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SAMPLE: Search
Engine Optimization
A Best Practice Guide

SAMPLE:
Search Engine
Optimization
A Best Practice Guide
Published January 2014 Econsultancy London Econsultancy New York

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Contents
1. Introduction to Our Guides ........................................... 14

1.1. How this guide is structured ......................................................14
1.1.1. Features of this guide ................................................................................... 15
1.1.2. Key chapters ................................................................................................. 16
1.2. About Econsultancy ...................................................................18
2. Introduction to Search Marketing and SEO.................. 19

2.1. What is search marketing and SEO? ........................................ 20
2.2. Why is it important?................................................................... 21
2.3. Market context .......................................................................... 24
2.4. Getting to grips with the fundamentals .................................... 25
2.4.1. Have you heard of the tail of search? .......................................................... 25
2.4.2. Savvier searchers.......................................................................................... 27
2.4.3. Anatomy of a SERPs page............................................................................ 29
2.4.4. The different types of organic search result ............................................... 33
2.5. Goals, objectives and KPIs ........................................................ 37
2.5.1. The difference between goals and objectives ............................................. 37
2.5.2. Setting SMART objectives ...........................................................................38
2.5.3. The value of KPIs ......................................................................................... 39
2.6. Opportunities, challenges and risks ......................................... 40
2.6.1. SEO opportunities ....................................................................................... 40
2.6.2. SEO challenges ............................................................................................. 41
2.6.3. What are the risks? ...................................................................................... 41
2.7. Integration with other marketing channels ............................. 42
2.7.1. Paid search ................................................................................................... 42
2.7.2. Display advertising ...................................................................................... 42
2.7.3. Affiliate marketing ....................................................................................... 42
2.7.4. Offline marketing ......................................................................................... 43
2.8. Regulations ................................................................................ 43
3. Changes in SEO Since the Last Report .......................... 45

3.1. Updates from the search engines.............................................. 45
3.1.1. Algorithm update: Hummingbird ............................................................... 45
3.1.2. Algorithm update: Panda ............................................................................ 45
3.1.3. Algorithm update: Penguin .........................................................................48
3.1.4. Algorithm update: Venice ............................................................................ 49
3.1.5. Algorithm update: EMD .............................................................................. 49
3.2. Interface updates ....................................................................... 50
3.3. Transparency and alerts ............................................................ 56
3.4. The drive to disavow ................................................................. 56
Search Engine Optimization A Best Practice Guide Page 3
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage
and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Copyright © Econsultancy.com Ltd 2014
3.5. Paid inclusion ............................................................................ 57
3.6. Updates from the SEO industry ................................................ 58
3.6.1. Content marketing ....................................................................................... 58
3.6.2. Outreach and engagement ........................................................................... 58
3.6.3. Data and analytics ........................................................................................ 58
3.6.4. Click through optimization .......................................................................... 58
3.7. Debate around Google+ ............................................................ 58
4. Ranking Factors ............................................................. 60

4.1. Focus on the customer to get the rank ......................................61
4.2. The science behind rank ........................................................... 62
4.3. How search engines are evolving algorithms ........................... 63
4.4. How this is expected to change ................................................. 64
4.5. Key dos and don'ts .................................................................... 65
5. Planning and Strategy.................................................... 68

5.1. Understanding the darker side of SEO ..................................... 70
5.1.1. Whitehat SEO ............................................................................................... 70
5.1.2. Greyhat SEO ................................................................................................. 71
5.1.3. Blackhat SEO ................................................................................................ 73
5.2. Understanding Google penalties .............................................. 74
5.2.1. Manual penalties .......................................................................................... 74
5.2.2. Algorithmic penalties ................................................................................... 75
5.3. SEO strategy - the planning process ......................................... 76
5.3.1. Setting a realistic strategy ............................................................................ 78
5.3.2. Balancing SEO and paid search .................................................................. 79
5.3.3. How PPC can help SEO .............................................................................. 80
5.4. Audience analysis, search behaviour and keyphrase
selection ......................................................................................81
5.4.1. Which search terms should you target? ......................................................82
5.4.2. Understanding search behaviour ................................................................83
5.4.3. Time-related variations in keyphrase use ...................................................84
5.4.4. Understanding different types of keyphrases.............................................86
5.4.5. Grouping and categorising keyphrases ....................................................... 87
5.4.6. Keyphrase identification and selection process .........................................89
5.5. Auditing current performance ................................................ 106
5.5.1. Relative performance ................................................................................. 106
5.5.2. Performance benchmarking .......................................................................113
5.5.3. Site inclusion for natural search ................................................................ 117
5.5.4. Link and domain popularity for natural search ....................................... 118
5.5.5. Evaluating alternative SEO approaches ....................................................119
5.5.6. Site speed .................................................................................................... 120
5.5.7. Page metrics vs. key term metrics ..............................................................121
5.5.8. Benchmarking content performance ........................................................ 123
5.5.9. Mobile vs. desktop ..................................................................................... 125
5.5.10. Page performance ...................................................................................... 125
5.5.11. Benchmarking correctly ............................................................................ 129
5.6. Site inclusion and reinclusion requests ...................................134
5.6.1. Filing a reconsideration request................................................................ 138
5.7. Setting goals, objectives and KPIs for SEO ............................. 141
5.8. Key dos and don’ts for SEO strategy........................................144
6. Measurement and Reporting For SEO ........................ 146

