2 Seo

Search Engine Optimization
2-1
Topics
• SEO Basics
• Basics of Search Friendly Design
• Site Navigation
• Managing Your Popularity
• Design Considerations
• Free & Affordable SEO Tools Highly
Recommend and Personally Use On A Regular
Basis
• Exercises
2-2
SEO Basics
2-3
Before we start…
• Please visit www.google.com and enter
your core business keyword.
2-4
Introduction – What is SEO?
SEO = Search Engine Optimization
Definition:
The process of enhancing both the content

and reputation of a webpage in order to
improve search engine rankings and meet
your top prospects at their immediate point of
need.
2-5
Why Is Search Important To Your Business?
Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Start Leveraging SEO

• To increase the number of visitors to your pages
(quantity)
• To bring more relevant visitors to your pages (quality)
• To ultimately increase SALES for your business 
• To PROTECT yourself – because people WILL talk!
• The snowball effect – There is momentum at the top!
2-6
How Do Search Engines Work?
• Crawling:
A ‘spider’ or ‘robot’ explores your site, following links from page
to page.
• Indexing:
Data from the crawl is stored in the search engine index. The
stored copy is referred to as the ‘cached page’.
• Ranking:
The Search Engine algorithm looks at a variety of factors (over
200) to determine the importance of a web page and where it
should rank for any given keyword phrase.
2-7
Why is Search So Important?
Some Facts to Know & Consider
How People Are Now Finding Products &
Information:
• Links from other sites – 88%
• Search Engines – 82%
• Printed Media – 63%
• Word of Mouth – 58%
• Email – 48%
• Newsgroups – 32%
• Television – 32%
• Books – 28%
Source: Marketing Sherpa, 2005
2-8
More Evidence!
• Conversion Rates*:
• Organic Listings 4.2%
• Paid Listings 3.6%
• Organic Results are 5x more likely to be clicked
on than paid results.*
• 92% of online consumers use search engines to
shop and/or purchase online.**
• Search is the 2nd most popular online activity,
after email.***
• Users are 20x more likely to click on search
listings than banners or titles.**
* Marketing Sherpa, 2005 - Search Marketing Benchmark Survey
** NPD Group 2-9
*** Pew Research, 2005
Anatomy of A Search Result Page
The average
participant took only
6.5 seconds to click
a link. In that time,
they would read
anywhere from 4 to
5 listings.
TIP:
Compelling and
Attractive TITLES
increase
clickthrough!
2-10
Search Engines exist to return relevant results to
searchers
Search engine spider (bot or

crawler)
– Visits Web page, reads it,
and crawls links to other
pages within the website
– Indexes Web pages
-Everything the spider finds
is saved in the search
engine’s index
– Algorithmic categorization -
Sorts through the Index and
returns results based on
mathematical calculations
home equity loan
2-11
Another test about your website
• Type “site:yourdomain.com” in the search
block. See how your website is indexed.
2-12
Major Search Engines and Directories
Search Engine Producers Web Directories

• Google • Open Directory
• Yahoo! Project (DMOZ)
• Live Search (MSN) • Yahoo! Directory
• Ask.com
• Gigablast
• WiseNut
2-13
Bruce Clay’s Search Engine Chart: http://www.bruceclay
.com/searchenginechart.pdf
2-14
Getting Started With SEO:
Breaking Through The Myths
Before you can really take flight with SEO, you need to see
the facts for yourself and dispel some of the common
myths.
There are 3 Myths in Particular To Overcome:
4) SEO is too complicated for me to understand.
5) SEO is too hard because you can’t beat the crazy
engineers, techno-geeks and algorithms at Google,
Yahoo! And MSN
6) I have too much competition to succeed in SEO. I can’t
compete with my big competitors.
Let’s Have a Look At Each With Some REAL FACTS!
2-15
Myth 1: SEO is Too Complicated
For your website to establish a strong SEO presence, you
really only need to focus on 3 things:
•Relevancy – Using SEO Best Practices, matching the
content of a web page to a prospects specific search query.
•Authority – The process of acquiring quality third party
links to each of the web pages you want to rank well in the
search engines.
•Reputation – Ensuring that the links that point to you
accurately reflect what you sell.
Lets Have a Look At Some Basic Examples of Each
2-16
Myth 1: Some Basic But Powerful
Examples
Which One Would You Prefer?
Relevancy (eg: Title Tag)
• Buy a Dozen Red Roses for $39 in Owen Sound or
• John’s Flower Emporium
Authority
• A link from the homepage of yahoo.com or
• A link from johndoe.com
Reputation
• Click Here or
• Owen Sound Flower Delivery
Fact: Following these 3 concepts will put

