Transcript PR and SEO

PR and SEO
Evaluate Your Website
• How much traffic does your site get?
• What are the most popular pages on your Web
site?
• How long do users stay on your site?
• From what pages do your users exit your site?
• Is your Web site user-friendly?
• How often do you update your Web site?
• Is the most important information easy to find?
Look at Your Competitors
• Look at Web sites of similar organizations
• What do they have that you need to have?
• Are they ranked higher than your
organization on major search engines?
• How much traffic do they get?
• What key words are they targeting?
• Check out Alexa for traffic stats.
Usability
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Navigation
Breadcrumbs
Consistency
Use white space.
Keep it simple.
BAD Sites:
• Example 1
• Example 2
Good Sites:
• Webby Awards
Developing a Web Hierarchy
• Similar to an outline
• Start with a chart
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Page title
Sub page title
Keywords
Summary of page contents
Copy
Links
Graphics
• Example
– Peabody Awards
Tips for Effective Web Sites
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Avoid splash pages
Avoid duplicate content
Avoid Flash websites
Photos (JPG), logos (GIF)
Link internally
Limit special effects and animation
Tips for Effective Web Sites
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Have legible text
Always have contact information
Display your privacy policy
Update content frequently
Keep writing concise, tight, snappy
Open external links in a new window so
users can easily return to your site.
Develop an Online PR
Strategy
What are your organization’s online goals?
– Increase rankings
– Increase traffic
– Increase “conversions”
– Maintain positive relationships with publics
– Combat negative opinions
– Conduct research
– Obtain feedback
Search Engine Optimization
The importance of search engine rankings:
• 49% of all Internet users access search
engines daily
• Searching is 2nd most popular online activity
after email
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94% of Internet visitors conducted a search
last quarter (Oct. 2010)
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90% of users click on results in the first 2
pages
Why Do SEO?
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Third party validation
No one uses the phone book!
Boost sales, awareness
Become an industry leader
Fight content with content
How Do Search Engines Work?
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Bots or spiders crawl the web following links . . .
Building the index and cataloging keywords . . .
So search engines can retrieve results . . .
Based on relevance . . .
Which ultimately affects page rank.
How do search engines work?
Getting Started
• Check out Alexa for traffic stats.
• Get the Google Toolbar
– Cached snapshot
– Similar pages
– Backward links
Generate and Use Keywords
What are keywords?
• Keywords
• Long-Tail keywords
• Trophy keywords
Generate and Use Keywords
• How do you find keywords?
• Your Web analytics tool
• Google AdWords Tool
• Website submission tool
• How do you decide which
keywords to use?
• Pick 8 to 10 trophy keywords per site
• Concentrate on 1 keyword phrase
per page
Generate and Use Keywords
• Use keywords and phrases high on
the page (first 100-200 words)
• Use variations of keyword phrases
• Keep keyword density between 5-7%
–Golf example
Never present text as a graphic!
Generate and Use Keywords
Use keywords in:
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Meta tags
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Title tag
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Header tag
Meta description tag •
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Body text
Links
Alt tags
Sitemaps
Anchor links
Domain name
Image names
Get Indexed
• Index vs. Web
• Web crawlers and bots
– Crawl text and links
– Press Ctrl-A on a Web page to see what the
crawlers see
– Important text for crawlers:
• Title of the page
• Content near the top of the page
• Links
• Sitemap
Get Indexed
• Make sure every page allows bots to visit:
<meta name=“robots” content=“index, follow”>
<meta name=“googlebot” content=“index, follow” />
• See which pages are indexed – search for:
“site:domain.com”
• Submit your site to the search engines
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Google Webmaster Central
Then visit Google Analytics
Submit to Yahoo!
Submit to Bing
Submit to DMOZ (aka Open Directory Project)
Submit to Alexa
Use a website submission engine
Develop Your Link Building
Strategy
• More links to your site = higher search
engine rankings
• But, it’s not so simple
• High quality links, high quantity of links
and site relevance determine rankings
• Right link building
Where to Get Quality Backlinks
• Industry leaders,
associations
• Charity sites
• Places you sponsor
• Old sites with
established domains
• Chambers of
commerce, BBB
• News and press
release sites
• Blogs and forums
• Quality articles
• .gov, .edu
• Social media and
bookmarking sites
• Customer review
sites
Consider Link Juice
What makes a link juicy?
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Relevant to your content
Other links on the page are relevant
Page has been recently cached
Page is respected
Page has multiple incoming links
Page has few outbound links
Page and links have been around for a long
time
Develop Your Link Building
Strategy
• Link to other relevant sites on the Web
• Link internally
– site maps
– bread crumbs
• Link to the sites you want to link to you
• Email site owner to politely request a link
(and show where you’ve linked to them)
Develop Your Link Building
Strategy
• See who’s linking to you already:
– Check out Alexa
– Google: “+www.examplesite.+com” or
Link:domain.com
– Ex: “+www.dreamland.+com” or
Link:dreamland.com
– Yahoo: linkdomain:examplesite.com
– Bing: link: examplesite.com
Search Engine Optimization
Remember:
• You want traffic, but traffic that’s interested in
your organization
• Content must be relevant to keep publics
interested - WIIFM?
• Anticipate publics’ needs, interests, questions
and then write optimized content
• Every page is now your homepage
• Make sure a call to action is on every page of
your Web site (purchase, sign-up, register,
etc.)
Search Engine Optimization
Remember:
• Good, strong, relevant content is rewarded
• Keyword list should remain current
• Do the “(your organization) sucks” test
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Kryptonite locks
Dell
SEO can be part of a crisis management plan
Fight content with content
Search Engine Optimization
• Search engines
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– Strong, relevant, fresh content
– Frequently updated content
– Well structured architecture
– Intelligent link structure
• Algorithms change - so SEO should be an
ongoing process
• You need a content strategy to keep
content fresh
Content Development
Strategy
What is good content?
• Covers one subject per page
• Follows proper grammar and spelling rules
• Updated frequently
• Short, easy to digest paragraphs
• Keywords sprinkled throughout – many
focused at the top of the page
• Induces repeat visitors
• Generates links
Ways to Add Content
• User-generated content
– comments, reviews
• Images
• Videos
• Press releases
• White papers
• News articles (used
with permission)
• Case studies
• Podcasts
• How-to’s
• User tips for products or
services
• Transcripts from videos
• Quiz, polls or test
• Research reports
• New site sections for
products, departments,
services
• Before and afters
• Start a blog!
Other Ways to Get Traffic
Add your site to directories:
• Yelp.com
• InsiderPages
• Yahoo Local
• CitySearch
• Superpages
– Other general directories (Starting Point,
ExactSeek, and Best of the Web)
Other Ways to Get Traffic
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Social media
Blogs
Buying ads on Google and Yahoo!
Viral videos
Contests
Promotions
Emails, newsletters
Online only content
What NOT to Do
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Link farms
Keyword stuffing
Duplicate content
Lack of original content
Hidden text and links
Deceptive titles
Machine-generated pages
Copyright violators