- Greenlight is a large search marketing agency based in London with over 7 years of experience providing search engine optimization (SEO) and paid search services. - Blogging can help with SEO by adding new relevant content that reinforces main site pages, provides contextual links, and attracts listings in vertical search results. - To maximize SEO benefits, blogs should be set up based on a keyword analysis to target long-tail keywords with new blog posts, and techniques like keyword optimization and linking should be used.

1. Blogging for natural search engine performance Chris Bland Senior Account Manager, SEO Greenlight

2. Introduction to Greenlight

3. The largest independent search marketing agency in Europe, headquartered in London, and with offices in New York. Clients across Europe, the US, and Asia with a track record of delivering results in competitive and aggressive online markets. Clients include P&G, Expedia, American Express, RBS, Alliance & Leicester, Asda Wal-Mart, and more. An established specialist organisation with 7 years experience …providing total search engine marketing …. and nothing else. The only SEO agency in Europe with its own publisher network, making us the fastest link builders in the industry Our Paid Search systems use advanced portfolio management algorithms which gives our PPC campaigns a significant edge over the current rules-based standard bidding platforms. Who we are

4. Client Services dedicated account management, bespoke reporting & proactivity Profiler consumer, competitor, community and conversion intelligence Architext recommendations, build, consulting, training, and mentoring LinkCatalyst rapid and unique link building provision Campaign Management expertly managed Paid Search campaigns Quant & AdAPT PHD-developed Paid Search Management technologies Greenlight – Six operational divisions Client Services

5. Demonstrable Success in SEO

6. Introduction to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

7. Why search is important? Over 32 million people in the UK are now online* £42 billion spent online in UK in 2007 * 90% of people use search engines as primary means of finding websites * 1.4 billion search queries carried out in the UK in July 2007 alone Search is perfectly measurable and accountable and highly scalable Search is an excellent channel to attract both new customers who search on generic terms like ‘car insurance’ and existing customers who are more likely to use a search engine than to remember your web address * Figures provided by Internet Advertising Bureau ( www.iabuk.net )

8. The Search Engine Industry 79% 43.7% 89.9% 88.5% 8% 28.8% 3.17% 3.4% 4% 12.8% 2.3% 1.4% 5% 5.4% <1% <1% Big Four (UK): 96% 90% 95% 93% Hitwise (2007) ComScore (2006) XiTi (2007) Axandra (2007)

9. Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) Natural Results Paid results

10. So where do you need to be?

11. A database containing an index of the content of the Internet, which returns to the user a list of web pages that match a search query performed on that database. What is a Search Engine? 2. Software programs called Spiders are sent out by search engines to scour the web, looking for web pages to add to the INDEX. 1. The Internet contains billions of websites and documents. 3. A user searches a Search Engine for whatever they want. 4. The Search Engine queries its spider-compiled index for matches to the query, and ranks them in order of relevancy. ? 5. The Search Engine returns a results page of websites to the user

12. A database containing an index of the content of the Internet, which returns to the user a list of web pages that match a search query performed on that database. The Key Issues ? Accessibility e.g. Links to Product pages cannot be followed by spiders because navigational menu is unfriendly to Search Engine Spiders. X X X X Cheap flight to Spain No mention of flights or Spain! X Relevancy Your site and its pages need to be relevant for every conceivable search term that is relevant to your products, services, brand, and reflective of your business objectives. How popular are these sites? Credibility Search engines factor in the link popularity of sites before deciding on where to rank them.

13. hotel guide Credibility – A Voting Model 2.5 6.5 5.5 2.5 8.5 Hilton hotel deals Cheap hotels Cheap hotels hotel deals hotel rooms New york hotels New york hotels hotel deals Discount hotels New York travel deals Cheap hotels Book hotels hotels hotel guide 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 1 0.5 3.5 0.5 1 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5

14. The main advantages of using blogs for SEO

15. The SEO Support Role Blog posts add very usefully to the breadth of thematically relevant content of your site. This additional content has a distinct role in SEO strategy: Reinforce prominence of main site landing pages for major target terms Highly contextualised linking High degree of control over the anchor text of the link being placed Dynamic linking when major keywords are used Search engine results page Attract a double listing blog.domain attracts better CTR on research queries Blog vertical search Google blog links