you ahead of 80% of the businesses
online today!
2-17
Myth 1: Live Examples (Cont)
Which One Would You Choose?
URL for a sending a dozen red roses
• www.owensoundflowers.com/dozen-red-roses.html or
• dealcatch.com/rsslink.asp?v=8&m=204&c=1117
Product Page - Clickable Title In Search Listing
• Send Long Stem Red Roses for $39 in Owen Sound or
• John’s Flowers – Online Flower Shop
Product Identification on Product Page
• One Dozen Valentine’s Day Red Roses with Vase or
• D2-0012 R Medium
Key Lesson: Always ask yourself one

question
• How can I make this page more relevant to my prospect?2-18
Authority & Reputation: Why Links Are Critical
Link Popularity / Authority
•Links = “Votes”
•Links from many pages signify an important page
•Links from important pages carry more ‘weight’
•Important pages rank higher 
•More Links = More Rep = The Expert Choice
Link Reputation
•Links from related pages enforce the theme
•Links from related words pass on that theme
•Strongly themed pages rank well for related queries 
2-19
How Powerful is Link Reputation And Authority?
2-20
Test how popular your website is
• Type “url: yourdomain.com” in the search
box on Google.
• See which web pages have links to your
website.
2-21
Myth 2: We Can’t Beat The Brains At
Yahoo! or Google
The biggest myth and fear out on the market right now is the belief
that SEO success is all about BEATING the search engine
algorithms.
No! No! No!
• Fact 1 – You are not trying to out-hustle, out-play, or out-

maneuvre Yahoo!, Google or MSN. And yes… If you tried to do
that with any search engine, eventually, you will lose.
• Fact 2 – You don’t have to beat the search engines to succeed in
SEO, all you have to do is RESEARCH, IDENTIFY & REVERSE
ENGINEER YOUR TOP RANKED COMPETITION
TAKE AIM AT YOUR COMPETITION AND YOU CAN WIN!!!

2-22
Myth 3: There Is Too Much Competition Out There
One of the most common arguments small business owners (SMBs)

make when it comes to SEO is that there is too much competition in
the marketplace.
•Fact 1: Most people who are concerned about this have not been
properly educated on how SEO really works and do not understand
the opportunities that search provides.
•Fact 2: Search is exploding… And there is plenty of traffic and

plenty of sales to go around. You just have to know where and how
to look for it.
•Fact 3: SMBs have it better than ever online because you can
completely reverse engineer the rankings and strategy of ANY SIZE
competitor.
2-23
SEO
How Do People Search Online?
• 1 Word Query – 15.2% (flowers)
• 2 Word Query – 31.9% (toronto florists)
• 3 Word Query – 27% (toronto flower shop)
• 4 Word Query – 14.8% (owen sound flower delivery)
• 5 Word Query – 11.1% (cheap flowers for
mothers day)
FACT ! 84.8% of searches online are with 2 or
more keywords....
Source: Search Engine Watch 2007
2-24
SEO
Why This Is HUGE For You…
Remember QUALITY Traffic Is Key To Success!
Fact: If you do the right research, opportunity presents itself!
2-25
SEO
How Do I Beat My Competitors?
They are everywhere & bigger than I’ll ever be…
• Ever wondered how a competitor is able to rank ahead of you in
the search engines and stay there?
• Ever come across a competitor that seems to rank everywhere

