Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

May 2008 Dennis Deacon – [email_address]

Agenda
What is SEO
Relevancy
Keywords
Search Engines: How content is obtained
Site / Domain Factors
Page Factors
Links
Other optimization ideas

What is Search Engine Optimization?
A subset of Search Engine Marketing
Sometimes considered to be unique to SEM
Focuses on the natural, organic relevancy and ranking of content in search results.
Some practices extended into Search Engine Marketing (i.e. obtaining links)

Then, what is Search Engine Marketing?
The act of promoting content.
The overall activity around using search engines to market a site or online entity.
Includes:
Search Engine Optimization
Paid Inclusion
Pay Per Click (PPC)

SEO vs. SEM & PPC

SEO vs. SEM & PPC SEO SEM/PPC Pros
Free (not including resources)
Searchers click on organic search results more often than paid PPC links
Excellent at creating awareness quickly
Campaigns can be budgeted to fit a business’s needs
Cons
Time consuming
Takes longer to see results
Can be pricey ($25-$100,000 a month)
Must be managed constantly (daily/weekly)
ROI can be difficult to manage
Clickfraud

SEO Ethics
White Hat/Good vs. Black Hat/Evil
White Hat
Follows search engine guidelines
Strives for best possible search engine ranking; #1 ranking if possible
Black Hat
Knowingly breaks many/most of the search engine guidelines
Misrepresents content via techniques
Uses techniques to trick either the search engine, searcher, or both
Promises #1 ranking

Relevancy
The overall goal:
Search engines: to deliver the most relevant search results possible
Searchers: to find the most relevant search result
Site Owners: to optimize their site and it’s content for the most relevant searcher
True relevancy has become hip; it’s not a fad

SEO Workflow Keyword Research and Analysis Analyze Site for Crawl / Performance issues Implement Optimizations Monitor results Repeat as needed

Keywords
The core of Search Engine Optimization
Keywords are the terms used by searchers to find information
The goal is to leverage and implement the same keywords throughout your content in a natural manner, to match the audience who’s searching for your information and you’re looking to attract
Keyword discovery and analysis is never ending

Keyword Discovery
Known keywords
Ask the business owner
Ask the customers
Check the current server logs or analytics tool
Check the site search logs
Competitor’s keywords
Look at the words in the <title> tag / browser bar
View source to view their META keywords
Use tools to harvest the keywords or phrases prominent on their site

Keyword Discovery & Analysis
Always include variations of keywords
Plurals (widgets, churches)
Synonyms (cruise, sail, journey, tour)
Stems (fish, fishing)
International spelling differences (Harbor /Harbour)
Online Tools
Created for PPC, used for SEO as well
Tools
Google Adwords Keywords Tool
Trellian (free trial)
WordTracker (free trial)
SEOBook SEOTool Keyword Suggestion Tool
Use multiple tools to cross-check & validate findings in other tools

Google Adwords Keywords Tool

Trellian Keywords Tool

Wordtracker

Which Keywords to Use?
It depends on
the context & themes of your pages
the audience you’re targeting (researchers, buyers)
Use keywords
That are being searched on
That have medium to low competition
That you can build quality content that site visitors will appreciate
Use keywords that
Aid the search engines in understanding your content
Aid users and persuade them to act

Organize Site/Content in Themes
Possible direction of search engines to determine relevancy
Site/folder structure
Content text
Link text

How Search Engines obtain content
Search Engines send “bots,” that spider the web.
Crawls via hyperlinks
<a href=http://www.mysite.com/>

The “PacMan” Metaphor Content Meta Data Links Theme

Search Engine Bot
So what happens when a search engine bot visits your site?
First, it checks for the robots.txt file for any instructions
Second, it begins to crawl, following links in your site from the current page. It also pays attention to any page level robots instructions (noindex/nofollow).
It grabs the content and meta data (title, description, link labels, text, attributes)
Adds to it’s index

Controlling Robots - Robots.txt
Site-wide control
Adhered to by most search bots
Can control access to areas of your website
Disallow crawling of portions of your website
Can limit control to all or select search bots
Placed in the root of your website
More Robots.txt info:
http://www.robotstxt.org/

Controlling Robots - Robots Meta Tag
Page level control
Placed as a meta tag in the <head> portion of your pages
Controls who the search bot crawls through the page
Variations:
<meta name=“robots" content=“index,follow" />
<meta name=“robots" content=“noindex,nofollow" />
<meta name=“robots" content=“noindex,follow" />
<meta name=“robots" content=“index,nofollow" />

