Download - Bing Webmaster Tools SEO 101 Webinar
SEO 101
Who’s the speaker today?
Duane Forrester
@duaneforrester
Bing Webmaster ToolsSpeaks at shows, runs forums and blog, provides guidance on new WM toolswww.bing.com/toolbox/webmasters
Does he have a clue?12+ years as an inhouse SEO; ran seo at MSN; has helped Disney, GAP, Walmart +http://www.linkedin.com/in/dforrester
And this helps me how?Blogging since 2001; owns 150 domains; makes money onlinehttp://twitter.com/DuaneForrester
what does duane do at bing
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…and today’s SEO theme is…
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I’m Boca!
I’m Diva!
Great content wins!
(now feed us…)
35,000 feet…
What we’ll touch on today• Where we started• Where we’re going• Why we’re going
there• What you can do• Why you should
care• Some tools to help
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SEO is simply a marketing tool
Throwing rocks Smoke signals
Mercantile shopsMail order catalogues
Billboards
Television
Radio
SocialEmail SEO PPCTrading
goods
Man’s History of Marketing
Image credit: www.conducthq.com
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History of SEO
Data credit: gossip.greenlightdigital.com/blog/the-history-and-evolution-of-seo/
• Keyword stuffing all the rage
• SE submissions help rankings
• Dawn of modern search engines w/Altavista
• Death of SE submissions
• SEO software works very well for #1 placements
• cloaking makes its appearance
• Google and MSN Search launch• Word spreads that links help
rankings• DMOZ launches and starts
directory movement
• Google Toolbar shows PR – drives link requests
• Google fights spam with Florida update; hurts legit sites
• Blogging takes off• Text Link Ads creates
network link buying
• First paid link network appears
• First SEO conference held: SE Strategies
1994
1999
2012
2011
2010
1995
1997
1998
2000
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
• Universal search appears • Text Link Ads banned by
Google• Wikipedia shows the future –
domain authority through content depth
• Nofollow tags appear; PR sculpting follows
• G Jagger/BigDaddy updates seek link spam
• XML sitemaps jointly supported by all engines
• Google notes the “sandbox”
• Link Farms appear
2013
• Google’s “Brand” update uses “trust signals” to restack SERP around brands • Bing partners
with Facebook to integrate social signals into SERPs
• rich snippets starting to be used by sites
• Canonical tag appears
• Caffeine rolls out allowing faster indexing – “real time” search is here
• Tweets integrated showing future of social influencing search
• Social signals
• Mobile• Gestures• Voice
• Google launches G+
• G launches +1, tells sites they rank better displaying it
• Bing expands social inclusion with FB, Twitter & 4Square
• Rich Snippets impacting SERPs
?
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What is SEO?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of improving a website to make it more relevant to searchers and search engines.
At it’s very core, SEO is about improving usability on a website.
What SEO is not…• Fast• Guaranteed• Once & done• Free
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The Secret to Success
The Basics
• Build social followers & fans organically
• Wall posts/tweets with links are perceived as more credible and useful
• Get the basics of SEO covered, then focus on content
• Its worth repeating: unique, compelling content still works
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The Secret to Success
Compelling Content
• The engines really respond to unique, useful content
• Your visitors respond to this as well
• It’s a wise investment of your time
• Don’t take shortcuts – limit syndicated content
image credit: http://mashable.com/2011/01/10/social-content-strategy/Your data, always fully provided.
The Secret to Success
Niche & Voice
• The Internet is B.I.G. Slice and dice to find your niche.
• Plenty of niche areas to explore/exploit – start your fight where you can dominate
• Choose your voice wisely; don’t be afraid to express an informed opinion
• Watch what users respond to, then amplify along those linesYour data, always fully provided.