and you wish you could tap into their campaign or strategy? “If
only I had their data and research I could…”
• Ever looked around at the paid ads on the search engines and
wonder what the big players are doing so you could tap into their
intelligence? What IS making that competitor money anyway?
Well, Now You Can Be One Of The Few Who CAN Know!!!
2-26
SEO
Time To Lift The Curtain…
But Shhhh… Don’t Tell The Big Players!
2-27
SEO
Testing Keyword
• Goto https://adwords.google.com/select/
KeywordToolExternal
• Or goto www.truehits.net
2-28
Lets Take A Look At Some LIVE Keywords
For A Local Toronto Florist
flowers online toronto Scarborough flower shop
online flowers toronto Ftd florist toronto
secretarys day 2005 Flower delivery toronto
valentine day flower online Meanings of flowers
valentines day flowers online What are the meanings of flowers
Valentine's Day flowers Hamilton flower shop
administrative professionals week 2007 Flowers in oshawa
florists toronto Weddings flowers in hamilton
flower arrangements for a wedding Florists toronto downtown
flower shops in toronto Send flowers to toronto
flower shops toronto Metro toronto funeral flowers
valentine day flower online Birthday flower baskets in toronto
flowers online delivery Order flowers online newmarket
valentines day flowers cheap Florists north york
winter flower Flowers in etobicoke
funeral tributes Mothers day flowers newmarket
flower delivery toronto Canada flower deliveries
2-29
SEO
Enough Already… Where Can I Get The
Goods?
• Keywordspy.com – Best Tool By Far For Anyone!
• Spyfu.com – Close second to keywordspy.com
• Keycompete.com – Good for keyword research
• Trellian.com – Good group of tools for SMBs
• Googspy.com – Spyfu Mini - Limited data but free
• Adgooroo.com – Great for paid search analysis
• Hitwise.com - $10k plus – enterprise level
• Wordtracker.com – Industry standard for keyword
research and keyword opportunity assessment
2-30
Top 10 On-The-Page SEO Best
Practices = Relevancy
• Always have unique and
descriptive Title Tags • Shoot for 250+ words of unique
• Use your meta description tag text per page
wisely to SELL the click • Add breadcrumb navigation
• Add no more than 10 • Add a search engine friendly
keywords to your meta sitemap to your homepage footer
keywords tag.
• Mix in bullets, bold and italics
• Match the keywords in your where appropriate throughout
title to the main heading & the page separated by
subheadings on your page. subheadings.
• Use descriptive anchor text • Use keywords in your URLs
throughout your site. separated by hyphens
2-31
Top 10+ Off-Page Link Strategies =
Authority & Reputation
• Get into the Yahoo Directory - • Acquire links from top relevant
$299 p/year. This is one of the sites that complement your
most trusted links on the net. market
• Submit your site to Dmoz – • Swap quality content / links with
Free but can take some time. relevant sites in your market
• Write and distribute articles at • Always include (and mix up) your
ezinearticles.com + use most important keywords in the
resource box for links! anchor text of your links.
• Submit to top 10 article • Reverse engineer the top 20
directories (search yahoo for sites using Yahoo! Site explorer
top article sites for details) as your link building starting
• Create viral link bait and point
distribute a press release • Leverage the power of social
• Create a blog, post regularly network authorities for your own
and submit to blog search benefit (answers, hubpages,
engines. youtube, squidoo, myspace,
facebook, flickr, blogger, viddler)
2-32
7 Step SEO Summary
Action Plan for Long Term SEO Success
Step 1: Do Extensive Keyword Research On Your Market
Step 2: Assess the ‘Real’ Level of Competition You Are Facing
Step 3: Tear Apart Your Top Ranked Competition One By One
Step 4: Apply On Page Relevancy Tips To Your Own Site Content
Step 5: Apply Link Building Strategies For Authority & Reputation
Step 6: Get Connected To Search Tools ASAP To Track Progress
Step 7: Don’t Ever Stop. SEO is a Constant Ongoing Process
2-33
SEO
Basics of Search Friendly Design
2-34
Basic SEO Concepts
• Keywords: Use text that targets your
audience; and attracts search engines and
links from other sites
• Navigation: Give users and crawlers easy
access to content
• Design Elements: Make sure bells and
whistles don’t undermine SEO efforts
• Page Rank: Develop a linking strategy to
improve your site’s “popularity”
2-35
Things Search Engines Like
• Text (Keyword)
– Words and phrases that match what your
target audience types into search engines
• Site Navigation
– Site navigation and URL structure that search
crawlers can easily follow
• Links to Your Site
– How “popular” are you?
2-36
Robots Exclusion
• Robots.txt File
– Place in server’s root directory
– Two elements: User-agent, Disallow
– Example:
User-agent: *
Disallow: /cgi-bin/
Disallow: /scripts/
Disallow: /images/
• Meta-Tag Robots Exclusion

