Search Engine Optimisation

A quick & dirty intro guide to playing tag with search engines

Barry AdamsSenior Digital Marketer for SearchPierce Communications

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Barry Adams credentials

Senior Digital Marketer for Search at Pierce Communications

Previous:SEO & PPC consultant for the Independent News & Media

(Belfast Telegraph, nijobfinder, nicarfinder, Property News)Web Consultant to SMEs in the Netherlands In-house webmaster and digital marketer for Honeywell &

Philips

Search blogger on State of Search (www.stateofsearch.com) and Search News Central (www.searchnewscentral.com)

Prolific twitterer (@badams)

Who is this guy and why is he teaching SEO?

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Agenda

What is SEO?

How do you do SEO?

1

2

3

Why is SEO important?

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What is SEO?1

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Wikipedia: Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the "natural" or un-paid ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results.

Getting more relevant traffic to websites via search engines' organic results.

Search Engine Optimisation

Definition of SEO

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2 Why is SEO important?

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Search Engines

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UK Search Engine Market Shares

Google Bing Yahoo! AOL Ask Other

SE Market Share 2010

Google 92.03% Bing 3.17%

Yahoo! 2.95% AOL 0.91% Ask 0.85% Other 0.09%.

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Some Relevant Statistics

Search Engine Usage 89% of all online purchases in the UK begin with a search 92% of all UK Internet users choose Google as their preferred search engine Organic search results receive over 75% of all clicks 91% of users do not look past the first page of search results

Worldwide Internet Usage 2 billion users online Dec 2009: 131 billion searches (that’s more than 49,000 searches/second)

51.4 milion users (82.5% of the population) In April 2010, Google received 4.1 billion search page views in the UK The UK internet economy is worth £100 billion = 7.2% of UK gross domestic

product

UK Internet Usage

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Google

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Search Engine Results Page (SERP)

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Organic (natural) Results

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Paid Advertising (PPC: Google Adwords)

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Google Instant & Google Suggest

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Verticals & Search Refinements

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Universal Search

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News Results

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Image Results

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Video Results

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Local Results (Google Maps)

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How do you do SEO?3

Generic SEO Tools

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Google Analytics- Free world-class web analytics- Know what is happening on your website- SEO purposes: discover which keywords drive the most traffic & sales- Will help you identify your strengths and weaknesses- http://google.com/analytics/

Rankchecker (Firefox plugin)- Free tool to check where your website ranks in Google for a given set of

keywords- Not 100% accurate: rankings are fluid (personalised results, local results, etc.)- http://tools.seobook.com/firefox/rank-checker/

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SEO is about two things:

Keywords Links Keywords match a search query to

a webpage. Links determine which webpage

ranks highest.

The SEO process

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KeywordResearch

On-Page Optimisation

Linkbuilding

Find the right keywords to optimise for

Implement those keywords on the website Make the website search-engine friendly

Build links to the website to increase its authority

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KeywordResearch

Find the right keywords to optimise for.

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Keyword Research

Start with a basic set of keywords related to the website and the industry it operates in- engagement ring, diamond engagement ring, gold engagement ring

Use a keyword tool to expand the list and research competitive info- wedding ring, wedding band, platinum bands, white gold engagement rings,

cheap engagement rings, custom engagement rings, hand-made wedding rings, design your own wedding ring, celtic wedding rings, ...

Refine the list to a set of target keywords- diamond engagement rings, celtic wedding rings, gold wedding rings, platinum

wedding bands, white gold engagement rings

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The Long Tail

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Keyword Research ToolsGoogle Adwords Keyword Tool – http://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

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Google Adwords Keyword Tool

Advanced options: country & language settings

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Google Adwords Keyword Tool

Match Types: Broad / [Exact] / “Phrase”

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Keyword Research Tools

Wordtracker - http://wordtracker.com/

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Keyword Research Tools

Google Trends – google.com/trends

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Keyword Research Tools

Google Suggest

Keyword Research

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Tips and advice:

Make sure your target keywords are relevant to the website’s business

Go for keywords that you can actually rank for (hint: ‘car insurance’ is probably out of your league)

Try to mix generic keywords (‘wedding ring’) with long-tail keywords (‘white gold engagement ring’)

Don‘t rely too much on keyword tools, their data isn‘t 100% accurate – use common sense

Monitor your SEO results to find out which keywords perform the best, and focus your efforts there

Re-do your keyword research for ongoing clients regularly

The SEO process

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On-Page Optimisation

Implement those keywords on the website Make the website search-engine friendly

On-Page Optimisation

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Search Engines rank webpages – not websites

Build a page around a theme and stick with it:

One page about wedding rings

One page about engagement rings

One sub-page about white gold engagement rings

Don’t stuff a webpage full of keywords – moderation is key

Always keep the end user in mind – don’t write for search engines, write for users!

