My Shop.org 2012 presentation: Basics of SEO: 15 Proven and Measurable SEO Tactics to Get Results

1. Why Pay for Performance When You Can Lead
the World To Your Door for Free?
Hamlet Batista
Owner, Hamlet Batista Group
http://hamletbatista.com

2. Career Highlights
• 2002-2005: Affiliate marketer, 1st page rankings
in Google for “Viagra”, 7 figures in commissions
• 2005-2008: Inventor, granted patents for
enterprise and small business SEO technology
(RankSense®, Altruik’s Product Priority®)
• 2009-2011: Technical review editor. “The Art of
SEO” – first and second editions
• 2012: EB1 Green Card - Alien of Extraordinary
Ability (Search Engine Optimization)

3. Learn More About Me

4. Why SEO?

5. Agenda
• SEO Toolkit: 10 Valuable Tools
• Basics of SEO: 15 Proven and
Measurable SEO Tactics to Get Results
– Tactic Overview
– Performance Goal
– Time to See Results
– KPIs
– Impact
– Implementation Cost

6. SEO Toolkit
• Google Webmaster Tools
• Google Adwords Keyword Tool
• Firebug & Web Developer Tools
• Sitemaps.org
• Schema.org
• Screaming Frog
• Splunk
• Amazon’s Mechanical Turk
• Link Research Tools
• Rich Snippets Testing Tool

7. Google Webmaster Tools

8. Google Adwords Keyword Tool

9. Firebug & Web Developer Tools

10. Schema.org

11. Sitemaps.org

12. Screaming Frog

13. Splunk

14. Amazon’s Mechanical Turk

15. Rich Snippets Testing Tool

16. Link Research Tools

17. Tactic #1: Write descriptive
titles and meta descriptions
• Goal: Increase organic click-troughs
• Time to See Results: 1 ( 1-5 scale) 1 is
least amount of time
• Impact: 3 (1 -5 scale) 1 is most impactful
• KPI : CTR
• Implementation Cost: 3 (1-5 scale ) 1 is
least expensive

19. Write descriptive titles and meta
descriptions
 Treat them as
ads
 Incorporate
main
keywords
naturally
 Don’t obsess
over lengths

20. Results Potential Search
Impressions 800,000
Search
Impressions 800,000
Search Clicks 22,000 Projected Clicks 28,600
Organic Search
CTR 2.75%
Organic Search
CTR +30% 3.58%
Organic Search
Revenue $22,000
Projected
Organic Search
Revenue $28,600
Assumptions:
800,000 monthly search
impressions
22,000 monthly search clicks
$1 in sales per search click

21. Tactic #2: Optimize mobile
pages
• Goal: Increase keyword rankings
• Time to See Results: 2 ( 1-5 scale) 1 is
least amount of time
• Impact: 3 (1 -5 scale) 1 is most impactful
• KPI : # of keyword rankings
• Implementation Cost: 2 (1-5 scale ) 1 is
least expensive

23. Optimize mobile pages for SEO
 On the desktop page,
add rel=“alternate”
pointing to the
corresponding mobile
URL
 On the mobile page,
add rel=“canonical”
pointing to the
corresponding
desktop URL
 Can be done in the
HTML or in the XML
sitemap(s)
 Include Vary HTTP
header if your site
automatically redirects
mobile users visiting
the desktop site

24. Results Potential Search Queries 12,096 Search Queries 14,515.20
Search Clicks 22,000 Projected Clicks 28,600
Clicks per Query 1.82
Clicks per Query
+ 30% 3.58%
Organic Search
Revenue $22,000
Projected
Organic Search
Revenue $28,600
Assumptions:
12,096 monthly search queries
22,000 monthly search clicks
$1 in sales per search click

25. Tactic #3: Display video
thumbnails
• Goal: Increase organic click-troughs
• Time to See Results: 2 ( 1-5 scale) 1 is
least amount of time
• Impact: 3 (1 -5 scale) 1 is most impactful
• KPI : CTR
• Implementation Cost: 2 (1-5 scale ) 1 is
least expensive

