- SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
- AGENDA
- SEO Fundamentals
- What is SEO?
- Natural Search vs. Paid Search
- Click-Through Rates
- Anatomy of a Search Listing
- Algorithm Changes
- The 3 Pillars of SEO
- On-Page Optimization
- Off-Page Optimization
- Technical Optimization
- Summary2
- WHAT IS SEO?
- Search Engine Optimization is the process of influencing natural search results so the right pages rank for the right keywords Higher rankings = more traffic
- SEO is NOT: Telling Google what pages we want to rank Buying keyword
- SEO takes time: Changes in rankings after SEO efforts are implemented can take from a few days to a few weeks.3
- SEO VS. SEM ESTIMATES Paid Search Results = ~30% of traffic Natural Search Results = ~70% of traffic4
- HIGHER RANKINGS = MORE TRAFFIC Page 1 - Natural Search Click Through Rates - AVERAGE 40% 36.4% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 12.5% 9.5% 10% 7.9% 6.1% 5% 4.1% 3.8% 3.5% 3.0% 2.2% 0% #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 Moving from position #10 to #1 can result in a 1,500%+ increase in traffic* Data Source: 2011 Optify Study 5
- "CUSTOMERS" VS. SEARCH ENGINESThis is what our customers see: This is what search engines see: To see source code: Firefox & Chrome: type CTRL + U Internet Explorer: select Page >> View Source6
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- SEARCH ALGORITHMS CHANGE OFTEN! More that 400 minor changes per year. That's more than once per day!8
- RECENT DEVELOPMENTS Google changes its search algorithm hundreds of times each year. 2 major updates had significant impact:
- Google Panda 2011 - New criteria valuing high-quality, user-friendly sites (low bounce rate, high time on site)
- Google Penguin 2012 - penalizing keyword stuffing & link schemes Google says: Search is a complicated and evolving art and science, so rather than focusing on specific algo- rithmic tweaks, we encourage you to focus on delivering the best possible experience for users.9
- THE 3 PILLARS OF SEO SUCCESS Technical On-page Off-pageOptimization optimization optimization
- Keyword research
- Inbound links from
- Age of domain +
- Page mapping + external, relevant sites = SEO success
- Title tags
- Domain strength
- Description tags
- Inbound links from region-
- No duplicate content
- Body copy specific sites
- URL structure
- Header tags
- No dash domains
- Image ALT text
- Social media engagement
- 301 redirects
- URL page name
- Canonicalization
- Site speed10
- THE 3 PILLARS OF SEO SUCCESS Technical On-page Off-pageOptimization optimization optimization
- Keyword research
- Inbound links from
- Age of domain +
- Page mapping + external, relevant sites = SEO success
- Title tags
- Domain strength
- Description tags
- Inbound links from region-
- No duplicate content
- Body copy specific sites
- URL structure
- Header tags
- No dash domains
- Image ALT text
- Social media engagement
- 301 redirects
- URL page name
- Canonicalization
- Site speed11
- KEYWORD RESEARCH
- Use a keyword research tool like Google Adwords Keyword Tool to identifysearch volume potential for strategic terms:https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
- The key is to include keywords people are using to search for your products in thecontent you are creating Enter keyword(s) Select country and language Always select "exact match"This menu can be found onthe lower left hand columnof the screen 12
- INCLUDE KEYWORDS IN YOUR PAGES! As Content Creators, you can help ensure strategic keywords appear in these KEY SEO COMPONENTS of a page:
- Title tag
- Description tag
- Header tag(s)
- Body copy
- Image ALT text
- Link anchor text13
- TITLE TAGS Quick Snapshot:
- The MOST IMPORTANT tag for SEO rankings
- No more than ~65 characters (otherwise it gets truncated in search results)
- Primary keyword at the front
- Include "PayPal" at the end (or elsewhere if it makes the tag more readable)
- Include the country if non-US)14
- META DESCRIPTION TAGSQuick Snapshot:
- No more than ~150 characters (longer ones get truncated)
- Primary keyword should appear somewhere in the tag
- Goal is to encourage click-through but not be "salesy"
- Include the country if non-US (see Canada example)Good to know:
- Description tags do not directly influence search results, but they can encourage users to click, which will help rankings in the long term 15
- META KEYWORDS TAGQuick Snapshot:
- Meta Keyword Tags have NO INFLUENCE on rankings
- They do not appear in search results or on the visible page
