A presentation targeting startups & individuals wanting to initiate an SEO program. Not intended to be in-depth. Rather it focuses on the initial stages of preparing for an SEO commitment.
2. Agenda About Confluence Digital How Search Engines Work in 2 minutes Search Engine Optimization in 2 Slides A Few Myths About SEO Before Optimization Starts Where to Start? Live Optimization Resources
7. Search Engine Results Page (SERP) The higher the position of your listings, the more click-throughs to your site. The number one search result is worth pursuing because # 1 gets: 4.9 X more clicks than number 3 position 8.5 X more clicks than number 5 position 14.1 X more clicks than number 10 position
13. View your site as a funnel functioning to move visitors to act on a specific objective.Keyword Meta Tag No. The Keyword Meta Tag is no longer a consideration in search algorithms.
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15. Success Starts with Support Company Dynamics Executive level support is essential Marketing >> drive web strategy & positioning IT >> recommend SEO friendly technologies & solutions Finance & Operations >> providing adequate resources Collaborate or lose.
16. Site Analytics Install an analytics solution that provides the following: Who’s coming? What are they doing? Where are they coming from? When do they act? Why do they convert? How loyal are they? Google & Yahoo Analytics are free powerful tools Easy Natural/Organic traffic report set-up
17. Diagnostic Tools from the Engines Search Engine Diagnostics & Troubleshooting Google http://www.google.com/webmasters/checklist/ Bing http://www.bing.com/toolbox/webmasters Set up Accounts and Start Collecting Data See Your Site How Engines See It Gain Insights into: Find queries that drive visits Crawler access, stats and errors Broken links and barriers to indexation Internal and external link reporting Direct the engines how you’d like them to interact with your site
18. Baseline The Current State For Keywords you think are important now, how do you rank? How do your Branded Keywords rank? How do you compare to a select group of competitors? Are there new competitors? Conduct a competitive SEO audit versus 2 or 3 competitors (template at the end)
19. Put Together Your Team Assemble a cross functional team Representatives from Corporate, Marketing, Customer Support, IT and outside perspectives No “team”? Recruit interested parties who’ll offer unbiased feedback: business advisors, peers, significant others, friends/family, etc.
21. On-site: “Crawl-ability” & Indexation Data from the webmaster tools will indicate crawl errors, crawl stats, broken links, top search queries, etc. If plans include moving your site, use the Change of Address tool to notify Google. Use 301 redirects to permanently tell users and search engines of changes to page locations. Compare known page count to amount indexed by search engines. This ratio indicates how you may be impacted by issues.
47. <meta name="description" content=“A keyword rich description of products available on this page. Write it like an ad and include a call to action." />
50. On-site: Other Low Hanging Fruit Include Keywords in URL/directory structure Add Keywords to image ALT tags Create Sitemap.xml file & submit to engines Include robot.txt files with a pathway to the sitemap.xml Introduce text-based Keyword rich navigation links Use Flash wisely. Accentuate and highlight content vs. using as a vehicle for content
61. Off-site: Social Media A growing influence on SEO likely to a key factor. Engines are indexing & serving social media sites and content in their results pages. Establish company accounts for Facebook, LinkedIn & Twitter. Use to distribute notification of company news, content updates, items of interest to your audience. Once you start, do not stop. Experiment, Test & Measure. Start here: What is Social Media Marketing?
62. Ongoing Activities Benchmark efforts against initial baselines and target objectives. Research keywords for new opportunities quarterly or monthly. Tweak and add content to fill gaps. Link building is continuous. Track efforts. Social media updates & connecting with others. Watch your analytics: if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.
84. 3rd Party Program Audits & Vendor SelectionDave Pektas Search Marketing Specialist Jason Gritten Search Marketing Specialist Alonso Chehade Social Media Associate Eric Layland Client Strategy Dorota Umeno SEM & Brand Advisor Margery Spears SEO & Social Specialist Complemented by an extensive network
85. Got A Question? Confluence Digital 711 Sixth Avenue North Seattle WA 98109 www.ConfluenceDigital.com Phone: 206-852-7102 eric@confluencedigital.com
Notas do Editor
Launched 2009 after 7 years co-founder at another SEM agencyTeam of 6 focused on SEO, PPC, Social & Analytics50+ years of combined online & marketing experience
Spiders traverse the web via linksBuilds a profile of sites based on cluesBuilds a weighted indexStores data to access for users
Web server sends query to index server which selects pages that match the queryQuery then sent to document server where search results snippets are generatedResults are compiled and sent to user’s browser in less than a second
Comment on distribution of clicks80-85% of all clicks occur on first page10-15% of all clicks on second page<5% of clicks on third pageSearch users change behavior to refine query vs. dig deeperOf first page clicks: 70% are on organic listings
This is what you’re pursuingSEO is a effort to rank pages, not sitesLogarithmic scale that distills 200+ variables in Google algorithmA comparison of all pages on the web
Start with a strong base of accessibility & text contentSelect keywords & integrate into page contentLinks come from content targeting relevant needs of audiencesPromote to audiences via social media marketing
There’s no manual for SEOAlgorithms are SE’s secret sauceSEO firms test theories but SE’s always changingGoogle averages more than 1 change per day (most minor)As such there are many uncertainties
High value converting traffic is the goal & measure of success
Insights to how search engines see your siteNot how site is viewed through a browserSites developed under Americans w/Disabilities Act often do well
Have search engines successfully crawled your site?How often, how deep?Use Webmaster Tools to identify where spiders are being blocked – Excessive “nofollow” robot.txt files?
Start building your list of keywords
Now start refining your list of keywordsEXPLAIN: Keyword Effectiveness IndexHow competitive a keyword isHigher the less effort is likely required
Start to organize your keywords Does your site messaging support the keywords your targeting?If not, you’ll have work to do.
There is no EXACT way. Experiment with what gets better results.
Think of meta page descriptions as ads for your site to generate clicks.
Mention a call to action
ExplainALT TagsRobot.txt filesSitemap.xml files
Don’t let blogs go stale – BIG turn off to visitors
Link Building is a topic of it’s ownHigh School analogyQuality of links not quantityNEVER pay for links! Highly frowned upon by engines
Another topic that can be 2 hours on it’s ownReal-time search is indexing content (Twitter/Facebook) in real time on certain subjectsStart by lurking in communities that would utilize your product or service. Get a feel for the conversations.
How to construct a title tag?Construct a meta descriptionALT tagsShow Google kw tool?