3. What
is
SEM?
• Search
engine
marke.ng,
or
SEM,
is
a
form
of
Internet
marke.ng
that
seeks
to
promote
websites
by
increasing
their
visibility
in
search
engine
result
pages
(SERPs).
According
to
the
Search
Engine
Marke.ng
Professional
Organiza.on,
SEM
methods
include:
search
engine
op.miza.on
(or
SEO),
paid
placement,
contextual
adver.sing,
and
paid
inclusion.
wikipedia.com
4. What
is
SEO?
• Search
engine
op.miza.on
(SEO)
is
the
process
of
improving
the
volume
and
quality
of
traffic
to
a
web
site
from
search
engines
via
"natural"
("organic"
or
"algorithmic")
search
results.
wikipedia.com
Example
SEM
SEO
5. SEM
&
SEO
Pre-‐requisites
• SEM:
Budget
• SEO:
Pa.ence!
• Willingness
to
deal
with
ques.ons
like:
So,
once
we
finish
our
SEO,
my
site
will
be
#1
in
Google
right?
Why
isn’t
my
site
listed
in
all
the
search
engines
yet???
6. Types
of
SEO
Black
Hat
SEO
The Dark Side of the Force
White
Hat
SEO
Origins?
7. Black
Hat
SEO
• Black
hat
SEO
aempts
to
improve
page
rankings
in
ways
that
are
disapproved
of
by
the
search
engines,
dilute
Darth Vader image copyright Lucasfilm.
the
quality
of
content
on
the
web
or
involve
decep.on.
8. Black
Hat
SEO
• Manipula.ng
search
engine
results
via:
– Hidden
Text
– Meta
Spam
– Comment
Spam
– Content
Scraping
– Domain
Spamming
– Parasite
Hos.ng
– Page
Cloaking
– Link
Spamming
&
Link
Farming
– Keyword
Overloading
– Duplica.ng
Sites
9. Black
Hat
SEO:
Hidden
Text
• Hidden
Text:
Tricking
search
engine
bots
into
ranking
your
site
higher
by
hiding
keywords
within
the
page.
example
*Spider
Food
10. Black
Hat
SEO:
Meta
Spam
• Meta
Spam:
Manipula.ng
search
engine
results
by
one
or
more
of
the
following
techniques
(among
others):
1.
Using
Mul.ple
Keyword
Meta
Tags
<!DOCTYPE
HTML
PUBLIC
"-‐//W3C//DTD
HTML
4.01
Transi.onal//EN"
"hp://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>University
of
Missouri
-‐
Kansas
City
–
free
tui.on</TITLE>
<META
name="keywords"
content=“tui.on,
fees,
free,
scholarship,
waiver">
<META
name="keywords"
content=“umkc,
university,
college
...">
2.
Repea.ng
Keywords
within
your
meta
tag
<!DOCTYPE
HTML
PUBLIC
"-‐//W3C//DTD
HTML
4.01
Transi.onal//EN"
"hp://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE></TITLE>
<META
name="keywords"
content=“tui.on,
fees,
free,
scholarship,
waiver,
tui.on,
fees,
pay,
online,
fees,
free">
3.
Using
too
many
characters
within
your
meta
keyword
tag
(>1000
characters
including
spaces)
4.
Using
misleading
words
or
phrases/Using
keywords
that
have
nothing
to
do
with
any
product
or
service
your
website
offers.
<META
name="keywords"
content=“umkc,
university,
missouri,
ku,
jayhawks,
kansas,
metro">
11. Black
Hat
SEO:
Comment
Spam
• Comment
Spam:
Adding
un-‐related
informa.on/marginally
relevant
informa.on
(keywords
+
links)
to
a
website’s
commen.ng
mechanism
in
an
effort
to
increase
page
rank
on
the
external
site
prac.cing
Black
Hat
SEO.
Image sourced from publishing2.com
12. Black
Hat
SEO:
Content
Scraping
• Content
Scraping:
Using
bots/programs
to
‘scrape’
content
from
various
sites
(rela.ng
to
a
given
keyword)
with
the
inten.on
of
claiming
it
as
an
original
ar.cle.
• Why
do
people
do
it?
• To
develop
a
splog
(spamblog)
through
which
they
feed
ads
• Gain
page
rank
for
their
site
Image sourced from publishing2.com
13. Black
Hat
SEO:
Domain
Spamming
• Domain
Spamming:
Trying
to
own
more
than
one
of
the
first
page
SERPs
on
different
domains
for
the
same
search
term.
• Some.mes
known
as
‘reputa.on
management’ J
• Based
on
the
idea
–
‘Why
sele
for
being
the
first
link
in
the
SERP
when
you
can
have
all
ten?’