6.1. SEO measurement ....................................................................146
6.1.1. The role of web analytics ........................................................................... 146
6.1.2. Identifying goals, objectives and KPIs ...................................................... 147
6.1.3. Defining data needs ................................................................................... 148
6.1.4. Ecommerce and non-ecommerce tracking ............................................... 149
6.1.5. Ensuring data is validated ......................................................................... 150
6.1.6. Metrics for SEO .......................................................................................... 152
6.1.7. Using campaign tracking parameters ....................................................... 153
6.2. SEO reporting ........................................................................... 155
6.2.1. Defining requirements ............................................................................... 155
6.2.2. Essential SEO reports ................................................................................ 156
6.2.3. Using segmentation ................................................................................... 158
6.2.4. Role of dashboards ..................................................................................... 159
6.2.5. Custom reports ............................................................................................161
6.2.6. Importance of goals and event tracking ....................................................161
6.3. SEO analysis ............................................................................. 165
6.3.1. Importance of context ................................................................................ 166
6.3.2. Questioning data ........................................................................................ 166
6.3.3. Role of Voice-of-Customer data ................................................................ 167
6.3.4. Multi-channel funnels and attribution analysis ....................................... 167
6.3.5. Universal analytics and SEO ..................................................................... 170
6.4. Role of testing and optimization ..............................................170
6.4.1. What can you test? ..................................................................................... 170
6.4.2. Creating a testing plan ................................................................................ 171
6.4.3. Case study .................................................................................................... 171
6.5. Known data anomalies for SEO ............................................... 173
6.5.1. (not provided) ............................................................................................ 173
6.5.2. iOS search ................................................................................................... 174
6.6. Tools of the trade ...................................................................... 175
6.6.1. Web analytics platforms ............................................................................ 175
6.6.2. Market analysis tools ................................................................................. 176
6.6.3. SEO performance tools .............................................................................. 176
6.6.4. Browser extensions .................................................................................... 176
6.6.5. Technical performance tools ..................................................................... 177
6.6.6. Voice-of-Customer tools. ........................................................................... 177
6.6.7. Page engagement tools .............................................................................. 177
6.6.8. AB and MVT testing tools .......................................................................... 177
6.7. Key dos and don’ts for SEO measurement and reporting ......178
7. Technical SEO .............................................................. 179
7.1. Why technical SEO is important .............................................. 179
7.2. Considerations when building a website ................................ 180
7.3. Site architecture ...................................................................... 180
7.3.1. Categorisation ............................................................................................ 181
7.3.2. Use of subdomains ..................................................................................... 181
7.3.3. URL formats ............................................................................................... 182
7.3.4. Using Webmaster Tools ............................................................................. 183
7.3.5. Sitemaps ..................................................................................................... 184
7.3.6. Telling the search engine about your Sitemap ......................................... 187
7.3.7. URL parameter management .................................................................... 189
7.3.8. The “robots” meta tag .................................................................................191
7.3.9. The Robot Exclusion Standard (robots.txt) .............................................. 192
7.3.10. Mod-rewrite and URL Rewrite: ................................................................ 194
7.3.11. URL Rewrite ............................................................................................... 201
7.4. Canonicalisation ...................................................................... 204
7.4.1. Why does canonicalisation cause problems? .......................................... 205
7.4.2. Quick tips for canonicalisation ................................................................. 206
7.5. Pagination ................................................................................ 207
7.6. Geo-targeting ........................................................................... 208
7.7. Crawling, server behaviour and response codes .................... 210
7.7.1. Viewing headers ..........................................................................................211
7.7.2. HTTP request headers ............................................................................... 212
7.7.3. User agent ................................................................................................... 212
7.7.4. Accept-Encoding (Compression) .............................................................. 213
7.7.5. Referrer ....................................................................................................... 213
7.7.6. HTTP response headers ............................................................................. 215
7.7.7. Response status codes ............................................................................... 216
7.7.8. HTTP compression .................................................................................... 219
7.7.9. ETag ........................................................................................................... 220
7.7.10. X-Robots-Tag ............................................................................................ 220
7.7.11. Canonical URLs ......................................................................................... 220
7.7.12. Vary HTTP header ..................................................................................... 221
7.8. Web crawler detection..............................................................221
7.9. URL discovery ......................................................................... 222
7.9.1. Links ...........................................................................................................222
7.9.2. Sitemaps .....................................................................................................222
7.9.3. Toolbars and analytics ...............................................................................222
7.10. Web crawling optimization ..................................................... 223
7.10.1. Crawl budgets .............................................................................................223
7.10.2. XML Sitemaps ............................................................................................ 225
7.10.3. Expired/deleted content ............................................................................ 225
7.10.4. Crawl optimization checklist .....................................................................226
7.11. Redirection .............................................................................. 226
7.11.1. Geographic redirection ..............................................................................226
7.11.2. Mobile/device redirection ......................................................................... 227
7.12. Site availability and speed ....................................................... 227
7.12.1. Availability .................................................................................................. 227
7.12.2. Site speed ................................................................................................... 228
7.13. Optimising site speed .............................................................. 230
7.13.1. Server response time................................................................................. 230
7.13.2. HTML size ................................................................................................. 230
7.13.3. Page structure............................................................................................ 230
7.13.4. AJAX / client-side asynchronous technologies ........................................ 231
7.13.5. Site speed checklist .................................................................................... 231
7.14. Vertical technical SEO ............................................................. 232
7.14.1. Image search ..............................................................................................232
7.14.2. News ...........................................................................................................233
7.14.3. Video search ...............................................................................................234
7.14.4. Shopping search ......................................................................................... 235
7.15. HTML markup......................................................................... 235
7.15.1. Open Graph ................................................................................................ 235
7.15.2. Title and description tags ..........................................................................236
7.15.3. Header tags................................................................................................. 237
7.15.4. Structured data........................................................................................... 237
7.15.5. Breadcrumbs .............................................................................................. 237
7.15.6. Pagination.................................................................................................. 238
7.15.7. Testing ....................................................................................................... 238
7.15.8. HTML 5 elements.......................................................................................239
7.16. Domain migration and site redevelopment............................ 239
7.16.1. Domain migrations ................................................................................... 240
7.16.2. Site redevelopment ....................................................................................242
7.17. Technical auditing for SEO ..................................................... 243
7.18. Technical SEO monitoring ...................................................... 245
7.18.1. Monitoring checklist .................................................................................. 245
7.18.2. Monitoring tools.........................................................................................246
8. On-page Optimization ................................................. 248

8.1. Introduction ............................................................................ 248
8.2. The importance of targeting keywords ................................... 249
8.3. Selecting keyphrases for optimization .................................... 250
8.4. Page markup factors ................................................................ 252
8.4.1. Page <titles> ............................................................................................... 252
8.4.2. Content headings ....................................................................................... 254
8.4.3. Body content............................................................................................... 255
8.4.4. Meta description ........................................................................................ 256
8.4.5. Image optimization .................................................................................... 257
8.4.6. Authorship .................................................................................................. 259
8.4.7. Rich snippets .............................................................................................. 261
8.4.8. Social sharing .............................................................................................262
8.5. Document level factors ............................................................ 265
8.5.1. Keyphrase(s) within domain name ........................................................... 265
8.5.2. Keywords in URLs......................................................................................266
8.5.3. Non-HTML document types .................................................................... 268
8.6. Internal linking ........................................................................ 269
8.7. User-generated content............................................................ 271
9. Landing Page Optimization ......................................... 273

9.1. Setting objectives for your landing pages ............................... 273
9.2. Conversion strategy ................................................................. 274
9.2.1. Macro conversions ..................................................................................... 276
9.2.2. Micro conversions ...................................................................................... 276
9.2.3. B2B or B2C ................................................................................................. 276
9.3. Measuring effectiveness ...........................................................277
9.3.1. Success factors ........................................................................................... 279
9.3.2. A careful consideration for product specific obstacles ........................... 282
9.4. Conversion considerations when copywriting for SEO ......... 283
9.5. Different types of SEO landing pages ..................................... 285
9.5.1. Landing page as part of the existing structure .........................................285
9.5.2. Specific campaign landing pages ..............................................................285
9.5.3. Microsite (different domain) .................................................................... 286
9.6. Continuous improvement – testing landing pages ................ 286
9.6.1. Tools............................................................................................................ 287
9.6.2. Evaluate results on all levels ..................................................................... 287
9.7. Key dos and don’ts .................................................................. 288
9.7.1. Remember non-responders ...................................................................... 288
9.7.2. Ensure your company image matches perceived impression................. 288
9.7.3. Don’t use corporate terms and language ................................................. 288
9.7.4. Break content down into readable format ............................................... 288
9.7.5. Introduce urgency ..................................................................................... 289
9.7.6. Ensure your CTA has an enticing value proposition ............................... 289
9.7.7. Don’t ask for unnecessary information .................................................... 290
10. Link Building ............................................................... 291

10.1. Introduction: Why links are so important...............................291
10.1.1. History ........................................................................................................ 291
10.1.2. Link based algorithms: how Google changed web search .......................293
10.1.3. Evolution of link based algorithms and the growth of link spam ...........293
10.1.4. Link networks .............................................................................................296
10.2. Link building today: marketing your site to attract links ...... 296
10.2.1. What makes a good link? ...........................................................................296
10.2.2. Earning links ..............................................................................................299
10.2.3. Creating unique and valuable content ..................................................... 303
10.3. Active link building ................................................................. 308
10.3.1. Blogger outreach ....................................................................................... 308
10.3.2. Guest blogging ............................................................................................ 312
10.3.3. Directories .................................................................................................. 315
10.3.4. Business partnerships ................................................................................ 315
10.4. Other marketing channels and link treatment ........................316
10.4.1. Affiliate marketing ..................................................................................... 316
10.4.2. Advertorial .................................................................................................. 316
10.5. Manipulated links: identifying, cleaning and avoiding........... 317
10.5.1. Why are manipulated links problematic? ................................................. 317
10.5.2. How to identify unnatural links ................................................................ 318
10.5.3. Link tools to help with analysis ................................................................. 321
10.5.4. Cleaning a backlink profile: link removal or disavowal? .........................322
10.5.5. Future-proofing your link building strategy.............................................324
11. Social and Online PR and their Influence on Search .. 325

11.1. Changes in algorithms and their impact on the role of social
and PR ..................................................................................... 325
11.1.1. February 23, 2011 - Google Panda update ................................................ 325
11.1.2. April 24, 2012 - Google Penguin update ...................................................326
11.1.3. July 26, 2013 - Link schemes document update (Google’s Webmaster
Tool) ............................................................................................................ 327
11.2. Online PR................................................................................. 327
11.2.1. The role of the influencer ......................................................................... 328
11.2.2. Online PR distribution services.................................................................329
11.2.3. Understanding the motivations of journalists and writers ..................... 330
11.2.4. Key PR skills that support SEO .................................................................332
11.3. Social media and SEO ............................................................. 332
11.3.1. Why is social media relevant to SEO?.......................................................332
11.3.2. What does this mean for SEO? .................................................................. 335
11.3.3. Social leads to links .................................................................................... 335
11.3.4. Social leading to richer search results listings ......................................... 337
11.3.5. Social content ranks in its own right ........................................................ 338
11.3.6. On-page social signals .............................................................................. 340
12. Mobile SEO .................................................................. 344