Search Engine Crawling Issues
Robots.txt/Meta Robots conflicts
One set of instructions in robot.txt, different instructions in meta robot
Server performance
If sever not available when search bot visits, will revisit, but learns and decreases the frequency of visits
If server slow, bot will crawl what it can, then move on (incomplete crawl)
JavaScript
Cannot follow hyperlinks embedded or generated by JavaScript
Pop-ups
DHTML pull-down menus

Dynamic URLs Example: www.mydomain.com/products/item.asp ?id=20&cat=bd&cty=102&sessionid=56720938762s345h10293847nnm65748392021&cookie=WEGQIEMCE...
Numerous parameters can prevent crawling
Session ids can cause crawling issues; duplicate content issues
Solution
Make URLs are short as possible (1000 characters too long)
Up to 2 parameters OK, more a risk
Do not use session ids;
If multiple parameters & session ids a must, use a URL rewrite method (mod-rewrite (Apache)) Example: Before: http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207686806&sr=8-1 After: http://www.amazon.com/Common-Approach-Usability-Circle-Com-Library/dp/0789723107

Search Engine Crawling Issues G o o g l e

Content-to-Code Ratio ( example 203kb )
In browser, view source to view code bloat Code used to display page vs. Content that is displayed (X)HTML + attributes & CSS (embedded & inline) & JavaScript vs. Text & Images vs.

Search Engine Indexing
How to:
Obtain links to your site from authoritative sources
Will get crawled/indexed organically
Submit your site to the search engines
Google
Yahoo
MSN
Ask (?)
What about the others?
Monitor your indexed pages

Bruce Clay Search Engine Relationship Chart

Google Webmaster Central

Google Sitemaps
Trusted Feed to push your content into Google
Generate Site Maps online - http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/
Can be used for both Google & Microsoft Live Search

Implementing Optimization
Domain / Site
Page Elements
Links

Domain / Site Optimization
Age of site
Builds prominence, credentials
Inbound link popularity into site
Topical inbound link relevancy into site
Link/Content topical theme
Frequency of new inbound links
Number of queries over time where site appears in results
Keywords in Domain
Keywords in folder structure

Page Optimization
Age of document
Freshness of document
Page filename (use keywords, hyphens as separators)
#/Quality/Relevance of inbound/outbound links
Page theme (content focused on a single topic, not topically scattered)
Leverage CSS layouts with external stylesheets and external JavaScript to increase Content-to-Code ratio

Page <title>
One of the most important things you can do – fast
Unique title for every page on your site
Should contain one or two keywords, specific to the content on the page
Most important keyword/phrase at beginning of <title>
Repeat keyword/phrase up to 2 times
Limit to approx. 65 characters
Will appear as browser window title, link label in search results
Write the title to be persuasive to humans

Page <title>
Code example:
<title> Rubber Widgets – Largest Selection of Rubber Widgets </title>
Dreamweaver example:

Page <title>
What about dynamic pages?
Use variables in the <title> to interject keywords for the content of that page/record Example: <title><%Prod_Name%> - Best Select of <%Prod_Name%></title>

Page META Description & Keywords
Meta tags placed in <head> portion of page Example/Syntax: <meta name=“description” content=“Description info goes here” /> <meta name=“keywords” content=“keywords,seperated by,commas,go,here” />
Description: Not used by search engines for relevancy; displayed as result snippet under link label & above URL.
Limit to 100-200 characters
Keywords: Banished long ago by search engines due to spamming. No value

Use the Description to persuade Glacier Bay Highlights - Alaskan Glacier Bay Cruise Save up to $300 per cabin - ends 3/31/08! This Alaskan Glacier Bay cruise itinerary is a perfect shorter getaway cruise in the beautiful remote wilderness of Alaska's ... www.sunstonetours.com/alaska/itins/cw_ GlacierBay Highlights.asp - 32k - Cached - Similar pages < title>Glacier Bay Highlights - Alaskan Glacier Bay Cruise </title> <meta name="description" content="Save up to $300 per cabin - ends 3/31/08! This Alaskan Glacier Bay cruise itinerary is a perfect shorter getaway cruise in the beautiful remote wilderness of Alaska's Inside Passage. Experience the true meaning of wonder in the soaring sanctuary of Glacier Bay National Park."> <meta name="keywords" content="glacier bay, short cruises, glacier bay alaska, glacier bay cruise, glacier bay national park, cruise west cruises, cruise west alaska"> =

Content / Body Text
Everything visible in a web browser
Keywords implemented should support the overall theme of the page
Factors
Keyword prominence: where on the page it appears
Main keywords at beginning of content, supporting keywords throughout the middle, then the primary repeated again near the end of the content
Keyword density: how often your keywords appear in relation to all other words on the page (goal: 5-7%)
Keyword frequency: number of occurrences on the page
Search engines also look at content around the keywords; check for theme relevancy

