Search Engine Optimization
May 13, 2009
Jennifer Synder
Inbound Marketing Specialist
HubSpot

Agenda
• What is SEO? Why is it important?
• SEO Basics
• Keywords
• On Page SEO
• Off Page SEO
• Measuring Results
• DIY vs DIFM

What is SEO?
Why is it important?

Buyers Start in Google
98% Search in Google
Source: Marketing Sherpa

What is SEM?
SEO vs. PPC
Organic vs. Paid

Organic Search is Best
• Free
Pay Per Click – 25% of Clicks
• More traffic
Organic Results
• Smarter people
75% of clicks
• Longer lasting
Source: Marketing Sherpa and Enquiro Research

SEO – What and Why
• SEO refers to techniques that help your
website rank higher in the organic/natural
search results.
• This helps more people who are looking for
your product or service find you.

SEO Basics

How does Google decide?

How does Google decide?
• On Page Factors
~ 25%
On
• Content
Page
SEO
25%
• Off Page Factors Off
~ 75% Page
SEO
• Links 75%

SEO
On-Page Off-Page

Search Engine Optimization
3,000 searches per second
• Publish more content
• Optimize your content
• Promote your content

Picking Keywords

Pick Your Keyword Battles
vs
.
Flickr:
Flickr: Extra Medium Flickr:
Flickr: Simonstarr
14

Vocabulary
• Search Volume (goal = high)
• Relevance (goal = high)
• Difficulty or Competition (goal = low)

Search Volume
• You want to know how many people search
exactly that term monthly.
• All data is guess-timated
• www.google.com/adwords
• HubSpot

Relevance
• You want to know how many people who
search a term will buy from you.
• Make your own estimates
• Track results

Difficulty (Competition)
• You want to know your probability of getting to
the first page of Google.
• SEO strength of existing websites (HubSpot)
• AdWords cost
• Number of results (bad idea)

Picking Keywords
• Search Volume (goal = high)
• Relevance (goal = high)
• Difficulty or Competition (goal = low)

Getting Found: On-Page SEO
HubSpot’s Keyword Grader
• Determine what keywords to
optimize your pages around based
on relevance, search volume, and
how difficult it will be to rank on the
first page of Google
• Identify critical long tail words (high
conversion rates, low competition)
• Monitor your rank against
competitors for each
keyword/phrase
• Determine the specific page on
your site that is ranking for each
keyword(phrase) and how to make
further improvements

Let’s Do Some Keyword Research
• Click “customer login” at www.hubspot.com
• Search Marketing Keywords

On Page SEO

HTML Overview
<font=“verdana”>HTML text <b>looks</b>
different to a <i>person</i> than to a <a
href=“http://www.google.com”> search engine
</a></font>
HTML text looks different to a person than to a search
engine
<b> = Bold
•
<i> = Italics
•
<h1> = Heading 1
•
<img alt text = “Internet Marketing”>
•

Visible On Page SEO
• Page Title
• URL
• H1,H2,H3 tags
• Page Text
• Bold

“Invisible” On Page SEO
• Description
• Keywords
• Alt text on images

Can You Optimize a Page on Your Site?
• Can you add a page to your website?
• Can you change the title tag, URL, H1,
page content?
• Can you change meta description, meta
keywords?

Let’s Optimize a Page
• Login to Your HubSpot Portal
• Website Page Manager Add Page
• Use a keyword, Page Name, Title, etc.

Off Page SEO

Vocabulary
• Page Rank
• How important Google thinks your site is
• 0 to 10
• Exponential scale
• Inbound Links
• Web pages that link to you
• Link Anchor Text
• The text that is in the link to you

75% of SEO = Off Page
• Recommendations from friends
1. “I know Jen Snynder”
2. “Jen Snyder is a marketing expert”
3. Seth Godin: “Snyder’s a marketing expert”
• Links are online recommendations
1. A link: www.HubSpot.com
2. Anchor text: Internet Marketing
3. Link is from a trusted website

Google “Bombing”

Link Building Tips
• Directories
• Partners
• Content is king
• Start a blog, join the blogosphere
• Create a tool (WebsiteGrader.com)
• Other: viral videos, photos
• Press Releases
• Social Media
• Answers, Forums, Wikis

More Content = More Links
33

Getting Found: Off-Page SEO
HubSpot’s Link Grader
• Identify opportunities to generate
more return from your existing
links
• Monitor your live inbound links
and which inbound links are
producing the most value for you
• Aggregate your competitors
inbound links to discover new link
building opportunities that you
have not taken advantage of

Let’s Analyze Your Links! Your Competitors.!
• Yours: Search marketing Link Grader
• Competitors:
• WSG: Total Links Column
• Link Grader Other.

Measurement

SEO Measurement
Flickr:
Flickr: noblelgnnoble

Website Grader

Internet Marketing Scorecard

Inbound Links

Keyword Rank (vs. Competition)

Traffic, Leads and Customers
Visitors from SEO
Visitors Leads Customers
SEO 5,289 754 12
Blogging 834 72 3
Social Media 511 28 1

DIY or DIFM

Doing SEO Yourself
• It’s not rocket science.
• Content is king.
• Read a lot of blogs.
• Invest in great tools.
• Start small and work your way up.
• Track, so you learn what works.

Hiring an SEO Consultant
• They should be able to explain to you in
simple language what determines rank.
• They should explain everything to you.
• They should require good content.
• Their website is optimized (check Website
Grader).
• Their reference websites are optimized.
• They measure results in leads.
• They did not cold call you.
• They are more than $2000 / month.

Hiring an SEO Consultant
Be clear about goals (traffic & leads).
•
It will take 1 to 6 months. ($$$)
•
Content is king. Who will write?
•
Will they do the hard work? (links)
•
Invest in great tools to track them.
•
http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/1466/7-signs-you-
should-run-screaming-from-an-seo-consultant.aspx

Additional Free SEO Resources
1. http://blog.hubspot.com
2. www.SEOmoz.com
• http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors
3. www.SEObook.com
4. www.SearchEngineLand.com
5. www.SearchEngineGuide.com

Additional Keyword Tools
1. Google Adwords Keyword Tool
2. Quantcast www.quantcast.com
3. Compete www.compete.com

Thank You!
Internet Marketing Workshop
May 13, 2009
www.HubSpot.com
www.Grader.com
Jennifer Snyder
HubSpot
jsnyder@hubspot.com