An SEO 101 review by Duane Forrester of Bing Webmaster Tools. We cover the best practices of technical SEO, onpage SEO and touch on broader topics which affect the success of SEO and a website such as conversion optimization and social media programs.

2. @duaneforrester
Bing Webmaster Tools
Speaks at shows, runs forums and blog,
provides guidance on new WM tools
www.bing.com/toolbox/webmasters
Does he have a clue?
14+ years as an inhouse SEO; ran seo at
MSN; has helped Disney, GAP, Walmart +
http://www.linkedin.com/in/dforrester
And this helps me how?
Blogging since 2001; owns 150 domains;
makes money online
http://twitter.com/DuaneForrester
what does duane do at bing

3. Orange
• Paid ads – you pay per click for traffic
• Auction-based system
• Higher bid; higher placement
Green
• Organic & News results
• SEO works here
• Trusted results
• Clicks are free
Red
• Shopping results
• Combination of organically sourced and
paid inclusion results
• Not as wide a net as organic, but more
focused than paid adsM
o
r
e
O
r
g
a
n
i
c

5. •Increase relevancy
•Increase exposure
•Increase visits
•Increase page views
•Increase revenue
•Better UX
•Low cost
•Investment in future
•Users starting here

6. 1. SEO isn’t an overnight success story or a one-time effort. Like wealth-building, investing in SEO takes time
and continued effort to earn full benefits.
2. Research targeted keywords, create a targeted list per page, and use them in multiple places (in key meta
tags, folder & file names, etc.).
3. The <title> tag is one of the most important tags for SEO – put most valuable keywords at start, write
unique titles for each page.
4. Add page-relevant, descriptive alt text to content images with copyrights at the end – search bots can’t
“see” image contents like humans.
5. Write one keyword-rich <h1> tag per page to serve as the page’s headline.
6. Write compelling <meta> descriptions for SERP snippets – this is what converts SERP impressions.
7. Every page should offer crawlable text for bots to create more keyword relevance.
8. Submit a validated Sitemap.xml file to search engines via their webmaster tools.
9. Canonicalize your URLs to eliminate duplicate content and diluted page rank in the index.
10. Never put content to be crawled inside images, JavaScript, Silverlight, or Flash – bots can’t read it.
11. Don’t expect to get high rank for a newly-published page. Search engine “trust” takes time to build.
12. Use social media to build a community that supports and amplifies your content/products.

7. • Build social followers & fans
organically
• Wall posts/tweets with links are
perceived as more credible and
useful
• Get the basics of SEO covered, then
focus on content
• Its worth repeating: unique,
compelling content still works

8. • The engines really respond
to unique, useful content
• Your visitors respond to
this as well
• It’s a wise investment of
your time
• Don’t take shortcuts – limit
syndicated content
image credit: http://mashable.com/2011/01/10/social-content-strategy/

9. • The Internet is B.I.G. Slice and
dice to find your niche.
• Plenty of niche areas to
explore/exploit – start your
fight where you can dominate
• Choose your voice wisely;
don’t be afraid to express an
informed opinion
• Watch what users respond to,
then amplify along those lines

10. • Know exactly what users
are searching for
• Data can help you uncover
new niches or refine your
focus
• Helps keep you focused on
creating compelling
content
• Got writers block? Check
your keyword research for
inspiration

11. • Start with your Home page,
categories, products, etc…
• Then…when you have numbers…
• Every area of your site has a value
- $, PV, Emails, etc.
• Determine what the value is
• Sort your site by value to see
what really matters
• Organize work around high-value
areas first

12. • SEO is not just content
• SEO can be affected by
technical elements
• You need both
• Content can win, but
technical SEO helps
• Clean domain
• Clean, keyword rich URLs
• Page Load times
• Layout of pages – content v. ads
• Tech hiding elements – javascript nav.

13. • Crawlability
– Xml sitemaps
– Navigational structure
– Rich media cautions
– Graceful degradation
– URL structure
– Robots.txt
• Site Structure
– Internal Links
– URL structure and keyword usage
– Clean URLs – no extraneous parameters (sessions,
tracking, etc.)
– HTML & XML sitemaps
– Content hierarchy
– Rel-canonical usage to manage duplication issues
– Rich media – don’t bury links in Javascript/flash
/silverlight/AJAX
– Responsive design for managing mobile & web
• On-Page
– Head copy
• Titles – unique, relevant, 60 characters or so long
• Descriptions – unique, relevant, grammatically correct,
160 or fewer characters
– Body Copy
• H1, H2 and other H tag usage
• ALT tag importance & usage
• Keyword usage within the content/text
• Anchor text – using target keywords to support other
internal pages
• Content
– Build based on keyword research
– Down-level experience enhances discoverability
– Keep out of rich media and images
– Produce new content frequently
– Make it unique – don’t reuse content from other
sources
– Content management – using 301s to reclaim value
from retiring content/pages
– Rel canonical to help engines understand which page
should be indexed and have value attributed to it
– 404 error page management to help cleanse old pages
from search engine indexes
• Links
– Plan for incoming & outgoing link generation
– Internal & external link management
– Content selection – planning where to link to
– Link promotion via social spaces – direct traffic & seo
value
– Managing anchor text properly
– URL structure can help insert keywords where they are
needed
• Social
– Be an authority
– Build your community
– Interact often
– Share useful content
– Be consistent and useful
– Grow facebook, twitter, pinterest, etc.

14. • Skip m. domains
• m. domains produce unwanted
duplication
• Responsive design is your friend
• HTML5 can help

15. Authority Building Short List
Know the topic inside out
Engage your community
Share useful content freely
Be consistent and useful
Market your strengths
Be a go-to resource
Learn to spot trends in data

17. Where does SEO fit in?
Content Social User Experience Link Building SEO

18. A Changing Web of Your Objects
Schema.org can help
Mark up your content

19. • Signal of topical authority
• Real-time – engines want fresh
content, fast
• Integrated social signals influence click
actions of searchers
• Social signals remain only a few of
thousands of signals for organic
ranking
How users click on your results can impact rankings and when we show cues like your
Facebook friends with results, click rates can be impacted.

20. • Different sources must be handled
differently
• Organic traffic is building trust
• Paid traffic is ready to open their wallets
• Email traffic is ready to buy…now
• Ensure your conversion path is short
and sweet
• Off the shelf carts can usually be tweaked
to gain improvements in conversions.

21. Core Strategies Op. Strategies Tactics
Plan … or #FAIL

22. Oh, and here’s a streamlining trick for ya!
Trusted RSS feeds
Copy &
Paste
AUTOMATED
AUTOMATED
MANUAL

23. www.bing.com/webmaster
www.hootsuite.com
tapbots.com/software/tweetbot/
www.echofon.com/
statigr.am/
inst.me/
www.curalate.com/
www.evernote.com
www.ifttt.com
http://elastic.io/about.html
https://zapier.com/
www.trackur.com
www.sprinklr.com/
www.visibletechnologies.com/
www.socialmention.com
mehdoh.com/

24. 6 seconds to start a relationship
http://socialmediatoday.com/julie-
blakley/1516266/7-brands-getting-
creative-vine

25. 18 Social Media Management Tools
Alexa.com
Board Reader
Sysomos
Facebook Insights
Follower Wonk
Google Insights
How Sociable
Ice Rocket trends
Buffer
• Klout
• Peerindex
• Kred
• Mention Map
• Social Mention
• Statigram
• Twitter Counter
• Tweetreach
• Visual.ly