, yoga, mountain biking, world travel, kayaking, and disc golf. Still looking for Water Girl and Rhythm clothes? Patagonia makes great women's surf clothes and swimwear and functional clothes for rock climbing. If you're looking for discounted Patagonia gear or Patagonia on sale, visit our Web Specials page or check out one of our Patagonia Outlet Sales. Patagonia believes in causing the least harm while doing business so we Lead an Examined Life as a company and maintain transparency through The Footprint Chronicles™. Environmentalism, sustainability and a commitment to protecting the natural environment through activism are part of our company's heritage and continue to this day as we work to continually reduce our carbon footprint. We hope you'll subscribe to the Patagonia catalog and Patagonia emails, and stop by the Patagonia blog, The Cleanest Line®, every morning to read a field report or listen to a podcast while you enjoy your coffee. Patagonia.com is the online presence of the company, Patagonia, Inc. If the whiskey bottle gets passed around the campfire too many times, folks might try and spell Patagonia like patigonia, pategonia, padagonia and pantagonia. Thank you for visiting Patagonia. © 2009 Patagonia, Inc. #2 on Google “ outdoor clothing” What search engines see:

Sales, new gear and more:

Visit a store: From our blog The Cleanest Line®

Backyard Adventures: Toiyabe Trails - Part 1

Mention Nevada to most folks and what comes to mind is Las Vegas glam and desert heat. Truth be…

Product Testing - Whale Watching with a Wee One

"Signatures" from Sweetgrass Productions Coming this Fall

Subscribe to The Cleanest Line RSS feed E-Fiber Favorites

Men's Polo Shirt

Men's Simple Synchilla Jacket

Men's All-Time Shell

Women's Netty Dress

Women's R1® Full-Zip Jacket

Kids' Live Simply T-Shirt

Freewheeler

Voluntary Recall:

Lotus Designs, Inc. is notifying consumers that the Mildwater PFD, may pose a potential casualty hazard.

If you own the Mildwater PFD, the Fishing PFD or the Patagonia Fishing Vest please read this important notice.

PATAGONIA® CLOTHING & GEAR

Men's Apparel: Shirts, Pants, Footwear

Women's Apparel: Shirts, Skirts, Yoga

Travel Gear: Luggage, Packs, Totes, and Backpacks

Kids': Jackets, Pants, Fleece for Children

Accessories: Posters, Blankets, Books

Web Specials

All About the Google

Google makes a copy of the web Information is extracted An index is created Index is stored on servers world wide How Google Works

Google makes a copy of the

web

Information is extracted

An index is created

Index is stored on

servers world wide

User searches (query) User location/login id’d Query matched with index Returns matching docs Docs are sorted (ranked) Docs displayed as search results Customized by location/history How Google Works Image Source: Google Corporate Technology

User searches (query)

User location/login id’d

Query matched with index

Returns matching docs

Docs are sorted (ranked)

Docs displayed as

search results

Customized by location/history

Search Engine Optimization Definition of SEO: A set of methodologies that make it easier for search engines to find , index , categorize and rank web content.

Definition of SEO:

Content is reachable by search engines Content is added often/periodically Content is organized logically – themes/categories Keywords exist in content and internal text links Quantity of quality sites linking in Monitor, adjust Basic SEO Checklist

Content is reachable by search engines

Content is added often/periodically

Content is organized logically – themes/categories

Keywords exist in content and internal text links

Quantity of quality sites linking in

Monitor, adjust

Keywords and Links www.prnewsonline.com 1. Keywords in content 2. Incoming links Keywords Key Word Word Key Word Key Word Word Key Key Word Key Word Word Key Key Word

How SEO Affects SERPs

How SEO Affects SERPs Advertising Organic

How SEO Affects SERPs Pay Per Click Ads The most prominent position can be achieved via Google AdWords ads. The best performing ads appear on top.

How SEO Affects SERPs News Results – Universal SERP Certain queries that return more relevant results from other Google data sources will be displayed such as news, video, images, blogs, products or local info.

How SEO Affects SERPs Sitelinks Queries for company or brand names often return a company listing and display the most important links for the site. Sitelnks can be managed in Google Webmaster Tools.

How SEO Affects SERPs Standard Search Result Web pages determined most relevant based on over 200 signals and influenced by standard SEO.

How SEO Affects SERPs Video results from YouTube Shopping results from Google Base Related queries Organic Results These are the ranked results from Google’s index of web pages. Approx 60-70% of visitors will click on these links. Called “natural” or “free” listings because there is no direct payment to Google for them.

How SEO Affects SERPs Google Options Videos Forums Reviews Recency Images Related Timeline And….

Google Options

Videos

Forums

Reviews

Recency

Images

Related

Timeline

And….

