1. Oracles, Semantics and SEO
Using research and analytics to influence
the future of your search rankings
2. Presentation Goal
To provide a better understanding of how search
works to help generate search engine friendly content.
3. Quiz: Name this place
HINT: One hundred miles northwest of Athens, above the Gulf of Corinth, on the holy
mountain of Parnassus
4. SEO… It’s all greek to me.
γνῶθι σεαυτόν
μηδὲν ἄγαν
Priestess of Delphi (1891) by John Collier; the Pythia
was inspired by pneuma rising from belowhttp://sacredsites.com/europe/greece/delphi.html
5. Before you do anything...
Know Thyself
γνῶθι σεαυτόν
"There are three Things extremely hard, Steel, a Diamond, and to know one's self."
-Benjamin Franklin, in his Poor Richard's Almanack
(also know your business objectives)
7. Always start by searching...
Start with how you think
people are searching or see
how they are searching and
look at the results?
Both…
You need to understand
both how you want to be
found as well as how you
are currently being found...
11. Google Search Algorithm: When, Where and How Often...
Each year, Google changes its search algorithm around 500–600
times. While most of these changes are minor, Google
occasionally rolls out a "major" algorithmic update (such as
Google Panda and Google Penguin) that affects search results in
significant ways.
http://moz.com/google-algorithm-change#2013
14. Welcome to the Semantic Web
“The word semantic itself implies meaning or
understanding. ...the fundamental difference between
Semantic Web technologies and other technologies
related to data (such as relational databases or the World
Wide Web itself) is that the Semantic Web is concerned
with the meaning and not the structure of data.”
http://www.cambridgesemantics.com/semantic-university/introduction-to-the-semantic-web
17. Nothing In Excess
μηδὲν ἄγαν
Anything you can do in excess for the wrong reasons is exciting to me.
Carrie Fisher
18. SEO is Dead… Long live SEO
• SEO is a big industry
• Keyword reporting is almost completely gone…
• The rate of change google algorithms incur are almost
impossible to keep up with
• Google is on to those trying to game the system
The industry is dead. Not the discipline.
20. Link Building: Watch your backlinks
Typically done through
traditional PR, with very
thorough vetting of the
sites
http://moz.com/researchtools/ose/anchors?site=www.psu.edu
21. Keyword Stuffing
• "Keyword stuffing" refers to the practice of
loading a webpage with keywords or numbers
in an attempt to manipulate a site's ranking in
Google search results
• Often these keywords appear in a list or
group, or out of context (not as natural prose)
• Filling pages with keywords or numbers
results in a negative user experience, and can
harm your site's ranking
• Focus on creating useful, information-rich
content that uses keywords appropriately and
in context
https://www.rankwise.net/gradschool.psu.edu
22. Tools You Can Use:
Τυχη μη πιστευε
Do Not Trust Fortune
28. SEO Page Comparison Tool
http://www.internetmarketingninjas.com/s
eo-tools/seo-compare/
29. Latent Semantic Indexing
(LSI) discovers semantically
related words and phrases.
The whole idea of using LSI
allows the search engines to
find highly relevant content
for any given search term.
When writing content for the
Internet, it is important to use
Latent Semantic Indexing
(LSI) or Keyword Theming as
it is often called.
Latent Semantic Keyword Generator
http://lsikeywords.com/
