WHITE HAT:

The Honest Way to

SEO Success!
By John Huegel, CPP, MBB

© 2013 John Huegel Photography

All Rights Reserved
 About John Huegel

 Certified Professional Photographer (CPP)

 Small business owner in Erie, PA
 Photography studio – Seniors, Weddings, Dancers

Interesting Facts:
 Worked in IT, Manufacturing and Lean/Six Sigma
 Certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt
 Jazz and Rock musician, recorded several CDs
 Authored 14 books, mostly on Photography
 Heart Attack and Cancer Survivor…currently on 3rd of 9 lives
 Runner, Indoor Rower, Low-Carb Guy
 Never used Photoshop

At least 50% of my new business comes from web inquiries.

Downloadable Presentation!

At the end, you will be able

to download this
presentation!
 Why worry about SEO?

 97% of internet users shop online

 More than half shop online and then purchase offline
 70% use the internet for local shopping
 More than 50% have switched from phone book to internet
 Over 300 million daily internet searches
 25% of all searches are people looking for local solutions
 For every $1 spent online, $5 is spent offline from searches
 Search Engine Demographics

 #1 Google: 900M unique visitors/mo – around 70% of searches

 #2 Bing: 165M/mo
 #3 Yahoo: 160M/mo
 #4 Ask: 125M/mo
 #5 AOL: 33M/mo
 #6-10: all under 20M/mo

You NEED to be effective on Google and Bing

 What does SEO Mean?

 SEO = Search Engine Optimization

 Making your web site more visible to your clients
 90% is determined by how you design your website
 10% is influenced by outside factors – links
 Positioning is everything!

 People abandon searches if they don't find what they want on page 1
 30% of the clicks are on the first (organic) link on the first page
 …more than the next 10 combined
 Organic listings are considered more legitimate than paid ads
 If you are not on page 1, you are missing many client engagements
 Goal: Be at the top of Page 1 for your targeted search words
 You can do that honestly, or you can try to "game the system"
 White Hat?

 White Hat techniques are in line with search engines'

recommendations and are not deceptive.
 Methods which create useful content for users, and
increasing accessibility of that content, without trying
to fool the search engine "spiders".
 Black Hat = techniques that mislead the viewer or the
spiders
 The Lingo

 Key words – words or phrases your clients use in searches

 Organic – results from natural searches, not paid promotion
 Spider – search engine research “robot” program
 SERP – Search Engine Result Page
 7-result SERP – pins on a map, limited to 7 hits
 Bounce Rate – percent of time a client leaves a site/page
 Long tail – seldom used searches, often easier to dominate
 Alt Text – key words applied as picture descriptions or link names
 Page Title – A formal title for a page, shows up in browser top
 Meta Description – Formal description, shows up in SERP
 Analytics – statistics and information that describe site access
 White Hat/Black Hat – Honest/Not Honest ways to build SEO
 Foundations of SEO Success

1. Site is Registered with search engines and local directories

2. Site is mobile and iOS compatible
3. Keywords are chosen to respond to client searches
4. Keywords appear in the right places in the right proportions
5. Useful, original content - unique value proposition, not republished
6. Readable pages, minimizing text-in-graphics
7. Images - descriptions (alt text)
8. Active blog - lots of keyword heavy titles and text
9. Fresh, regular content updates
10. Good internal links to other sites and to other pages in your domain
11. Incoming links from other sites, with strong Alt text keywords
 Tools we will use

 Google Search – anatomy of a web search

 Creative Motion Design – demo of an SEO-friendly host
 Google Places – the FIRST place you should register
 Google AdWord Tools & Trends – research keywords
 Google WebMaster Tools - Manage and Analyze your site
 Open Site Explorer – research inbound links to your site
 Google Analytics - Traffic analysis
 Anatomy of a Web Search

Search Words

Paid Ads!
Top 7 Map

More Paid Ads!

Top 7 Results
https://www.google.com/search?q=photographers+in+erie+pa
 More Anatomy

Top 7

Reviews

More Organic Links

Factoid: 20% of all searches include local terms.

Now, for the details!
Remember, you can download this stuff later!
 Construct your site smartly

 HTML based, no Flash (Apple blocks it)

 Combined mobile and full browser
 Everything under one domain (www vs bare URL)
 Robots.txt file (don't crawl pages)
My Website on a PC
Note the social links, one click away!
http://jhphotomusic.com
 iOS Friendly

 No Flash!
 Slow load time = high bounce rate!
 Site design is attractive on iPad
My Website on iPad
Clean look, relatively consistent.
 Mobile Friendly

 Don’t make them use a desktop version – too small!