<head><meta name=“robots” content=“no index,
nofollow”></head>
2-37
Managing Page Content
2-38
Keyword Prominence
• Search engines place “weight” on terms according
to where they are used
Primary Text Secondary Text

• Title tag • Alt text
• Body text • Description tag
• Anchor text • Domain name and
• Text near the top of the URL elements
page
• Headings and
Emphasized Text
2-39
What About Metadata?
• Metadata is not a factor in most web search
engines
• Except for Title and META description tags,
crawlers ignore other META tags
• Use metadata if important for your agency’s
mission or enterprise systems (e.g., CMS, site
search engine)
2-40
Keywords in Text
• Choose one or two keywords or phases to
optimize for each page
• Use language of your audience
• Do not over use - avoid keyword stuffing
• Keywords in links influence relevancy of
the pages your linking to
– No “click here” links
2-41
Keyword Selection Tools
• Site’s Search Metrics
• Online Advertising Tools
– Yahoo!/Overture: http://inventory.overture.com/
– Google: https://adwords.google.com/select/
KeywordSandbox
• Keyword Density
– http://www.webjectives.com/keyword.htm
– http://www.keyworddensity.com/
• Google Webmaster Tools
2-42
Site Navigation
2-43
Linking Basics
• Plan how pages link to each other
– Pages will not rank well if your site does not
have a navigation scheme
• Navigation scheme must please users and
search engines
• Create a crawler-friendly site map
• Avoid dangling pages
2-44
Creating Links
• Keywords in links tell crawlers about the
pages to which you are linking
• Keywords in links influence relevancy of the
page to which you are linking
• Avoid “click here” links, instead create links
like:
• Bad: Click here for more info on famous admirals.
• Good: Visit our naval history site for more info on famous
admirals.
2-45
Site Navigation Schemes
• Make a site with a clear hierarchy
• Text Links
– The most search engine friendly
– Use for primary or secondary navigation
– Every page should be reachable from a text link
• If using graphic navigation, use alt text

• Avoid JavaScript, unless you provide a
secondary text navigation scheme
2-46
Problem Navigation Schemes
• Poor HTML coding

