Transcript Search Engine Optimization: All About Linking

Search Engine Optimization
Strategies
The Basics of SEO
Offered to you by Mary Anne Donovan
Vice President, SEO Literacy Consultants
What We Will Cover
1.
2.
3.
4.
Factoids
What is SEM?
What is SEO?
How Do Users
Access Sites?
5. Facets of SEO?
6. How Are Pages
Ranked?
7. Business Goals
8. Usability
9. Site Design
10. Content
11. Linking
12. Keywords
13. Measurement
14. SEO Steps
15. How to Assess Your
Site
Factoids
 Over 8 billion pages indexed by Google
(http://aixtal.blogspot.com/2005/01/web-google-searching-9105590456-pages.html)
 20% of all searches now for local resources
(Kelsey Group)
 In 5 years, local search market worth $3.4 billion
 24% increase in 2005 holiday shopping, but 8%
of shoppers walked away from sale (ClickZ)
 $5.75 billion spent on SEM in 2005: 44%
increase over 2004 (SEMPO)
What is Search Engine Marketing?
The practice of marketing and
advertising through the search engines
Facets of SEM
 Digital public relations
 Pay-per-click
 SEO
What is Search Engine
Optimization?
Search engine optimization is the work
required for your web site to achieve high
rankings with the search engines when
people search using selected phrases or
search terms.
Facets of SEO
Business goals
Keywords
Document relevance
Usability
Site design
Content
Linking
Measurement
How Do Users Access Sites?
Search engines
Typing the URL
Link from other site
Bookmark
How Are Pages Ranked?
SE spiders crawl and
measure:
 Content
 Keywords
 Links
 Site Design
These measurements
are turned into
algorithms
Business Goals
Write a formal business plan and determine
measurable goals:
To improve branding
To increase direct sales
To get more leads
To increase web site traffic
Keywords
 Keyword analysis
 Competitive analysis
 Select those search
terms used frequently but
with the least competition
 Optimum page placement
 4 – 9% page frequency
 Use phrases vs. words
Document Relevance
Google determines document relevance by looking
at:
 How people find information
 What they do when they access a document
 Which document in a site they tend to land on
 How long users spend on that document
 How much time does a user spend exploring
information in a domain,
(http://searchenginejournal.com/index.php?p=25
72)
Usability
Intuitive site navigation
Easy to find content
Consistent use of terms and icons
Use of Alt tags with images
Chunked and bulleted text
Short sentences, grammatically correct
World Wide Web Consortium W3C
http://www.w3.org/
Site Design
Title tag
Meta keyword tag
Meta description tag
Body text
H1 and H2 headings
Internal links
Alt tags
Content
Content elements
Digital rhetoric
Audience
Purpose
Style and format
Linking
Significance -- Link popularity:
PageRank®
Votes
Link building
On-page vs. Off-page
Why Are Links Important?
The visibility of your site
is affected by:
 How you link to other
sites
 How other sites link to
you
 How your web pages
link to each other
Getting Valuable Links
Distinguishing between one-way vs.
reciprocal links
Making your web site attractive
Improving your link popularity
Finding relevant, credible websites
Determining link popularity for incoming
links
Arranging for the link
Linking Strategy
Benefits
Ranking
Traffic
Network
Credibility
Content
Measurement
 Monitor site
performance
90
80
70
 Customer feedback
(CRM)
60
50
40
30
 Web tracking systems
20
10
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Overview of Steps in SEO
1. Select and assign keywords
2. Develop and post quality content
3. Get quality inbound links using a good
link strategy
4. Use your on page elements correctly
5. Make your site usable for visitors
6. Design and implement a comprehensive
PR plan
How to Assess Your Site
Google Toolbar: http://toolbar.google.com/
http://validator.w3.org/ (how many errors)
http://www.websiteoptimization.com/servic
es/analyze/ (speed and size etc, see our
Scanreport)
http://www.marketleap.com/publinkpop/
(link popularity)