 Simple display and navigation
 No Flash!
 Minimize images, and make them small
 Slow load time = high bounce rate!
 Accommodate all device types
 Learn from great sites - eBay, etc.
My Website on Mobile
Same content, mobile feel, no extra effort.
 Rationalize your Domain

 Clean up duplicate domain names

(mydomain.com, www.mydomain.com)
 These dilute your search rankings
 Use 301 redirection or canonical references
Forwarding a Domain
301 = permanent. Search Engines want this!
 Create a Local Presence

 Claim your Google places account.

 Set up: Profile, Map, Sample images, Reviews,
Updates, Offers
 Local Bing account
 Yahoo! Local
 Everywhere else you have accounts, update the bio,
and website URL - make consistent!

Nearly 2 million Google Places were claimed…only 15% of small businesses

Google Places
How it appears to clients
http://www.google.com/placesforbusiness/
Google Places
Interesting statistics available to the owner
 Choose Your Search Terms /
Keywords

 Choose popular terms with low competition; you will

rank higher on those searches
 Focus on the two or three words that you think are
most crucial to each page
 Ensure those words are in your title, meta description
 Mention them early and often on your page content

Key Words can and should be different by page!

Slow Type Technique
Will show you the most popular search terms
https://www.google.com/
Google Keyword Tool
Focus on high search count and low competition
http://adwords.google.com/keywordplanner
Google Insights for Search http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=sen
ior%20photography%2C%20senior%20pictures%2
showing three related terms
C%20senior%20portraits&geo=US&date=today
%2012-m&cmpt=q
Google Insights for Search
Sources of the search – Facebook #1!!
Example Facebook Search https://www.facebook.com/search/results.php
?type=web&q=wedding photographers in erie
FB uses Bing engine!
pa
Key Word Consistency

Page Title

Page Description

Content Links
 Example

Title: Erie Wedding Photography by John

Huegel

Description: Wedding Photography

Information, prices, packages and links
Links: text and alt-text contains
Content: Use keywords
keywords. Inbound links as
“Wedding” and “Photography”
well.
 Assign Key Words By Page

Home: Erie
Portraits

Weddings: Erie
Wedding Seniors: Erie
Photography Senior Portraits

Packages:
Samples: Wedding
Wedding Planning: Senior Pricing: Senior
Photography
Photography Portrait Planning Portrait Prices
Sample Images
Packages

Consistency overall + Specificity by page/topic

 Set Your Page Titles

Keywords, locality
Page title, page header and
description should be similar but
not identical
<title>Wedding Photography by John Huegel
Photography, Erie's rising Wedding
Photographer - John Huegel
Photography</title>

Setting Titles the Hard Way

You or your web person will need to edit the HTML files
Setting Titles the Easy Way
A web-based website manager is great!
http://jhphotomusic.com/cms
 Set up Page Descriptions

 Shows up in Google search results

 Longer than title, includes same/similar keywords

<meta name="description" content="Wedding Photography information by John Huegel

Photography, featuring pricing, packages, albums, prints and engagement sessions for
Erie, Jamestown, Edinboro and Meadville." />
Here it is in search
 Meta Keywords – meh.

 No longer used by major search indexing programs

 In the past, you could “stuff” keywords which would
influence search engines.
 They got smarter, and now use content and title,
things that are always visible to the client.
 You can use it to document the keywords you want to
use.

<meta name="keywords" content="Wedding, photography, photographer,

portraits,erie" />
Evaluating your site using
Google Webmaster Tools
Google Webmaster Tools
Clean up Crawl Errors first
http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/
Google Webmaster Tools
Search queries actually used to reach your site
Google Webmaster Tools
Search terms by page
Google Webmaster Tools
Content assessment by keyword
Clear and Effective Internal Links

 Keywords in your anchor text

 Brand name links
 Vary link keywords slightly
 Get rid of "click here" text
Links on my website
I could probably make them a bit more keyword-rich
http://jhphotomusic.com/pricing-and-packages
 Sensible Backlinking

 Local business directories:

 Yahoo, Bing, Google – consistent spelling, address, etc.
 Social sites - Facebook, Twitter
 High page rank sites
 High traffic sites - newspaper/blog, TV
 Industry associations - PPA, clubs, chambers
 Guest post on other people's blogs
 Colleges and universities - .edu site links raise references.
 Linkedin – you can mention white papers, etc.
 Lobby for good Anchor Text on inbound links

Aim for quality, not quantity:

Low respect sites = low respect for you!
Open Site Explorer
You can use it against competitor sites as well!
www.opensiteexplorer.org/
Open Site Explorer
I created the first couple. ErieBlogs picked me up somehow
Open Site Explorer
Analysis of domains pointing to mine
Open Site Explorer
Anchor Text analysis, may want to ask for better terms?
 Keep Your Content Fresh!

