How to set up and maintain effective SEO programs

July 30, 2013

What is SEO• SEO stands for “search engine optimization.”

It is the process of getting traffic from the “free,” “organic,” “editorial” or “natural” listings on search engines. All major search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing have such results, where web pages and other content such as videos or local listings are shown and ranked based on what the search engine considers most relevant to users. Payment isn’t involved, as it is with paid search ads.

• http://searchengineland.com/guide/what-is-seo

Why Google

• Why Google? Google is by far the most popular search engine. 75% of users prefer Google compared with 15% Yahoo and 10% Bing . What's more, Google places importance on ranking factors (the criteria used to rank websites) differently to other search engines so we should optimize specifically for Google first.

What is Keyword Research

• What is a keyword?

• A keyword is a search phrase entered in the search engine to find a product or service.

• Example: “Chinese Drywall Florida"

Keyword Research 101• Why is Keyword Research so important?

• Time = Money

• Before I spend my time doing SEO on my site I want to be ranking for the right keywords.

• It's not always about getting visitors to your site, but about getting the right kind of visitors.

• Ranking for the "right" keywords can make or break your website.

How Do I do Keyword Research

• Google Keyword Tool(exact match)

• Sem Rush

On-site Optimization

• On page: Let's begin with some on page basics. What do we see when we type in a search term? Search results throw up a series of 512px boxes composed of elements when you type in a search term, like this:

On page optimization

• Title tag – or 'heading' snippet.

• URL – your domain name / and your page title or name.

• Meta description – Also called a 'snippet'. The meta description or meta tag may not be a powerful ranking factor. A relevant description will still convert better than a bad one (this is what customers see after all).

On Page Optimization• TIP 1: Place Keywords at the beginning of the title and anywhere in the

heading. keep it relevant.

• TIP 2: Name your pages. If your site is built in Wordpress a relevant plug-in like ‘Wordpress SEO or ‘All In One SEO' will guide you.

• TIP 3: A meta tag snippet only contains 160 characters or so, a title snippet 62 or so. Keep it relevant, focused and use keywords.

On Page Optimization • TIP 4: Now look at your web pages and

content keywords. You don't have to 'stuff' keywords into your website's pages to rank well. In fact that may harm you. Write for people first and search engines second. As a rule of thumb a 1% ratio is fine. That's 5 keywords for every 500 word article.

• TIP 5: Now look at your links. Does the anchor text (the hyperlink) include any keywords? Consider using them.

On Page SEO

• How do I analyze my on page optimization

• SEO Quake Firefox plugin

Backlinking• Backlinks, also known as incoming links, inbound links, inlinks,

and inward links, are incoming links to a website or web page. In basic link terminology, a backlink is any link received by a web node (web page, directory, website, or top level domain) from another web node.[1]

• Inbound links were originally important (prior to the emergence of search engines) as a primary means of web navigation; today, their significance lies in search engine optimization (SEO). The number of backlinks is one indication of the popularity or importance of that website or page (for example, this is used by Google to determine the PageRank of a webpage). Outside of SEO, the backlinks of a webpage may be of significant personal, cultural or semantic interest: they indicate who is paying attention to that page.

What kind of backlinksWide Variety of Backlinks all pointing back to your website:

Blog Posts

Blog Comments

Edu and Gov

Youtube

Google Plus ones

Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Blog

• Fresh content is key to ranking well. Do you have a blog? Do you update your site regularly? Do you write for other websites? Are you linking back to your site? Are you sharing fresh content in social media channels – which brings me nicely on to Killer Backlinking strategies – Let's get social.

Facebook

• Make sure to set up a Facebook business page and have a link pointing back to your website

• Get people to share your content on Facebook

• Make sure you put a URL in your images

• Share blog posts on your fan page

Youtube

• Did you know Google owns YouTube? It makes sense to optimize videos, and you never know it could go viral. Use this 3 step strategy to rank videos higher:

• The first step is to make a good video! Then zero in on the exact keyword you would like to rank for.

• Keyword stack. Keyword at the front and again in the title. Name your file with the same keyword.

• Point links back to your video. Then point back to your site in the description. Think social bookmarks and other video sites for link juice.

Google Plus

• What is Google Plus

• Google Plus is Google social network (aka Facebook)

• Set up a business page

• Get users to plus one your content to their friends

Google Authorship

• What is Google authorship

Google authorship booster. Remember I said Google is looking for engaging content? To allow Google to track content and verify, and for users to discover good content fill out a form at this address: www.https://plus.google.com/authorshipand get a groovy portrait on your search result.

Wordpress Plugin Google Authorship

Google Webmaster Tools

• Submit a site map

• Gives you access to information about your website

• Wordpress Google Site Map

Questions