• Image maps
• Frames
• JavaScript
• Dynamic Pages
• Flash
2-47
Help Crawlers Navigate
• Create a Site Map
– HTML page on your site with text links
• Create a Sitemap
– An XML file that lists your site’s URLs
– Allows crawlers to analyzes information about your
site’s architecture to improve crawling
– Google: http://www.google.com/webmasters/
– Yahoo: http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/
– Site Maps Protocol: http://www.sitemaps.org/
2-48
Free Site Maps Tool
• www.xml-sitemaps.com
2-49
Managing Your Popularity
2-50
What is Popularity?
• A calculation assigned to a page based on the number
of links into the page
• The more popular pages that link to you, the higher
your popularity rank
– An inbound link is a vote for a page
– An outbound link is a vote for a page you’re linking to
• All search engines have different popularity algorithms
– Google’s algorithm is called Page Rank
– Based on a scale from 0-10
2-51
Popularity Factors
• Number and Popularity of Inbound Links
• Anchor Text
– Others’ use of keywords in a link to your site
• Popularity is assigned per page, not for the
entire site
– Popularity is not inherited
– Need to deliberately link internal pages to pass
on PR
2-52
Getting Links to Your Site
• Get Listed in Yahoo! and DMOZ
– Impact on popularity may vary
– Helps to get noticed by crawlers
• Establish reciprocal link arrangements
with agencies covering similar topics
• Reach out to state and local agencies
• Syndicate your content
• Reach out to professional communities of
interest
2-53
Links That Aren’t Links
• Link has been created in a manner that search engines can’t
understand
• Link actually points elsewhere, and not directly to your site
• Example:
http://www.site.gov/ext/external.jsp?url=http://www.noaa.gov/
– Link passes through a JSP program that logs the click and
re-directs the browser to noaa.gov
– Search engines read this as an internal link to Site.gov, not
an outbound link to NOAA
– Links from these sites will not help boost your search
ranking
2-54
Design Considerations
2-55
General Considerations
• Implement bells and whistles carefully
– Use external Javascript and CSS to decrease
page load time
– Avoid using Frames
– Flash only pages – include skip link and title
and META description tag
– Omit Session IDs when requestor is a search
engine crawler
• Ensure design team understands SEO
concepts
2-56
Dynamic Pages
• Database-driven, created on the fly by asp, cfm,
php, jsp or cgi scripts
• Dynamic sites are comprised of templates, but
usually without original content
• When a page is viewed, the template loads the
content from the database
• Parameters are added to the URL, which tells
the template to load specific content
2-57
Dynamic Pages
Example: http://smithsonianstore.com/catalog/product.jsp?
productId=14273&parentCategoryId=3151&categoryId=3152
• URLs such as this are difficult for search
engines to index because they do not know the
parameters that define a unique page
• The more parameters, the less likely pages will
be indexed
• A database may continually feed data, crashing
your server and scaring off the crawler
2-58
Search Friendly Dynamic Pages
• Modify URLs so they don’t look like
dynamic pages, fewer parameters
• Use URL re-write trick using mod_rewrite
(Apache)
• Create static HTML pages
2-59
Optimizing PDFs
• Make sure PDFs contain actual text, not

images of text
• Same rules for use of keywords and
phrases apply
• Put the most important text in the title,
headlines
• Minimize document size (> 100K)
• Create optimized HTML pages for PDFs
2-60
Site Maintenance
2-61
Re-Designing Your Site
• Plan BEFORE you embark on a re-design
– Will the site architecture change?
– Static to Dynamic?
– How is the content changing?
• Add SEO review as an activity to your project plan
• Make sure your contractor has SEO skills
• Poor planning and execution can kill your search
rankings
• Do not wait until after you re-designed!
2-62
Changes to Site Architecture
• Try to keep the same filenames and directory
structure when redesigning
• Recommended: Set up HTTP 301 redirects
that point to the new site or pages
• Not Recommended: Add a meta-refresh tag to
your page header. This won’t remove your
original page from the search index
2-63
Removing Content
• Avoid using default 404 pages
• Custom 404 pages are more user-friendly
• Submitting all 404 URLs to the search
engine helpful, but not essential
• Remember to change the HTTP status code
on custom error pages from 200 to 404
2-64
Predict your Page Rank
• www.pagerankprediction.com
• You can search for alternatives by using
“page rank prediction” keyword.
2-65
Case Studies
2-66
2-67
Case Study: Business.gov
• Page created March ‘07

• Submitted to crawlers, listed in DMOZ
• 0-78 inbound links
Term: Advertising Regulations
• #6 on Google
• #8 on Yahoo
• #2 on MSN
• #1 on USA.gov
2-68
Case Study: Business.gov
• Text Component: page is well-optimized
for “advertising” and “regulations”
• Link Component: All text links
• Popularity Component: Inbound links are
using title submitted to DMOZ –
“advertising” and “regulations”
2-69
Case Study: NOAA Fisheries
Term: Fisheries Term: Fish

• #1 on USA.gov • Doesn’t show up on
• #2 on MSN the first page or
• #2 on Yahoo subsequent pages
• #3 on Google
2-70
2-71
Case Study: NOAA Fisheries
• Text Component: page is well-optimized
for “fisheries” but not “fish”
• Link Component: “pull-down” menu may
be a problem for some crawlers. Add
search friendly navigation (e.g., site map)
• Popularity Component: Lots of inbound
links using “fisheries” (not “fish”) in anchor
text
2-72
Next Steps
1. Visit WebContent.gov Guide to Search Engines:
http://www.usa.gov/webcontent/technology/search/search.shtml
3. Conduct an SEO best practices review

