1. #hewebSE #wkse2
SEO LIVE!
©2014 Fathom® All rights reserved.

2. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
@stephpflaum
Jonathan Pogact
@JPogact
Director of Enterprise Solutions
Stephanie Pflaum
@stephpflaum
Senior Digital Marketing Strategist
www.fathomdelivers.com/industries/education

3. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
@stephpflaum
Jonathan Pogact
@JPogact
Director of Enterprise Solutions
Stephanie Pflaum
@stephpflaum
Senior Digital Marketing Strategist
www.fathomdelivers.com/industries/education
WHY SEO?
DESIGN & DEV
ON-PAGE OPTIMIZATION
KEYWORD SELECTION
CONTENT
POPULARITY & LINKS
ANALYTICS
Let’s Get Dangerous

4. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
@stephpflaum

5. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
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6. HIGHER ED SEARCH TRENDS
SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
@stephpflaum
Queries grew by 6% in
Q1 2014 in the Colleges,
Universities & Post-
Secondary Education
Category
Source: Google internal search data, based on pre-categorized queries for the Colleges, Universities & Post-Secondary Education.
Note: In-quarter metrics for Query Volume and Ad Depth are only available.

7. Desktop queries grew by
1%, while Mobile queries
grew by 23% and Tablet
searches grew by 10% YoY in
the same period
HIGHER ED SEARCH TRENDS
Source: Google internal search data, based on pre-categorized queries for the Colleges, Universities & Post-Secondary Education.
Note: In-quarter metrics for Query Volume and Ad Depth are only available.
SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
@stephpflaum

8. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
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Source: Google internal search data, based on pre-categorized queries for the Colleges, Universities & Post-Secondary Education.
Note: In-quarter metrics for Query Volume and Ad Depth are only available.

9. @JPogact
@stephpflaum
SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
HIGHER ED SEARCH TRENDS
http://www.google.com/trends/ comparing (Harvard University, Yale University, the University of Michigan, the University of Virginia,
and UCLA)

10. @JPogact
@stephpflaum
SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
HIGHER ED SEARCH TRENDS
http://www.google.com/trends/

11. @JPogact
@stephpflaum
SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
Try it for Yourself!
http://www.google.com/trends/

12. SEARCH ENGINES: HOW DO THEY WORK???
SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
@stephpflaum
web spider
websites
Maps where words appear
and other relevant data
about each web page
Builds an index based
on a system of
weighting (algorithm)
search results!
search query…

13. HOW PEOPLE SEARCH
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@JPogact
@stephpflaum
Source: http://www.eduventures.com/2014/04/drives-students-enrollment-decisions/
“international
culinary center”
“international
culinary center
tuition”
“culinary schools”

14. HOW PEOPLE SEARCH
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@JPogact
@stephpflaum
4 Key Factors That Have the Strongest Influence on the Enrollment Decision
Perceived Value of Your Institution
“What is my expected outcome?”
Source: http://www.eduventures.com/2014/04/drives-students-enrollment-decisions/

15. HOW PEOPLE SEARCH
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4 Key Factors That Have the Strongest Influence on the Enrollment Decision
Student Conversations with Key Influencers
“Notable alumni”
Source: http://www.eduventures.com/2014/04/drives-students-enrollment-decisions/
“international
culinary center”

16. HOW PEOPLE SEARCH
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@JPogact
@stephpflaum
4 Key Factors That Have the Strongest Influence on the Enrollment Decision
Student Research and Information
Gathering
Source: http://www.eduventures.com/2014/04/drives-students-enrollment-decisions/
“international
culinary center”

17. HOW PEOPLE SEARCH
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@JPogact
@stephpflaum
4 Key Factors That Have the Strongest Influence on the Enrollment Decision
Communication Throughout the
Application Process
“how often are we reaching out?”
Source: http://www.eduventures.com/2014/04/drives-students-enrollment-decisions/

18. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
@stephpflaum
DESIGN & DEV
“Vision is the art of
seeing the invisible.”

19. CRAWLABLE CONTENT
SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
@stephpflaum
Your most important content should be
in HTML text format
Things search engines can’t read:
1. Images
2. Flash or Java plug-in contained
content
3. Video or Audio
How to View Your Site
Like a Search Engine:
• Go to google.com
• Type in cache:url
• Select Text-only
version

20. LINKED PAGES
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@stephpflaum
Pages must be linked for the spider to
reach them. Gated
Content
Javascript
links or links
in Flash
Page is
blocked by
robots.txt
Frames or
I-Frames
Spiders
can’t use
site search
Page has
100s of links
Why pages may be
unreachable
Anchor text: The visible
portion of the link

21. TECHNICAL ROADBLOCKS
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@stephpflaum
Technical SEO
problems can prevent
your site from ranking

22. TECHNICAL ROADBLOCKS
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404 errors

23. TECHNICAL ROADBLOCKS
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Redirect
Issues

24. TECHNICAL ROADBLOCKS
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Missing or
outdated
sitemap

25. TECHNICAL ROADBLOCKS
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Robots.txt

26. TECHNICAL ROADBLOCKS
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Slow
Load
Time

27. TECHNICAL ROADBLOCKS
SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
@stephpflaum
Not mobile
responsive

28. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
@stephpflaum
ON-PAGE
OPTIMIZATION
“Relevance is a search
engine’s Holy Grail.
People want results that
are closely connected
to their queries.”

