Search Engine Optimization

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“Geek Cred”

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Understanding Search Engines #1 for ―Search Engine Optimization Expert‖

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Agenda • Importance of Search Engine Visibility • Importance of Organic Search • Understanding Search Engines • The Search Engine Optimization process – On Page SEO – Off Page SEO • DIY vs. Outsourced • Measuring Results

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Where does our target audience consume info? Informational Watering hole

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Your website needs visibility to be effective Location, Location, Location

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Search replaced Yellow Pages How Do Clients Find Information?

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May account for as much as 60% of web traffic Search Engines

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Check PNM schedule for next class Importance of Social Media

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Exploring Search Engines Role of Search Engines ―Spiders‖ Crawl & Catalog The Web

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65.6 16.1 13.1 3.4 1.7 Google Yahoo Microsoft Ask AOL Search Engine Market Share

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Role of the Search Engine 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.

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Paid vs. Organic (Local/Social) Paid vs. Organic

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PAID vs. ORGANIC

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“Organic” Search Engine Placement

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How do they find out about websites? Search Engines ―Crawl‖ The Web

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Catalog Information 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.

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Only one on top. How to choose?

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Search Engine Optimization What is SEO How search engines think What works today What will work tomorrow

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What is SEO? ―Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a web site in search engines via the "natural" or un-paid ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results. – Wikipedia ―SEO is the manipulation of Google to achieve higher organic rankings in the SERPs‖ – Rob Bertholf

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On-Page Optimization

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What we see…

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What Search Engines see…

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“White Hat” vs “Black Hat”

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“Invisible” On-Page Optimization .HTACCESS robots.txt SiteMap.xml

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Domain / Page URL Optimization

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Search Optimized! Right? Well… Kind of…

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Search Engines Started out as Trusting I’m a Cat

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Google’s Jaded Response • Search engines are jaded because we abused them and only trust a small percent of what we say we are. • Google is impressed by popularity, majority of their value is derived by what people (other websites) say we are (links to our site). TWEET IT:

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PageRank reflects Google’s view of the importance of web pages by considering more than 500 million variables and 2 billion terms. Page Rank Algorithm

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Off-Page Optimization

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Recommendations

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Recommendations = Inbound Links

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Relevance & Authority of Inbound Links • Recommendations from friends 1. ―I know Rob Bertholf‖ 2. ―Rob Bertholf is a SEO expert‖ 3. Google: ―Bertholf is a SEO expert‖ Links are online recommendations • 1. A link: www.Bertholf.com • 2. Anchor text: Search Engine Optimization Expert • 3. Link is from a trusted website

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Google Updates & How to respond

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First Things to Check • Sitemaps • Duplicate Title Tags • Crawl Errors • Content Quality

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De-Optimize Your Site • Max 10 keywords in Meta Tags (or remove) • Max 3 keywords per page • Reduce keyword density greater than 5% • Increase words per page greater than 500 • Reduce unrelated outgoing links • Careful for links from high PR without relevance • Make sure anchor text is more natural – Avoid too much direct match keywords in anchor text • Avoid Sitewide Links: This can give you links from irrelevant pages

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Get Social • Add Social Sharing • Make it Easy to Share your Content

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Local SEO

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How does Google get its information? • Database supplied business information • Submitted business information • Detailed Web references • Trusted data feeds • User Generated Content — does not strongly influence ranking

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Local SEO Tips • Claim your profile Google+, Bing Local, Yahoo Local – Ensure all information is filled out (images etc.) • Make sure your address is correct on all sites referencing your company • Ensure you have review site profiles with correct information • Ask for Reviews (even a few Bad reviews are ok)

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Local SEO Tips • Add a local phone number to your site (text, not image) • Have a physical mailing address on each page

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Keyword Research

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Keyword Research

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Determine Possible Keywords • What industry terms would you type into a search engine? • What laymen terms would your friends type in? • What terms are your competitors using?

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Identify the Search Volume • Which keywords are actually being searched for? • Find out at: https://adwords.google.com/o/KeywordTool

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Google Webmaster Tools

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Google Webmaster Tools TWEET IT:

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Google Webmaster Tools • Health – Malware – Crawl Errors/Stats – Blocked URLs • Traffic – Search Queries – Links to your Site – Internal Links – +1 Report • Optimization – Sitemaps – Content Keywords

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Website Validator http://validator.w3.org/

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Web Hosting/Platform Reliable Host Site uptime Page Load time Content Management System (CMS) WordPress Drupal

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WordPress SEO Plugin http://validator.w3.org/

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“Do It Yourself” vs “Do It For Me” TWEET IT:

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Doing SEO Yourself • It’s not rocket science. • Content is Queen (Links are King, Conversion is the Ace in Spades) • Read a lot of blogs. • Invest in great tools. • Start small and work your way up. • Track, so you learn what works • Avoid any quick ranking tricks

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Link Building Tips • Local Partners – Chamber of Commerce, Suppliers, Customers, Local Charities, etc. • Content – Start a blog, join the blogosphere – Create a tool, videos, photos • Press Releases • Social Media – Google+ Links – Tweets with Link – Facebook Post with Link (which is liked) • Answers, Forums, Wikis

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DIY Tools • SEOmoz.org – Well worth $80/month • WebCEO.com TWEET IT:

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Hiring an SEO Consultant • They should be able to explain to you in simple language what determines rank. • They should explain everything to you. • They should require good content. • Their website is optimized • Their reference websites are optimized. • They measure results in leads/goal conversion. • It will take 3 to 12 months. ($$$) • You get what you pay for. Invest in great tools to track them.