• The
Black
Hat
SEO
may
accomplish
this
via
parasite
hos.ng
plus
mul.ple
‘legi.mate’
looking
sites
(which
may
have
different
looks,
be
on
different
servers
and
have
some
iden.cal
content
and
links)
Image sourced from publishing2.com
14. Black
Hat
SEO:
Parasite
Hos.ng
• Parasite
Hos.ng:
Onen
used
as
part
of
Domain
Spamming.
Black
Hat
SEO’s
will
use
hos.ng
providers
such
as
MySpace,
Blogger
and
university
hos.ng
services
to
develop
keyword
targeted
pages
rela.ng
to
their
sites.
Exploits the search engine
vulnerability of trusting older
domains!
Image sourced from seomoz.org
15. Black
Hat
SEO:
Page
Cloaking
• Build
web
pages
that
show
different
content
to
humans
and
search
engine
bots.
• Used
in
bait
and
switch
schemes.
• Page
Cloaking
Defense:
Why
to
cloak?
Ø It
allows
the
site
admin
to
present
a
more
visually
appealing
and
well
wrien
site
to
actual
users
as
opposed
to
a
plain
and
keyword
overloaded
site
to
the
search
engine
bots.
Ø How
does
this
work?
–
User
Agent
Info
&
IP
based.
Ø How
Search
Engines
defend
against
this?
Image sourced from seomoz.org
16. Black
Hat
SEO:
Link
Spamming
• Seeks
to
exploit
weaknesses
in
link-‐based
algorithms
such
as
Google’s
PageRank
algorithm.
• Link
based
algorithms
onen
use
the
‘it’s
not
who
you
know,
it’s
who
knows
you
principle’
• This
implies
that
>>
the
more
sites
that
link
to
you,
the
more
important
your
page
is
and
(in
theory)
the
higher
your
page
rank.
• Used
in
Link
Farming
• Doesn’t
always
work!
• Can
lead
to
your
domain
being
banned
by
Google.
17. Black
Hat
SEO:
Keyword
Overloading
• Keyword
Density:
Keyword
density
is
a
measure
of
the
number
of
.mes
your
keyword
appears
on
a
page
expressed
as
a
percentage
of
the
total
word
count
of
that
page.
• Keyword
Overloading
relates
to
having
an
abnormally
high
keyword
density
on
your
page.
• Includes
informa.on
within
meta,
alt
and
.tle
tags
and
page
content.
18. Black
Hat
SEO:
Duplica.ng
Sites
Example
• XYZ
company
sells
an.que
ornaments
under
their
domain
www.xyzinc.com.
• Wants
to
improve
their
ranking
and
is
thinking
of
crea.ng
a
second
domain/site
to
sell
these
ornaments.
• Ethical/Unethical?
19. Black
Hat
SEO:
Dangers
• Can
lead
to
revenue
loss
(for
sites
that
have
legi.mate
rank)
• Dilutes
overall
content
quality
on
the
web
• Can
be
used
for
iden.ty
then
• Could
get
your
site
BANNED
20. White
Hat
SEO
• Achieving
great
page
rank
via
ethical
SEO
techniques
and
by
following
search
engine
guidelines.
– Google
Guidelines
for
submission.
– MSN
Guidelines
for
submission.
– Yahoo
Guidelines
for
submission.
21. White
Hat
SEO
Techniques
• Preface
to
White
Hat
SEO:
We
have
no
control
of
the
user
or
the
search
engines.
• What
do
we
have
control
of?
• Snippets/Site
Descrip.on
– Example:
Search
for
‘Fitness
Center
Kansas
City’
22. White
Hat
SEO
Techniques:
Basics
• Page
Names
• Flash
usage
• Text
in
images
• Domain
Names
–
picking
the
right
one
• Dis.nct
page
.tles
&
Ordering
23. White
Hat
SEO
Techniques:
Page
Names
• Page
Names:
Use
relevant
names
when
crea.ng
pages.
Ø about_umkc_informa.on_access.html
is
beer
from
an
SEO
standpoint
than
aboutus.html
24. White
Hat
SEO
Techniques:
Flash
• Limit
flash
usage
on
websites.
• Avoid
full-‐flash
websites.
• Update:
Google
and
Yahoo
are
working
with
Adobe
to
incorporate
technology
that
will
allow
their
bots
to
search
swf
files
and
retrieve
both
links
and
content.
25. White
Hat
SEO
Techniques:
Text
in
Image
Files
• DO
NOT
post
text
content
in
the
form
of
image
files.
Your
pages
will
likely
never
be
indexed
by
the
search
engines.
26. White
Hat
SEO
Techniques:
Picking
a
good
domain
• SEO
experts
recommend
picking
domain
names
that
contain
a
related
keyword.
– E.g.
www.abcelectronics.com
is
beer
than
www.abc.com
• Side
Note:
When
picking
domain
names,
be
aware
of
how
your
domains
may
be
interpreted/read:
• Experts
Exchange
>
www.expertsexchange.com
• Mole
Sta.on
Nursery
>
www.molesta.onnursery.com
27. White
Hat
SEO
Techniques:
Dis.nct
page
.tles
and
ordering
• Always
give
your
pages
meaningful
.tles.
