The document provides an overview of search engine optimization (SEO) fundamentals. It discusses the growth of Google queries, importance of search engine traffic, how WordPress makes sites SEO-friendly, keyword research techniques, link building strategies, and how social media can help with SEO directly and indirectly. The target audience is people looking to improve their search engine rankings and traffic.

1. The Fundamentals of Great SEO
A guide on how to increase rankings & traffic from search engines
Rand Fishkin, SEOmoz | March 2012

2. SEO?
Bah, Humbug 

3. The Use of Search Engines
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Search-and-email/Report.aspx

4. Growth of Google Queries
Currently, there are more
than 3 billion searches/day
on Google
http://www.quora.com/How-many-search-queries-does-Google-serve-worldwide-every-day

5. Value of Search Engine Traffic

6. http://www.seomoz.org/blog/illustrating-the-long-tail

7. Yes, You Can Compete with the Big Guys

8. Good SEO is Easier
than It Looks

10. You Have to Get
These Right

11. Before You Get
These Right

12. Making Your Site SEO-Friendly

13. Using Wordpress? You’re 80% of the Way There
“(Wordpress) is a fantastic piece of software, it
makes your site easily crawlable by search engines,
solves some 80-90% of mechanics of SEO and is the
first big step anyone can take towards creating a
popular online business.”
From a talk given by Google’s Matt Cutts at Wordcamp: http://www.howtomakemyblog.com/seo/googles-
matt-cutts-wordpress-the-best-blogging-platform-for-seo/

14. If You Use Wordpress, Read This
http://yoast.com/articles/wordpress-seo/ - I also recommend Joost’s plugin “Wordpress SEO”

15. Other SEO-Friendly Platforms Include:
http://drupal.org/, http://joomla.com and http://www.squarespace.com are all good choices if
Wordpress isn’t a match.

16. These Are Less Ideal for SEO
I wouldn’t recommend these platforms as a first choice for SEO-friendly blogging, though some (like
TypePad and Tumblr) can be customized with enough elbow grease.

17. Tools to Help with Accessibility
http://www.google.com/webmasters/

18. Tools to Help with Accessibility
Shameless Plug: http://pro.seomoz.org/

19. RSS: Essential for Bloggers
(and anyone producing regular content)
Via Google’s Feedburner: http://feedburner.google.com/gfb/, an ideal tool for setting up, managing
and tracking feeds

20. XML Sitemaps – Recommend, But Not Always a Must
I wouldn’t go so far as to say I recommend against it, just that for many, relatively basic sites and blogs, you don’t
need to worry about submitting these (unless you use video, in which case there’s some cool options; we’ll chat
about that later in the deck)

21. Keyword Research

22. A Simple Process for Choosing Good Keywords
High Volume
(many searches/month)
Low Competition Ideal Keywords!
(weak sites/pages in the top 10)
High Value
(large % of visitors convert)
More on this here: http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo/keyword-research

23. AdWords: The Best Choice (Most of the Time)
The AdWords Keyword Tool Can Be Found Here: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

24. Use Exact Match! Be Careful About Phrase + Broad
Note the much
higher numbers!

25. Google Insights: Interesting Trend Data
http://www.google.com/insights/search/ shows that the food blogging movement likely gained
widespread popularity and interest around 2007 

26. Analyzing the Top 10 to Determine Difficulty
Strong, popular
sites w/ targeted
titles + content

27. Analyzing the Top 10 to Determine Difficulty
Weaker, lesser
known sites and
non-targeted titles

28. Keyword Difficulty Tool
Another shameless plug as this is an SEOmoz tool: http://pro.seomoz.org/tools/keyword-difficulty/

29. Value of Visits? Use Analytics Data
Good proxies for the value of
traffic from these sources
Via Google Analytics (http://www.google.com/analytics) which is free!

30. A Simple Process for Choosing Good Keywords
High Volume Google AdWords
(many searches/month)
Low Competition
(weak sites/pages in the top 10)
Gut Feel (or KW Difficulty Tool)
High Value Gut Feel (or Analytics Data)
(large % of visitors convert)
Picking keywords doesn’t have to be a chore, and the process can often help you find topics for
content you haven’t yet tried/thought of!

31. How Great Writing and Great
SEO Go Hand-in-Hand

32. High Volume Keywords = Content People Want
People really want to know this stuff!

33. Not Everything Needs to Be Keyword-Targeted
http://www.everywhereist.com/budding-bromances-in-peru-10-photos/

34. The Better Your Content, The Better Your SEO
Good process for getting to great content: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/great-content-for-seo-
simpler-than-you-ever-imagined

35. Great Content + SEO + Social Really Works.
Great SEO Social Link
+ + +
Content Friendly Sharing Building
=
Higher More More More
Rankings Readers Followers Influence
=
Virtuous Cycle of
Inbound Marketing!

