“Search engine optimization (SEO) is the
process of improving the visibility of a website
or a web page in a search engine's ‘natural,’ or
un-paid search results.”
– Wikipedia
Slide 5
Slide 5 text
3 Building Blocks of SEO
CONTENT
CONSTRUCTION COMMUNITY
Slide 6
Slide 6 text
Construction
How is your site built?
Slide 7
Slide 7 text
CONSTRUCTION
Web Best Practices:
Building your site so search engines (and your
visitors) can easily read it and figure out what
it is about
Slide 8
Slide 8 text
CONSTRUCTION
• Loads quickly
• Descriptive page titles and URLs
• HTML text (not images or Flash)
• Includes an XML sitemap
• SEO-friendly site platform
Slide 9
Slide 9 text
Content
What is your message?
Slide 10
Slide 10 text
CONTENT
Content is the most important part of
your website, and the most important part
of modern SEO
But often, people spend the least amount
of time on this
Slide 11
Slide 11 text
CONTENT
• Relevant
• Use of keywords
• Frequent updates
• Not redundant
• Good user experience
Slide 12
Slide 12 text
Content & Your Brand
What are you saying, and to whom
are you saying it?
Slide 13
Slide 13 text
CONTENT & YOUR BRAND
Know your audience.
Who is visiting? Who do you WANT to visit?
Know yourself.
What are your goals? Online sales, new readers,
building awareness, store visits?
Slide 14
Slide 14 text
CONTENT & YOUR BRAND
• Your location
• Your demographics
• Your competition
• Your unique value
• RESEARCH!
Slide 15
Slide 15 text
Keywords
How will people find you?
Slide 16
Slide 16 text
KEYWORDS
Keywords are the search terms that people
use to find information online
General, specific, locations, questions, etc.
Slide 17
Slide 17 text
KEYWORDS
• Suited to your business
• Commonly used for similar content
• Can be customized per page
• Realistically localized
• Used frequently (but not excessively) in
your content
Slide 18
Slide 18 text
Community
Who is talking about you?
Slide 19
Slide 19 text
COMMUNITY
Just like building a strong network in real life,
referrals are everything
Slide 20
Slide 20 text
COMMUNITY
• Links from outside sources
• Guest contributions to other sites
• Social media presence
• Industry-specific site presence
• Real-world referrals
Slide 21
Slide 21 text
COMMUNITY
Google Local/Google Places for Business
Slide 22
Slide 22 text
Personalized Search
How does the individual
user experience affect
search results?
Slide 23
Slide 23 text
PERSONALIZED SEARCH
Search results are affected by…
• Your Geographic Location
• Your Social Networks
• Your Past Activity
• Your Friends’ Activity
No two people will have the same search
results anymore
Slide 24
Slide 24 text
TOOLS & RESOURCES
• Check your website load speed
tools.pingdomcom/fpt
• SEO insight and other sweet business tips
SEOMoz.org/blog
• The SEO Content Beginner’s Guide
http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2012/01/17/seo-
content-beginners-guide
• Google SEO Starter Guide (PDF)
http://bit.ly/d29DIe