27. Display Video Thumbnails
How to get them
• Add one of the supported
formats to the on-page
markup:
– Schema.org/VideoObject
(recommended)
– Facebook Share
– Yahoo’s RDFa
Video Thumbnails

28. Results Potential Search
Impressions 800,000
Search
Impressions 800,000
Search Clicks 22,000 Projected Clicks 28,600
Organic Search
CTR 2.75%
Organic Search
CTR +30% 3.58%
Organic Search
Revenue $22,000
Projected
Organic Search
Revenue $28,600
Assumptions:
800,000 monthly search
impressions
22,000 monthly search clicks
$1 in sales per search click

29. Tactic #4: Optimize images
• Goal: Increase keyword rankings
• Time to See Results: 2 ( 1-5 scale) 1 is
least amount of time
• Impact: 4 (1 -5 scale) 1 is most impactful
• KPI : # of keyword rankings
• Implementation Cost: 1 (1-5 scale ) 1 is
least expensive

31. Optimize images for SEO
 Include the
product name
as ALT text
for every
product image
 Create an
image XML
sitemap

32. Results Potential Search Queries 12,096
Search Queries
+20% 14,515.20
Search Clicks 22,000 Projected Clicks 26,418
Clicks per Query 1.82 Clicks per Query 1.82
Organic Search
Revenue $22,000
Projected
Organic Search
Revenue $26,418
Assumptions:
12,096 monthly search queries
22,000 monthly search clicks
$1 in sales per search click

33. Tactic #5: Optimize videos
• Goal: Increase keyword rankings
• Time to See Results: 2 ( 1-5 scale) 1 is
least amount of time
• Impact: 4 (1 -5 scale) 1 is most impactful
• KPI : # of keyword rankings
• Implementation Cost: 1 (1-5 scale ) 1 is
least expensive

35. Optimize videos for SEO
 Make sure
each video
has unique
meta data:
title,
description,
etc.
 Create a
video XML
sitemap

36. Results Potential Search Queries 12,096
Search Queries
+20% 14,515.20
Search Clicks 22,000 Projected Clicks 26,418
Clicks per Query 1.82 Clicks per Query 1.82
Organic Search
Revenue $22,000
Projected
Organic Search
Revenue $26,418
Assumptions:
12,096 monthly search queries
22,000 monthly search clicks
$1 in sales per search click

37. Tactic #6: Find keyword
opportunities
• Goal: Increase keyword rankings
• Time to See Results: 2 ( 1-5 scale) 1 is
least amount of time
• Impact: 4 (1 -5 scale) 1 is most impactful
• KPI : # of keyword rankings
• Implementation Cost: 2 (1-5 scale ) 1 is
least expensive

39. Find Keyword Opportunities
Step 1

40. Find Keyword Opportunities
Step 2

41. Find Keyword Opportunities
Step 3

42. Find Keyword Opportunities
Step 4

43. Results Potential Search Queries 12,096
Search Queries
+20% 14,515.20
Search Clicks 22,000 Projected Clicks 26,418
Clicks per Query 1.82 Clicks per Query 1.82
Organic Search
Revenue $22,000
Projected
Organic Search
Revenue $26,418
Assumptions:
12,096 monthly search queries
22,000 monthly search clicks
$1 in sales per search click

44. Tactic #7: Rewrite
manufacturer descriptions
• Goal: Increase keyword rankings
• Time to See Results: 2 ( 1-5 scale) 1 is
least amount of time
• Impact: 4 (1 -5 scale) 1 is most impactful
• KPI : # of keyword rankings
• Implementation Cost: 3 (1-5 scale ) 1 is
least expensive

46. Rewrite manufacturer’s
descriptions

47. Rewrite manufacturer’s
descriptions
• Create rewriting
rules/guidelines
• Leverage crowds:
Amazon Mechanical
Turk, TextBroker,
MediaPiston

