Introduction to SEO 101SEO Information Technology

By Sam Ambler

20th April 2015(Updated)

• Websites• Marketing Approach• SEO Introduction• SEO Best Practices• Sample Site Analysis• SEO Task Checklist– On Page SEO– Off Page SEO

• Resources

Websites – A Marketing Tool

• Can be a powerful communication tool along with traditional print & broadcast media

• Used to promote or sell products & services, or to inform target audiences

• Sites are only beneficial if the audience is aware of it or can easily find it– About 50% of browsers use search engines, the

other half type in the URL directly

Marketing Approach

• “Organic” search engine listings– Free listings provided by Google, Yahoo!, MSN– Utilize “spider” or “crawler” to index page content

• Search directory listings– Doesn’t use crawlers. Humans categorize and index your site URL and

a short description– Yahoo! is fee-based, Open Directory Project is free

• Paid listings - $$$– Called “pay-per-click” campaigns– Buy your way to the top of the search results page– Unlike organic, results are guaranteed

Marketing Approach Contd.

• Recommendation is to follow a diversified approach by using a combination of all three areas for the best results.

• This is known as Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

SEO Introduction

• Search engine optimization (SEO) refers to techniques that help your website rank higher in organic (or “natural”) search results, thus making your website more visible to people who are looking for your product or service via search engines.

• No guarantees with search engines• There are no specific details since they could be exploited• The process of analyzing and making changes to a website to

improve search rankings is called Search Engine Optimization, or SEO.

SEO Introduction Contd.

• Consider search engines design BEFORE building site.

• But remember, a website is intended for HUMAN audiences, not search engines.

SEO Best Practices

• Research & select keywords/phrases– What people type into engines– One study shows 56% of searchers use 2-3 word keyword phrases

• Keyword research tools:• Log analyzer software (e.g. WebTrends)• WordTracker.com ($)• Overture.com (free)• Google AdWords (free with account)

• Place keywords prominently in page copy, titles, <META> description tags.

SEO Best Practices Contd.

• Do NOT spam the search engines or you could be banned!

• Keyword stacking or stuffing, unrelated keywords

• Hidden text and links, tiny text (under 10pt)

• Duplicating pages and sites (same content, different URLs)

• Doorway/Gateway/Ghost pages – overly optimized, well-ranked pages that redirect to “real” site.

• Page redirects (with Refresh Meta tag)

• “Link farms” used to increase link popularity scores

Sample Site Analysis

Sample Site Analysis Contd.

A.

B.

C.D.

Sample Site Analysis Contd.

Page Area Description / Recommendation

Page Title Current page titles are “Complete Wedding and Corporate Events services in Vienna, VA” Each page should have a unique, focused title relevant to the content and should incorporate specific keywords. Make the title read like a newspaper headline. Don’t target your company name.

Section A If these navigation buttons are graphics and will not be read by the crawlers. Include a second, text navigation system at the bottom of the page for the crawlers

Section B This is the only text on the home page that the crawler can read. Unfortunately it is a 9 point font. Some search engines consider very small fonts (below 10 point) to be spam and will ignore it. The font should be increased to 10 or 11 point.

Section C This is the site navigation menu. If navigation menu items are graphics (rather than text) and are ignored by the crawlers. Then you have to include a second, text navigation system at the bottom of the page for the crawlers.

Section D This company contact information is important, it is in plain text. It’ll not be indexed if it was a graphic. This should be changed to plain text.

SEO Task Checklist

• SEO task have been divided into two parts On-Page and Off-Page activities.

SEO Task Checklist – On Page Optimization

• On Page Optimization: On page optimization is On site optimization you have to make changes on your site like Meta Tag Creation, H1 tag, Alt Tag, Internal Linking, Content Optimization etc

Task Checklist – Off Page Optimization

• Off Page Optimization: In off page optimization you have to submit your site link/Content to other sites. You can submit your content/link to Directory Submission sites , Social Bookmarking Sites, Article Submission sites this all are the off page activity.

Resources

• As we all know, the Search Engine Optimization field is booming day to day with new inventions and innovations. People may not know that much of what they have learned yesterday will be out of date by tomorrow. Unless one updates his knowledge by reading SEO news/articles, there is no doubt he'll lag back in the SEO race.

• Search engine syntax and extras– “site:www.yoursite.com”. Shows what the engine has in the index for

the site.– “link:www.yoursite.com”. Find pages that link to a certain page.– For a list of Google operators see:

http://www.google.com/help/operators.html

• Search engine guidelines– Google: http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html– Yahoo!:

http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/ysearch/basics/basics-18.html– MSN:

http://search.msn.com/docs/siteowner.aspx?t=SEARCH_WEBMASTER_REF_GuidelinesforOptimizingSite.htm

• Open Directory Project– http://www.dmoz.org/

• Search Engine Watch – tips, articles, news– http://www.searchenginewatch.com/

Resources Contd.

• SEO In Dept – On Page Optimization

What's Next?

Roshan Samuel Ambler