4. Conduct keyword analysis and determine your rank
5. Set success measures
6. Use Webmaster Tools offered by the search engines,
(e.g. Google Webmaster Tools, etc.)
Make SEO a routine in your web content
management program
2-73
SEO Forums & Events
• Industry Forums
Webmaster World: http://www.webmasterworld.com/
Search Engine Watch: http://www.searchenginewatch.com/
Digital Point Forums: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/
High Rankings: http://www.highrankings.com/forum/
• Industry Events
Search Engine Strategies: http://www.
searchenginestrategies.com/
2-74
Free & Affordable SEO Tools Highly
Recommend and Personally
Use On A Regular Basis
2-75
Wordtracker – #1 Industry Keyword Tool
Freekeywords.wordtracker.com
2-76
Google Keyword Tool – Free and Comprehensive
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
2-77
Yahoo! Site Explorer - #1 Link Analysis Tool
siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com
2-78
Yahoo! Canada Local – local.yahoo.ca
2-79
Google Local – A Must For Local
Businesses
Get Your Site Into Google Local…
2-80
How To Add Your Site Directly To Google
Local
Google.com/local/add
2-81
Managing Your Google Local Business Listing(s)
Google.com/accounts
2-82
Google Webmaster Tools – Complete Site
Diagnostics
Google.com/webmasters/tools/
2-83
Google Analytics – All the info you will ever need
Google.com/analytics
2-84
Xenu Link Sleuth – Free link check / site reporter
home.snafu.de/tilman.xenulink.html
2-85
Other Tools / Resources I Use Regularly
Google Toolbar with Page Rank
iGoogle Homepage / My Yahoo Homepage
Google Alerts – Track any topic or competitor !
SEO Elite Software - #1 tool and affordable - $167
IBP – Internet Business Promoter – Good toolset
Planet Ocean – SEO Book & Monthly Subscription
Roboform Toolbar – Secure Password Saver – 1 Click Login
Firefox Addon Extensions – Downthemall (research) + seo tools
2-86

2 Seo

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

2 Seo

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Search Engine Optimization

SEO = Search Engine Optimization

The process of enhancing both the content

Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Start Leveraging SEO

Source: Marketing Sherpa, 2005

Search engine spider (bot or

home equity loan

Search Engine Producers Web Directories

Let’s Have a Look At Each With Some REAL FACTS!

Lets Have a Look At Some Basic Examples of Each

Fact: Following these 3 concepts will put

Key Lesson: Always ask yourself one

No! No! No!

• Fact 1 – You are not trying to out-hustle, out-play, or out-

TAKE AIM AT YOUR COMPETITION AND YOU CAN WIN!!!

One of the most common arguments small business owners (SMBs)

•Fact 2: Search is exploding… And there is plenty of traffic and

• Ever come across a competitor that seems to rank everywhere

Step 2: Assess the ‘Real’ Level of Competition You Are Facing

Step 3: Tear Apart Your Top Ranked Competition One By One

Step 4: Apply On Page Relevancy Tips To Your Own Site Content

Step 5: Apply Link Building Strategies For Authority & Reputation

Step 6: Get Connected To Search Tools ASAP To Track Progress

Step 7: Don’t Ever Stop. SEO is a Constant Ongoing Process

• Meta-Tag Robots Exclusion

Primary Text Secondary Text

• Google Webmaster Tools

• If using graphic navigation, use alt text

• Poor HTML coding

• Make sure PDFs contain actual text, not

• Page created March ‘07

Term: Fisheries Term: Fish

3. Conduct an SEO best practices review

Google Toolbar with Page Rank

iGoogle Homepage / My Yahoo Homepage

Google Alerts – Track any topic or competitor !

SEO Elite Software - #1 tool and affordable - $167

IBP – Internet Business Promoter – Good toolset

Planet Ocean – SEO Book & Monthly Subscription

Roboform Toolbar – Secure Password Saver – 1 Click Login

Firefox Addon Extensions – Downthemall (research) + seo tools

You might also like