HTML Headings <h#>
Include primary or supporting keywords in your highest heading tag (<h1>)
Place supporting keywords in these heading tags
<h2> … <h6>
Make sure it makes sense to humans
Use CSS to format the look of standard HTML headings
If graphical text desired for headings, consider image replacement methods

Emphasizing Keywords
Emphasize text & keywords to show search engines & users that “this is important” to the theme of the page.
Use <strong> for bold
Use <em> for emphasize
Do not use <b> or <i> (outdated/obsolete)
Only emphasize short segments of words (1-4 words).
Any more loses impact & value of emphasis; everything is emphasized; dilutes keyword meaning

Images
Give your images descriptive filename
Include keywords where it makes sense
Use the alt attribute to provide information about the image
Short description of image
Include keywords where it makes sense
Make sure it makes sense to humans
Aids in usability
Don’t stuff keywords here; considered
Don’t use images in place of text. If required, consider image replacement techniques

Links
Important part of overall search algorithm
However, not as important as it once was…
Links within your site to pages within your site (internal links) have some value
Inbound links to your site/pages/content from quality, authoritative sources (external links) considered unbiased, proof that your content is quality
The link’s anchor text is very important
Should contain relevant keywords
Raises the link’s value

Inbound Link Best Practices
Obtain links only from quality, authoritative sources related or relevant to your site
Strive for top sites (example: CNN, Wikipedia)
Top sites have good PageRank
Google term for the quality of inbound links
Can view PageRank levels from Google Toolbar
Top sites have been around a while
Links to any page on your site; not just homepage
Deep linking good
Do not obtain links from “shady” sources
Link farms, rings
Link exchanges from sources of little/no Page Rank
Do not purchase links from others

Link Building Ideas
Blogs
create a blog
link to your site
comment on other subject related, relevant blogs
RSS Feed Syndication
Syndicate information from your site / blog to be displayed on other websites
Control the anchor text
Press Releases
submitted to online PR distributors
Link back to your site
Articles
topics of expertise, syndicated on the web
Link back to your site
Industry Sources / Subject Authority Websites

Who’s linking to you
Google – Webmaster Central
Internal & External (inbound) links
Yahoo – link:[URL]

Other Optimization Ideas
Google Base / Product Search / One Box
Google Base: Online database of products.
Originally created for classifieds
Can upload information about your products
Google Product Search (formerly Froogle)
Shopping search engine providing searchable index of products for purchase
Google One Box
For certain keywords, displays content above the organic search results

Google Base / Products Search / OneBox

Analyze/Monitor your site
Use an Analytics tool to monitor your site
Visits
Conversions
Referrals
Sites, URLS, Keywords
Use a Monitoring tool to monitor your site’s ranking
Ranking (based on keyword)
Research competitors
Age
Inbound links
Keywords used

Content is King!

Summary
Perform detailed keyword analysis
Make sure your site is crawlable
Use Web Standards to create clean, light pages
Implement keywords on appropriate page elements
Obtain links from quality, authoritative sources
Design/implement with the user first, then the search engine in mind
Catch this and like videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/m0serious

Resources
Search Engine Relationships
Bruce Clay’s Search Engine Relationship Chart
Keyword Tools (online)
Google AdWords: Keyword Tool
Trellian Keyword Discovery
Wordtracker
SEOBook SEOTools Keyword Suggestion Tool
Keyword Tools (client-based)
Web CEO

Resources
Analytics
Google Analytics (Web-based - Free)
Stat Counter (Web-based - Free)
Mint (Web-based - Fee)
Omniture (Web-based - Fee)
Webtrends (Web-based – Fee)
Monitoring
Web CEO (Client-based – Trial/Fee)
SEO Tool Rank Checker (Web-based – Free/Fee)
SEO for Firefox (Browser-based)
Google Toolbar (Browser-based)

Resources
Books
Search Engine Marketing – Mike Moran & Bill Hunt
Search Engine Optimization for Dummies – Peter Kent
Building Findable Websites – Aaron Walter
Search Marketing Strategies – James Colborn
Web Analytics Demystified – Eric Peterson
Web Metrics – Jim Sterne
The Online Copywriter’s Handbook – Robert Bly

Resources
Web Sites
Search Engine Land
SEOmoz
Web Engine Watch
Podcasts (search for these in iTunes or Google)
Daily SearchCast
SEO 101
Online Courses
Lynda.com – Search Engine Optimization

Questions?
Dennis Deacon – deconspray@gmail.com
Blog: http://dennisdeacon.wordpress.com

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

by Dennis Deacon

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