48. Results Potential Search Queries 12,096
Search Queries
+20% 14,515.20
Search Clicks 22,000 Projected Clicks 26,418
Clicks per Query 1.82 Clicks per Query 1.82
Organic Search
Revenue $22,000
Projected
Organic Search
Revenue $26,418
Assumptions:
12,096 monthly search queries
22,000 monthly search clicks
$1 in sales per search click

49. Tactic #8: Fix infinite crawl
spaces
• Goal: Increase search visibility
• Time to See Results: 3 ( 1-5 scale) 1 is
least amount of time
• Impact: 1 (1 -5 scale) 1 is most impactful
• KPI : # of pages getting search clicks
• Implementation Cost: 2(1-5 scale ) 1 is
least expensive

51. Infinite Crawl Spaces

52. Infinite Crawl Spaces

53. Infinite Crawl Spaces

54. Infinite Crawl Spaces

55. Results Potential Pages with
Search Clicks 3,270
Pages with
Search Clicks
+50% 4,905
Clicks 22,000 Projected Clicks 33,010.65
Clicks per Page 6.73 Clicks per Page 6.73
Organic Search
Revenue $22,000
Projected
Organic Search
Revenue $33,010.65
Assumptions:
3,270 pages with search clicks in a
month
22,000 monthly search clicks
$1 in sales per search click

56. Tactic #9: Fix stale content
issues
• Goal: Increase search visibility
• Time to See Results: 3 ( 1-5 scale) 1 is
least amount of time
• Impact: 2 (1 -5 scale) 1 is most impactful
• KPI : # of 404 errors, # of pages getting
search clicks
• Implementation Cost: 3 (1-5 scale ) 1 is
least expensive

59. Address Stale Content

60. Address Stale Content

61. • How to address stale content issues:
– Return proper 404 code for non existent
URLs. Also provide an useful 404 page to
users
– Retired products, categories or content pages
should be 301 redirected to a) equivalent
pages b) parent category pages
– Don’t redirect all missing URLs to the home
page!
Best Practices

62. Results Potential Pages with
Search Clicks 3,270
Pages with
Search Clicks
+40% 4,578
Clicks 22,000 Projected Clicks 30,809.94
Clicks per Page 6.73 Clicks per Page 6.73
Organic Search
Revenue $22,000
Projected
Organic Search
Revenue $30,809.94
Assumptions:
3,270 pages with search clicks in a
month
22,000 monthly search clicks
$1 in sales per search click

63. Tactic #10: Fix
canonicalization issues
• Goal: Increase search visibility
• Time to See Results: 3 ( 1-5 scale) 1 is
least amount of time
• Impact: 3 (1 -5 scale) 1 is most impactful
• KPI : # of pages getting search clicks
• Implementation Cost: 1 (1-5 scale ) 1 is
least expensive

65. Fix Canonicalization Issues
• Symptoms of
duplicate content
problems:
– Crawl Activity (Infinite
Crawl Spaces)
– Internal Links
– Duplicate Meta Data

66. The Duplicate Content Opportunity

67. Results Potential Pages with
Search Clicks 3,270
Pages with
Search Clicks
+30% 4,251
Clicks 22,000 Projected Clicks 28,609.23
Clicks per Page 6.73 Clicks per Page 6.73
Organic Search
Revenue $22,000
Projected
Organic Search
Revenue $28,609.23
Assumptions:
3,270 pages with search clicks in a
month
22,000 monthly search clicks
$1 in sales per search click

68. Tactic #11: Fix duplicate meta
data
• Goal: Increase search visibility
• Time to See Results: 3 ( 1-5 scale) 1 is
least amount of time
• Impact: 3 (1 -5 scale) 1 is most impactful
• KPI : # of pages getting search clicks
• Implementation Cost: 2 (1-5 scale ) 1 is
least expensive