How SEO Affects SERPs The Wonder Wheel

If it can be searched on it can be optimized

If it can be searched on

it can be optimized

SEO Fundamentals Keywords Search Friendly Site Link Building

Keywords show intent: Broad Brands Specifics Keywords Search Sales Funnel Research Consider Buy

Keywords show intent:

Broad

Brands

Specifics

Find the keywords your customers use to find your products/services: Brainstorm based on solutions & customer needs Interview or survey customers Review current web analytics Poll sales & customer service staff Review competitor content Keywords

Find the keywords your customers use to find your products/services:

Brainstorm based on solutions & customer needs

Interview or survey customers

Review current web analytics

Poll sales & customer service staff

Review competitor content

Free: Google Keyword Tool, Insights, Ad Planner freekeywords.wordtracker.com Paid: Wordtracker.com KeywordDiscovery.com SEMRush.com Leverage Keyword Tools

Free:

Google Keyword Tool, Insights, Ad Planner

freekeywords.wordtracker.com

Paid:

Wordtracker.com

KeywordDiscovery.com

SEMRush.com

Keyword Research

Keyword Research

Keyword Glossary Category Popularity Competition Relevance

Category

Popularity

Competition

Relevance

Keyword Optimization Title tags Headings Paragraph titles Keywords in body copy Anchor text in links URL Image alt text Meta description tag

Title tags

Headings

Paragraph titles

Keywords in body copy

Anchor text in links

URL

Image alt text

Meta description tag

Most important location for keywords Important keywords to the left 8-10 words or about 65 characters Focus on 1-2 keyword phrases – specificity rules Each page on the site should have a unique title tag (and meta description) Title Tags

Most important location for keywords

Important keywords to the left

8-10 words or about 65 characters

Focus on 1-2 keyword phrases – specificity rules

Each page on the site should have a unique title tag (and meta description)

No: “McKesson Corporation” No: “Healthcare, Health Care, HealthCare, healthcare, technology, services, information” Yes: “Improve health care services and increase patient safety with McKesson” Title Tags

No: “McKesson Corporation”

No: “Healthcare, Health Care, HealthCare, healthcare, technology, services, information”

Yes: “Improve health care services and increase patient safety with McKesson”

Making Sites Search Friendly Issue: Needed better search rankings Problem: Most Title tags duplicates Solution: Dynamically publish unique titles

Issue:

Needed better search rankings

Problem:

Most Title tags duplicates

Solution:

Dynamically publish unique titles

Optimize Digital Assets Including Social Media www.prnewsonline.com Text MS Office Docs Images Video Blog/RSS Media Coverage Social News/Bookmark Optimize & Promote

Including Social Media

Text

MS Office Docs

Images

Video

Blog/RSS

Media Coverage

Social News/Bookmark

Research customer driven keyword phrases Create a keyword glossary Consider searcher intent & buying cycle Use phrases in Titles, URLs, in body copy, image alt text, links & navigation Extend keyword SEO to digital assets (on-page) & social media (off-page) Keyword Summary

Research customer driven keyword phrases

Create a keyword glossary

Consider searcher intent & buying cycle

Use phrases in Titles, URLs, in body copy, image alt text, links & navigation

Extend keyword SEO to digital assets (on-page) & social media (off-page)

Make it easy for search engines Search Friendly Website Easy to find & revisit site Easy to crawl links Site Architecture

Make it easy for search engines

Search Friendly Website Crawlable Quantity of quality inbound links to your site Use text links in navigation Use text links between pages using keywords HTML & XML site maps

Crawlable

Quantity of quality inbound links to your site

Use text links in navigation

Use text links between pages using keywords

HTML & XML site maps

Search Friendly Website

Search Friendly Website

Avoid Crawling Issues Unnecessarily complex URLs & session ids Multiple URLs to duplicate content Temporary redirects Site navigation with Ajax, Flash, JavaScript Search Friendly Website

Avoid Crawling Issues

Unnecessarily complex URLs & session ids

Multiple URLs to duplicate content

Temporary redirects

Site navigation with Ajax, Flash, JavaScript

Make URLs search & user friendly Search Friendly Website

Make URLs search & user friendly

Primary site navigation Flash, Ajax or JavaScript Search Friendly Website

Primary site navigation Flash, Ajax or JavaScript

Search Friendly Website Fresh, themed content Logical site structure: categories, sub-categories Add new content regularly Source: webmasterworld.com

Fresh, themed content

Logical site structure: categories, sub-categories

Add new content regularly

Issue: Many pages not ranked Problem: Robots.txt file blocking bots Solution: Update ONE file Making Sites Search Friendly

Issue:

Many pages not ranked

Problem:

Robots.txt file blocking bots

Solution:

Update ONE file

Breadcrumb navigation Canonical tag to avoid duplicate content issues Link keyword phrases between pages Search Friendly Website

Breadcrumb navigation

Canonical tag to avoid duplicate content issues

Link keyword phrases between pages

These URLs are all different, yet point to the same page: Link consistently site wide: www.example.com Search Friendly Website

These URLs are all different, yet point to the same page:

Link consistently site wide: www.example.com

“ Changing your web design, content management system or web site software can destroy your search visibility if you do not plan a migration.” Just 1 character change in a URL can cause broken links: company.com/product.htm company.com/product.html Most Common SEO Mistake

“ Changing your web design, content management system or web site software can destroy your search visibility if you do not plan a migration.”