16. More Flexible and Diverse Rankings The main pages of your site should be working hard for you! Blog posts offer an opportunity to add visibility in areas that they are not so focused on: Use blog post content pages to rank for ‘long-tail’ keywords Content can be quickly added and amended allowing for tactical rankings Search engines often treat fresh content more favourably Blog posts are more discrete enabling you to rank for topics that you would rather not feature as part of your main site content The more informal and familiar tone of blogs posts allow you to use and therefore rank for less ‘on-brand’ vocabulary that users may use naturally

17. Blogging for SEO – Case Study - McDonalds

18. How to take advantage of the SEO potential of blogs

19. Keyword Analysis: Identify and prioritise relevant keywords Identify the full breadth of keywords and phrases that users might be searching for where you would like your site to appear. This should include all brand and product names, the main generic terms relating to your products or services, any relevant combinations of these (eg. with location words) Use keyword generation tools eg. Google AdWords Suggestion tool Use server traffic referral KWs to understand which words you are currently being found under Use PPC campaign keywords to further reveal the long tail of possible search queries Prioritise the full list according to: Natural Search Volume (use Google Volume Estimator tool) Commercial relevance Rank (look for your poorly performing keywords ie. not rank on Page 1)

20. Devise keyword targeting strategy Organise KWs into thematic keyword groups with no duplication between them Identify core keyword set from the real volume driving keyword opportunities in each category Identify target landing pages on the main site for each of these (ensuring they are optimised for them Identify important long-tail keywords or phrases (high PPC CTR or product relevance) – possible blog pages Main target keywords : Car insurance Loans Credit cards Mortgages Bank accounts LT keywords for Car insurance : Vintage car insurance Cheap car insurance 4x4 car insurance European car insurance Student car insurance LT keywords for Loans : Car loans Payday loans Low rate loans Loans online Secured loans LT keywords for Credit cards : Student credit cards 0% credit cards Rewards credit cards Prepaid credit cards Instant decision credit cards LT keywords for Mortgages : Buy to let mortgages 100% mortgages Mortgages for first time buyers Fixed rate mortgages Interest only mortgages LT keywords for Bank accounts : Student bank accounts Bank accounts for children Business bank accounts Online bank accounts Graduate bank accounts

21. Create blog to match keyword targeting strategy Organise blog into content categories to match the main keywords Draw up lists of ideas for blog posts from the long-tail target KWs in each category Use SEO Elements to optimise for blog post KW Use instances of main keywords in the text to link to their landing page LT keywords for Car insurance : Vintage car insurance Cheap car insurance 4x4 car insurance European car insurance Student car insurance Blog post ideas for vintage car insurance : Vintage car insurance guide Cheap car insurance hints and tips The best 4x4 car insurance offers Getting car insurance in Europe -Car Insurance -Loans -Mortgages -Savings -Credit Cards Title Post title in URL Header with H1 tags H2 tags

22. Blog technology comparison Features: Wordpress Blogger Typepad Able to rewrite page title (so post title comes first) Possible using free plugin “SEO title” or “All in One SEO Pack” Possible with some template editing Requires advanced template editing URLs with post title Built in capability to edit URL conventions Automatically publishes posts with URLs with dashes between post title words Publishes URLs with shortened versions of post titles, can cut off keywords – can’t change this. Add meta descriptions and keywords to individual posts Possible with free “All in One SEO Pack” plugin Not possible – can only add blog-wide Not possible – can only add blog-wide Other SEO features Numerous plugins: can automatically link to related posts, automatically link keywords and more.

23. Hints & Tips Host on your domain (‘blog.domain.com is the convention) Link to blog posts from other sections of the site Use ‘nofollow’ tags to conserve credibility particularly if you link to competitors. Exception if you are linking to highly credible and relevant authority site Use pictures (particularly of obscure products or terminology) as these are often searched for in their own right and are often hard to include on main site pages Offsite - exploit opportunities on other sites/blogs to highlight (and link to!) your posts Blog content syndication (RSS)

24. Thanks for listening! Chris Bland Senior Account Manager, SEO Greenlight [email_address]