Search Engine Optimization

#1 Google ranked "Search engine optimization expert" @Rob Bertholf shares his insight on improving your search engine placement and content marketing success. Desired takeaways include how search engines think, factors to increasing your authority and various tools & tactics for online success.

Transcript

1. Search Engine Optimization Marketing for Robots: Part 1 of 2 w/ @Rob Bertholf
2. @Rob’s Geek Cred Google Search Engine Optimization Expert Out of over 22,500,000 Results #1 in @Rob PATENT APPLICATION #US20060294199
3. Search Engine Optimization Expert Google Search Engine Optimization Expert @Rob Bertholf | Search Engine Optimization Expert rob.bertholf.com Hi, I’m @Rob on Twitter. California guy living in Honolulu, Hawaii the last 10 years. I teach at University of Hawaii’s PNM program and I am passionate about Development, Social Marketing Strategy, Web Analytics & Conversion optimization. Search engine optimization - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization About 22,500,000 Results #1 in
4. @Rob’s Marketing Courses HUMANS DOLLARS ROBOTS
5. Overview Theory On-Page Part 2: Linkbuilding Search Engines Part 1: Search Engines & You
6. • What is a Search Engine • Factors to Search Engine authority • On-Page Optimization • Tools & Tactics Desired Takeaways
7. Understanding Search Engines What does it do and how does it work?
8. What is a Search Engine?
9. Search Engines Timeline 1990: Archie - Query Form (First Search Engine) 1993: Excite / ALIWEB 1994: WebCrawler (First Crawler) 1994: Infoseek & Yahoo (Directories) / LYCOS 1996: Inktomi (Pioneered Paid Inclusion) 1997: Ask/AskJeeves (Natural Language Saearch) 1998: Microsoft launches MSN 1998/9: Google 2009: Bing
10. Search Engine Market Share Statistics provided by Net Market Share
11. Search Engine Anatomy
12. PAID PAID ORGANIC
13. Paid vs. Organic Easy to Find Hard to Find Money is Being Spent Money Is NOT being spent
14. How does a Search Engine find my site?
15. Search Engines “Crawl” the Web
16. Catalog or “Index” Findings Spiders “Crawl” the internet looking for new web sites which are posted, linked to, or has its content altered. They catalog their findings which are then available to search.
17. Only one can be on top, how to choose?
18. How does a Search Engine rank my site?
27. Optimizing for Search Engines What is their angle anyway?
28. What to know about SEO...
29. Forget everything you think you know about SEO
30. ... most of it anyway • Meta Keywords (are not used) • Link Exchanges (can get you penalized) • Keyword Density (can get you penalized) • Page w/outbound Links (always been useless)
31. Can we please let SEO die already & focus instead on content development & marketing?
32. Authority still assigned through recommendations.
33. Recommendations = Inbound Links Other Websites Your Website Local Directory Guest Blogging Press Releases Mentions Social Signals
34. Authority validated by social signals.
35. OPTIMIZED HOST AND PLATFORM FRESH QUALITY CONTENT SOCIAL INBOUND LINKS
36. How to look at SEO...
37. If it is good for Humans, it is good for Search Engines Google wants to serve relevant content wrapped in a positive user experience.
38. The role of a search engine is to help a user find what they are looking for on the web. By using keywords and phrases, the search engine finds the most relevant results for what the user is looking for.
39. Successful Website Formula (Search Engines like this too)
40. Reliable Web Host
41. Reliable Web Host • What is the point of a website if its down and people can’t see it? • Page loading speed directly affects time on site & conversion. • Re-think shared hosting, get dedicated IP address at a minimum.
42. Reliable Web Host • Ensure your website is up when Googlebot visits your site. • SE’s want to serve best experience, site usage matters. • Don’t be on the same IP as spammer.
43. Content Management
44. Content Management System • Keep your website content fresh. CMS like WordPress make it easy to publish content. • Make it easy for your content to be shared. Add social sharing widgets from a library of plugins in seconds. • Make it easy to remember and share your link. Dynamically create “slugs” or permalinks to construct URIs.
45. Recommended WordPress Plugins • Wordpress SEO Write better content and have a fully optimized Wordpress site • Redirection Easily manage 301 redirections and keep track of 404 errors from Wordpress admin • Broken Link Checker Check your posts, comments and other content for broken links and missing images • Google XML Sitemaps Generate a special XML sitemap which will help search engines better index your blog. • W3 Total Cache Improve site performance & user experience via caching and content delivery network support. • Google Analytics for Wordpress Track your statistics to find ways to improve • Jetpack or DiggDigg Add social media sharing widget to make it easy for your visitors to share your content. • Disqus Comment System Make it easy for visitors to post comments to your blog.
46. Content Management System • Fresh content brings the spiders back quicker. • Social Shares validate content. • Make it easy for SE’s to catalog your content. • Place keywords in your URL’s to increase relevance.
47. Responsive Website Design
48. Responsive Site Design • Better for visitors to browse your website from any device (Desktop Computer, Laptop, Tablet, Smart Phone) • Take mobile seriously! Quickly surpassing desktop traffic. • Ease of navigation is important.
49. Responsive Site Design • Search engines prefer mobile friendly sites • Ease of navigation helps visitors find more content
50. Attention to Detail
51. Attention to Detail • No broken links or images. • No misspellings or poor grammar. • Generate unique content.