12.1. Why do mobile SEO?............................................................... 345
12.2. Development for mobile SEO ................................................. 346
12.2.1. Responsive web design .............................................................................. 347
12.2.2. Mobile optimised site.................................................................................349
12.2.3. Technical considerations ........................................................................... 352
12.3. Mobile indexation ................................................................... 354
12.3.1. robots.txt: ................................................................................................... 354
12.3.2. META robots tag ........................................................................................ 354
12.3.3. link rel=”alternate” .................................................................................... 354
12.3.4. Mobile XML Sitemap ................................................................................. 355
12.3.5. Canonicalisation ......................................................................................... 355
12.4. Mobile content......................................................................... 356
12.4.1. Viewport meta tag ...................................................................................... 356
12.4.2. Display/hide content per viewport ........................................................... 356
12.4.3. Responsive images: .................................................................................... 357
12.5. Mobile performance ................................................................ 357
12.5.1. Page speed ..................................................................................................358
12.5.2. CDN (content delivery networks) .............................................................358
12.5.3. Dynamic (or “lazy”) loading ...................................................................... 359
12.5.4. Structured data........................................................................................... 359
12.5.5. Click-to-call links ....................................................................................... 359
12.5.6. Option to view the full site ........................................................................ 360
12.6. Mobile SEO marketing .............................................................361
12.6.1. The factors driving mobile marketing growth ..........................................362
12.6.2. What are people doing? .............................................................................364
12.7. Understanding mobile search behaviour ............................... 365
12.8. Mobile keyword research ........................................................ 369
12.9. Understanding the mobile SEO algorithm .............................. 371
12.10. Link building for mobile .......................................................... 371
12.10.1. Reciprocity.................................................................................................. 372
12.11. Mobile landing pages .............................................................. 374
12.12. Key dos and don’ts for mobile SEO ........................................ 376
12.13. Useful resources for technical mobile SEO .............................377
13. Local SEO ..................................................................... 378

13.1. How local SEO has evolved: .................................................... 380
13.1.1. The Google Venice update: ....................................................................... 380
13.1.2. Personalisation .......................................................................................... 382
13.1.3. Google Places pages and Google+ Local pages ........................................ 382
13.1.4. Zagat reviews ............................................................................................. 384
13.2. Local SEO ranking factors....................................................... 385
13.2.1. Place page factors ....................................................................................... 387
13.2.2. On-page factors .......................................................................................... 387
13.2.3. NAP listings and citations ........................................................................ 390
13.2.4. Link signals................................................................................................. 391
13.2.5. Review signals ............................................................................................ 391
13.3. Social and local SEO .................................................................391
13.4. The most impactful signals ......................................................391
13.5. Key dos and don’ts .................................................................. 392
14. International SEO ........................................................ 393

14.1. The global search engine market ............................................ 393
14.2. Defining an international SEO project ................................... 394
14.2.1. Auditing current international organic search status ..............................394
14.2.2. Auditing current international search activity .........................................396
14.2.3. Approach to translation: automated vs. native support ......................... 398
14.2.4. Targeting your international audience .................................................... 400
14.3. Your international SEO goals and targets .............................. 402
14.4. Developing an internationally optimised web presence ........ 403
14.4.1. Organising your international URL structure ......................................... 403
14.4.2. Country targeted website URL structure ................................................. 404
14.4.3. URL Structure for language targeted websites .........................................407
14.5. Translating or localising.......................................................... 408
14.6. Language and country targeting for web content ...................412
14.6.1. Hreflang annotations ................................................................................. 412
14.6.2. Content language meta tag ........................................................................ 416
14.6.3. Search engine webmaster tools ................................................................. 417
14.7. Growing your international web popularity ............................ 417
14.7.1. Defining an international link building campaign ................................... 417
14.7.2. Executing an international link building campaign ................................. 418
14.8. Measuring international SEO success .....................................419
14.8.1. Following up your international search activity ...................................... 420
15. Appendix 1: Acknowledgements .................................. 421

15.1. Lead author ..............................................................................421
15.2. Expert contributors ..................................................................421
16. Appendix 2: SEO Performance Audit .......................... 430

16.1. Technical Performance ........................................................... 430
16.1.1. Page load speed ......................................................................................... 430
16.1.2. Page size......................................................................................................432
16.1.3. HTML validation ........................................................................................433
16.1.4. HTTP status ................................................................................................433
16.1.5. Site crawl errors .........................................................................................433
16.1.6. Volume of webpages being indexed ..........................................................434
16.1.7. What content is being indexed? ................................................................ 435
16.1.8. Cross browser rendering............................................................................ 435
1.1.1.1 What checks to make ................................................................................. 435
16.2. On-page Optimisation ............................................................. 436
16.2.1. Page titles ...................................................................................................436
1.1.1.2 What checks to make .................................................................................436
16.2.2. Meta descriptions ....................................................................................... 437
1.1.1.3 What checks to make ................................................................................. 437
16.2.3. Internal links .............................................................................................. 437
1.1.1.4 What checks to make ................................................................................ 438
16.2.4. Content ...................................................................................................... 438
1.1.1.5 What checks to make: ................................................................................439
16.2.5. Keyword density .........................................................................................439
1.1.1.6 What checks to make .................................................................................439
16.2.6. Mark-up and rich snippets ........................................................................439
1.1.1.7 What checks to make ................................................................................ 440
16.3. Keyword Coverage ....................................................................441
16.3.1. What checks to make: ................................................................................442
16.4. Link Portfolio........................................................................... 444
16.5. Social Media Coverage ............................................................ 446
16.6. Competitor Strengths and Weaknesses .................................. 447
16.6.1. What checks to make ................................................................................. 447
16.7. SEO Audit Checklist ................................................................ 448
Dedicated to Jaamit Durrani
Jaamit was a popular, well-respected and highly active member of the SEO
community, whose life was cut short in a tragic accident towards the end of 2010.
The two posts he contributed to Econsultancy remain invaluable advice and are
testament to his skills and ability to share practical insight to help SEOs work
smarter, rather than harder.
Nine common SEO campaign mistakes

http://econsultancy.com/blog/5530-nine-common-seo-campaign-mistakes
Seven sensational SEO tips for ecommerce sites
http://econsultancy.com/blog/5131-7-seo-tips-for-ecommerce-sites
Jaamit is remembered with great fondness by all who worked with him and our
best wishes, as always, are with his family and friends.
He will always be remembered. Rest in peace Jaamit.
SAMPLE: Search Engine Optimization A Best Practice Guide
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information
storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Copyright © Econsultancy.com Ltd 2014
1. Introduction to Our Guides
Econsultancy’s Best Practice Guides help organizations improve their results from digital
marketing through improved planning and execution.
They have been developed to be the definitive source for best practice on a range of online
marketing topics and aim to explain best practice for successfully implementing established
digital marketing techniques across organizations of all sizes – from micro-businesses to
enterprises.
When writing these guides, we work with respected industry thought leaders and seasoned
practitioners to contribute cutting edge content and the latest learning. These are the people who
live and breathe the subject and are genuinely passionate about sharing their experience and
knowledge. You will find a list of the authors in the appendices as well as in the intro to each
chapter.
In particular, the reports are developed to aid the following people:

 Digital marketing professionals. Individuals in digital marketing teams who are actively
involved in improving results from online marketing activities.
 Specialists. Those involved with specific digital channels such as search engine marketing
who need to understand more about integration with other digital marketing activities.
 Managers of digital marketing. Those in a team responsible for planning and controlling
digital marketing.
 Marketing managers and team members. Anyone responsible for traditional marketing
who wants to understand the issues involved with successful planning, implementation and
integration of digital marketing activities.
Key features of our guides:

 Comprehensive. They cover all aspects needed for success in one place as well as
referencing other in-depth sources across different portals, forums, blogs, whitepapers and
books.
 Accessible. Content is segmented to help readers navigate and assimilate relevant content.
 In-depth. Topics are covered in sufficient depth to successfully implement suggestions.
 Practical. They explain how to implement techniques and provide key success factors that
can be applied straightaway.
 Improvement-focused. Our guides explain current strategies, tell you how to refine them
and will then help you implement an improved approach.
 Cutting edge. The latest best-practice advice is incorporated and potential areas of focus for
the future are highlighted.
Econsultancy’s Best Practice Guides are updated on a regular basis, so the information contained
within is recent and valid at the time of publication. Send any questions or comments to
editor@econsultancy.com
1.1. How this guide is structured

