seo 101 webinar 10 25-2012

Francis SkipperVP of Digital Marketing

617-259-1605

francis@451marketing.com

linkedin.com/in/francisskipper

@fskip

www.451Marketing.com

#451Workshop

A Beginner’s Guide to SEO

Agenda…• Intro to SEO• Code, Content, Connections• On Page SEO• Off Page SEO• Open Q & A

Search engine popularity has increased

4,717,000,000 Per Day

Worldwide, 1,722,071,000,000 searches conducted on Google last year.

(Yes, that’s trillion)

What is SEO?• SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the

process of improving a website to make it more relevant to searchers and search engines.

• AKA:• Natural search• Organic search

What SEO is NOT…

• Paid Search (but it’s also not free)

• Fast

• Guaranteed

• Fire & forget

SEO Has Three Core ComponentsContentCode Connections

• Crawlability• HTML• XML sitemaps• URL Structure• Robots.txt• Navigation• 301’s• 404’s• Canonical

• On-Page• Keyword Density• Title Tags• Meta tags• H1, H2 etc• Anchor Text• Navigation

• Linking• Directories• Social, blogs, articles• Press releases• Partners• Internal links

Paid Results

OrganicResults

Search Engine Results Page (SERP)SearchQuery

Code

Code - Technical Considerations User Input Requirements Site Security Cookie Implementation Robots.txt Frames Broken Links & 404 Trapping Server Load Balancing URL Redirection <Noscript> Tags Internal Navigational Elements Internal Linking Domain and URL structure Session IDs Flash

Technical issues limit search index

inclusion

Check for Indexing

Use the “site:” command on Google, Bing, & Yahoo.

If site is not indexed, need to find what is preventing search engines from crawling.

Optimized URL

Short, descriptive urls are optimal.

It is very important the url for your webpage contains your keyword phrase and is no longer than 100 characters.

Search Friendly URLshttp://www.451marketing.com/services/search-marketing/

Search UN-Friendly URLs

SEO Friendly URL - Solutions• Wordpress: Turn on “pretty permalinks”• Drupal: Install URL alias plugin• Magento: Install SEO Links• LAMP/WAMP: use .htaccess and mod rewrite*• IIS 7.0: URL Rewrite extension*

*Get your developer to do it

Information Architecture

As few clicks as possible for user to get to content they are searching for

RedirectsThe Power of 301 Redirects

Robots.txtWhat is Robots.txt?The robots exclusion protocol (REP), or robots.txt is a text file webmasters create to instruct robots (typically search engine robots) on how to crawl & index pages on their website.

http://www.451marketing.com/robots.txt

Robots.txt

Best way to insure blocking by spiders?<meta name="robots" content="noindex">

Block all spiders and bots:User-agent: *Disallow: /

Block a specific spider from a folder:User-agent: GooglebotDisallow: /uploads/

Content

Everything in SEO, and broader online marketing, starts with content

Content - Performance Considerations Site Optimization Tags Content Gaps Optimizing Website Content Internal Linking Convention Mirror Domains and

Duplicate Content Sub-Domain Strategy

Opportunities to increase search visibility

Keyword ResearchTo get optimal traffic from search engines, need to create content around ht

Keyword ResearchHow can you find the best keywords to include in your content?

Before You:• Consult a keyword tool• Analyze keyword density• Rewrite any content

Sit down and perform a Google search.

Keyword ResearchAnalyze SERPS for Your Keywords

• Who is ranking? • What are they doing effectively?• Create a list of competitors • Is your search too broad?• Can you add modifiers?

Keyword Research

Q: For what Google search should you rank #1?

A: “innovative, creative, game-changing”

Q: What do you do/make/sell?

A: “Oh. Cloud-based storage for small business”.

“Keyword Research begins by admitting that you may not have all the data” – Totally wise man

Keyword Research

Determining User IntentNavigational Queries

80%of all Searches

Transactional Queries

Informational Queries

The Long Tail

Keyword Research

I. Brainstorm Search QueriesKeyword Research

• What would users who know my products type in? • e.g. full suspension mountain bikes

• What about users who don’t know about my products?• e.g. mountain bike car racks

• What are some searches I DON’T want to show up for?• e.g. BMX bikes

II. Research Chosen KeywordsKeyword Research

adwords.google.com/o/KeywordToolwww.wordtracker.comwww.keyworddiscovery.comwww.compete.comwww.spyfu.com

II. Research Chosen KeywordsKeyword Research

Use “Exact Match”

Be careful about “Phrase” + “Broad”

Google Trends

http://www.google.com/trends

Internal Search Logs

#2 Searched Term: “bed spreads”

Competitive Research

Restrict queryto competitor’s

domain

On Page SEO

Optimized Titles and HeadingsThese are the strongest on-page indicators to the crawlers of what your content is about.

Title Tag

Heading (H1 Tag)

Keyword Density

Percentage of times a keyword appears

on a web page compared to the total number of

words on the page

(Nkr/Tkn) * 100

Rule of Thumb: 4% - 250-500 wordshttp://tools.seobook.com/general/spider-test/

Optimize HTML TagsView Source

Right click web page and select view source

Primary objectives should be accomplishedfrom the homepage

Optimize HTML TagsTitle Tag

Title tag is main text that describes an online document. It is the single most important on-page SEO element (behind overall content) and appears in three key places

I. BrowserII. SERPIII. External Websites

(esp. social media sites)

Optimize HTML TagsTitle Tag

Optimal FormatPrimary Keyword - Secondary Keyword | Brand Name or Brand Name | Primary Keyword and Secondary Keyword

Best PracticesLess than 70 characters, as this is the limit Google displays in search results

Optimize HTML TagsMeta Description

Meta Descriptions, provide concise explanations of the contents of web pages.

They are used by search engines on search result pages to display preview snippets for a given page

Optimize HTML TagsMeta Description and Tags

The meta description should employ the keywords and create compelling description that a searcher will want to click

Direct relevance to the page and uniqueness between each page’s meta description is key

Best to keep meta descriptions between 150-160 characters

Optimize HTML TagsH1 Tag

At a minimum, make sure that your primary keyword or phrase for the page is enclosed in an H1 tag

Optimize HTML TagsMeta Keywords

The meta tags are the main keywords for the page

Address & Phone NumberAdd to every page

Company NameStreet AddressCity, State Zip555-555-5555

Copyright DateEnsure it is updated annually

Check Browser Compatibility

View site in Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari.

Remember to do this on Mac and PC

Set Up Google Analytics

Sign up/verify Google Analytics.

Let GA run for two weeks before doing any SEO to determine a baseline

Evaluate Visual Design of Site

If site drives people away, no amount of SEO will help

Off Page SEO

Ranking Factors

43%

The Basicsof

Link Building

#1 - Manual Link Submissions/Requests

#2 - Competitive Link Research/Acquisition

#3 - Linkbait & Viral Campaigns

#4 - Link Reclamation

SEO Tools

• Bing Webmaster Tools • Google Analytics• Google Webmaster tools• Google Trends• SEOMOZ• Raven Tools• Rex Swain Http viewer

Questions

Francis SkipperVP of Digital Marketing

617-259-1605

francis@451marketing.com

linkedin.com/in/francisskipper

@fskip

www.451Marketing.com

#451Workshop

– National Communications Agency Founded in 2004

– 30 Experienced PR, Social Media, and Search Marketing Professionals

– Named a 2011 & 2012

Integrated Communications Campaigns

The experienced team at 451 Marketing specializes in integrating public relations, social media, and search marketing tactics into dynamic communications campaigns. We work with brands to build awareness, engage customers, and drive business using custom, integrated communications campaigns.