@MostlyAboutChoc@JudithLewis

How to use SEO & Social media to get more

traffic

@MostlyAboutChoc@JudithLewis

Who Am I Obligatory Slide

• Got on the Internet in 1986 at my school lab• Working online with search since 1996• Paid & Natural Search – all aspects plus social• Worked in-house within e-Commerce, Publishing & High Tech• Have worked with Google (SEO for product sites), Orange, COI,

NatWest/RBS, National Gallery, CIPD, Fidelity, GalaCoral, NBC Universal, Readers Digest, Bayer, Virgin Trains, Family Search, Amadeus, AMD, AmEx & more

• Chosen as a founding Modern Muse, contributed to a book on promoting websites among others, 2x judge of the UK Search Awards, one of the SEO Chicks, write for HuffPost

...and blog at MostlyAboutChocolate(.com)

@MostlyAboutChoc@JudithLewis

Organic/Natural search

Algorithm to determine relevancy

Spider is let loose on the web, following links from site to site Spider indexes web pages And then creates a copy of that web page in

its database (index)

A user carries out a query in the search engine (Algorithm based)

Results displayed from index

@MostlyAboutChoc@JudithLewis

• Title Tags • Meta Description• ALT Tags • URL/Page Title • Keywords in the

content • Internal Links (images

vs. keyword rich text) • URL

Structure/Categories

• Advanced Linking• Authority• Age of domain• H1, H2, H3 (and

accompanying CSS)• Image Optimisation• On Page Text• Internal Links• Links to External Sites

Elements of Ranking – 200 factors including:

@MostlyAboutChoc@JudithLewis

SEO Trends & Techniques• Traditional techniques still best

– Keyword research & mapping– Optimised on and off-page assets– Lower importance on title tag– Myth of optimal density

• Site architecture– Site load time more important

• Increasing importance of social footprint• Bad link penalty• Fresh & unique content boost• Continued importance of links

– Link profile changes– Focus on natural– Brand links = brand boost

@MostlyAboutChoc@JudithLewis

Keyword Research

• Check that the words are what everyone uses and not just internal/personal jargon

• Check you are using a more frequently searched term for roughly the same meaning – “social media” vs “social networking”

• Go for a longer tail – 3 - 5 words convert better• Each page needs an individual focus• Write naturally but with awareness of target terms• Too: https://adwords.google.co.uk/select/KeywordToolExternal

@MostlyAboutChoc@JudithLewis

Search Results

Title Tag

URL of page

Site links

Meta Description

@MostlyAboutChoc@JudithLewis

2nd page for “Raaka Chocolate”. Better title:

“Raaka Chocolate: Seasonal Shopping for

Raw Chocolate”Or

“Raaka Chocolate: Why oh why do people like to

eat unroasted moth eggs?”

@MostlyAboutChoc@JudithLewis

rel author

@MostlyAboutChoc@JudithLewis

rel author

@MostlyAboutChoc@JudithLewis

rel author

@MostlyAboutChoc@JudithLewis

http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/richsnippets

@MostlyAboutChoc@JudithLewis

Where to Put Links

13

@MostlyAboutChoc@JudithLewis

KEYWORD PROXIMITY

@MostlyAboutChoc@JudithLewis

How Links Work• Every link has a value• The bigger the circle, the more

value/authority the page has• The arrows are links• The more links leading out from a

page, the less value they pass on• Blogroll links are not good

@MostlyAboutChoc@JudithLewis

How PageRank Works... Sort of (the math is wrong in this example but is used for simplicity)

@MostlyAboutChoc@JudithLewis

PAID LINKS

• Any link not editorially given technically should be no-followed

• If an up-front request is made as part of the approach, that means the link is no longer editorial

• If you get something in exchange for a link, it is paid for - but no-follow and disclosure are TWO DIFFERENT THINGS

• Google & the ASA are DIFFERENT – Google says you need to no-follow links that are paid, the ASA says you have to disclose payment if you are swaying consumer opinion

@MostlyAboutChoc@JudithLewis

@MostlyAboutChoc@JudithLewis

GOOGLE+

@MostlyAboutChoc@JudithLewis

HOLY COW!!!

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Referral Traffic from Social

@MostlyAboutChoc@JudithLewis

Traffic Comes from Everywhere

@MostlyAboutChoc@JudithLewis

Rules for Blog Success

• No such thing as minimum keyword density• No such thing as minimum or optimal word count• No such thing as optimal styling (i.e. bold, italics, etc)• No such thing as optimal inbound link count• No such thing as the ‘right way’• No such thing as the ‘only way’• 450 – 600+ updates to the algorithm per year – there

will never be an absolutely ‘right’ way• DO NOT CHASE THE ALGORITHM – You’ll always be

miles behind and waste energy & effort doing so

@MostlyAboutChoc@JudithLewis

QUESTIONS?

?

@MostlyAboutChoc@JudithLewis

You Can Stalk Me Online...

Twitter: @JudithLewis@MostlyAboutChoc

LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/judithlewisGoogle+: https://plus.google.com/117564004595435401158/Work: http://www.BYND.comPersonal: http://www.decabbit.comBlog: http://MostlyAboutChocolate.comOther Blog: http://www.SEO-Chicks.com

...and the list goes on