- We only populate them to help with the PayPal.com on-site search resultsFun Fact:
- In the early days of SEO, Meta Keywords Tags did influence rankings - but after A LOT of abuse (keyword stuffing, keyword spam), search engines stopped considering them in their algorithms 16
- HEADER TAGSQuick Snapshot:
- H1 Tags is another importance piece of on-page optimization for SEO
- The primary targeted keyword for the page should appear in the H1 tag
- H2, H3, and H4 tags can be useful places in which to place secondary targeted keywords 17
- BODY COPYQuick Snapshot:
- Pages should have ~100 words of INDEXABLE copy - this does not include links
- The SEO keywords targeted for the page should appear 2-3 times each in the copy
- "Keyword density" (ratio of keywords to total text) isn't used as a guide anymore
- Primary goal is to make the text READABLE for users - no keyword stuffing or "forcing"
- If it's hard to "work in" the SEO keywords, the page might not be appropriate for those terms 18
- IMAGE ALT TEXTQuick Snapshot:
- Image ALT Text is a great, but under-utilized place in which to incorporate targeted SEO keywords
- Targeted SEO keywords should be included in the ALT text - in a readable way
- Populating the ALT text with meaningful content also helps with Accessibility 19
- LINK ANCHOR TEXTQuick Snapshot:
- Link anchor text helps communicate the keyword focus for the DESTINATION page
- The primary targeted keyword for the destination page should be included in the link anchor text
- This is CRITICALLY important for SEO - it helps reinforce the keyword focus for the destination page
- Links like click here and learn more provide NO SEO value
- Links must ALWAYS point to the same version of the URL 20
- TAKEN FROM SEOMOZ.ORG21 Confidential and Proprietary
- TECHNICAL OPTIMIZATION Technical On-page Off-pageOptimization optimization optimization
- Keyword research
- Inbound links from other
- Age of domain +
- Page mapping + PayPal pages = SEO success
- Title tags
- Domain strength
- Description tags
- Inbound links from
- No duplicate content
- Body copy external, relevant sites
- URL structure
- Header tags
- No dash domains
- Image ALT text
- Inbound links from region-
- 301 redirects
- URL page name specific sites22
- 301 REDIRECTS23
- URL STRUCTURE24
- OFF-PAGE OPTIMIZATION Site quality On-page Off-Page optimization Optimization
- Age of domain
- Keyword research
- Inbound links from other
- Domain strength +
- Page mapping + PayPal pages = SEO success
- No duplicate content
- Title tags
- URL structure
- Description tags
- Inbound links from
- No dash domains
- Body copy external, relevant sites
- Header tags
- 301 redirects
- Image ALT text
- Inbound links from region-
- Canonicalization
- URL page name specific sites
- Site speed25
- LINK BUILDING All other things being equal, the page with the most high- quality, relevant links wins. Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Accept Accept Link Credit Link Credit Cards Cards A B WINNER!26
- CRITERIA FOR A GOOD LINK To be valuable for SEO, inbound links MUST: Be from relevant sites For international sites, links from the same country are the most valuable Be high-quality Include keywords in anchor text click here = not useful accept credit cards = very useful! Point to the targeted page accept credit cards points to home page = okay, but not great accept credit cards points to accept credit cards page = perfect! Use the same URL every time * These URLs are NOT the same to search engines, even though they result in the same page 1. https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/Marketing/mobile/MobileOverview-outside&nav=0.2.3 2. https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/Marketing/mobile/MobileOverview-outside 3. https://www.paypal.com/mobile27
- AN EXAMPLE OF GOOD ANCHOR TEXT28
- NOT-AS-GOOD ANCHOR TEXT29
- AN EXAMPLE OF GOOD ANCHOR TEXT30
- NOT-AS-GOOD ANCHOR TEXT31
- ADDITIONAL SEO RESOURCES: Search Engine Land - Online resources, industry-leading articles http://searchengineland.com/ Highly recommend the "Search Cap" daily email Google Webmaster Blog - Stay up-to-date with the latest Google news that could affect your site http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/ SEOmoz - Online resources, numerous tools http://www.seomoz.org/ Yearly "PRO" memberships can be purchased and can be very useful for deep research Marketing Sherpa - Includes more than SEO, but often includes great info and charts http://www.marketingsherpa.com/32
- THANK YOU