36. Link Building

37. Why Links Matter to Search Engines
What You Say What Others Say
About Yourself. < About You.
Good primer on link building basics here: http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo/growing-
popularity-and-links

38. What Matters in a Link?
Editorially given
From a trusted source
Uses descriptive anchor text
Points to the right page
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/10-illustrations-on-search-engines-valuation-of-links

39. What Matters in a Link?
Rel=“Nofollow”
URL
(a tag that indicates search
(the link target)
engines shouldn’t trust/count
this link)
<p><a href=http://www.seomoz.org rel=“nofollow”>
SEOmoz’s Website </a> is a good resource for those
seeking to learn more about search engine
optimization.</p>
Surrounding Text
Anchor text
(may provide context on
(tells the engine what
this link is about) the link’s relevance)
All of these elements are good to understand when thinking about links

40. Manual Link Building
Tactics like discovering the links of competitors, getting listed in directories, resource lists,
submitting content, building profiles, etc. are all in the “manual link building” category (above via
http://opensiteexplorer.org)

41. Link Building through Outreach + Networking
Geraldine emailed the Salt Museum folks to let them know about her post (or maybe she just
tweeted at them, I can’t remember), and they wrote this lovely blog!

42. “Natural” Link Building
Many of these blogs will
use the badge and link to
the list, because it makes
them look good!
The AdAge 150 is a brilliant example of link building through the creation and sharing of a resource.

43. Link Building & Social Sharing Resources
• Beginner’s Guide: Chapter 7 – Growing Links & Popularity
• Link Building Blog Posts on SEOmoz
• Webinar on Link Building Strategies
• 101 Ways to Build Links from SEOBook
• Link Building Presentations on Slideshare
• The Science of Retweets from Dan Zarrella
There are literally infinite numbers of ways to build links – creativity is your only limitation!

44. Social Media & SEO

45. How Social Media Helps SEO Directly
People you’re connected to in social networks can help content rank thanks to Google’s use of social annotations
(Bing does this too with Facebook shares!) http://www.seomoz.org/blog/social-annotations-in-search-now-your-
social-network-rankings

46. Indirect Impacts of Social on SEO
All these shares lead to
visits, which may lead to
links, comments and
positive user/usage signals
This handy tool can be found at http://sharedcount.com

47. Twitter & Google

49. Google UK
Result #42

50. Google US
Result #13

52. Facebook
Correlation of Social Media-Based Factors
(data via Topsy API & Google Buzz API)
Amazing: Facebook Shares
is our single highest
correlated metric with
higher Google rankings.
But correlation is not causation! http://www.seomoz.org/blog/does-google-use-facebook-shares-to-
influence-search-rankings

53. Facebook and Bing
http://searchengineland.com/bing-linked-pages-better-people-search-results-112501

54. Google+
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/using-google-plus-ripples-to-connect-with-influencers

55. Google+
Anyone logged-in
to any Google
service will see
results like these.
Time to get on G+!
http://searchengineland.com/examples-google-search-plus-drive-facebook-twitter-crazy-107554
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/why-every-marketer-now-needs-a-google-strategy

57. LinkedIn
Some good tips here: http://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/linkedin-seo-campaign.html

58. Other Networks to Consider
14mm Millions 14mm 6.5mm
2.5mm 500mm 1.5mm 10mm
There are many social networks potentially worthy of participation

59. A Few Specific SEO Questions

60. What Was Panda? Do I Need to Worry About It?
Check out http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-googles-panda-update-changed-seo-best-practices-forever-whiteboard-
friday for more on how Panda imapcted SEO and http://www.seomoz.org/blog/beat-google-panda for tips on how to
beat it.

61. Should I Worry About Spam Comments?
Oh man does this stuff suck  But remember, it’s NOT SEO!!

62. Are Scraper Sites a Danger to My SEO?
Via Google’s Head of Webspam

63. Can Links from Low Quality Sites Hurt Me?
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/what-if-my-competitors-point-spammy-links-to-my-site

64. What About Image Search SEO?
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/image-seo-basics-whiteboard-friday

65. What About Local/Maps SEO?
Normal
Algorithm
Maps
Algorithm
http://www.davidmihm.com/local-search-ranking-factors.shtml

66. What About Recipe Search?
http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2011/02/google-recipe-search.html

67. Really?

68. How Do I Get These Cool Results!?
That’s my
face!
http://www.blindfiveyearold.com/how-to-implement-rel-author

69. What About Those Awesome Video Results?!
These are
great for
driving clicks
http://wistia.com/doc/video-seo

70. Want to Dive Deeper on SEO? I Recommend:
http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo

71. Just For Fun:
Some of My Favorite Google
Suggestions & Results!

77. Thank You!
Want to get in touch?
@randfish on Twitter or by email - rand@seomoz.org
Rand Fishkin, SEOmoz | March 2012