This presentation was given by Astek President Andy Swindler and Sr. Community Manager John Armstrong for Astek's Monthly Think-n-Drink on Search Engine Optimization. Participants were introduced to basic topics such as keyword research/usage, content strategy, techniques in website design and development and competitive analysis - all which contribute to improving search results. Astek's Chicago-based Think-n-Drinks are open to the public, unbelievably affordable, include wine and snacks and take place on the first Tuesday of each month. Find more info on our social media pages (#chiThinkDrink) or at: http://www.astekblog.com/astekology/what-does-seo-mean-thinkndrink‎

1. Let’s start at the very beginning!
(It’s a very good place to start)
SEO

2. Why SEO?
Hubspot.com, 2013

3. Why SEO?
93% of online activities begin with a search engine.
College of Marketing, 2013

4. Why SEO?
• For today’s purposes “Google” = “search engines”
• Optimizing your content for Search = SEO
– Increase brand awareness
– Sell more products
– Get the most out of your valuable content

5. Search Market Share

6. SEO is a Mindset

7. SEO is a Mindset
• Every time you write for the Web, consider SEO
• People may call your product/topic something other
than what you do
• There are no guarantees
• There is no perfect, just keep at it to take advantage of
unseen opportunities
• Marketing is experimenting

8. SEO is Everywhere
• Google indexes your:
– Website
– Social media
– PDFs
– Other channels
• Get the robots talking
– Google likes keywords &"
technical best practices
• It’s evolving and not going away soon
• Only 2% of searchers click to 2nd page

9. SEO State of the Union
• SEO = Relevance + Authority
• Google’s job = provide relevant content for
Web searches
• Used to rely primarily on keywords in
content & links but now other factors
• Don’t mess with Google Bots

10. SEO Tactics – 5 Segments
• User Accessibility
• Robot Indexability
• On-Page SEO
• Off-Page SEO
• Competitive Analysis

11. SEO Tactics – User Accessibility "
Robot Indexability
• XML Sitemap & Robots.txt
– CMS should auto-generate
• Canonical URLs
– wiley.com -> www.wiley.com
• 301 URL Permanent Redirects
– Every time you change page URLs
• ADA Compliance
– disabilitycomplianceforhighereducation.com

12. SEO Tactics – Off-Page Content
• Optimize with Keywords
– HTML Title (70 char., unique)
– Meta Description (150 char., unique)
– H1 (unique)/H2 Tags
– Optimize Images
• File size for speed
• Image file names
• HTML alt tags

13. SEO Tactics Visualized
Meta Title Meta Description
Keywords

14. SEO Tactics – On-Page Content
• Google loves freshly updated original content
– Creates more frequent indexing
• Use your content advantage
– Keywords and audience segments

15. Keywords
• Google scans your content for keywords
– Product more important than brand
– Keywords near the front are ranked higher
• Go for long tail keyword phrases
– More specific & less competition
• Research to learn how people refer to your
product/topic – it may even inspire you to
change it on paper

16. Keyword Research
• Google AdWords Tool
• Why use a PPC (pay per click) Tool?
– It’s free
– Google data
• Learn what people call your product
• Look for High Search, Low
Competition
• SEO helps PPC campaign
performance
– Consider PPC as complement to SEO

17. Keywords – Long Tail

18. Competition
Pay attention to what your competitor is doing!
• What keywords are they using?
• What is their content strategy for their products?
• Can you find a different strategy that doesn’t
compete with them for search?
• Are they optimized? If not, can you do it better
and compete with their search positions?

19. Mobile SEO

20. Hubspot.com

21. SEO Tools – Research/Evaluation
• SEO Guides
– Google: http://bit.ly/WoKpXA
– SEOmoz: http://mz.cm/YkE8QN
• Keywords
– Google AdWords Tool
– SEMrush – PPC competitive research
• Evaluation
– Google Analytics + Webmaster Tools
– SEOmoz – whole site
– SEO Quake Firefox toolbar plugin – page by
page
– Screaming Spider
– HubSpot Website Grader
– Google Site Speed Report

22. Thank You!
Andy Swindler
@aswindler
John Armstrong
@johnequatro