The guide is divided into 13 main chapters. Each one is written to act as a standalone mini-report,
as well as being part of the main report, and has its own introduction to set the scene and explain
what it’s about. You will also find a ‘Key dos and don’ts’ throughout the guide, acting as a helpful
checklist for the most important points that have been made.
This structure is designed to help you regardless of your current level of SEO experience and
knowledge. If you’re new to SEO and need to skill up across all areas, then you can use the entire
guide as a reference manual. If you’re a seasoned SEO professional who needs to enhance
knowledge in a specialist area like international, due to a change in job role or personal interest,
then you can jump to the relevant section to find the most useful content and advice.
Throughout the guide you will find comments from experienced SEOs, sharing their knowledge
and insight gained over years of implementing SEO strategies. We hope you find this helpful as it
represents the voice of the SEO community, which is a vibrant and collaborative place that
welcomes new members with open arms.
Please note that we most commonly refer to Google when discussing search engines. We are fully
aware that Google isn’t the be all and end all of search engine marketing and that there is regional
variation where Google isn’t the market leader or its dominance is reduced (e.g. Baidu in China,
Yandex in Russia). However, Google is still the dominant search engine in most markets and
search marketers invest the majority of their time and budget into optimising websites for Google.
If you’re interested in seeing up-to-date stats for global search engine market share, we
recommend bookmarking Statcounter1. At the time of writing this report, Google’s global search
market share was approximately 90%, with dominance in key markets like the UK (90%) and US
(79%).
1.1.1. Features of this guide

We have incorporated a range of features to help make this guide an effective learning tool. You
will find many of these highlighted in pull-out boxes:
1. Key recommendations - guidance on all the issues an organisation should pay attention to
in its SEO strategy.
2. Tips - practical recommendations to improve results.
3. Market data – stats and facts that summarise research that supports a success factor.
4. Resources - links to tools, articles and portals found within the body text, footnotes and in
the resources section at the end of the guide.
5. Screenshots – helping to visualise the tools and web pages that are being discussed.
6. Quotes – comments from respected voices from the SEO industry, helping you learn from
the experts.
Where pull-out boxes are used, these have been designed to be consulted at a glance to
understand good practice without reading too much text.
Each section of the guide provides much more depth on each SEO component, including
examples, several best practice guidelines and issues to watch for.
In Section 4 you will find information about ranking factors. Here we give you an overview of the
different types of factor that influence the relative position of web pages and content in SERPs
(search engine results pages).
The actual importance of the factors will vary for different search engines, markets and audiences.
It also depends on previous SEO efforts. That is why we don’t make any claims for which factors
are the ‘most important’ because, in our experience, this can vary significantly and even amongst
experienced SEOs there is often heated debate and disagreement!
1 http://gs.statcounter.com/
There are several studies available for further reading on this topic and we recommend using
them to help you understand what influences rank, in addition to learning from your own SEO
activity, rather than using them as de facto guides. A good example is Searchmetrics’ “SEO
Ranking Factors – Rank Correlation 2013” available on Slideshare 2.
1.1.2. Key chapters

We have divided the guide into 13 chapters, which represent the most important elements of SEO
at the time of writing. These chapters are:
2. Introduction to Search Marketing And SEO
Setting the scene for what SEO means to the modern marketer and why it’s as important
and relevant as ever.
Written by James Gurd, Owner and Lead Consultant at Digital Juggler.
3. Changes In SEO Since The Last Report
SEO changes fast and this part of the guide looks at updates to algorithms and changes in
how SEO professionals approach their jobs.
Written by Andrew Girdwood, Media Innovations Director at DigitasLBi.
4. Ranking Factors
A review of the types of factor that can influence rank, an important foundation for SEO.
Written by Stefan Hull, Insight Director at Propellernet.
5. Planning and strategy
Help and guidance on how to approach SEO strategy selection and key components that
should be part of any SEO plan.
Written by Lee Colbran, SEO Director and Founding Partner, and Dr David Sewell,
Consultant, at Fresh Egg and Rishi Lakhani, Independent Online Marketing Consultant.
6. Measurement and Reporting
An essential component of an SEO strategy, this chapter discusses how you can audit
performance along with useful ways to measure the impact of SEO and report results.
Written by James Gurd, Owner and Lead Consultant at Digital Juggler and contributed to
by Will Critchlow and the team at Distilled.
7. Technical SEO
The nuts and bolts behind the scenes, discussing what you need to think about to ensure a
website is configured to support SEO and doesn’t create indexation issues.
Written by Lisa Myers, CEO at Verve Search (with contributions from Sohaib Siddique,
SEO Consultant, and Suhail Abood, Web Developer) and Chris Evans, Director at
SEMetrical.
2 http://www.slideshare.net/joaocaetano/ranking-factor-sstudy2013
8. On-page Optimization
Looking at the essential techniques for optimising on-page content to support SEO
targets, including page markup factors.
Written by Joe Friedlein, Founder at Browser Media.
9. Landing Page Optimization
Explaining the relevance and importance of landing pages for SEO and the success factors
that need to be understood.
Written by Michael Hope, Analytics and Conversion Manager at Search Laboratory.
10. Link Building
Looking at how link building has evolved in recent years and the impact of key algorithm
updates like Google’s Penguin.
Written by Nichola Stott, Owner and Director at theMediaFlow.
11. Social and Online PR and Their Influence On Search
Introducing the context of why PR and social media play important roles in SEO and the
tools of the trade.
Written by Kelvin Newman, Strategy Director at SiteVisibility.
12. Mobile SEO
A dive into the key considerations when deciding the architecture of a mobile site plus
tips and techniques for mobile SEO including mobile search and link building.
Written by Alex Moss, Director at FireCask and James Lowery, Digital Strategy
Consultant at Latitude Digital Marketing.
13. Local SEO
Discussing the evolution and importance of local search, including the rise of Google+.
Written by Paul Rogers, SEO Manager at Buyagift.com.
14. International SEO
Increasingly important for many businesses, this reviews how you can manage
international SEO projects as well as tips for growing search popularity across multiple
markets.
Written by Aleyda Solis, Head of Digital Strategy at WooRank.
1.2. About Econsultancy
Econsultancy’s mission is to help its customers achieve excellence in digital business, marketing
and ecommerce through research, training and events.
Founded in 1999, Econsultancy has over 250,000 subscribers, is used by more than 500,000
professionals every month, and has offices in New York, London and Singapore.
Econsultancy subscribers get access to research, market data, best practice guides, case studies
and elearning – all focused on helping individuals and enterprises get better at digital.
The subscription is supported by digital transformation services including digital capability

programs, training courses, skills assessments and audits. We train and develop thousands of
professionals each year as well as running events and networking that bring the Econsultancy
community together around the world.
Join Econsultancy today to learn what’s happening in digital marketing – and what works. Call
us to find out more on +44 (0)20 7269 1450 (London) or +1 212 971 0630 (New York). You can
also contact us online.
Further reading
SEMPO State of Search Engine Marketing Report

http://econsultancy.com/reports/sempo-state-of-search
Global Search Marketing Statistics

http://econsultancy.com/reports/global-search-marketing-statistics
UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report

http://econsultancy.com/reports/uk-search-engine-marketing-benchmark-report
SEO Agencies Buyer’s Guide

http://econsultancy.com/reports/seo-agencies-buyers-guide
SEO Request for Proposal (RFP) Template

http://econsultancy.com/reports/sem-seo-request-for-proposal-rfp
Search Engine Marketing: SEO – Digital Marketing Template Files

http://econsultancy.com/reports/search-engine-marketing-seo-digital-marketing-template-files
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Business Case