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On-Page Optimisation

Title tag

Meta Description tag

Headlines and paragraph structure

Body text

Image alt attribute

+++++

URLs

Internal links

Sitemap (HTML and XML)

+++

Elements to be optimised:

On-Page Optimisation

<title>Digital Marketing Training Courses from the Digital Marketing Institute</title>

Start with your focus keyword, end with your brand name (you can use separators like – and | )

Keep it short – 65-70 characters Unique title for every page on your website Usually shown on SERPs (but not always)

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Title tag+

On-Page Optimisation

<meta name=‘description’ content=‘The Digital Marketing Institute (DMI) provides online marketing training courses on a range of digital marketing throughout Ireland: Dublin, Cork and’>

Not a ranking factor – but a very important click-through factor SERPs only show 150 characters – but no guarantee they’ll actually

show your description. Try to include the focus keyword once

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Meta Description tag+

On-Page Optimisation

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Headlines and paragraph structure+

<H1> headline

<H2> subheader

<H3> subheaders

<p> paragraphs

Allows SEs to understand the content and its context

On-Page Optimisation

Write for users, not for search engines More content = better for search engines Less content = better for users Minimum 200 words (rough guideline) Include your focus keyword(s) and synonyms Write naturally and make it readable Don’t stuff it full of keywords

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Body text+

Find the right balance

On-Page Optimisation

Make images relevant to the content Include a relevant alt attribute – preferably containing (part of) the

focus keyword Can you think of a better alt attribute than the one above?

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Image alt attribute+

<img src="http://digitalmarketinginstitute.ie/files/2008/11/ireland-map.jpg" alt="Ireland Map with pins">

On-Page Optimisation

Bad URL:http://domain.com/default.aspx?p=43351&s=abx&ref=ps-2301-g&…

Good URL: http:// domain.com/wedding-rings/platinum-wedding-band.html

Don’t overdo it – no keyword stuffing Use a logical structure that makes sense to humans

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URLs+

On-Page Optimisation

Link from top to bottom Link sideways & diagonally Use keywords in the link

Wrong:To read more about wedding rings, click here.

Right: Read more about wedding rings.

Use breadcrumb links

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Internal links+

On-Page Optimisation

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Sitemap (HTML and XML)+ HTML Sitemap:

- Webpage listing all (relevant) pages on the website- Allows users to quickly find the page they’re looking for- Allows search engines to index all pages on your website

XML Sitemap:- XML file containing all webpages on a website that you want to get indexed- Can also include images and videos- Gives more information to search engines: update frequency, importance,

preferred URL, date of last change.- Never a replacement for a good indexable website!

On-Page Optimisation

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Hidden text (white text on a white background)- don’t use it, it doesn’t work and may get you penalised.

Meta Keywords tag- mostly useless but for completion’s sake you can fill it in.

Keyword Stuffing- doesn’t work and may get you penalised.

Shockwave Flash- invisible to search engines so don’t use it if you don’t have to

JavaScript- mostly invisible so be careful when using it

Lies, Myths, and Disinformation:

On-Page Optimisation Tools

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XENU Link Sleuth- http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html- Indexes all pages of a website - data is exportable to Excel- Use to create XML sitemap & diagnose title tags, meta descriptions, internal

linking, and indexation issues

Firebug (Firefox plugin)- http://getfirebug.com/- Use to diagnose header tags, image alt attributes

Google Webmaster Tools- http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/- Representation of how Google sees your website- Great data!- Pay attention to the warnings

Google Webmaster Tools

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The SEO process

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Linkbuilding Build links to the website to increase its authority

Linkbuilding

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Links determine a page’s authority Higher authority = higher ranking on SERPs More links = higher authority Not all links are equal

- 1 valuable link from a high authority website > 100 links from low-quality sites

Link text is very important- Branded link: Pierce Communications- Keyword-rich link: Web Design Belfast a website needs both

Linkbuilding

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PageRank- A measure of how important Google believes the page is- Not an accurate measure but gives a general idea- 0 = bad, 10 = awesome

mozRank- Developed by SEOmoz and a little bit more accurate than PageRank

Not ‘nofollowed’- rel=nofollow attribute means a link will not pass any value

Common Sense- Spammy websites = low quality link- Popular site = high quality link- Relevant site = valuable link

How to see if a link is valuable or not?

