truth “SEO has evolved to become the result of an actual marketing strategy versus marketing tactics” Rae Hoffman Read the article: http://sugarrae.com/rants-in-bitchland/google-propaganda-marketers-wake-up/
seo planning is step 1 • rank cannot be bought • must be earned • seo is not an item to be left to the end • plan first • w/o planning, you’ll never get where you want to be Photo credit: Oatsy40
seo components • A strong SEO strategy has three core components: – links – content – social media • What's become more pronounced in the last year is the relationship between these elements. • Best user experience, e.g. mobile compatibility is no longer optional Read more: 5 SEO Trends Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know for 2014
expectations are blown apart... • Nothing is the same • No tricks • No games • No kidding. • Follow best practices Photo credit: Morgali Photography-House Explosion 2009.12.22 Ohio Ave Extension
panda rules • Summer 2011 • High‐quality, original • Trust • Authentic, interesting • Not full of ads • Involved • Useful/UX • Not overly optimized • Google notes Read Google’s post about quality: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2011/05/more-guidance-on-building- high-quality.html
penguin – this bird can’t fly • Debuted April 24, 2012 • Updated May 25, 2012 • rankings of websites that violate Google’s Webmaster Guidelines • demote black‐hat SEO tactics, e.g. link schemes Read Google’s Webmaster Guidelines: https://www.google.com/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf
hummingbird – nimble, fast • September 27, 2013, Google’s self‐given birthday gift, core algo • improved, more natural search • focused on natural speech • finding you precisely what you seek
Why strategy? If you put effort into planning your marketing and content strategy you you’ll have a higher success rate and also continue to execute based on a strategy, versus reacting to what is wrong due to lack of organization.
Google’s markup helper • Optimize Your WordPress Blog Content with Google’s Markup Helper • Google’s Markup Helper Read an article guiding you through how to optimize your WordPress blog content: http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2014/01/optimize-wordpress-blog-content-googles-markup-helper/ Use Google’s Markup Helper: https://www.google.com/webmasters/markup-helper/
wordpress SEO • Best in class • Light weight • Easy to configure • Updated regularly • Content analysis functionality • Optimize your sites titles and descriptions with the snippet preview. • Automatically generate XML Sitemaps
author, author • Rich snippets • Google Profile – rel=”author” and rel=”me” • Best writer about this is Joost de Valk aka Yoast http://yoast.com/wordpress‐rel‐author‐ rel‐me/ Learn from Google: What are rich snippets? https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/99170?hl=en