http://econsultancy.com/reports/sem-search-engine-optimization-seo-business-case
2. Introduction to Search Marketing and
SEO
Contributor
The following chapter has been written by James Gurd, Owner at Digital Juggler.
Search marketing, sometimes referred to as search engine marketing (SEM), remains one of the
key supporting pillars of online marketing, which is unsurprising given the continued growth in
the popularity of search engines amongst users to research products, services and organisations.
Google has even entered the popular dictionary as a verb indicating the search for information;
the phrase “Google it” is ever popular:
verb
[with object]
search for information about (someone or something) on the Internet using the search engine
Google: on Sunday she googled an ex-boyfriend  [no object]: I googled for a cheap
hotel/flight deal.
[Source: Oxford Dictionaries Online]
Despite misleading claims that the relevance of SEO is waning (in fact this became a popular
thread for lazy debate and Google Instant for “SEO is” still indicates a proclamation of doom – see
below), search engine usage shows no sign of abatement and the SEO industry is more vibrant
than ever, partly driven by an increased understanding of how SEO impacts and integrates with
other areas of the business like PR and social media.
Figure 1 – Screenshot of Google Instant suggestions for “SEO is”
What’s fascinating for the digital industry is the rapid and continuous evolution of search engine
algorithms, how they adapt their rules for the indexation and surfacing of information to online
searchers and the ways in which digital marketers use SEO to support their business goals. The
two are inter-twined, with SEO specialists adapting their strategies to respond to search engine
updates and the big search engines working more closely than ever with search marketers.
This report tackles the weighty challenge of translating years of learning and insight into a
practical guide to SEO that can be used by beginners and advanced digital marketers alike.
2.1. What is search marketing and SEO?
Let’s start at the beginning.
Search marketing is about connecting searchers looking for information with the most relevant
information available online. It is about making yourself visible within the search engines, in
order to attract new and returning visitors to your site, which requires the discipline of marketing
your products, services and content via search engines like Google and Bing, through both paid
and natural search. If you’re looking for expert advice on Paid Search, please refer to our sister
guide, the Paid Search Marketing (PPC) Best Practice Guide 3.
Search marketing helps site owners meet their various online marketing objectives such as
generating leads, sales or simply building awareness and delivering the right message to their
audience. For many marketers it’s highly effective and highly measurable.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of optimising your website and its content to
ensure it can be easily indexed by search engines for the most relevant search queries and
surfaced as organic (also referred to as ‘natural’) search results. From a commercial perspective,
organic search is defined as ‘free’ because there is no direct media cost for the clicks, unlike paid
search where you pay for each click. That’s not to say you don’t need a budget for SEO, far from it.
A comprehensive SEO plan will need investment in areas like content marketing and link
building. A good example is paying a copywriter to write tailored content for your website which
is optimised for SEO.
SEO: a helpful definition

“Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving the visibility of a website on organic ("natural" or un-
paid) search engine result pages (SERPs), by incorporating search engine friendly elements into a website. A
successful search engine optimization campaign will have, as part of the improvements, carefully selected,
relevant, keywords which the on-page optimization will be designed to make prominent for search engine
algorithms. Search engine optimization is broken down into two basic areas: on-page, and off-page optimization.
On-page optimization refers to website elements which comprise a web page, such as HTML code, textual
content, and images. Off-page optimization refers, predominantly, to backlinks (links pointing to the site which
is being optimised, from other relevant websites).”
Source: Whatisseo.com
The ways in which SEOs build and deliver SEO plans have evolved quite considerably, largely due
to an increased appreciation of how SEO impacts other areas of the business, especially digital
marketing disciplines like social and online PR.
SEO is a changing beast. It’s still a relatively new industry and constantly evolving thanks to
changes from the search engines themselves. It’s estimated that Google updates its algorithm on a
daily basis, so the underlying rules change 365 times each year (366 in a leap year!). The big
updates like Panda and Penguin have a pronounced impact on SERPs and create major ranking
fluctuations. The most important recent changes are covered by Andrew Girdwood in this guide
and you can bookmark the SEOMoz Google Algorithm Change History landing page for regular
updates4.
SEO is also a sophisticated industry that relies on data and analysis to underpin creative
intelligence. There has been a gradual, and some would say too slow, evolution from a focus on
quantity to quality, especially in regards to link building (see the chapter written by Nichola Stott,
Founder of theMediaFlow). Measurement and reporting is also covered by Cheri Percy from
Distilled in the relevant chapter.
3 http://econsultancy.com/reports/paid-search-marketing-ppc-best-practice-guide
4 http://moz.com/google-algorithm-change
John Weber has written a useful blog for Search Engine Journal on Why SEO Isn’t Taught in
College (And Why It Shouldn’t Be)5, which provides a useful take on what SEO is and how you can
master the core skills.
2.2. Why is it important?

Web users love to search. They do this to find only one thing: information that’s relevant to them.
There are approximately 175bn searches performed every month worldwide by 1.5bn individual
searchers. It’s estimated that more than 90% of online experiences start with a search engine.
What sort of information are they looking for?

Clearly this depends on the individual. They might be looking for entertainment news, hunting for
product recommendations, trying to compare vendors and services, seeking their soulmate or
buying a second-hand car. All these goals can start with a simple search query.
Modern search engines are generally great at delivering relevant results to users and relevance, or
relevancy, is the mantra of all search engine engineers. The use of keywords or keyphrases
(combining several keywords) helps users find exactly what they want and understanding
keyphrases enables marketers to target users showing intent or interest in their products.
Notice that we say ‘keyphrase’ (short for ‘keyword phrase’) rather than ‘keyword’. This is because
search engines such as Google attribute more relevance when there is an exact phrase match on a
web page (a phrase that matches the user’s search term).
Search engines also assess other occurrences of the keywords and synonyms on the page, and also
other websites/pages linking to a page. This, plus much more, is covered in the guide.
Being visible is key to success; research shows that click through rate for organic search results
decreases the further down the page you appear, so position #1 has a significant commercial
impact. For branded search, UK searchers are far more likely to click on the first three results.
5http://www.searchenginejournal.com/why-seo-isnt-taught-in-college-and-why-it-shouldnt-
be/65845/
Figure 2 – Click through rate curve for organic search results
[Source: Slingshot SEO, referenced in the Econsultancy.com Search Marketing

Statistics Compendium, August 2013]
The rapid rise in usage of mobile devices has added another feather to SEO’s bow. From Q4 2011
to Q4 2012, the percentage of website traffic from mobile devices nearly doubled from 12.6% to
23.1% according to an L2 Intelligence Report on mobile6. Mobile search is growing and this raises
the bar for organic search competition; smartphones display 2-3 search results before scrolling, so
achieving #1 position is even more important for mobile search. Mobile SEO is covered in more
detail later in this guide.
6 http://www.l2thinktank.com/research/mobile-2013
Figure 3 – Average Google search results returned by device type
[Source: L2, January 2013]
There is a keen interaction between search and offline media consumption. Research
demonstrates that consumers use online search in conjunction with TV advertising and there are
examples of brands creating customised search hooks that lead to campaign landing pages in
organic search results. One of the earliest examples of this is the Aviva Insurance Limited
campaign for “Quote me happy” which used TV ads with a clear call to action (CTA) to search for
“Quote me happy”. If you search, you’ll still see the Quotemehappy.com domain in #1 position in
Google, a successful lead generation tool for home and car insurance. The phrase “quote me
happy” is now widely recognised in the UK and is part of the lexicon.
Figure 4 – Organic search result for TV led search activity
Online search also influences offline behaviour, which is especially true for products with a long
purchase cycle like cars and furniture. For example, a customer researching a new sofa may start
with a Google search for “leather sofas” and then visit local retailers to try out the products they
like before committing to a purchase. The final purchase is most likely to be made offline, though
it may also occur online. This is evidenced by retailers’ web analytics data showing visits from
organic search queries flowing through to store locator web pages.
When surveyed for the Marketing Budgets Report by Econsultancy/Experian, around two-thirds
of companies said that they were planning to increase budgets for SEO. Interestingly, SEO
investment is diversifying; less is being spent on traditional link building and more on content
and community initiatives such as blogger outreach that aim to build high quality links through
quality content.
2.3. Market context