Linkbuilding

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Reciprocal links- Site A links to site B, and site B links back to site A- Not very valuable – avoid if you can

Link wheel- Site A links to site B, site B links to site C, site C links to site A- Not very valuable and a spam signal – avoid if you can

One-way link- Site A links to site B. The end.- Most valuable type of link – get lots of these!

Different types of links:

Linkbuilding

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How to build links?

Directory Submissions

Press Releases

Article Marketing & Guest Blogging

Linkbait

1234

How to build links?

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Online (business) directories such as:- Dmoz.org- Business.com- Best of the Web (botw.org.uk)

The best directories are usually paid Always check if a directory link is valuable

- What is the PageRank of where your link will end up?- Is that page/category even indexed by Google?- Is the link nofollowed?

Usually good for building a base of branded links Try to find vertical directories relevant to your industry

Directory Submissions1

How to build links?

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Great way to build valuable links Make sure your press release…:

- Is newsworthy, relevant, and interesting enough to be worth reading- Contains a link back to your site (preferably with a keyword-rich link text)

Use professional PR distributors- PR Web: £40 to £200 per press release- PR Newswire UK: pricing per article- BusinessWire: pricing per article- MyNewsDesk: £0 to £590 per month

No guarantee it will be picked up by news outlets- But generally more money spent translates to more & better links

Press Releases2

How to build links?

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Write relevant articles / blog posts (or hire a copywriter) Links in article & in author bio Article sites:

- www.ezinearticles.com- www.goarticles.com- www.articledashboard.com- www.articlecity.com- www.articlesbase.com

Guest blogging:- www.myblogguest.com- www.bloggerlinkup.com

Approach blogs & websites directly and offer content

Article Marketing & Guest Blogging3

How to build links?

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Linkbait is:- Content (published on your website) that is so interesting / funny / newsworthy /

controversial that people will link to it without having to be asked

Types of linkbait:- Great articles with valuable insights- Infographics- Breaking news stories- Top 10 lists

Spread via social media- Share on Twitter & Facebook- Submit to social news sites such as Reddit

Linkbait4

Linkbuilding Tools

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SearchStatus Firefox plugin- http://www.quirk.biz/searchstatus/- Shows a webpage’s PageRank & mozRank and highlights nofollowed links

SEOmoz Open Site Explorer- http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/- Free version shows you a good overview of links pointing to a site- Analyse your competitor’s links and see if you can get some of them as well- Don’t just copy, but let yourself be inspired

Google Webmaster Tools- See some of the links that Google actually counts

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Barry Adams

badams@piercecommunications.co.ukhttp://twitter.com/badams

Questions?

What’s next?

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Reading Material & Advanced SEO

Reading Material

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Search Engine Land- http://www.searchengineland.com/

SEOmoz- http://www.seomoz.org/blog/

State of Search- http://www.stateofsearch.com/

Search News Central- http://www.searchnewscentral.com/

Search Engine Journal- http://www.searchenginejournal.com/

SEO is not static, so keeping up to date is crucial

Advanced SEO

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Search Intent- Informational / Navigational / Transactional queries- Matching user intent to your SEO goals- http://www.seomoz.org/blog/segmenting-search-intent

Search Patents & Research Papers- Insight in to how search engines operate- Technically challenging so leave the interpretations to the experts!- http://www.seobythesea.com- http://www.huomah.com/Search-Engines/Algorithm-Matters/SEO-Higher-learnin

g.html

Advanced SEO

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Information Retrieval (IR)- A discipline of Computer Science- IR is what search engines do: retrieve information from the web with the highest

possible levels of precision and recall- http://nlp.stanford.edu/IR-book/information-retrieval-book.html

Information Architecture (IA)- Making information accessible to humans- Websites built using good IA are nearly always SEO-friendly - http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596527341

Advanced SEO

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Microformats / Microdata / RDFa- Also known as ‘structured data’- Meta information – information about information- http://microformats.org/

HTML5- Next-generation HTML code containing new markup- Very SEO-proof, makes life for search engines much easier- http://diveintohtml5.org/