Leveraging the Google Landscape

How Google is evolving, and what you need to do to stay on top.

Peter Sickles BA, BPR

Partner at Alphasearch● 9 years of SEO experience.● Conducted workshops and seminars at the

AIM Conference.● Also for the Nova Scotia Government and

Atlantic Canada Tourism Partnership.● Clients have included Nova Scotia Tourism,

Black & Decker, Tourism Barbados, Nature's Gate, Surefit, Cape Breton Resorts, Super 8, Atlantic Toyota, and many smaller clients.

What's Google Up To?To understand SEO, you need to understand Google.Google is a business. They make money by bringing eyeballs to their products and services. $$$Google Adwords$$$. Reliable Search Resultsmeans they stay in business

Think Like Google!!!

Leverage Google's LandscapeTake advantage as much as you can!OrganicAdwords/PPCImagesVideoGoogle PlacesNewsShoppingMobile Devices

RELEVANCEGoogle has one over-ridingcriteria in determining searchrank: Relevance! Google seeks to find the best match it can between user, search query and search results Google uses a complex set of computer algorithms to determine relevance

How to determine relevance?Google looks at several key elements:I call these the 5 Pillars of SEO: 1. Content (relevance and quality)2. Link popularity and relevance (Includes Social Media)3. Tech Factors and Usability4. Trust Rank (Site age and credibility)5. Geo-targeting (Domain, hosting, etc.)

ContentIs content still King? No, but it is still part of the Royal Family.At the most basic level, a website is about content. That's what people want. What is content?Mostly Words, but pictures, video and other interactive tools too.

Yes, keywords are still "key"

Content:It's all relative

There are no hard and fast rules for content. How much depends on your competition and your market.1. Quality: Write well, and for your audience.2. Use keywords throughout, but don't SPAM.3. Latent Semantic Indexing4. Don't forget captions and tags for pics and

vids5. Make sure you tell Google (and people)

what's important. Headers, bolding, etc.

Link Juice: Power and Popularity

Links are like votes on how good you are. Google reasons that sites wouldn't link to you if you sucked. Google looks at 2 things:Link Power: How strong is the site (page) sending you the link?Link Relevance: Is the page sending the link topically relevant? What does the page say? What does the link anchor text say?

Social Media and Link JuiceIs Social Media important? Yes, but don't overrate it for SEO. It can be a time-sink, and only about 5% of Google's algorithm. Main Factors: Authority, Likes & Mentions.1. How great is your authority? Howabout those talking about you?2. What are they saying? Keywordsare still relevant. Your URL is important too.

Tech and UsabilityTech factors can hurt you. Graphics,Flash, Javascript, Frames, bloated code, etc. Ensure all text and links are easily indexable by the Big G. Google can't rank what it can't see. Usability? Why does Google value this?Simple: Google wants a happy searcher...

they'll continue to use Google and generate lots of moola.

Trust RankGoogle places great value oncredibility, longevity and trust. If you've been around for a while and been a good boy or girl, Google gives you the benefit. If you've been naughty, Google slaps you down. For the new kid, there's not much you can do but keep your nose clean. No Black-Hat SEO

Geo-TargetingDo you see what I see? Nope... Google presents different search results to different searches based on geography, user history and behaviour. Often times, you need to be seen to "be" in your market to rank well. Domain registry, hosting,Google Places, Directories,on-page address.

The Impact of Blended or Universal SearchSearch Results are more complicated today. Multiple opportunities exist.● Google Organic - Can have multiple

placements● Google Places (Maps) - Use when relevant● Google Adwords - Will increase exposure for

targeted keywords● Google News, Shopping, etc. Be as visible as possible!

Tracking

You can't know where you're going if you don't know where you've been. Analytics: Use GA to track users and behavior. Conversion: The goal of any website is to get visitors to accomplish a task. Can be anything, but you should track it.Use this info to adjust your campaign.

So... do a littledetective work... There are tons of data that can be tracked. It can be overwhelming. For SEO, tracking Keyword usage, bounce rate and conversion rates is crucial. How are people finding you? What do they do once they are there? This info will help you modify campaigns going forward.

What's Google done lately?

Three major changes:1. "Caffeine" Speed up indexing,particularly sites that get refreshed content.

2. Improve search results with "Panda".Evaluate site quality of content,usability and "stickiness".

3. "Penguin"... Hunt down and eliminate spammy links

Thanks very much!Please feel free to ask questions!