Search Engine OptimizationHow Search Engines workSite building basicsKeyword basicsLink buildingCompetitive researchSocial factorsTools of the tradeHelp with SEO

Six SEO Fundamentals

• Build sites that people want to see• Keep content original and fresh• Monitor your competition to see what is working for them• Incorporate social media to help build a following• Cultivate links from external sites to increase popularity• Create traffic to attract search engine traffic

How Search Engines Work

Search engines provide the answers their searchers are looking for.

The better your site answers specific questions, the more likely traffic will be sent to your site.

Rating factors include:• Time people spend on your site• How many external sites link to your website• What kind of links send people to your site• Traffic your site receives• Do searchers repeat their search after visiting your site

How Search Engines Work (continued)

Page AuthorityEach page of every website is designated with a Page Authority. The algorithm used to determine Page Authority is kept secret but many inferences and educated guesses can be made.

PageRank Is part of Google’s Page Authority ranking system. It is said to measure site popularity more than anything else, but it is one of the only ranking factors that is openly shared by Google. High PageRank sites tend to be listed before lower ranked sites. PageRank can be determined through many third party add-ons.

PageRank is passed from one site to another through outgoing links. To a website owner these backlinks are one of the best ways to increase traffic to their site.

Site Building Basics

Search engines prefer that websites are organized well in order to facilitate crawling and browsing

Crawling is how search engines explore and index your page

What do search engines look for?

Organized site:One Home Page

Limited CategoriesMultiple Sub categories for each category

Detail pages that are grouped by sub and main categories

Site Building Basics What do Search Engines look for ? (continued)

ORIGINAL CONTENTDuplicated and repeated content is usually ignored and sometimes penalized.

Content FreshnessContent written years ago will be less likely to attract traffic than content written recently

Keywords The words and phrases repeated on your site tell search engines what your site is about.

Site Building Basics What do Search Engines look for ? (continued)

Keywords in URLsWebsites should include keywords in their domain names and page names

Broken LinksBroken links tell a search engine that you are not serious. Established sites will resolve broken links quickly.

Domain AgeOlder domains attract more search engine traffic. The older the better.

XML SitemapsProvide search engines with a type of road map that helps them index your site

Keyword BasicsGoogle defines a keyword as a significant word or phrase relevant to the web page or document in question.

• Keywords are an important factor that draws traffic to your website

• Industry keywords also allow search engines to determine your industry and the relevance of incoming links

Keyword Selection:• Determine what your potential customer will search for to find

you or your competitors• Create a list of the main keywords that your business focuses on• Remember, for local business, your location is a crucial keyword

Link BuildingQuality links to your site increase your PageRank

• Search Engines determine your industry and weather the sites that link into your site have the same focus you do

• Industry keywords also allow search engines to determine your industry and the relevance of incoming links

• .GOV and .EDU sites pass the most PageRank to your site

Backlink Equivalents1 backlink from a PR 6 site =3 backlinks from a PR 5 site =

18 backlinks from a PR 4 site =101 backlinks from a PR 3 site =555 backlinks from a PR 2 site =3,055 backlinks from a PR 1 site

Link Building (continued)

Anchor Text links pass over more PageRank than other links:

Dog training in the San Jose area: http://www.thrivingcanine.com

For a great dog trainer Click Here

Dog training in the San Jose area

Industry related sites pass more PageRank than unrelated sites.For the example above, one backlink from a veterinarian site is better than many backlinks from restaurants.

Competitive ResearchEnter your main keyword into Google and see how you rank.• If your competitors outrank you, examine what they have done• Use a backlink checker to view how many they have• Use a keyword analyzer to see what other keywords they focus on• Find your competitors high PageRank backlinks and get them to link to you

as well

Social FactorsFacebook

• Is a great way to create and maintain a buzz around your business• Use it to keep people informed on specials, deals, events and more• Make sure that the call to action on Facebook activities encourages

more traffic to your site

Yelp• Integral to local businesses, yelp reviews are consistently on top of the

search engine rankings• Getting listed with yelp can give you instant first page visibility

YouTube• Owned by Google is the second most used search engine• Google provides front page visibility with selected search results• Video optimization strategies exist to help individual ranking results

Social Factors (continued)

Blogging• Have always been the ideal way to introduce fresh content to your

website• With the introduction of Google’s new Freshness Algorithm it is more

important now than ever before• Blogging attracts frequent visits to your site, which encourages search

engines to send more traffic to your site

Tools of the TradeGoogle

Google search• What keywords do you rank for• Who are your competitors in search engine results

SEOquakeFree Toolbar

• Toolbar shows PageRank, domain age, internal and external links, keyword density

SEO Moz• Starts at $99 per month but very powerful• Calculates Page Authority, Domain Authority, link data and much

more

Six SEO Fundamentals

• Build sites that people want to see• Keep content original and fresh• Monitor your competition to see what is working for them• Incorporate social media to help build a following• Cultivate links from external sites to increase popularity• Create traffic to attract search engine traffic

Help With SEO

SEO LaunchPage™• ABD Promotions can create a “to-do” list for

you• Updated monthly, our step by step guide

will walk you through the best steps to increase visibility for your website

• Full service SEO plans are also available