In all countries, there are around three to five core search engines that you should focus your
efforts on. Often, there is one dominant search engine, and a few smaller ones. Google is still the
global market leader and SEO tends to be focused on optimising websites for inclusion in Google’s
index.
In the Western world, the ‘big three’ search engines are Google, Bing and Yahoo (also powered by
Bing’s algorithm). In most countries, such as the UK and US, the search engine of choice is
Google, as this is where the vast proportion of user search queries occurs. Consequently, our best
practice recommendations within this report are squarely primarily focused at generating high
visibility on Google.
However, the market share of each search engine varies from region to region, something that
SEO practitioners need to be aware of, especially when engaging in international markets. In
some markets Google is not the leading search engine, so it’s really important to understand these
nuances. For example, in China, Baidu has approximately 75% share of searches and shows no
sign of weakening its grip.
Search patterns are constantly evolving but what we do know for certain is that the total search
volume is increasing. For example, in the US in the last 12 months the number of search queries
grew by 8%. That might not seem much but, considering total monthly searches hits the 19bn
mark, it’s actually quite a significant number.
2.4. Getting to grips with the fundamentals

Where do you begin to identify what users are searching for and how do you begin to understand
this in relation to your own search campaigns? Completing keyphrase and demand analysis is an
essential planning activity for search engine marketing and will help answer these key questions.
There are some great tools available, such as Google Trends, which can help you find out the
relative importance of different keyphrases in different countries, at different times of the year.
More about the tools you need is detailed throughout this document. In terms of clicks and click
through rate, the proportion of clicks against search phrases is greater the more niche the
keyword, due to increased visibility and a lesser ratio of competition. This is especially true for
brand terms and product specific keyphrases. For example, River Island is likely to experience a
higher click through rate for the search term “river island mens jeans” than for “mens jeans”.
2.4.1. Have you heard of the tail of search?

Keyphrase analysis is important since it reflects search behaviour – the sequence of phases known
as ‘the search journey’. There are broad search terms (e.g. “mens clothing”) that are used when
people are starting their search journey and these terms attract a large volume of searches. As
people refine their needs and shape requirements during the search journey, searches become
increasingly specific, often with longer keyphrases, and the volume of search activity reduces.
This is because there will be a much wider range of keyphrase searches at this stage, so the total
search volume is shared across all of these options, diluting the volume for each keyphrase.
This is commonly called the tail of search and refers to the fact that as the search query becomes
more specific (as search intent moves from browsing to completing), the volume decreases. In
other words, there are fewer people searching for “river island mens jeans” than “mens jeans”.
Consider if you were searching for a car to rent, you will likely start with a relatively short, generic
phrase such as ‘car hire’ and then gradually refine it as shown in the image below.
Figure 5 – Variation in searcher intent through the buying process
Define Select supplier

‘What’s out there?’ requirements (enquire)
‘Inspire me’ Destination

Assess supplier purchase (buy)
capabilities
Undirected, Exploratory Directed, goal-oriented
You will see from the figure above that as we refine our search we are likely to use more specific
words and often use longer phrases.
As searchers make their searches more specific through the buying process, the number of people
using these search terms naturally decreases. This summarises the essential challenge of search
engine marketing.
Highly-refined phrases indicate intent to purchase, yet the search volume on these phrases is
much lower, so that if we only targeted these phrases to gain visibility in the search engines, we
will often not get the volume of sales we are seeking.
The search behaviour we have described where we have a large number of searchers searching on
generic terms and a smaller number searching for more specific niche terms is described by the
Long Tail concept7.
The long tail is simply a form of frequency distribution such as that in the chart below which
tends to be followed when consumers have choice from a range of items. Chris Anderson
described it in the popularity of retail items for a retailer such as Amazon, but evidence from
services such as Hitwise shows it is also followed within a given business sector.
7The Long Tail concept was defined by Chris Anderson while editor of Wired Magazine and is
described in his book and blog (www.thelongtail.com).
Figure 6– Chart showing typical pattern of decline in relative keyphrase popularity
2.4.2. Savvier searchers

As more users become familiar with online searching there has been a trend towards using longer
three+ keyword phrases. The way that internet users are searching is becoming more complex
and sophisticated. Interestingly, there has also been an increase in the volume of searches using
more than six keywords! Now, you need to add some context. Some of those six+ keyword queries
will be people not knowing what they want and adding and running vague searches but others
indicate a highly qualified search requirement. An example of this is the keyphrase “solid wood 2-
seater swing chair with canopy” that was driving traffic to a retail website.
Remember also that many of the one and two word searches are for relatively short brand names,
so for product specific searches, longer phrases are likely.
It’s no secret: users generally refine and narrow their searches using longer phrases like ‘free
online banking’ instead of single-word queries. The more tailored and targeted your keyphrases,
the more successful you are likely to be at search engine optimization. Because of the range of
keyphrases used by searchers (which form a long tail distribution) a key aspect of search engine
marketing is deciding which phrases are used to promote a company.
Once you have a list of keywords and phrases, the next goal is to try to achieve favourable listings
within the search engine results pages, widely referred to across the industry as SERPs.
Remember that small variations in the search query entered by the user can deliver completely
different listings on the SERPs. The example below is a comparison of Google page one for “mens
jeans” vs. “mens skinny jeans”.
Figure 7 – Google.co.uk comparison of results for “mens jeans” and “mens skinny jeans”
2.4.3. Anatomy of a SERPs page
It’s essential to understand how a search results page is constructed and just exactly what is
organic vs. paid inclusion.
Within search marketing, there are three main opportunities for organisations to get their
message across, to gain visibility and to direct visitors to their sites. The first two opportunities
are via the SERPs and the last is on third-party sites.
1. The natural or organic listings. The part of the page’s listing results from a search engine
query which are displayed in a sequence according to relevance of the match between the
keyword phrase typed into a search engine and a web page according to a ranking algorithm
used by the search engine.
The method for achieving placement in this part of the page is called search engine
optimization (SEO) and is the focus of this best practice guide.
A popular question often asked within the SEO community is how to get links below a site to
appear in the SERPs. For example:
Figure 8 – Google.co.uk SERPs showing site links for ASOS
It is difficult to control this, since Google has a completely automated algorithm to produce
what it calls ‘sitelinks’8. Google has not officially explained the algorithm, but we give advice
to maximise your chance of sitelinks in the report. The only control you currently have access
to is via Webmaster Tools where you can demote a sitelink if you don’t think it is relevant to
appear in organic search results.
2. The paid or sponsored listings. A relevant advertisement (typically text-based) with a

link to a destination page is displayed when the user of a search engine types in a specific
phrase. A fee is charged for every click of each link, with the amount bid for the click the main
factor determining its position9.
The method for achieving placement in this part of the page is called paid search (aka pay
per click or PPC). Econsultancy publishes a dedicated best practice guide to paid-search
marketing to help you plan, launch and optimise PPC campaigns.
8 http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=47334
9 Google Adwords also uses a Quality Score based on ad click through rate and engagement with site
Figure 9 – Google.co.uk SERPs showing organic and paid results
3. Content-network listings. These ads are displayed on third party sites that have an
AdSense relationship with Google, or which display Yahoo listings on their website. These
actually account for a sizeable proportion of Google revenue but tend to have much lower click
through rates.
For each organic listing, there are three primary data types that SEOs can control and are used to
help optimise web pages:
1. Page Title
2. URL
3. Meta description
If you use the ‘View Source’ option in the web browser, you can easily see which HTML tags relate
to these data types (a great way to quickly check if your source code is showing what you think it
should).
Figure 10 – Google SERPs for “econsultancy”
Page title
This is arguably the most important on-page factor for SEO.
As a rule of thumb, you have a maximum of 70 characters (including spaces, hyphens etc.) for the
page title, though it’s advisable to optimise to 65 characters as sometimes we’ve seen words cut-
off even when at the 70-character limit.
Given the character limit, it’s essential to think carefully about which keywords are the most
relevant to your web page and ensure they’re included in the page title.
Figure 11 – Source code in Chrome to see page title in the HTML
URL
This is also really important for SEO as the URL needs to be relevant to the web page, avoiding
system generated parameters wherever possible. For example, an SEO friendly URL for the
Women’s Dresses category on DomainX.com would be www.domainX.com/women’s-dresses not
www.domainX.com/cat123 where “cat123” is a system-generated category ID.
You’ll probably have heard the term “SEO friendly URL” before and it’s important to understand
what it means and why it’s important. Please refer to the chapter on Technical SEO written by
Lisa Myers of Verve Search for more information on URL architecture.
Meta description
Although the meta description is no longer a key ranking factor (though this could always change
again, so keep an eye on the latest news!), it’s still essential for SEO because the copy can be used
to influence the click behaviour of searchers. SEOs test variations in the meta description to
determine which approach helps drive the best click through rate.
As a rule of thumb, you have a maximum of 160 characters (including spaces, hyphens etc.) for
the meta description, though it’s advisable to optimise to 156 characters.
Figure 12 – Source code in Chrome to see meta description in the HTML
2.4.4. The different types of organic search result

