3. SEO “is the process of improving the
visibility of a website or a web page in
search engines via the ‘natural’ or un-
paid (‘organic’ or ‘algorithmic’) search
results”. (Wikipedia)
4. Also called natural or organic
optimisation
Image credit: creative commons,IconTexto
5. Search engines use complicated
algorithms to determine relevance
and ranking and these are always
changing.
6. So keeping your website in shape to
be ranked well by these algorithms is an
ongoing process!
8. 1. Because the higher up your website
is on the SERPs, the more likely you
are to get traffic to your site
2. Search traffic is qualified traffic
(users are explicitly looking for
what you have!)
3. You don’t pay for each click (as you
do with paid search)
9. In the early days of search engines,
meta data was used to index and rank
websites.
40. Keyword search tools can offer
suggestions:
•Similar keywords
•Common keywords used with that
keyword
•Common misspellings
•Frequency of the keywords in search
queries
44. Aim to get the right mix:
Low volume terms with low levels of
competition are good in the short-
term.
But high volume terms with high
levels of competition can improve
revenue over time.
48. On top of that it must send signals of
relevance to the search engines.
49. Each web page should be optimised for
two to three key phrases:
•Primary
•Secondary
•Tertiary
50. Guidelines:
•Title tag: use the key phrase in the
title
•Header tags: use H1 tag, and other H
tags (H2, H3 etc)
•Body content: use key phrase three
times, more if it makes sense! About
350 words of content
51. •Bold: use <strong> tags around
keyword
•Alt tag for image: use at least once to
describe an image
•URL: use a URL rewrite so it appears in
the URL
•Meta description: Use keyword at
least once
52.
53. Optimise images and video with the
relevant keywords as well.
You have to rely on how the image is
described.
55. If images are correctly labelled,
search engines can index them.
56. •Use descriptive filenames
•Use ALT tags and title attributes
(Make sure websites make sense without
images)
With image displayed Without image displayed
57. •Ensure meta information is relevant
•Use descriptive captions, and keep
relevant copy close to the relevant
media
•Make sure the header tags and
images are relevant to each other
58. •For video, consider converting the
script to text and making this available
to search engines
•YouTube offers an auto-captioning
service that makes this easier to do
63. The content sends a signal of
relevance; the link validates that
signal.
e.g. A link with the text ‘Durban pet
friendly hotel’ sends the message that
you can trust the destination site is
relevant to the term ‘Durban pet friendly
hotel’.
70. But you can include more information
<a href=http://www.targeturl.com/targetpage.htm
rel=”nofollow”>Anchor Text</a>
rel=”nofollow” – can be included when you
don’t want to vouch for the target URL.
87. Websites must:
•Be valuable enough to attract both
visitors and links naturally
•Retain visitors and make sure they
return to the website
•Convert visitors
93. Personalised results are influenced by
your online social network:
e.g. If you are logged in to Google while
searching for blogs, you might be more
likely to see a friend’s blog.
98. •Search engines can deliver precise
location-based results to mobile
users
•The importance of usability in sites for
mobile devices
•Search engines having less data to
work with in terms of site history, traffic,
and inbound links
99. So remember to:
•Create usable, crawlable sites
•Format content for mobile usage
•Use links from mobile to desktop and
vice versa
•Submit a mobile XML sitemap
•Use the word “mobile” so search
engines know this is the mobile version
of your site
100. Local search means that location
matters. ‘Claim’ your location to verify
yourself.
102. •Avoid hidden text or hidden links
•Don’t use cloaking or sneaky redirects
•Don’t send automated queries to
Google
•Don’t load pages with irrelevant
keywords
•Don’t create multiple pages,
subdomains, or domains with duplicate
content
103. •Don’t create pages with malicious
behaviour, such as phishing etc.
•Avoid “doorway” pages created just
for search engines or other “cookie
cutter” approaches
104. •If your site participates in an affiliate
programme, make sure that your site
adds value
•Avoid links farms and focus on
attracting quality, valuable links
105. At the end of the day, create content
that users want, and make sure that
content is accessible to both search
engines and users.
