Search Engine Optimization Basic

Search Engine OptimizationRussell Jones, CTO, 08-21-2008

Search Engine Optimization

Introduction to Search EnginesGlossary

• SERP(s): Search Engine Results Page(s)• Anchor Text: the highlighted text in a link• CPC / PPC / Paid Search: Purchased Advertising on SERPs• Organic / Natural: Non Paid Search Results• DC(s): Datacenters; ie: Google’s has several datacenters which deliver

results, which can cause the appearance of inconsistent, constantly changing rankings.

• SEO: Search Engine Optimization• SEM: Search Engine Marketing: SEO, PPC, et al.• Index: The corpus of documents (web pages) in a search engine's database


Introduction to Search EnginesBasic concepts

1. Why are they important?• Everything begins with a search.1. Right time, right place, right mindset2. Case in Point – top searched keywords on Google? Yahoo and Google!



•How do they work•“Bots” : Googlebot, Slurp, etc.1.Primitive Search Engines: britney spears brittney spers brtney speers2.Modern Search Engines

• “Democracy Engines”1. Relevance: Off-Site and On-Site Factors2. Importance: PageRank and Off-Site Factors



Organic vs. Paid Search: The Difference between Owning and Renting

Introduction to Search Engine OptimizationBasic Concepts of On-Site Optimization: Writing for SEO

• Avoid He, She, It: Be Specific

• Use Synonymous Phrases• How many ways can you say “Get a degree”

• Use shorter paragraphs with regular headers• Find Keywords: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal• Be on theme: http://www.virante.com/seo-tools/keyword-finder.php


Introduction to Search Engine OptimizationBasic Concepts of On-Site Optimization: Relevant Page Tags

1. Title2. Meta

• Description• Keywords• Robots

• H1-H3 tags• Bold, Strong, Italics, etc.• Alt Text

Do these things really matter? Aren’t changes like these negligible?


Introduction to Search Engine Optimization


Introduction to Search Engine OptimizationBasic Concepts of On-Site Optimization: Keyword Discovery

1. Popularity vs. Competitiveness2. Simple Tools:

A. https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternalB. http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/C. * http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/search.html

3. Collocation / Theme ToolsA. http://www.virante.com/seo-tools/keyword-finder.phpB: ~keyword search on Google.


Introduction to Search Engine OptimizationBasic Concepts of Off-Site Optimization: What is PageRank

• “Page”Rank = Larry Page, Co-founder of Google.1. PageRank is Google’s patented and trademarked algorithm which assigns “a

numerical weighting to each element of a hyperlinked set of documents”


Introduction to Search Engine OptimizationBasic Concepts of Off-Site Optimization: What is TrustRank

• TrustRank essentially begins with a set of trusted websites and diminishes the rank dependent upon the distance between the original trusted sources and the analyzed page.

http://www.vldb.org/conf/2004/RS15P3.PDFhttp://pagerank.suchmaschinen-doktor.de/trustrank.html


Introduction to Search Engine OptimizationBasic Concepts of On-Site Optimization: What PageRank is Not

1. Sites with higher PageRank do not necessarily out-rank other sites.2. Sites with higher PageRank are not necessarily included in Google’s displayed index.3. The displayed PageRank is not necessarily indicative of the actual spam-corrected

measurement of importance used by Google. 4. PageRank is susceptible to the same Datacenter Fluctuations as the SERPs5. http://www.seologs.com/pr-check/pagerank-dc.html


Introduction to Search Engine OptimizationBasic Concepts of Off-Site Optimization: Qualities of Good links

1. High PageRank2. Inner-textual3. Relevant Anchor Text4. Low number of links per-page5. New link on domain


Introduction to Search Engine OptimizationBasic Concepts of Off-Site Optimization: Simple Link Building Techniques

1. Directories• http://www.botw.com• http://www.yahoo.com• http://www.dmoz.org

2. Partner Organizations3. Press Releases / News4. Presentations / Sponsors / Conferences5. Students! (myspace, blogs, etc.)


Advanced TopicsAdvanced Topics: Canonicalization

1. What is URL Canonicalization?• Using different names for the same content• Duplicate Content Penalties• PR Dispersion• Perception Matters

• www vs. non-www• Default pages• Query strings and pagination• Trailing Slashes• Fake 404s


Advanced TopicsAdvanced Topics: PageRank Flow

1. What is PageRank Flow?• Intricate maze• Close doors behind you

2. Using No-Follow Effectively1.What is No-Follow?2.Meta or Link Level?

1. <a rel=‘nofollow’ href=‘…’></a>2. <meta name=‘robots’ content=‘nofollow’ />

3. Silo Linking4. Ball Linking5. Deciding what is best for your site or sub-site.



Advanced TopicsAdvanced Topics: Keyword Discovery

1. What is Advanced Keyword Discovery• Looking at myriad competitiveness indicators• Constructing an algorithm• Interpreting Results

2. Tools1. http://www.keyata.com2. http://www.wordze.com


Advanced TopicsAdvanced Topics: Social Media Marketing

1. What is Social Media Marketing• Viral Traffic• Natural Link Building

2. Viral Brain Storm Session3. Sites

1. http://www.digg.com2. http://www.reddit.com3. http://buzz.yahoo.com4. http://del.icio.us

Search Engine Optimization Basic

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