52. Attention to Detail • If you don’t care about your content why should Google • Duplicate content is not counted
53. Created Content -- Got Links
54. Craft Compelling Content • What is the point of driving traffic to your website your visitors do not find value from the content on your site. • Be consistent and realistic • Review analytics to check content performance
55. Start with Keyword Research Create a content marketing plan!
56. Answer these questions: 1. What words would be used to refer to my brand? 2. What words would people use to request my product or service? 3. If my product/service is the answer, what is the question? 4. Who would ask the question?
57. Brand Nike Product Running Shoes Topical Running Customer Health
58. Keyword Exercise Branded Keywords (Company Name, Product Names, Trademarks, Executive Staff) BRAND/REPUTATION MANAGEMENT CUSTOMER SERVICE Setup alerts for these keywords. Industry (Product/Service) Keywords (Generic Product/Service Names) CUSTOMER ACQUISITION SEO Optimize and listen for these keywords Topical Keywords (Related to but not specific to a cause/service/product) CONTENT TOPICS CAMPAIGNS & HASHTAGS Create content around these keywords Customer/Lifestyle Keywords (Result of product/service or words which describe the consumer) CONTENT CURATION/ PARTNERSHIPS Identify content partners and build campaigns around.
59. adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner
60. Watch the full video on how to conduct a keyword research exercise Find more information at http: //RobBertholf.com
61. Craft Compelling Content • Time on site IS a ranking factor with search engines. • Inbound links increase your search ranking. • Google’s PANDA gives “Quality Score”
62. Earned Links • Create compelling content ◦ Engaging content = Engaged visitors = Shares ◦ Earn inbound links by creating great content. • Originate content from your website/blog
63. Build Authority & Network
64. Google’s Authorship • Google’s Authorship replacing the PageRank • Matching content to the author rather than just domain name
65. Get Social
66. Social Shares (Links) • Place sharing widget/icons on your site • Share your content out to social networks • Encourage advocates to share your content (SurroundsMe)
67. Share your content • Social Signals are largely weighted. • Without social validation, traditional link building will fall flat.
68. Focus on creating a positive visitor experience
69. Optimizing On- Page Technical tips for a better crawl.
70. Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) The language of the web
71. HTML: The Language of the Web Markup language which your web browser (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, etc.) converts to what we see as a website.
72. What Humans See Right Click>View Source
73. What Robots See
75. On-Page Tips • Optimize page titles using your primary keyword of the page • Use a variation of the keyword in the heading • Pay attention to your websites path, consider using a keyword (do not go overboard and get spammy)
76. Constructing URL http://blog.example.com/topics/subtopic/page-name#top Protocol Sub Domain Domain Top-Level Domain Folder / Sub Folder Page Named Anchor
77. Watch the full video on what On-Page factors are important for SEO Learn more HTML & On-Page SEO tips at http://RobBertholf.com
78. Link Building Tactics Ugh… if we must...
79. Link Building Tips • Unlearn what you know about SEO • Natural mix of Branded and Non-Branded anchor text • Stay away from Blog Rolls, Low-Quality Directories, anything spammy.
80. Types of Inbound Links • Earned. Inbound links attracted by generating quality content. • Social. Not technically a link, but social shares on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter can influence search rankings. • Owned. Links from other websites of yours, from social profiles etc. • Requested. Manually reaching out to bloggers, publishers or webmasters asking them to link to your site. (Caution!)
81. Owned Links • In Google+, list all your websites you contribute to • From your site link out to all of your social networks, ensure they link back to your site • Claim Tumblr, Wordpress.com, etc.
82. Recommendations = Inbound Links Personal Website Business Website Directory: Yelp, FindLaw & TripAdvisor Microsite Guest Blogging News & Press Release
83. Requested Links • Identify influencers, share their content and ask them to share yours. • Establish relationships with relevant reputable bloggers • Social Advocacy tools: Surrounds.Me
84. Local SEO Tactics
85. Tools What do the pro’s use?
86. Google/Bing Webmaster Tools google.com/webmasters bing.com/toolbox/webmaster
87. Google Analytics google.com/analytics
88. SEO Moz moz.com (Paid) moz.com/researchtools/ose (Free)
89. SurroundsMe surrounds.me 40% off discount code: “UHPNM”
90. Cleanup Reversing penalties & cleaning up from poor SEO tactics
91. Algorithm Changes
92. Cleanup • Disavow https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/2648487 • Reconsideration https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35843
93. Recap & Takeaways
94. Takeaways • Holistic marketing efforts • Less focus on rank, more focus on traffic source & conversion. • Setup goal tracking and trace lead sources. • Improve content performance through analytics. Identify pages with high exit ratio or other factors resulting in poor performance.
95. Google Webmaster Guidelines Google wants your website to be better. Learn from their Webmaster Guidelines http://support. google.com/webmasters/bin/ answer.py?hl=en&answer=35769
96. Questions? Continued in Part 2 @Rob Rob@Bertholf.com
97. What were your thoughts? Please tweet: “Just finished #SocialMedia #Strategy course with @Rob. It was _________”
98. Aloha! @Rob http://robbertholf.com rob@bertholf.com