The Secret to Success
Keyword Research
• Know exactly what users are searching for
• Data can help you uncover new niches or refine your focus
• Helps keep you focused on creating compelling content
• Got writers block? Check your keyword research for inspiration
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Let’s get a bit more technical
• SEO is not just content
• SEO can be affected by technical elements
• You need both
• Content can win, but technical SEO helps
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6 major investment areas for SEO
• Crawlability– Xml sitemaps– Navigational structure– Rich media cautions– Graceful degradation– URL structure– Robots.txt
• Site Structure– Internal Links– URL structure and keyword usage– Clean URLs – no extraneous parameters (sessions,
tracking, etc.)– HTML & XML sitemaps– Content hierarchy– Rel-canonical usage to manage duplication issues– Rich media – don’t bury links in Javascript/flash
/silverlight/AJAX– Responsive design for managing mobile & web
• On-Page– Head copy
• Titles – unique, relevant, 60 characters or so long• Descriptions – unique, relevant, grammatically correct,
160 or fewer characters
– Body Copy• H1, H2 and other H tag usage• ALT tag importance & usage• Keyword usage within the content/text • Anchor text – using target keywords to support other
internal pages
• Content– Build based on keyword research– Down-level experience enhances discoverability– Keep out of rich media and images– Produce new content frequently– Make it unique – don’t reuse content from other
sources– Content management – using 301s to reclaim value
from retiring content/pages– <LINK> canonical to help engines understand which
page should be indexed and have value attributed to it– 404 error page management to help cleanse old pages
from search engine indexes
• Links– Plan for incoming & outgoing link generation– Internal & external link management– Content selection – planning where to link to– Link promotion via social spaces – direct traffic & seo
value– Managing anchor text properly– URL structure can help insert keywords where they are
needed
• Social– Be an authority– Build your community– Interact often– Share useful content– Be consistent and useful– Grow facebook, twitter, pinterest, etc.
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Going mobile?
• Skip m. domains
• m. domains produce unwanted duplication
• Responsive design is your friend
• HTML5 can help
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• Don’t try to extrapolate from this graph• Importance is relative• Use as a guide – no item is unimportant
Where does SEO fit in?
Content Social User Experience Link Building SEO
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Search – you’re trying to solve…
QUALITY TIMELINESSPOPULARITYTRUST
When optimizing your site for search, you invest in these major areas
ContentLinks
Appearance
AuthorityUsefulnessResource
TrafficRepeat VisitsLinks
CurrentFresh
Relevant
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Search – we're trying to solve…
Imprecise Results Refinements Lengthy Tasks
1 in 4
delivers successful
results
44% of sessions lasting day
or more
42% of sessions
require refinements
ComScore and Microsoft Internal Analysis 2010Your data, always fully provided.
A Changing “Web of Objects”Real-Time Firehose Services
Devices MultimediaPlaces/Things
People
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A Changing Web of Your Objects
Schema.org can help
Mark up your contentYour data, always fully provided.
Search - Evolved
Deliver knowledge by computationally understanding user intent.
“home gym”
• Purchase• Install• Sell• Set fire to• Impress friends
• Who• Where• Others• Semantic• Research
Knowledge, Understanding& Better Results
ContentSocialMediaReal Time
+ Signals
“Linda” Query Intent Detection
Task Derivation
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Why social matters to search
• Signal of topical authority
• Real-time – engines want fresh content, fast
• Integrated social signals influence click actions of searchers
• Social signals remain only a few of thousands of signals for organic ranking
How users click on your results can impact rankings and when we show cues like your Facebook friends with results, click rates can be impacted.
http://www.kyleclouse.com/social-media-marketing/Your data, always fully provided.
Broaden your view
• What else will be considered “search”?
• Mobile image capturing
• Voice activated search
• APPs are refined search experiences
• Gestures could indicate search intent
• Look at kids today and the habits they are developing to help understand what they will need in the future from technologyThink about how people looking for your business will find you using the
technologies available to them. Smart phones, in-car systems, tablets, xBox, etc.
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Conversion optimization
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• Different sources must be handled differently
• Organic traffic is building trust
• Paid traffic is ready to open their wallets
• Email traffic is ready to buy…now
• Ensure your conversion path is short and sweet
• Off the shelf carts can usually be tweaked to gain improvements in conversions.
Tools should enable doing
Found @ Google WMT Found @ Bing WMT
crawl data
crawl rate configure
sitemap submissions
parameter handling
link data for your site
traffic stats
keyword data
messaging
block URLs
fetch as bot
crawl data
crawl rate configure
sitemap submissions
parameter handling
link data for your sitetraffic stats
keyword data
messaging
block URLs
fetch as bot
organic keyword researchrank stats
index stats
index tracker
canonical alerts
SEO reports
SEO analyzer
link explorer
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Organic keyword research tool revisions
Select multiple countries for the same languages
True organic data from Bing Search
Research multiple keywords at once
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Fetch As Bingbot
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Link explorer
Explore internal and external links
Explore links on your site and other sites
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SEO reporting
Runs automatically every other week
Scans all URLs for all sites you have verified
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SEO analyzer
On demand SEO scanning tool
More than 15 best practices checked
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SEO analyzer
1 2 3
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SEO analyzer
1 2 3
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SEO analyzer
1 2 3
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Wrapping up
• Content is the reason• Keyword research is a beacon• Quality is your watch word• Authority is your goal• Niche is your starting point• User Experience is your religion
…and use the free tools provided.
Thanks for your time!Duane Forrester
Sr. Product Manager - Bing
@duaneforrester
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