– Remember
to
change
<.tle>Un.tled
Page
2</.tle>
• Carefully
choose
keywords
for
inclusion
in
the
.tle
of
your
page.
• Ordering
is
of
importance
in
page
.tles:
len
to
right
– <.tle>Kansas
City’s
best
jewelry
retailer</.tle>
– <.tle>The
best
jewelry
retailer
in
Kansas
City</.tle>
• Page
.tles
should
be
no
more
than
12
words
long.
28. White
Hat
SEO
Techniques:
Meta
Tags
• Meta
Descrip.on:
• <meta
name="Descrip.on"
content="The
University
of
Missouri-‐Kansas
City
(UMKC),
one
of
four
University
of
Missouri
campuses,
is
a
public
university
serving
more
than
14,000
undergraduate,
graduate
and
professional
students.
UMKC
engages
with
the
community
and
economy
based
on
a
three-‐part
mission:
visual
and
performing
arts,
health
sciences,
and
urban
affairs.
“>
• How
many
words
can
I
use
in
the
meta
descrip.on?
–
Somewhere
in
the
150
–
160
character
range.
• Meta
Keywords:
• <meta
name="Keywords"
content="UMKC,Campus,Missouri
System,kansas
city
colleges,missouri
colleges,missouri
universi.es,colleges
in
kansas
citycolleges
in
missouri,kansas
city
colleges,life
sciences,
theatre,
music,
arts
&
sciences,
engineering,
biology,
pharmacy,
den.stry,
nursing,
research,
educa.on,
business,
law,
medicine">
• Posi.oning
of
more
important
keywords
• Inclusion
of
misspellings
and
synonyms
• How
many
keywords
should
one
use
–
popular
opinion
is
at
most
20
29. White
Hat
SEO
Techniques:
Content
• Key
to
Content:
Don’t
write
content
for
bots.
• Pages
should
have
a
sprinkling
of
keywords.
• Include
keywords
in
the
first
paragraph
and
bold
them.
• Make
use
of
the
H1
and
H2
tags
in
conjunc.on
with
keywords.
• Give
relevant
names
to
your
images.
• Be
sure
to
include
informa.on
in
the
ALT
tags
for
images.
• Image
tag
lines.
30. White
Hat
SEO
Techniques:
Links
&
Naviga.on
• When
linking
to
sites/pages,
help
their
ranking
by
including
relevant
keywords:
– Click
here
for
info
on
the
power
and
light
district
–
OK
– Kansas
City’s
best
entertainment
venue
is
the
power
and
light
district.
• Keep
Naviga.on
vanilla
and
avoid
graphic
links
if
possible.
• Include
footer
naviga.on
(example)
• Link
to
other
pages
on
your
site
in
the
content
(if
relevant).
• Create
a
sitemap
document
for
submission
to
the
search
engines.
32. White
Hat
SEO
Techniques:
Landing
Pages
• Don’t
use
home
pages
as
landing
pages,
instead
create
a
highly
targeted
landing
page
for
your
ad
campaigns.
• Gets
the
user
to
the
info
they
want.
• Can
help
reduce
conversion
drop-‐out.
• Maximize
return
on
PPC
campaigns.
• Can
help
avoid
Home
page
dilu.on.
33. White
Hat
SEO
Techniques:
Site
Submission
• Which
engines
to
submit
to?
• Directories
• Local
Lis.ng
Sites
34. White
Hat
SEO
Techniques:
Site
Submission
• Which
engines
to
submit
to?
– Google
– Yahoo
– MSN
• Search
Engine
Rela.onship
Chart
35. White
Hat
SEO
Techniques:
Site
Submission
• The
DMOZ.org
Open
Directory
• Uses
an
army
of
volunteers
to
catalog
not
bots.
36. White
Hat
SEO
Techniques:
Site
Submission
• Local
Lis.ng
Sites
– Verizon
Super
Pages
– Yahoo
Yellow
Pages
– Google
Local
Business
Center
• Auto
Repair
example
– Many
many
more…
37. White
Hat
SEO
Techniques:
Checking
Progress
&
Maintenance
• Backlinking
via
Google
Tools
• Monitor
page
rank
via
site:
–
example
-‐
site:umkc
• Reciprocal
links
• Add
url
via
‘add
url’
– Example
–
‘add
url’
search
on
Google
38. White
Hat
SEO
Techniques:
Example
of
a
Highly
Op.mized
Site
• Let’s
search
for
‘Kansas
City
Web
Development’
• Google
Search
• MSN
Search
• Yahoo
Search
• Dogpile
Search
39. Key
Item:
Remember,
it
is
content
and
users
that
drive
Page
Rank!