Just 1 character change in a URL can cause broken links:

company.com/product.htm

company.com/product.html

Map old URLs to new Employ permanent redirects 301 (not 302) Identify top inbound link sources & ask them to change links Build new inbound links to new URLs Monitor site analytics for 404 not found errors Monitor search engine rankings for fluctuations SEO Migration Plan

Map old URLs to new

Employ permanent redirects 301 (not 302)

Identify top inbound link sources & ask them to change links

Build new inbound links to new URLs

Monitor site analytics for 404 not found errors

Monitor search engine rankings for fluctuations

Ensure site content is discoverable via strong inbound links from other sites Make it easy for search engines & users to navigate the site Create a logical site structure with internal links & link consistently Use CSS instead of Ajax, JavaScript or Flash for dynamic navigation and offer text link alternatives Search Friendly Summary

Ensure site content is discoverable via strong inbound links from other sites

Make it easy for search engines & users to navigate the site

Create a logical site structure with internal links & link consistently

Use CSS instead of Ajax, JavaScript or Flash for dynamic navigation and offer text link alternatives

Links Inbound links are like electricity for search visibility

Why is Link Building Important? Links build traffic Links infer meaning based on the text used in the link Variety is the spice of life for link text and sources Internal links are also important Inbound links from relevant, authoritative web sites are key

Links build traffic

Links infer meaning based on the text used in the link

Variety is the spice of life for link text and sources

Internal links are also important

Inbound links from relevant, authoritative web sites are key

Link Building Checklist Use keywords in link text Yes: red widget No: click here Earn links with great content Promote on social networks Link up with marketing partners Cross link internally Embed links in news releases Social bookmark pickups Syndicate content via RSS www.prnewsonline.com

Use keywords in link text

Yes: red widget No: click here

Earn links with great content

Promote on social networks

Link up with marketing partners

Cross link internally

Embed links in news releases

Social bookmark pickups

Syndicate content via RSS

Link Building Tactics

Social Media Link Building Blog

Link Building Tool Who’s linking to the competition and not linking to you? ericmiraglia.com/inlink/

Linkscape BuzzStream Link Analysis & Mgt Tools

Linkscape

BuzzStream

Create content worth linking to Promote your content via distribution channels (email, RSS, social networks & media) Get links using your keywords as anchor text Focus on relevant, authoritative link sources Manage link building activity like CRM with software Link Building Summary

Create content worth linking to

Promote your content via distribution channels (email, RSS, social networks & media)

Get links using your keywords as anchor text

Focus on relevant, authoritative link sources

Manage link building activity like CRM with software

“ If it can’t be measured, it’s not worth doing.” Search Analytics

“ If it can’t be measured, it’s not worth doing.”

KPIs to pay attention to: Pages indexed Crawling errors & Webmaster Tools Reports Rankings relative to your own site over time Inbound links: quantity, quality, longevity Keyword referrals from search Link traffic Social media traffic Goal pages & conversions Search Analytics

KPIs to pay attention to:

Pages indexed

Crawling errors & Webmaster Tools Reports

Rankings relative to your own site over time

Inbound links: quantity, quality, longevity

Keyword referrals from search

Link traffic

Social media traffic

Goal pages & conversions

Analytics Tools

Analytics Tools

Set goals for KPIs and outcomes (goals, conversions) Take benchmark measurements Measure at regular intervals Spot check and enable real time monitoring Make sure you have the right analytics tools and measuring the right data for your goals Analytics Summary

Set goals for KPIs and outcomes (goals, conversions)

Take benchmark measurements

Measure at regular intervals

Spot check and enable real time monitoring

Make sure you have the right analytics tools and measuring the right data for your goals

SEO Takeaways Keywords Search Friendly Site Link Building

Search Marketing Resources searchenginewatch.com searchengineland.com webpronews.com blog.hubspot.com seomoz.org/blog/ toprankblog.com www.prnewsonline.com

searchenginewatch.com

searchengineland.com

webpronews.com

blog.hubspot.com

seomoz.org/blog/

toprankblog.com

Lee Odden, CEO TopRank Marketing .com Twitter: @leeodden [email_address] 1-877-872-6628 Thank you TopRank Blog .com

Lee Odden, CEO

TopRank Marketing .com

Twitter: @leeodden

[email_address]

1-877-872-6628