DEMYSTIFING SEARCH

ENGINE OPTIMIZATION How to get on the first page of Google

Ruben Quinones

October 27th, Jacob Javits Center

• Founded in 2006

• 40+ employees based in NY office

• Core-competency driven – SEO & SEM

• Acquisition of Clear Search Media Inc. in 2012

• Marin Certified Professionals, Google AdWords

Professionals, Bing Accredited Professionals

• Adjunct Instructors at NYU, S.C.P.S. Digital Media

Marketing Program and regular panel speakers on SEO

and Social Media Topics

• Association of National Advertisers (ANA) subject matter

experts in digital marketing

• ROI-focused – acquisition marketing specialty

OUR BACKGROUND Rooted in search + digital

45+ NYC EMPLOYEES

40+ NYC EMPLOYEES

OUR CORE DIGITAL MARKETING CAPABILITES

PAID SEARCH MARKETING (PPC)

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)

DISPLAY ADVERTISING (DA)

SOCIAL AD MANAGEMENT (SA)

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING (SMM)

WORD PRESS DEVELOPMENT & DESIGN

OUR CORE SERVICES ARE SUPPORTED BY COMPELLING

CREATIVE, EFFICIENT DEVELOPMENT AND ADVANCED ANALYTICS TEAMS.

PPC SEO

SOC SA

OUR CLIENTS

WE WORK WITH B2C, B2B, EMERGING AND LOCAL BRANDS

What is SEO?

Sponsored Results

Organic/ Natural / Non-

Paid Results

Local

Listings

Why is it Important?

Traffic – Sales/leads

Branding / Thought Leadership

Reputation Management

How Search Engines Work – The Official Word

and content.

How Google Works

• Relevance

• Comprehensiveness

• Freshness

• Speed

The Official Word “The Software behind our search technology conducts a series of simultaneous calculations

requiring only a fraction of a second. Traditional search engines rely heavily on how often a

word appears on a web page. We use more then 200 signals, including our patented

PageRank algorithm, to examine the entire link structure of the web and determine which

pages are most important. We then conduct hypertext-matching analysis to determine

which pages are relevant to the specific search being conducted. By combining overall

importance and query-specific relevance, we’re able to put the most relevant and reliable

results first” -Google

Ranking Factors (not official)

On-Page SEO Tactics

Optimizing digital content copy and source code to target

strategic keyphrases.

Off-Page SEO Tactics

Building links, social sharing and evangelization of digital

content within communities to build site authority.

Your Web Site

Blog Comments

Business Profiles

Social Media

Social Bookmarks

Niche Directories

Natural Links

Guest Posting

Press Releases

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Is Your Site Conducive for Search?

Site Review

• Is the development/structure of the site going to present any challenges?

• Is there enough quality content to optimize?

• Is the site “conversion friendly?

• Does it adapt to mobile - tablet devices Test Your Site

SEO Information Architecture – Crafted Content Pages

Crafted content (deeper pages) provides site context for domain level SEO, expanded

keyword relevance and creates more results in the SERP index.

Keyword & Content Planning Comprehensive site architecture and content planning is the most critical step in

the SEO process.

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Keyword Strategy

What Are Key Phrases + Keywords?

How Customers Search

Not Enough Space?

How Customers Search

Searchers at different stages in the Customer Decision Journey will have different

objectives, and marketers need to intersect with the right content and message.

Informational--General

(Storage, Decluttering apartment)

Informational --Category

(Storage solutions, How to

organize space for a move)

Navigational

(manhattan ministorage, chelsea

ministorage, etc)

Transactional--Product

(Storage bins, self storage

locations, manhattan storage)

Informational Transactional

“Find November Manhattan Storage

Rentals” is a transactional key phrase,

as the searcher seemingly intends to

purchase storage services as soon as

possible.

Other transactional key phrases:

• find storage space in New York

• mini storage rental nyc

• rental self storage in Manhattan

• rent a storage unit

• self storage rentals

“Storage tips” is an informational key

phrase, as the searcher may simply

be doing research on storage options

or gathering information for a future

purchase.

Other informational key phrases:

•help with clutter

•help with decluttering

•closet space ideas

•storage solutions

Navigational

“Manhattan Mini Storage” is a

navigational key phrase since it

contains the brand, as the searcher is

interested

in finding your website or deeper pages

within the brand.

