This document provides information on search engine optimization (SEO) best practices. It defines SEO and discusses the importance of search engines and traffic from search. WordPress is highlighted as a SEO-friendly platform that solves 80-90% of mechanics. Key areas discussed include keyword research, link building, content writing, and using social media to help SEO. Link building tactics like outreach, networking and resource pages are covered. The document also draws an analogy between SEO and soccer, noting the importance of quality, relevant links and match performance for better search engine rankings.

1. Rand Fishkin, SEOmoz | March 2012
Thanh Le Cong, SEOs | May 2012
The Fundamentals of Great SEO
A Relation between SEO & Soccer

2. SEO?
Bah, Humbug 

3. SEO Definition
http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo
SEO is the active practice of
optimizing a web site by improving
internal and external aspects in
order to increase the traffic the site
receives from search engines

4. The Use of Search Engines
http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Search-and-email/Report.aspx

5. Growth of Google Queries
http://www.quora.com/How-many-search-queries-does-Google-serve-worldwide-every-day
Currently, there are more
than 3 billion searches/day
on Google

6. Value of Search Engine Traffic

7. http://www.seomoz.org/blog/illustrating-the-long-tail

8. Yes, You Can Compete with the Big Guys

9. Good SEO is Easier
than It Looks

11. You Have to Get
These Right

12. Before You Get
These Right

13. Making Your Site SEO-Friendly

14. Using Wordpress? You’re 80% of the Way There
From a talk given by Google’s Matt Cutts at Wordcamp: http://www.howtomakemyblog.com/seo/googles-
matt-cutts-wordpress-the-best-blogging-platform-for-seo/
“(Wordpress) is a fantastic piece of software, it
makes your site easily crawlable by search engines,
solves some 80-90% of mechanics of SEO and is the
first big step anyone can take towards creating a
popular online business.”

15. If You Use Wordpress, Read This
http://yoast.com/articles/wordpress-seo/ - I also recommend Joost’s plugin “Wordpress SEO”

16. Other SEO-Friendly Platforms Include:
http://drupal.org/, http://joomla.com and http://www.squarespace.com are all good choices if
Wordpress isn’t a match.

17. These Are Less Ideal for SEO
I wouldn’t recommend these platforms as a first choice for SEO-friendly blogging, though some (like
TypePad and Tumblr) can be customized with enough elbow grease.

18. Tools to Help with Accessibility
http://www.google.com/webmasters/

19. Tools to Help with Accessibility
Shameless Plug: http://pro.seomoz.org/

20. RSS: Essential for Bloggers
(and anyone producing regular content)
Via Google’s Feedburner: http://feedburner.google.com/gfb/, an ideal tool for setting up, managing
and tracking feeds

21. XML Sitemaps – Recommend, But Not Always a Must
I wouldn’t go so far as to say I recommend against it, just that for many, relatively basic sites and blogs, you don’t
need to worry about submitting these (unless you use video, in which case there’s some cool options; we’ll chat
about that later in the deck)

22. Keyword Research

23. A Simple Process for Choosing Good Keywords
More on this here: http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo/keyword-research
High Volume
(many searches/month)
Low Competition
(weak sites/pages in the top 10)
High Value
(large % of visitors convert)
Ideal Keywords!

24. AdWords: The Best Choice (Most of the Time)
The AdWords Keyword Tool Can Be Found Here: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

25. Google Insights: Interesting Trend Data
http://www.google.com/insights/search/ shows that the food blogging movement likely gained
widespread popularity and interest around 2007 

26. Analyzing the Top 10 to Determine Difficulty
Strong, popular
sites w/ targeted
titles + content

27. Analyzing the Top 10 to Determine Difficulty
Weaker, lesser
known sites and
non-targeted titles

28. Keyword Difficulty Tool
Another shameless plug as this is an SEOmoz tool: http://pro.seomoz.org/tools/keyword-difficulty/

29. Value of Visits? Use Analytics Data
Via Google Analytics (http://www.google.com/analytics) which is free!
Good proxies for the value of
traffic from these sources

30. A Simple Process for Choosing Good Keywords
High Volume
(many searches/month)
Low Competition
(weak sites/pages in the top 10)
High Value
(large % of visitors convert)
Google AdWords
Gut Feel (or KW Difficulty Tool)
Gut Feel (or Analytics Data)
Picking keywords doesn’t have to be a chore, and the process can often help you find topics for
content you haven’t yet tried/thought of!

