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BlueZooWebsites.com
Twitter.com/ccondray
6/22/2012

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This presentation might
already be obsolete!

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No SEO Silver Bullet
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Many Signals Considered By
Google
 Depending on who and
when you ask, Google
monitors between 200 and
10,000 signals
 Each signal has a different
importance
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Search Engine Market Share
Google
All Other
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Basic Unit is the Keyword
 Search engines prioritize
based on keywords
 Google Hot Searches
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Major Effects On Your
Site’s Google Rank
 On Page Factors
 Off Page Factors
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A Brief History of SEO
 1st Generation Google
Algorithm: Links
 Unethical marketers or
Black Hat SEO marketers
would create sites with
nothing but links to hack
the system.
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A Brief History of SEO
 2nd Generation Algorithm:
Links + Content
 Black Hat SEOs practiced
“keyword stuffing” and hid
invisible keywords to improve
ranking.
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On Page Factors – Content
 Content is king!
 Google is designed to get
good content to searchers
 Does your site make it easy for
search engines to find your
content?
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On Page Factors – Content
 Research keywords
 Google AdWords Keyword
Tool
 Keywords in main content
 “Keyword density” concerns
are overrated and too
complicated
 Include keywords in a natural
manner
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Content In Keywords – Missing
Opportunity
 This site is about keyword.
 It is a very interesting topic.
 Here is fact 1 about it.
 Second, is fact 2 about it.
 Finally, there is fact 3 about it.
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Content In Keywords – Overuse
Example
 This site is about keyword.
 Keyword is a very interesting topic.
 Here is fact 1 about keyword.
 Second, is fact 2 about keyword.
 Finally, there is fact 3 about keyword.
 Can be potentially penalized for “keyword stuffing.”
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Content In Keywords – Good
Example
 This site is about keyword.
 It is a very interesting topic.
 Here is fact 1 about it.
 Second, is fact 2 about keyword.
 Finally, there is fact 3 about it.
 Multiple uses but still “natural”
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On Page Factors – Avoid Thin
Content
 Posts should be longer than
100 words to avoid “thin”
penalty
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On Page Factors – Engagement
 How engaging is the content?
 Tracking occurs though
Google Analytics and Google
and Bing toolbars
 Number of pages
 Time on site
 Bounce rate
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On Page Factors – Updates
 Consistent updates
 When was the last time you
site was updated?
 Weekly updates a good rule
of thumb
 Blogs are good format for this
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On Page Factors – Freshness
 If there is a sudden spike in
searches for a particular term,
Google, will look for fresh
content to serve around that
term
 You might get lucky and have
the fresh content that Google
is looking for a little while
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Title
On Page Factors – Visible
Header
Main
Content
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On Page Factors – Visible
 Title
 Most important factor considered
 Header
 Breaks pages up into logical sections for the search
engines
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On Page Factors – Under The Hood
 Meta tags:
Description
 160 characters is a
standard length
 Shows up as site
description in
Google results
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Aside: Search Engine Results
From the Title
tag (68
characters)
From the Meta
description- maybe
(~170 characters)
Search
term is
bolded
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Google Meta Description
Guidelines
 Have a different description for each page
 Include clearly tagged facts in the description not in
the title
 Programmatically generate descriptions (but not
“spammy”)
 Use quality descriptions that represent what’s on the
page
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On Page Factors – Under The Hood
HTML
 Meta tags: Keywords
 Surprisingly, the
keywords meta tag
is not important
anymore
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On Page Factors – Site Structure
 Indexability
 Does all the content have a
public link?
 Site maps are good to make
sure everything is visible
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On Page Factors – Site Speed
 Load speed
 How fast does your site come
up?
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On Page Factors – Keywords in
URLs
 Keywords in URLs
 Use this format: http://mystore.com/hats/fedora-
brown
 Not this format:
http://mystore.com/product_number=1234
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Other On Page Factors
 Age of site
 Know that you want a
site? Get the domain and
put something there
until you’re ready to
build.
 Research first if possible
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Off Site Factors - Links
 Quality
 Links from respectable
(e.g. CNN.com) sites are
best.
 Google has been
aggressively targeting “link
farms”
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Anchor Text
 This is the anchor text. Put
your keywords here.
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Off Site Factors - Links
 Quantity
 Linkbaiting – content
designed to go viral
 Be careful with automated
link building software
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Good Sources of Backlinks
 Social Media
 Social Bookmarking
 Forum posts
 Comments
 Internet directories
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Off Site Factors - Social
 Reputation
 Twitter site with lots of
follows vs. few followers
 Spam accounts are easy to
spot
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Off Site Factors - Social
 Sharing
 Participation in social media
is a must to be noticed by
search engines.
 Google +1 Everything!
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Other Offsite Factors
 Google Plus Pages
 Backlinks to your
backlinks
 Continuous backlink
building
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Off Site Factors - Trust
 Authority
 Combination of factors.
 Why is CNN.com
authoritative but
JoeBlowsWebsite.com
not?
 Site history
 Have you changed
format, posting
frequency, topics?
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Off Site Factors - Personalization
 Country
 US Football vs. UK Football
 Location
 Have you registered your
Google Place?
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Off Site Factors - Personalization
 Search History
 Have you +1ed a site recently? It will show up
higher in search results
 Social Connections
 Who are your friends on social media networks?
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Search Engine Spam Penalties
 Thin content
 Random sentences with
prime keywords in it
 Keyword Stuffing
 Including keywords dozens
of times in main content
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Search Engine Spam Penalties
 Hidden text
 White text on a white
background
 Cloaking
 Showing a different site to
people and search engines
 Link spam
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Link Spam
 Off-topic or trivial comments
“Wow, fantastic blog layout!
on forums and sites with the How lengthy have you ever
URL filled out. been blogging for? you
make running a blog look
easy. The total glance of
your website is magnificent,
as neatly as the content!”
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Blocking
 Personal blocking
 From individuals
 Trust blocking
 Based on the actions of many
people
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The Future of SEO
 Links will be less emphasized
and social sharing will
become more important.
 Compelling content is always
in style.
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SEO Walkthrough
 High Traffic
 Google Keyword Tool
shows monthly
searches
 Low Competition
 Estimate by number of
Google Search results
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SEO Walkthrough
 Find keyword interest and alternate keywords: Google
AdWords Keyword Tool
 Find current rank: Google search on keywords
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Other Information You Might Have
 Web logs
 Google Analytics
 Google Webmaster Tools
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Estimate Engagement
 Bounce rate
 Time on site
 Social likes
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On Site Factors Checklist
 Keywords in:  Keywords in meta tags:
 Main content  Description
 Title  Keywords
 Headers
 URL
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On Site Factors Checklist
 Length of content
 Frequency of new content
 Indexability
 Sitemap
 Social sharing buttons
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On Site Factors Checklist
 Engagement
 Number of pages
 Time on site
 Bounce rate
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On Site Factors - Speed
 Speed Testing Tools
 Pingdom
 Browser Plugins
 PageSpeed
 Yslow
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Links
 In your social media profiles
 Authoritative Sites
 Chamber websites, newspapers, local blogs, TV and
radio station sites, etc.
 Google Page with your address?
 Yelp
 YP.com
 Bing
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Off Site Factors
 Backlink Information
 Majestic SEO
 Google Webmaster Tools
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SEO Competition
 Do the previous steps for the
top ranking site in the
keywords your trying to
optimize for
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BlueZooWebsites.com
Twitter.com/ccondray
6/22/2012