Other navigational key phrases:

•Manhattan mini storage

•Manhattan mini storage facility

•Manhattan mini storage in soho

•Manhattan mini storage locations

•Manhattan Mini Storage Moving

Key Point: There is higher volume potential in informational based key phrases but they often

yield a lower conversion rate.

Searcher Intent

“Need storage now in NYC” is a geo-

modified key phrase, as it contains the

Geo-Qualifier “NYC” in it.

Other geo-modified key phrases:

•clothes storage nyc

•Manhattan storage

•Self storage Chelsea

•nyc mini storage

“Need storage now” is a general key

phrase, as it doesn’t contain a

location.

Other general key phrases:

•climate control storage

•secure storage

•local storage

•rent storage space

•self storage facilities

Key Point: Geography defines user intent more clearly than broad key phrases and helps to

define qualified leads.

General Geo-Modified

General vs. Geo-Modified

Price Specific Solution/Size Specific

“Small storage room” is a

solution/size-specific key

phrase, as the searcher needs a

certain size storage unit.

Other solution/size-specific :

•small storage unit

•small storage lockers

•large storage

•large storage facility

“Local cheap storage” is a

price-specific key phrase, as the

searcher is clearly price-

conscious.

Other price-specific key phrases:

•affordable storage in NYC

•cheap mini storage

•cheap self storage in

•cheapest nyc storage

•storage units cheap

“Furniture storage” is an item-

specific key phrase, as the

searcher clearly needs to store

a specific type of item.

Other item-specific key phrases:

•clothes storage nyc

•document storage

•appliance storage

•storage for appliances

Key Point: Certain Key phrases show specific searcher intent which indicates potential for

conversion and provides targeted messaging opportunities.

Item Specific

Intent Based Attributes

Keyword Research Tools

Trellian: www.keyworddiscovery.com Wordtracker: www.wordtracker.com Google Keyword Tool: https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner Google Insights: https://www.google.com/trends/

Selection keywords by following criteria...

● Search Volume – Does it generate volume? Would have to show some search volume, but also have an

understanding that a search term with 100 searches a month in for a particular industry might be more

meaningful than a company that relies on heavy volume to be profitable.

● Competition – How many web sites/pages speak to those terms on Google now, highly competitive

search terms may result in a longer timeframe to rank for.

● Intent and relevancy - Are the search terms clear in their intent and are they relevant and meaningful

for the site to capture as a visitor. A broader term may have heavier volume, however generally fail to

have a clear intent in what the searcher might be truly searching for.

● Pages represented on the site – Overall, does the site, or will the site be able to speak to the terms that

we have selected. Or can there be pages developed in the context of the key terms selected?

● Current SERPS – Is there a particular page ranking for a term that hits on the previous criteria. In this

case we may want to optimize around it.

Key Term Selection

Key terms selected will be utilized as primary and/or secondary terms depending on

the page content that we develop in addition to metadata fields. It is possible that new

pages may need to be developed to capitalize on all priority terms.

• Primary terms will be targeted for headlines and page titles

• Secondary terms will be targeted for sub headlines and tagging

Both sets of terms can be primary or secondary depending on the content.

Rule of thumb: If it doesn’t make sense, do not apply.

Key Term Selection

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Applying Key Phrases on Your Site

Create Search Friendly URL’s Maintain the same domain structure. For shallow folders create keyword themes and for page names embed your primary targeted key phrase. Use – instead of an _ for separating keywords in the name.

Good Example http://pathinteractive.com/SEO/SEO-Training-Classes

Bad Example http://pathinteractive.com/file/qdld&mg=vv7hd4=88 Good example is more enticing to the visitor when seen in search results

Dynamic URL’s typically do not perform well and do not add benefit for SEO.

Search Friendly URL’s

Meta Tags

Title Tags The title of the link within the SERP. Use your targeted key phrase as the first words of the title tag for Keyword Proximity. Only the first 70 characters gets indexed. 5 to 8 words in length.

Good Example <title>Computer Repair Services; Expert Computer Repair & IT Service | Computer Troubleshooters USA</title>

Meta Tags are not only important to give Search Engines clues of keywords

but are the provide the on-page link text to sell your message!