The major search engines have increased the variety of content formats that can be surfaced on
SERPs, so you need to think of SEO in the wider context than just key URLs. You will notice at the
top of the search results page there are various tabs that allow searchers to refine the results.
These cover content formats including images, videos and shopping.
The key content formats are:
1. Web pages
The vast majority of links in SERPs are URLs for standard HTML web pages. Provided
you have made your site available to index and there are no technical issues blocking the
crawling of your site, your web pages will appear in search engine results.
2. Images
Currently Google can index BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, WebP and SVG image files. It looks at
the written copy on the page where the image is found as well as the page’s title and body
text and also considers the anchor text of the image link, the image’s filename and its alt
text.
For some publishers, images are a key part of their website content and they submit a
separate XML Sitemap for images10.
Eric Layland wrote a helpful summary of optimising images for Google on the Confluence
Digital blog11.
10https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/178636?hl=en
11http://info.confluencedigital.com/blog/bid/171471/How-to-Optimize-Images-So-Google-Can-
Index-Them-in-Search-Part-1
Figure 13 – Image search results for “maxi dresses” on Google UK
3. News
This is for content that has been specified as news and Google has an algorithm which
crawls news sites and allows you to submit a Google News Sitemap through Webmaster
Tools. Articles are displayed in SERPs with the date they were published and the author,
provided the require markup has been used.
It’s important to understand what is classified as a news article vs. a general web page
and to ensure that your news articles are hosted on the same domain as your main site.
We recommend digesting Google’s advice on getting into the Google News index 12, as well
as reading our advice in the chapter on Technical SEO.
12 https://support.google.com/news/publisher/answer/40787?hl=en-GB#general
Figure 14 – News search results for “mobile wallet” on Google UK
4. Blogs
If you write a blog, you can get your blog content included in the blog search results. This
can help with people searching specifically for blog content.
Figure 15 – Blog search results for “maxi dresses” on Google.co.uk
Google recently announced a new category that may sometimes be shown in a search
results page, called ‘In-depth articles’13.
These "in-depth" results are meant to help people find relevant in-depth articles in the
main search results. There isn’t a clear indication yet of the criteria used to define ‘in-
depth’ but it’s likely to index only long form content, perhaps articles with >1,000 words.
This feature is available initially only on Google.com but is likely to be rolled-out across
other Google domains.
13 http://insidesearch.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/discover-great-in-depth-articles-on.html
3. Appendix 1: Acknowledgements
3.1. Lead author
James Gurd, Owner and Lead Consultant, Digital Juggler
The lead author and reviewer for our SEO guide is James Gurd. He has written the chapters on
Introduction to SEO and on Measurement and reporting as well as contributing to and editing all
other sections.
James is an experienced ecommerce

consultant and owner of Digital Juggler, an
ecommerce and digital marketing
consultancy. He has more than 12 years B2C
and B2B experience client and agency side,
providing ecommerce advice and support.
He works with a wide range of ecommerce

clients, including multi-channel retailers like
House of Fraser and Selfridges, helping
digital teams to create, implement and
evolve digital strategy, of which team
management is a core component.
James is a guest blogger at Econsultancy and

can be found on Twitter, LinkedIn and
Google+. He is also co-host of #EcomChat, a
weekly industry chat on all things
ecommerce every Monday on Twitter. He’s
partial to red wine and blue cheese.
3.2. Expert contributors

Econsultancy wishes to extend sincere thanks to the following respected ecommerce and business
strategy professionals and agencies. Between them, they have carefully contributed to and in
some cases entirely written the section content, adding current front-line best-practice tips and
insight derived from their experience in delivering and helping other teams to manage search
marketing strategies.
Andrew Girdwood, Media Innovations Director, DigitasLBi
Chapter written: Changes in SEO since the Last Report
A blogger and a self-confessed digital

marketing geek, Andrew dedicates his time to
understanding What’s Next in digital
marketing and sharing that knowledge with
clients and colleagues.
With a strong digital media background,

acquired after a decade at the forefront of the
industry, Andrew’s knowledge and interest
ranges from search and display to affiliates,
social media, ad exchanges and demand-side
platforms.
You can follow Andrew on Twitter

@andrewgirdwood or via LinkedIn.
Stefan Hull, Insight Director, Propellernet
Chapter written: Ranking Factors
Stefan Hull is an experienced marketer with

more than 15 years’ experience client and
agency side.
He spends most of his time researching and

delivering insight for clients and he works
across Propellernet’s portfolio of clients. He is
a regular speaker at industry events ranging
from small seminars for CEOs to large
conferences for SEO professionals.
He is also particularly interested in the

principles of democratic business and health
and wellbeing. Propellernet is one of just 51
businesses worldwide certified as democratic
by WorldBlu and was recently selected as the
best small business workplace in the UK by
Great Place To Work.
He can be found on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Rishi Lakhani, Independent Online Marketing Consultant
Chapter contributed to: Planning and Strategy
Rishi Lakhani is an experienced digital Marketing

Consultant, and founder of Link Pool, a link
building platform for SEOs. He has more than 12
years’ experience in the field supporting well-known
brands, small businesses and marketing and digital
agencies in the UK and worldwide.
He works with a wide range of agencies and clients

to help structure and grow their digital efforts, and
is fully versed in SEO, PPC, Social Media, Email
Marketing, Lead Generation and Content
Development.
Rishi is also a guest blogger at Econsultancy and is

often called up to provide “expert opinion” in the
field of SEO. He can also be found on Twitter,
LinkedIn and often covers his ideas on his blog,
Explicitly.me.
Lee Colbran, SEO Director and Founding Partner and Dr David Sewell, Consultant
at Fresh Egg
Chapter contributed to: Planning and Strategy
Lee is one of the founding directors of Fresh Egg

and a firm believer that SEO ideas have to be both
creative and effective and should be integrated
with an understanding of a client’s business needs
so that constantly updated SEO expertise can be
translated into continuing success online.
You can find Lee on LinkedIn or connect with him

on Twitter @leecolbran.
David is a technical, creative thinker and
accomplished digital marketing consultant. David
has a PhD in Biomedical Engineering, a BSc. in
Cognitive Science and lives with his family in
Brighton.
With all-round experience across multiple

channels and vertical sectors, David has excellent
knowledge to build integrated digital marketing
campaigns: from developing oil and gas software
to running his own internet travel company,
defining IA for pan-European sites for Astra
Zeneca and advising digital strategy for well-
known and successful businesses such as
FindaProperty.com and Primelocation.com. David
has also managed major brands and celebrities
with their on-line reputation.
You can reach him through LinkedIn or follow him on Twitter @seoeditors.
Other contributors from Fresh Egg: Dara Fitzgerald, Head of Insight and Sarah Harvey, Client
Services Director.
Lisa Myers, CEO and Owner, Verve Search
Chapter contributed to: Technical SEO
Lisa Myers is the CEO and Owner of Award

Winning SEO and Content Marketing Agency,
Verve Search Ltd. Lisa has over eight years’
experience in the SEO industry, and over 12
years’ in Marketing. She is a regular speaker at
SEO and Content Marketing conferences
worldwide. In 2011 Lisa won “Search
Personality of the Year” at the UK Search
Awards.
Her agency specialises in international SEO and