 Issue a press release monthly – pr.com

 Share information / expertise - free papers / PDF
 How-to documents, articles
 Content should be useful for years, not trendy
 Videos are great ways for people to share
 Tip: Build an FAQ - use Google Analytics (search
words) to define topics, long tail.

Fresh, valuable content drives better positioning

Evaluating usage using
Google Analytics
Google Analytics
Overall usage stats by day
www.google.com/analytics/
Google Analytics
Visits by duration. Longer visits are important to ranking.
Google Analytics
Client Visit Flow. Amazing!
Google Analytics
Another breakdown of search terms used to reach my site
 Blogs Add Content, Too

 Use Word Press. It's very SEO friendly.

 Stay current on version updates
 Update your blog weekly.
 You can write a bunch and schedule publication
 Use Keywords, categories in blogs
 Alt-text on images.
 User content can be valuable - but watch out for spam!
 Turn on comments with registration and moderator
approval only – or you will get 1000 spams/month!
Blog Control Panel
Note key word use in title and content
My Blog
As seen by clients
 Social Ties

 Consistency in branding and message/content is key!

 Facebook business page
 Cross link blog content
 Pinterest – pin your favorite images among others
 LinkedIn – Items of interest, white papers, press
releases
 Twitter – keep it interesting
 Cultivate Reviews

 Google only shows their reviews

 Other review sites will increase presence.
 Sometimes people will leave reviews without you knowing!

https://www.google.com/search?q=john+huegel+photography+reviews
Google Reviews
I ask happy clients to leave reviews
https://plus.google.com/112848482062190411167/about?hl=en
 Other Good Factors

Visit duration - longer visits imply

more value
Pages per visit - More links visited
imply more value
 Avoid Black Hat Techniques

 Cloaking - serving up a different version of your site to

crawlers
 Content Spinning - slightly rehashing someone else's content
 Using an SEO firm that “guarantees rankings”
 Participating in link schemes
 But…Does It Work?

 I was a bit behind in some updates

 And was ranking low on page on, or page 2
 I did most/all of these things as I wrote the
presentation
 After one week, I resampled
RESULTS
“Senior Pictures”
https://www.google.com/search?q=senior+pictures
RESULTS
“Senior Pictures Erie PA”
https://www.google.com/search?q=senior+pictures+erie+pa
RESULTS
“Wedding Photography”
https://www.google.com/search?q=wedding+photography
RESULTS
“Dance Photography In Erie”
https://www.google.com/search?q=dance+photography+in+erie
RESULTS
“Photography Classes Erie PA”
https://www.google.com/search?q=photography+classes+erie+pa
 Summary

1. Keep your domain tidy, mobile-friendly and crawlable.

2. Understand what key words your clients are looking for, and
use them wisely.
3. Create original content that lends itself to being shared
(Pinned, Liked, etc.)
4. Keep all of your resources in one domain to maximize your site
ranking
5. Have an opinion, but don't offend.
6. Keep your content and your brand consistent.
7. Make a plan and commitment to work on SEO activities
8. Track and monitor your progress.
 Suggested Action Plan
1. Define your value proposition/brand/uniqueness
2. Google Adwords Keyword Tool: Research your key words
3. Test them on Google, Bing; Note your page/position and date
4. Note who is at the top of page one and benchmark them: look at their source, note title,
description, content, reviews, backlinks etc.
5. Sign up for Google Places
6. Sign up for Google Analytics. Put the tracking codes on your website
7. Sign up for Webmaster Tools. Link it to your Analytics account.
8. Set your pages' Title, Description, Headers, Keywords
9. Clean up your internal links - alt-text, dead ends, etc.
10. Refresh content, placing emphasis on keywords
11. Blog refresh - titles, keywords, alt text, categories, upgrades, comment settings
12. External link listings - register for the right local business, blogs, etc.
13. Revisit your social network ties – FB, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter
14. Make a calendar for updates - web page content, blog entries
15. Track progress 1/month
 Resources to Build Skills

 Right Click, View Source

 SEOMoz Beginner's Guide
 Google Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide
 Yahoo SEO Basics
 SEO for Dummies
 SEOMoz Beginner's Checklist for Learning SEO
 YouTube Videos - especially those by Google
 Follow SEO experts on Twitter
 Google's Matt Cutts blog
 Google WebMaster Central Blog
 Good Links

 http://searchengineland.com/guide/seo/content-
search-engine-ranking
 Periodic Table of
SEO: http://searchengineland.com/seotable/downloa
d-periodic-table-of-seo
 SEOmoz Search Engine Ranking Factors survey
 http://mashable.com/2012/07/03/penguin-google-seo/
 Special Offer

 Guild members only

 Creative Motion Design - 10% off code guild10off
 I get no benefit from this, just a benefit to you
 Thank You!

John Huegel, CPP

John Huegel Photography
jhphotomusic.com
 Questions?

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