Description Tags • Often the description of your SERP link that is displayed • Not used directly in Google’s algorithm but including keywords bolds text to increase CTR. • Use strong marketing statements and include primary and secondary key phrases. • No more than 155 characters. 20-25 words

Meta Tags

Keyword Tags • Use up to 10 targeted key phrases. • Start with primary key phrase and close variations

• Still used by second tier engines and custom search.

Meta Tags

<h1>Heading

<img alt=”keyword

friendly url”> Caption

Page Content

<h2>Sub Headline

On – Page Optimization

Header Tags Employ H1 tag for page headlines and H2’s and H3’s for sub headlines. Optimal placement of key phrases on page within these headers.

<h1> Heading

<h2> Sub-heading

Applying Key Phrases on Page

Headlines (<h1> Tag) – Primary Key Phrases

Applying Key Phrases on Page

Sub headlines (<h2> Tag) – Secondary Phrases

Applying Key Phrases on Page

Interlinking Content

• Commonly used in main

navigation/body text links.

• Help establish information

hierarchy within the site.

• Help spread link juice (ranking

power) through contextual

relevance.

• Internal links are links that go from one page on

a domain to a different page on the same domain.

Anchor Text

Anchor text is the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink.

Search engines use this text to help determine the

subject matter of the linked-to document.

In general, use links within your content that contain

keyphrase-specific anchor text and close variations.

Don’t overuse the same keywords, can lead to myopic

anchor text profiles – use variations instead.

Headers Include your primary key phrase within the H1 tag. Include exact match placement within the H1 and then alternate placements within H2 tags. Include key phrases in 35% of H2 as rule of thumb.

Keyword Density Exact key phrase placement should be approximately 5% of the overall body text. The goal is to be slightly more inclusive than the top competitors but not too dense to indicate red flags.

Keyword Proximity Placing key phrases at the beginning of the body text and at the end within your call to action emphasizes your keyword focus.

Content Length Well focused SEO pages typically run 300-500 words in length. To be sure, google your desired key phrase and look at content length of sites on the first page.

It is important to write content for the user, the trick is to stay “trustworthy”

when being “keywordy”.

Applying Key Phrases on Page

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A Few Technical Considerations

MANAGING STATUS CODES

• HTTP response status codes are returned whenever search engines or website visitors make a request to a web server.

• These three-digit codes indicate the server response, and impact user- and search engine understanding of your site.

• For SEO, pay special attention to 404 errors and 301 redirects.

404 FILE NOT FOUND

• A site with many 404 errors will not be ranked well in search for a variety of reasons:

o Site is likely not user-friendly

o Slows down search crawler-bots

o More errors = less indexed content

o Search engines eventually remove error-throwing content from SERPS, leading to a decrease in indexed content

404 errors occur any time the server can’t find a page after a request by users

or search engines (often, because it was removed or does not exist).

CUSTOM 404 PAGES

404’s happen, so create a great custom 404 page to make sure that

engage users and reduce bounce back to search results.

…or include a search box to

let users try to find it directly.

Clearly communicate why

the page might not be there,

and suggest an alternate

way to find content…

301 PERMANENT REDIRECTS

• 301 redirects are powerful ways to pass the equity of the original page onto a new page with similar content.

• Use a 301 if a moved/deleted page receives important links, gets a lot of traffic, or has an obvious URL that visitors or links are intended to reach (i.e. misspellings).

• Always redirect to an equivalent or similar page – not the home page.

• Search engines will eventually discover the 301, recognize it, and credit the new page with rankings and trust of its predecessor.

Use 301 redirects to permanently send people and search

engines to the new (or equivalent) location of the page.

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Tools

Free SEO Technical Audit Tool

Page Speed Tool

Free SEO Technical Audit Tool

Keyword Density Tool for SEO

http://www.pathinteractive.com/not-provided/keyword-density-tool-seo.php

Not Provided Estimator Tool

http://www.pathinteractive.com/not-provided/keyword-density-tool-seo.php

Not Provided Estimator Tool

Download

Let’s Connect!

Connect with me on

Linkedin and request

this presentation

http://www.linkedin.com/in/rubenquinones

ruben@pathinteractive.com