Honest SEO

Transcript

1. Honest SEO m

2. @matthewcrist Matthew Crist

3. Search Engine Optimization

4. Clients Me

5. Clients Me “Our SEO guy...”

6. Clients Me “Our SEO guy...” “SEO said...” “That’s great, but

   our SEO guy...”

7. Upper Management

8. Upper Management Middle Management

9. Upper Management Middle Management Designers & Developers

10. Upper Management Middle Management Designers & Developers SEO Team

11. The Problem With SEO

12. SEOs Game the System

13. SEOs Game the System Search engine users complain

14. SEOs Game the System Search engine users complain Search engines

    update algorithms

15. SEOs Game the System Search engine users complain Search engines

    update algorithms Sites drop rankings

16. SEOs Game the System Search engine users complain Search engines

    update algorithms Sites drop rankings

17. This “dance” requires cash and resources.

18. 0 10 20 30 40 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

    2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Google Update Velocity

19. Too much above the fold Ad Content Links Ad Ad

    Links Some other useless thing

20. Too Much Crap Ad Links Ad Ad Links Some other

    useless thing Not enough content

21. Nefarious Inbound Links Unrelated Sites Related Sites Your Site

22. Bought links on various unrelated sites

23. Bought links on various unrelated sites Discovered by the New

    York Times

24. Bought links on various unrelated sites Discovered by the New

    York Times Delisted by Google

25. Content Farms

26. Demand Media

27. Demand Media Created thousands of content pieces

28. Demand Media Created thousands of content pieces Content quality was

    low.

29. Demand Media Created thousands of content pieces Content quality was

    low. Google lowered the boom and they lost $4.1 million.

30. Demand Media Created thousands of content pieces Content quality was

    low. Google lowered the boom and they lost $4.1 million. Also: Lance Armstrong's Legacy Is A Content Farm

31. Good SEO

32. Other 4% Bing 29% Google 67%

33. 1. Forget rankings Rankings don’t matter when measuring SEO success.

34. Traffic + Conversions SEO win

35. 2. Great Content

36. 2. Great Content it’s what people are looking for

37. 2. Great Content it’s what people are looking for it

    get’s shared socially

38. 2. Great Content it’s what people are looking for it

    get’s shared socially it goes viral

39. 2. Follow the guidelines Google and Bing both provide detailed

    guidelines to get great rankings. Google Webmaster Guidelines Bing Webmaster Guidelines http://cri.st/N42J http://cri.st/N3gY

40. “Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines.” -

    Google

41. Important Guidelines

42. Important Guidelines Accessibility is solid SEO

43. Important Guidelines Accessibility is solid SEO Don’t deceive your users

44. Important Guidelines Accessibility is solid SEO Don’t deceive your users

    Don’t participate in any linking schemes

45. Important Guidelines Accessibility is solid SEO Don’t deceive your users

    Don’t participate in any linking schemes Don’t stuff keywords

46. 3. Users over SEO Happy customers = Traffic

47. Happy Customers...

48. Happy Customers... Share your site via social networks

49. Happy Customers... Share your site via social networks Link to

    your site from their sites

50. Happy Customers... Share your site via social networks Link to

    your site from their sites Convert

51. 4. Keywords Don’t spend hours researching keywords.

52. 4. Keywords Don’t spend hours researching keywords. users don’t search

    rarely for exact match keywords

53. 4. Keywords Don’t spend hours researching keywords. users don’t search

    rarely for exact match keywords users search for answers to their problems

54. Implementing Good SEO

55. “...don’t spend money on aggressive search engine optimization.” - Paul

    Boag

56. Performance

57. Performance Use CSS3 instead of images

58. Performance Use CSS3 instead of images Cache and compress as

    much as possible

59. Performance Use CSS3 instead of images Cache and compress as

    much as possible Reduce HTTP requests

60. Performance Use CSS3 instead of images Cache and compress as

    much as possible Reduce HTTP requests Use CDNs for assets

61. Get people to link to your site, aka inbound links.

62. Get people to link to your site, aka inbound links.

    helps search engines determine your site’s importance

63. Get people to link to your site, aka inbound links.

    helps search engines determine your site’s importance must be natural

64. Get people to link to your site, aka inbound links.

    helps search engines determine your site’s importance must be natural must be from relevant sources

65. Link to your site from your site, aka internal links

66. Link to your site from your site aka internal links

    helps users find your content

67. Link to your site from your site aka internal links

    helps users find your content helps search engines find your content

68. Link to your site from your site aka internal links

    helps users find your content helps search engines find your content must be relevant and contextual

69. Link to your site from your site aka internal links

    helps users find your content helps search engines find your content must be relevant and contextual must not go overboard

70. HTML

71. HTML simple, semantic markup

72. HTML simple, semantic markup responsive design

73. HTML simple, semantic markup responsive design use rel attributes

74. HTML simple, semantic markup responsive design use rel attributes unobtrusive

    use of javascript

75. HTML simple, semantic markup responsive design use rel attributes unobtrusive

    use of javascript ARIA

76. HTML simple, semantic markup responsive design use rel attributes unobtrusive

    use of javascript ARIA Schema.org

77. Schema.org A collection of microformats that is recognized by all

    search engines.

78. ARIA HTML attributes that help define semantics.

79. Meta Tags

80. Meta Tags keywords

81. Meta Tags keywords

82. Meta Tags keywords description

83. Meta Tags keywords description author

84. Design your URLS

85. Design your URLS domain.com?post=1234

86. Design your URLS domain.com?post=1234

87. Design your URLS domain.com?post=1234 Design your URLS twitter.com/matthewcrist

88. None

89. <title>Beer - Wikipedia...</title>

90. <title>Beer - Wikipedia...</title> <meta name=”description” content=”{content}”>

91. <title>Beer - Wikipedia...</title> <meta name=”description” content=”{content}”> Google Authorship

92. <title>Beer - Wikipedia...</title> <meta name=”description” content=”{content}”> Google Authorship Sitelinks

93. http://bit.ly/refresh-boston-seo

94. Fin.