29. SEO LIVE! #wkse2
@JPogact
@stephpflaum
• Unique title for every page (50-60 chars.)
• Unique meta description for every page
(156 chars.) – include a call-to-action
• Only 1 H1 tag per page
• Optimize H2s – less important content
can go in H3s, H4s etc…
• Don’t over-stuff keywords
Useful Tool:
ON-PAGE SEO BEST PRACTICES

30. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
@stephpflaum
• Put important keywords in your
site’s navigation
• Link from other relevant pages on
your site with anchor text
• Anchor text should align with the
keyword focus on the page you
are linking to
INTERNAL LINKING

31. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
@stephpflaum
• URL should allow the visitor to
predict the content on the page
• Include keywords if possible
• Keep URLs as short as possible
• Separate words with hyphens
• Static URLs are preferred – avoid
dynamic URLs
• Try not to bury important SEO
pages several directories deep
URL STRUCTURE
www.college.edu/academics/college/bachelors/humanitie
s/degree-program-page
BURRIED
www.college.edu/humanities/bachelors-degree-program
PREFERRED

32. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
@stephpflaum
Case Study

34. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
@stephpflaum
Micro data, also called rich snippets
or schema, allows you to call out
certain types of content to the
search engines.
• Address or location
• Phone number
• Events, dates & times
• Reviews
• Books, movies & recipes (creative
works)
MICRO DATA
http://www.schema.org

35. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
@stephpflaum
KEYWORD
SELECTION
“It’s not just about getting
visitors to your site – it’s
about getting the right
visitors to your site.”

36. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
@stephpflaum
• Pick keywords that are relevant to your
site’s content
• Make sure keyword phrases also align
with your marketing goals
• Check for search volume
• Search for the phrase
• Look at competition
• Look at Google Trends
• Use PPC data if available – which
keywords convert best?
• What are you already ranking for?
KEYWORD SELECTION BASICS Useful Tools:
• Google Adwords Keyword Planner
• Ubersuggest
• Google Analytics
• SEMRush

37. SEO LIVE! #wkse2
@JPogact
@stephpflaum
LONG TAIL VS. SHORT TAIL

38. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
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SEARCHER INTENT

39. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
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CONTENT
“If you can’t explain it
simply, you don’t
understand it well
enough.”

40. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
@stephpflaum

41. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
@stephpflaum
ACQUISITION FUNNEL

42. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
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SEARCHER INTENT

43. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
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CONTENT PENALTIES

44. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
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POPULATIRY & LINKS
“It’s hard to forget
someone who gave you
so much to remember.”

45. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
@stephpflaum
LINK SIGNALS
• Global popularity
• Local or niche popularity
• Anchor text
• Trust/relevance/quality
• Link neighborhood
• Freshness

46. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
@stephpflaum
LINK EARNING STRATEGIES
• Have partner sites link to you
• Blogging – valuable,
informative & entertaining
content
• Create content that inspires
sharing and natural linking
• Be newsworthy

47. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
@stephpflaum
LINK EARNING STRATEGIES
Have partner sites link to you

48. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
@stephpflaum
LINK EARNING STRATEGIES
Blogging – valuable,
informative &
entertaining content

49. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
@stephpflaum
LINK EARNING STRATEGIES
Create content
that inspires
sharing and
natural linking

50. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
@stephpflaum
LINK EARNING STRATEGIES
Be newsworthy

51. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
@stephpflaum
LINK PENALTIES

52. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
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53. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
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ANALYTICS
“What gets measured, gets
managed.”

54. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
@stephpflaum
SEO KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
Rankings
Traffic
Quality metrics – session
duration, bounce rate
Conversions

55. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
@stephpflaum
GOOGLE ANALYTICS: SEO DASHBOARD
https://www.google.com/analytics/web/template?uid=acTRIHcrTB2RoUHl4Yu-FQ

56. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
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Q&A

57. SEO LIVE! #wkse2 #hewebSE
@JPogact
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What’s Your Digital
Marketing GPA?
bit.ly/1q1fMJU