31. How Great Writing and Great
SEO Go Hand-in-Hand

32. High Volume Keywords = Content People Want
People really want to know this stuff!

33. Not Everything Needs to Be Keyword-Targeted
http://www.everywhereist.com/budding-bromances-in-peru-10-photos/

34. The Better Your Content, The Better Your SEO
Good process for getting to great content: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/great-content-for-seo-
simpler-than-you-ever-imagined

35. Great Content + SEO + Social Really Works.
Great
Content
+
SEO
Friendly
+
Social
Sharing
+
Link
Building
=
Higher
Rankings
More
Readers
More
Followers
More
Influence
=
Virtuous Cycle of
Inbound Marketing!

36. Link Building

37. Why Links Matter to Search Engines
Good primer on link building basics here: http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo/growing-
popularity-and-links
What You Say
About Yourself.
What Others Say
About You.<

38. What Matters in a Link?
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/10-illustrations-on-search-engines-valuation-of-links
Editorially given
From a trusted source
Uses descriptive anchor text
Points to the right page

39. What Matters in a Link?
All of these elements are good to understand when thinking about links
<p><a href=http://www.seomoz.org rel=“nofollow”>
SEOmoz’s Website </a> is a good resource for those
seeking to learn more about search engine
optimization.</p>
Anchor text
(tells the engine what
this link is about)
URL
(the link target)
Surrounding Text
(may provide context on
the link’s relevance)
Rel=“Nofollow”
(a tag that indicates search
engines shouldn’t trust/count
this link)

40. Manual Link Building
Tactics like discovering the links of competitors, getting listed in directories, resource lists,
submitting content, building profiles, etc. are all in the “manual link building” category (above via
http://opensiteexplorer.org)

41. Link Building through Outreach + Networking
Geraldine emailed the Salt Museum folks to let them know about her post (or maybe she just
tweeted at them, I can’t remember), and they wrote this lovely blog!

42. “Natural” Link Building
The AdAge 150 is a brilliant example of link building through the creation and sharing of a resource.
Many of these blogs will
use the badge and link to
the list, because it makes
them look good!

43. Link Building & Social Sharing Resources
There are literally infinite numbers of ways to build links – creativity is your only limitation!
• Beginner’s Guide: Chapter 7 – Growing Links & Popularity
• Link Building Blog Posts on SEOmoz
• Webinar on Link Building Strategies
• 101 Ways to Build Links from SEOBook
• Link Building Presentations on Slideshare
• The Science of Retweets from Dan Zarrella

44. Social Media & SEO

45. How Social Media Helps SEO Directly
People you’re connected to in social networks can help content rank thanks to Google’s use of social annotations
(Bing does this too with Facebook shares!) http://www.seomoz.org/blog/social-annotations-in-search-now-your-
social-network-rankings

46. Indirect Impacts of Social on SEO
This handy tool can be found at http://sharedcount.com
All these shares lead to
visits, which may lead to
links, comments and
positive user/usage signals

47. Twitter & Google

49. Result #42
Google UK

50. Result #13
Google US

52. Facebook
But correlation is not causation! http://www.seomoz.org/blog/does-google-use-facebook-shares-to-
influence-search-rankings
Correlation of Social Media-Based Factors
(data via Topsy API & Google Buzz API)
Amazing: Facebook Shares
is our single highest
correlated metric with
higher Google rankings.

53. Facebook and Bing
http://searchengineland.com/bing-linked-pages-better-people-search-results-112501

54. Google+
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/using-google-plus-ripples-to-connect-with-influencers

55. Google+
http://searchengineland.com/examples-google-search-plus-drive-facebook-twitter-crazy-107554
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/why-every-marketer-now-needs-a-google-strategy
Anyone logged-in
to any Google
service will see
results like these.
Time to get on G+!

57. LinkedIn
Some good tips here: http://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/linkedin-seo-campaign.html

58. Other Networks to Consider
There are many social networks potentially worthy of participation
10mm
14mm Millions 14mm 6.5mm
2.5mm 500mm 1.5mm

59. SEO & Soccer

60. Quantity, Quality, Relevance
of links

61. Link Analysis on The Web

62. PageRank Algorithm
Random walker model
Distribution of wealth
Normalized Value on Toolbar
No math details

63. Fifa World Ranking

64. Sport Competition Model

65. Bradley - Terry model approaching

66. Better Ranking for Vietnam Team
Quantity, Quality, Relevance of Match

67. Match Cases
1,000,000 matches with Laos ~ 1,000,000 links from small sites
A draw with Brazil ~ A link from Yahoo.com
1,000,000 matches with Ung Hoang Phuc ~ Irrelevance or LINKSPAM
AFF Cup only ~ Ranking under 100
Small case for a player: Reputation and Skills

68. Let’s interact!
Want to get in touch?
zzzzzz on Facebook – thanh@SEOs.vn