121. So the advertiser:
•Creates the advert copy
•Determines the landing page for the
advert
•Selects the keywords or criteria
•Chooses the maximum amount they
are willing to pay per click
122. And the advertising platform:
•Checks the advert for compliance to
editorial guidelines
•Displays the advert for relevant search
criteria
•Determines the rank of the advert -
based on the advertiser’s maximum bid
and the relevance of the advert
123. The majority of PPC advertising spend is
on Search network PPC advertising –
this is the more targeted network.
124. They appear on SERPs and are mostly
text – but more formats are becoming
available.
125. But display advertising (on content
pages, like news sites) and social
networking advertising are important
growth areas.
126. More advertisers are now moving to the
display and mobile networks in order
to attract relevant traffic and
increase exposure.
134. Vanity URLs make them look appealing
and keywords can be used to further
increase the relevance of the ad to the
user’s intent.
135. When writing PPC adverts, the number
of characters are limited and
restrictions exist.
136. Google AdWords guidelines:
•Heading: max 25 characters
•Display URL: max 35 characters
•Line 1: max 35 characters
•Line 2: max 35 characters
•No repeated exclamation marks
137. •No word in capitals only
•No nonsense words
•No claims of “best”, “number one” or
superlatives, unless they can be
verified by a reliable third-party
•Product numbers may be used
156. Broad match – i.e. Tennis shoes.
Your advert will be found when any of
or all words are searched for.
Also includes some synonyms and
misspellings.
158. Phrase match – i.e. “Tennis shoes”
Your advert will appear when the
phrase appears complete or in order.
159. Direct match extension – i.e. red
+sneakers
Your advert will appear for any search
containing red and sneakers and
variations of sneaker (the marked
keyword).
160. Modified broad match – i.e. Tennis
+shoes.
Each word preceded by a + must appear
in the user's search exactly or as a
close variant.
Close variants will include:
misspellings, singular/plural forms,
abbreviations and acronyms, and
stemmings.
161. Modified broad match has the broad
match reach, the exact match
precision, and the phrase match
flexibility.
162.
163. Specify languages and locations your
advert is targeted for.
Include country, city and postal code
164. Use Facebook advertising to target
based on:
•Gender
•Location
•Relationship status
•Age group
•Likes and interests
•Brand interactions
171. The bid and other factors are taken into
account = Quality Score (QS)
172. Quality Score is determined by:
•The bid amount
•Relevance of keywords to search term
•Relevance of advert copy to the search
term
•Relevance of the landing page to the
search term
•Historic performance of the advert
179. Click-through rate tells you how well
your copy is performing.
Conversion rate tells you how well
your campaign is performing.
180.
181. You need to know the value of each
conversion so that you don’t pay too
much per click.
182. With this info you can adjust
accordingly:
•Change keyword match types
•Change bids
•Change ad copy
•Change budget allocations
•Improve website conversion rate
187. This is subjective and most large
advertisers run PPC campaigns on a
number of platforms.
The key is testing!
188. Use the long tail of search to figure
out low volume, niche searches – it can
do wonders for a PPC campaign!
189. The sum of the unique searches is the
same as the sum of non-unique
searches.
190. So, low volume, niche search terms:
•Are more targeted
•Have less competition
•Can have a lower CPC
•And a higher conversion rate
•May have a lower quality score so can
take a while to get traffic
211. •Use conversion tracking
•Test text vs image/video
•Test different landing pages
•Test different networks/platforms
•Test different demographics
•Test different bidding strategies
242. Make it easy for readers by including:
•RSS feed to subscribe
•Categories
•Blogroll
•Archives
243. RSS = Really Simple Syndication
Instead of visiting various websites for
updates, information is packaged and
sent to your RSS reader.
Image Credit: Creative Commons, Maja Bencic
266. If you’re not a Twitter advertiser use:
www.hootsuite.com
or
http://www.twitalyzer.com/
267. Use click tracking with URL
shorteners.
An easy way to share long links by
providing a short URL that redirects to
the original link.
•bit.ly
•goo.gl
•ow.ly
268. e.g. If we want to tweet a link to a
blog post...
The URL before:
http://www.gottaquirk.com/2011/02/08/
the-future-of-online-reputation-
management-software/
That’s 89 characters!
269. The URL after using goo.gl:
http://goo.gl/wQXMo
Only 19 characters, and can be
tracked.