Content Marketing campaigns for medium and
large businesses, currently servicing clients in 7
different countries.
You can find out more about Lisa and her

agency here: www.vervesearch.com
Or follow Lisa on twitter @LisaDMyers
Other contributors from Verve Search: Suhail Abood, Developer and Sohaib Siddqiue, SEO
Consultant.
SEmetrical
Section contributed to: Technical SEO
Semetrical is a London based consultancy offering

high-end search and digital marketing products and
services to some of the UK's largest online brands.
They have significant expertise in search marketing, product development, digital marketing and
online sales in a range of digital industries and combine these skills with a passion for detail and
excellence to provide uniquely detailed products and services including keyword research, site
audits, site re-development projects and domain migrations.
Their flagship product DeepCrawl is regarded as the most advanced site architecture tool on the
market and licensed to a range of leading digital agencies and directly to larger companies with
in-house SEO teams.
Joe Friedlein, Founding Director, Browser Media
Section written: On Page Optimisation
Joe is a digital veteran who has a passion for

online marketing.
With a curious mix of backgrounds (RAF

scholar, French degree and chartered
accountant), Joe was attracted to the digital
world when it was still known as ‘new’ media.
Having worked with some of the greatest

online brands, Joe founded Browser Media in
2005 after becoming frustrated with the poor
quality of search marketing consultancy that
appeared to be the norm.
Browser Media has grown into a highly

respected inbound marketing agency that
helps its clients increase their visibility online.
You can find Joe at

http://www.linkedin.com/in/joefriedlein or follow Browser Media at @browser_media
Nichola Stott, Owner and Director, theMediaFlow
Section written: Link building
Nichola is founder and managing director of

theMediaFlow; an award-winning digital
agency specialising in search and social
media marketing. Nichola has over fifteen
years experience in online communications
including ten years in search, with expertise
ranging from technical SEO for multi-
market enterprise-level sites to creative
content strategies. As well as regularly
speaking at industry conferences Nichola is
co-contributor to a number of digital
marketing books and online media.
At theMediaFlow Nichola leads a team of

talented specialists who provide bleeding-
edge solutions to clients in a range of sectors
including holidays, finance, technology,
sport, retail and B2B.
You can find Nichola on Twitter @nicholastott or LinkedIn.
Kelvin Newman, Strategy Director, Site Visibility
Section written: Online PR and Social Media
Kelvin is the Strategy Director at Site

Visibility and Founder of BrightonSEO, one
of the biggest search events in Europe.
At Site Visibility he makes sure the agency is

up-to-speed with the rest of the search
industry and makes sure the rest of the
search industry is aware of the great work
carried out by the agency. That takes the
form of blogging in places like Econsultancy,
speaking at events like SMX, Internet World
and TFM&A and presenting one of the most
popular business podcasts in the world.
You can find Kelvin on LinkedIn or connect

with him on Twitter @kelvinnewman.
Michael Hope, Analytics and Conversion Manager, Search Laboratory
Section written: Landing page optimisation
Michael heads up Search Laboratory’s

analytics and conversion department, working
with some of the biggest names in retail and
B2B to maximise conversion rates. As well as
managing the delivery of analytics support to a
wide range of clients Michael also oversees the
agency’s landing page design offering. With a
background in usability and human computer
interaction his expertise lies in creating great
user experiences, balancing these with an
understanding of business objectives to
achieve an increase in ROI.
Search Laboratory is a global leader in search

engine marketing and landing page
optimisation, with over 250 clients, in 18
countries, specialising in English and
multilingual SEO, PPC, conversion
optimisation, landing page design and
development and analytics.
Read more about Search Laboratory online at

www.searchlaboratory.com or follow them on
Twitter @searchlabs.
Other contributors from Search Laboratory: Paul Shearing, Head of Product Development and
Arron Brown, SEO Account Manager.
Alex Moss, Director, FireCask
Section contributed to: Mobile SEO
Alex is a Director at FireCask, an online marketing

agency specialising in digital consultancy, creative
content production and WordPress development.
Firecask has worked with many big brands
including 123Reg, Expedia EAN, The Amy
Winehouse Foundation and Visit Blackpool. Alex
also blogs regularly on many publications including
Econsultancy, 123Reg, Moz, State of Digital, Search
Engine Watch, Huffington Post, The Guardian and
more.
As well as his involvement in the SEO industry, Alex

develops WordPress themes and plugins. He is the
co-founder of Peadig and his WordPress plugins
have amassed over 500,000 downloads.
You can follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ or connecting with him on Linkedin.
James Lowery, Digital Strategy Consultant, Latitude Digital Marketing
Section contributed to: Mobile SEO
James is the Digital Strategy

Consultant at Latitude Digital
Marketing. James has been involved
in the SEO industry for the last 10
years and Head of SEO at Latitude
before moving into a broader cross
channel role.
He’s a regular speaker at conferences

across Europe including SAScon and
iGaming and has contributed to a
number of marketing publications.
You can find out more about James’

work and ideas by visiting
http://www.latitudegroup.com/, his
blog http://quumf.com or following
him on Twitter @yrewol
Paul Rogers, SEO Manager, Buyagift.com
Section written: Local SEO
Paul currently works as SEO Manager for

Buyagift.com, where he oversees all SEO and
content marketing activity. Prior to this,
Paul worked as Head of Digital Marketing
for a boutique, London-based ecommerce
agency called GPMD.
Paul also regularly helps ecommerce

businesses with digital marketing and also
writes for a range of digital marketing
websites and publications, such as
Econsultancy and Smart Insights.
You can follow him on Twitter @paulnrogers

or find him on LinkedIn.
Aleyda Solis, Head of Digital Strategy, WooRank
Section written: International SEO
Aleyda Solis is an experienced technical search

marketer, with a strong SEO background,
specialized in multilingual, multi-country and
mobile SEO projects.
Head of Digital Strategy at WooRank also

collaborates as a Moz Associate and blogs for
State of Digital.
Fluent in English and French, besides her

native Spanish, she has spoken at
International Online Marketing conferences
such as MozCon, SearchLove London, SMX
London and Munich, BrightonSEO, OmCap
Berlin, International Search Summit, among
others.
You can find Aleyda at

http://www.aleydasolis.com/ or follow her at
@aleyda.

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A Best Practice Guide

Published January 2014 Econsultancy London Econsultancy New York

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1. Introduction to Our Guides ........................................... 14

2. Introduction to Search Marketing and SEO.................. 19

3. Changes in SEO Since the Last Report .......................... 45

Search Engine Optimization A Best Practice Guide Page 3

4. Ranking Factors ............................................................. 60

5. Planning and Strategy.................................................... 68

Search Engine Optimization A Best Practice Guide Page 4

6. Measurement and Reporting For SEO ........................ 146

Search Engine Optimization A Best Practice Guide Page 5

Search Engine Optimization A Best Practice Guide Page 6

8. On-page Optimization ................................................. 248

Search Engine Optimization A Best Practice Guide Page 7

9. Landing Page Optimization ......................................... 273

10. Link Building ............................................................... 291

Search Engine Optimization A Best Practice Guide Page 8

11. Social and Online PR and their Influence on Search .. 325

12. Mobile SEO .................................................................. 344

Search Engine Optimization A Best Practice Guide Page 9

13. Local SEO ..................................................................... 378

14. International SEO ........................................................ 393

Search Engine Optimization A Best Practice Guide Page 10

15. Appendix 1: Acknowledgements .................................. 421

16. Appendix 2: SEO Performance Audit .......................... 430

Search Engine Optimization A Best Practice Guide Page 11

Search Engine Optimization A Best Practice Guide Page 12

Nine common SEO campaign mistakes

He will always be remembered. Rest in peace Jaamit.

SAMPLE: Search Engine Optimization A Best Practice Guide

In particular, the reports are developed to aid the following people:

Key features of our guides:

1.1. How this guide is structured

SAMPLE: Search Engine Optimization A Best Practice Guide

1.1.1. Features of this guide

SAMPLE: Search Engine Optimization A Best Practice Guide

1.1.2. Key chapters

2. Introduction to Search Marketing And SEO

Written by James Gurd, Owner and Lead Consultant at Digital Juggler.

3. Changes In SEO Since The Last Report

Written by Andrew Girdwood, Media Innovations Director at DigitasLBi.

Written by Stefan Hull, Insight Director at Propellernet.

5. Planning and strategy

6. Measurement and Reporting

SAMPLE: Search Engine Optimization A Best Practice Guide

Written by Joe Friedlein, Founder at Browser Media.

9. Landing Page Optimization

Written by Michael Hope, Analytics and Conversion Manager at Search Laboratory.

10. Link Building

Written by Nichola Stott, Owner and Director at theMediaFlow.

11. Social and Online PR and Their Influence On Search

Written by Kelvin Newman, Strategy Director at SiteVisibility.

12. Mobile SEO

13. Local SEO

Written by Paul Rogers, SEO Manager at Buyagift.com.

14. International SEO

Written by Aleyda Solis, Head of Digital Strategy at WooRank.