70. Duplicate Meta Data

71. Results Potential Pages with
Search Clicks 3,270
Pages with
Search Clicks
+30% 4,251
Clicks 22,000 Projected Clicks 28,609.23
Clicks per Page 6.73 Clicks per Page 6.73
Organic Search
Revenue $22,000
Projected
Organic Search
Revenue $28,609.23
Assumptions:
3,270 pages with search clicks in a
month
22,000 monthly search clicks
$1 in sales per search click

72. Tactic #12: Leverage rich
snippets
• Goal: Increase organic click-troughs
• Time to See Results: 3 ( 1-5 scale) 1 is
least amount of time
• Impact: 3 (1 -5 scale) 1 is most impactful
• KPI : CTR
• Implementation Cost: 3 (1-5 scale ) 1 is
least expensive

75. Leverage Rich Snippets
GOOD
BAD

76. Submission Form

77. Results Potential Search
Impressions 800,000
Search
Impressions 800,000
Search Clicks 22,000 Projected Clicks 28,600
Organic Search
CTR 2.75%
Organic Search
CTR +30% 3.58%
Organic Search
Revenue $22,000
Projected
Organic Search
Revenue $28,600
Assumptions:
800,000 monthly search
impressions
22,000 monthly search clicks
$1 in sales per search click

78. Tactic #13: Optimize site
navigation
• Goal: Increase search visibility
• Time to See Results: 3 ( 1-5 scale) 1 is
least amount of time
• Impact: 3 (1 -5 scale) 1 is most impactful
• KPI : # of pages getting search clicks
• Implementation Cost: 3 (1-5 scale ) 1 is
least expensive

80. Optimize Site Navigation for SEO

81. Best Practices
• Implement
interactivity
using CSS or
Javascript
• Keep the
links and
content in
regular
HTML

82. Results Potential Pages with
Search Clicks 3,270
Pages with
Search Clicks
+30% 4,251
Clicks 22,000 Projected Clicks 28,609.23
Clicks per Page 6.73 Clicks per Page 6.73
Organic Search
Revenue $22,000
Projected
Organic Search
Revenue $28,609.23
Assumptions:
3,270 pages with search clicks in a
month
22,000 monthly search clicks
$1 in sales per search click

83. Tactic #14: Add Semantic
Markup
• Goal: Increase keyword rankings
• Time to See Results: 3 ( 1-5 scale) 1 is
least amount of time
• Impact: 5 (1 -5 scale) 1 is most impactful
• KPI : # of keyword rankings
• Implementation Cost: 3 (1-5 scale ) 1 is
least expensive

86. Add Semantic Markup
• Add schema.org
markup for:
– Products
– Places
– Recipes

87. Results Potential Search Queries 12,096
Search Queries
+10% 13,305.6
Search Clicks 22,000 Projected Clicks 24,216.19
Clicks per Query 1.82 Clicks per Query 1.82
Organic Search
Revenue $22,000
Projected
Organic Search
Revenue $24,216.19
Assumptions:
12,096 monthly search queries
22,000 monthly search clicks
$1 in sales per search click

88. Tactic #15: Create Link
Worthy Content
• Goal: Increase site’s popularity
• Time to See Results: 5 ( 1-5 scale) 1 is
least amount of time
• Impact: 1 (1 -5 scale) 1 is most impactful
• KPI : # of inbound links
• Implementation Cost: 5 (1-5 scale ) 1 is
least expensive

92. Link-Worthy Content
http://theoatmeal.com

93. How to Attract High Quality Links
http://www.distilled.net/linkbait-guide/

94. More Tools & Resources
• Google’s Webmaster Academy
• developers.google.com/webmasters/
• Google’s SEO Score Card
• Google’s SEO guide
• Distilled.net/linkbait-guide/
• SEOMOZ’s OpenSiteExplorer
• Buzzfeed.com

95. Complimentary SEO ebook
• Get this presentation and a
complimentary SEO ebook
• Leave your business card or
• Send me an e-mail at
hamletb@hamletbatista.com. Please
use as subject “Shop.org Bootcamp”
• I welcome your feedback about the
speech!
Blog http://hamletbatista.com
Twitter @hamletbatista
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