Transcript link to the most important web pages

CHARITY DYNAMICSSearch Engine Marketing
Science Writers Conference 2009
WHY IS SEO IMPORTANT?
Why SEO?
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13.8 billion Searches in September 20091
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88% of Internet Users use Search2
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You’ve got great information to share
1Source:
Information Week www.informationweek.com October 15, 2009
1Source: Interactive Marketing, Inc. http://www.interactivemarketinginc.com/organic-seo.html
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What is SEO?
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SEO raises your sites rankings and visibility in the
“organic” or “natural” search listing for increased
qualified visitors to your site
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Google Eye Tracking Test
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1Source:
60.5% click on organic
results1
60% click on one of
the first 3 results1
Eye Tools http://www.sendtec.com/EyeTools-GoogleCheckOut-Summary.aspx
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Search Engine Usage
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Google 64.9%1
Yahoo 18.8%
Microsoft Bing 9.3%
Ask Network 3.9%
AOL 3%
1Source:
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Information Week www.informationweek.com October 15, 2009
CORE STEPS TO IMPROVED VISIBILITY
Core Steps to Improved Visibility
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Content / Keywords
Internal Linking
External Linking
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Keywords
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Category and Index to online information
Keywords are how others want to find your
information
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Content / Keywords
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Title tags centered around 1 important keyword phrase
Keyword in 1st sentence - more weight given to first 25
words on page
2-3 instances of your primary keyword phase per 100
words
Keywords in the “anchor text” – the text within your
hyperlinks
Keywords in the “ALT Tags” – the phrases used to
describe your images
Keyword at the very beginning and end of your web
page text
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Internal Links
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Use keywords in your navigation links
Use keywords in your text links
Add a site map to your website with links to all
your web pages
Use keywords in your URLs like this…
http://www.site.com/keyword.html
Each of your web pages can link to the most
important web pages
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External Links to Your Site
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Most search engines use what other websites say about a
particular web page by analyzing the in-coming links that point to it.
Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin developed
“PageRank” which relies on referrals as the best way to assess value
of a pages content.
"PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its
vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In essence,
Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for
page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links
a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast
by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to
make other pages 'important.'"
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Top 5 Ranking Factors
Keyword Focused Anchor Text from External links
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External Link Popularity
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3.
4.
5.
Science Writer Conference
www.sciencewriters2009.org
Industry associations, experts, etc vs smaller
organizations
Diversity of Link Sources
Keyword use Anywhere in the Title Tag
Trustworthiness of Domain
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Source: SEOMOZ http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors
Top 5 Detracting Factors
Cloaking with Malicious / Manipulative Intent
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Link Acquisition from Known Link Brokers / Sellers
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Sites such as link to you, etc.
Links from the Page to Web Spam Sites / Pages
Cloaking by User Agent
3.
4.
1.
5.
Showing different content to search engines than to
general site visitors
Showing different content to search engines than to general
site visitors
Frequent Server Downtime and Site Inaccessibility
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Source: SEOMOZ http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors
Google External Links Analysis
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The quality or "relevance" of the website or web
page that links to your web page;
The "anchor text" or actual link text in or around
the in-bound link that points to your web page;
The total volume (number) of in-coming links to
your web page.
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CREATING A PLAN
Creating a Plan
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Set goals
Identify most important keywords
Identify most important search engines
Identify topic experts
Audit yourself
Create a link building strategy
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Set Goals
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Search rank of particular search keywords
Keywords you want associated with your site
Key visitor audiences / topics / landing pages
Increase site conversion by x%
Increase the number of site visitors within particular
audiences
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Identify Your Keywords
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Internal review
 Keywords
you want associated with your information
 What differentiates you from others
 What are your core competencies
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What keywords are people using to find you today?
 Review
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your web analytics report
What keywords lead to your competition when they
should go to you?
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Your Primary Search Engines
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Review your audience demographics
 Geographic
location
 Occupation
 Segments
education professionals vs consumer vs
scientists
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Review your web analytics for what your current
visitors use to fine you
Keyword research tools
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Identify Leading Topic Sites
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What are the most popular sites on your general
topic?
Keep topic general as well as specific
Identify top blog sites speaking to your topic of
interest
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Audit Yourself
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Inventory your content
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Create a list of your content assets
Review for duplicate content and consolidate or differentiate
Review your navigation
Create a list of content fixes
Visit your top search engines and search on your topics
Review your web analytics
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What % of traffic comes from search engines?
What search engines drive the most traffic?
What keywords are used?
What keywords are missing?
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Link Building Strategy
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Review your content assets
Consider developing 101 or “Top 10” resource
content to make your site an authority
Submit articles / whitepapers to industry news sites;
keep key words in mind when submitting topic, title,
and link
Bring attention to press releases to industry news
sites, keep keywords in mind
Refer to sites you want referring to you
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MAINTAIN & MANAGE THE PLAN
Establish Metrics and Benchmarks
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Establish metrics that matter
 Search
engine rank for specific phrases
 Website visitors
 Specific
pages
 Specific engagements
 Specific search terms
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Create a dashboard document that allows summary
information to be shared
Review each month and share take-aways
Further investigate unexpected or extreme changes
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Maintain Momentum
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Keep content fresh and updated
Ensure links on your site are still valid
Continue to reach out and develop new referral links
Develop a new content checklist:
Identify Page Title with desired keywords
 Title contains desired keywords
 Use keywords within the first 25 words of the article
 When distributing links to referring sites ask for a link that
contains keywords in the link title
 Target sites for referral that are experts on your key word
topic
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Contact
Donna Wilkins
President, Charity Dynamics
[email protected]
www.charitydynamics.com/nasw
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