Intro to search engine optimization

Search Engine Optimization
A Speed of Light Enterprises Presentation
High search rankings  free web traffic  higher profits
2011 Speed of Light Enterprises, some rights reserved. This document is licensed and protected by Creative Commons . It may be freely distributed with proper attribution for non-commercial uses only.

Search Marketing
Definitions
Search Engine Marketing (SEM): the entire set of techniques and strategies used to direct more visitors from search engines to marketing web sites, including all of the tactics and strategies defined below.
Paid Placement: Text ads targeted to keyword search results on search engines, through programs such as Google AdWords and Yahoo Search "Precision Match," also sometimes referred to as "Paid Placement," "Pay-per-Click" (PPC) advertising and Cost-per-Click (CPC) advertising.
Search Engine Optimization (Organic): The practice of using a range of techniques, including augmenting HTML code, web page copy editing, site navigation, linking campaigns and more, in order to improve how well a site or page gets listed in search engines for particular search topics.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Service Provider: Agencies or individuals who assist companies with the various search engine marketing practices described above.

Search Engine Optimization
SEO is the practice of using a range of techniques, including augmenting HTML code, web page copy editing, site navigation, linking campaigns and more, in order to improve how well a site or page ranks on the search results pages of search engines for particular search topics.

SEO Trends 2004 vs 2009
2004
80% of advertisers ran SEO campaigns
$492 million spent on SEO
52% managed SEO in-house
2009
90% of advertisers ran SEO campaigns
$1.4 billion spent on SEO
87% managed SEO in-house
Source: Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization surveys of SEM agencies and advertisers, 2004 & 2009

How Search Engines Work
Each search engine sends automated programs called “spiders” to crawl the web by following links looking for pages
Every page they find, they index by caching a copy of the page, and evaluating it according to algorithmic formulae (usually proprietary)
Every link they find, they follow (unless specifically asked not to)

How Search Engines Rank
Every search engine has its own proprietary algorithmic formula(s)
Google’s search algorithm is believed to contain over 200 elements
Each element is “weighted” and the relative weights are regularly fine-tuned

Some Google Ranking Elements
In no particular order and of unknown weight:
Age of domain
Page load time
Semantic hierarchy of keyword
Text emphasis of keyword
Frequency of keyword
Keyword in link text
Page Rank of originating link

Google PageRank
PageRank (PR) is a registered trade mark of Google, Inc.
It refers to the calculated ranking score of any given page and is kept secret
PR that can be detected is a highly simplified and untrustworthy variation of the PageRank score
PR can be used as a rough estimate of a web page’s Google score

Three Main SEO Strategies
ON PAGE ELEMENTS
SITE STRUCTURE ELEMENTS
OFF PAGE ELEMENTS

Site Structure Elements
Content
Spiderability
3 click rule
< 100 links per page
Load time and code placement
URLs parsed by text readers

On Page Elements
Titles
Meta tags
Meta description
Alt tags
Keywords meta tag
Semantic markup
Link text
Topic focus

Off Page Elements
Links
Paid links
Reciprocal links
Natural links
Social media
Link bait

Most Important Element
Keywords
ON PAGE ELEMENTS
SITE STRUCTURE ELEMENTS
OFF PAGE ELEMENTS

Keywords
Every SEO Tactic Begins with a
Keyword
Targeting the right keyword is absolutely vital.

What Makes a Keyword Good?

Keyword Relevance
Good keywords describe the page content accurately and unambiguously
Great keywords describe the page content in exactly the same way that a typical searcher would

Keyword Relevance
Which scenario is most likely to result in conversion to sale?
10,000,000 people searching for “free mp3” are directed to a website that sells leather laptop shoulder bags
30 people searching for “leather laptop shoulder bag” are sent to the same page

The Art of Keywording
Every “useful” page should have one primary keywordand 3-5 secondary keywords
Primary keyword should be the single most descriptive term describing the page content that is also most likely to drive valuable traffic
Keywording is a five step process

5 Steps to Keywording Success
View the page as a potential customer would and choose the single term you think they would use to find that page
Expand the keyword into as many variations as possible
Test the keyword set for traffic potential
Test the keyword set for competitiveness
Rinse and repeat

Keywording, Step 1
Try to step outside yourself and think like a customer.
Research your traffic logs to see what real people are using to find your site
Research competitors to see what their customers are using
Pick the one you think is best and write it down

Keywording, Step 2
Next to the term you have already written, make a list of all the variations you can think of, but be sure they are all relevant to the page
Use a tool like Google AdWords Keyword Tool to expand the list
Remove any terms that are irrelevant, ambiguous, or too general

Keywording, Step 3
If you used Google AdWords Keyword Tool in Step 2, note the traffic data they supplied next to each keyword
Remove any keywords that have no or very little real traffic
Choose the top traffic generators for Step 4

Keywording, Step 4 (part 1)
Run a search on each of the highest-traffic keywords in Google
This number tells you how many other pages on the web are using your keyword. If there are millions, it may be a hard battle for top placement

Keywording, Step 4 (part 2)
Look at the top 10 search results. Do all or most of them sell the same thing you do?
Also look at the paid AdWords. Are there lots of ads and do they sell the same thing you do?
If so, you have a very competitive keyword.

Keywording, Step 5
Using the first 4 steps, continue working with your keyword list until you have refined it down to one “great” keyword for every page.
Note:
Your home page will likely be your best shot at branding. Product pages will probably work best with product names as keywords

Zero In
Match the type of keyword to the page level
Branding keyword for the home page:
Laptop Bags to Go
Product group keywords for category pages:
Leather shoulder bags
Product name keyword for product pages:
Bessie & Sons 14” leather shoulder bag (Brown)

Using Your Keywords (where)
Now you have keywords, where to put them?
Page title
Semantic markup (<h1>, <h2>, etc)
URLs
Meta tags
Within content
In alt tags
In internal link text
In external link text

Using Your Keywords (Do!)
Do use the exact keyword as your page title
Create awesome content around keywords
Do use slight variations as you salt keywords into semantic markup and page content
Do use simplified keywords in URL, either as page file name, or folder name
Do make your sites accessible to spiders
Do use sitemaps

Using Your Keywords (Don’t!)
Don’t buy links. Google really hates it.
Don’t use hidden text or hidden links.
Don’t use “cloaking” or anything sneaky.
Don’t steal content. Not just a bad idea, but illegal, too.
Don’t overdo it. No matter how well you rank, your customers are human beings, not spiders!

The only real trick to SEO is this:
A search engine is really just another demographic. Understand what that market segment needs, and provide it and your web business will prosper.

SEO = Google Rank
Every one of the top ten Google results for “leather shoulder bag” show compelling evidence of having been search optimized. Where would your shoulder bag page rank?

Google Rank = Sales Volume

And Bob’s Yer Uncle
So there you have it: SEO in a nutshell.
You know you need it, so just go ahead and get started. If you haven’t got the time or inclination, hire a reputable SEO firm and let them do it. Here’s one you might like:
http://www.speedoflightenterprises.com

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Intro to search engine optimization

by Speed of Light Enterprises on Feb 10, 2011

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Intro to search engine optimization — Presentation Transcript