Keeping Up With Google improve your site traffic through search engine optimization Patty Clemens Project Manager Northwoods | November 11, 2008

Northwoods What We Do Advanced Web Development Creative Web Design Software Engineering

In the next 45 minutes… Why Optimization is Important Our Top 10 List for Site Optimization What is SEO?

Acronyms SEO – Search Engine Optimization PPC – Pay Per Click SEM – Search Engine Marketing Natural or Organic Search Results Sponsored Links SEM = SEO + PPC

86% 14%

Importance of Optimization

How People View the Results Page Source: Eyetools, Enquiro, and Did-it #1 = 42% CTR -> #2 = 12% CTR ->

Missed Opportunity Cost of Not Ranking Well # of People Searching SE Share Click-Thru Rate Conversion Rate Conversion Value * *** 10,000 70% 10% 5% $100 ** ** = $105,000 per month!

Zero In on Your SEO Objectives

Conversions Spreadsheet

Create Your Baseline Confirm that your landing pages are indexed Find the total number of linking sites Google Webmaster Tools Yahoo Search: link:yourdomain Determine the last 3 months of conversions

Take a Long Tailed Look at your Keywords

Long Tail Theory Mens Suits Versace Mens Suits

Review your sites search logs Titan SmartSearch Building Your Keyword List Brainstorm with colleagues and customers Review industry magazines or websites

Building Your Keyword List Review Google Analytics output

Keyword Suggestion Tools WordTracker Keyword Discovery Google Adwords Keyword Tool

Google Adwords Keyword Tool Provides easy to read dashboard Its free Makes recommendations for related words

Check Out the Competition

Master the ABCs of SEO

Domain Name Use your primary keyword Avoid more than 2 hyphens

Avoid Using Home Page Title

Make each page title unique Use primary keyword in title Keep it to a max of 65 characters

Named URLs Shorter URLs increase click-through Use keyword separators

META Description Not a META Description Good META Description

META Keywords Google doesnt index these Focus on other areas Not used in rankings

Images: Alt Attribute Important to set on all functional images Text near image should be relevant

Headings Only 1 H1 tag per page! Place keyword in your headings

Content is Still King

Avoid SEO Tunnel Vision

Webanize Your Content Spiders like fresh, unique content Create a flat architecture for your site Avoid a page of flash animation or images

Internal Link Juice Link to your target landing pages Use keyword-rich anchor text Avoid linking to every page from every other page

BEFORE External Link Juice

AFTER… External Link Juice

Next Content is King Seminar: Thursday, November 20, :30 – 10:00 am Its Free Presenter: Patrick Bieser

Offer Up Some Link-Bait

Link Bait Examples A useful tool How To article for your niche Tips page; Top 10 Lists Humorous articles; cartoons Blogs

Blogs Deserve SEO Too! Include keywords in your blog name Create highly readable headlines Update your blog frequently

Watch Your Backlinks

What does Google Value in a Backlink? Physical location is important Link is located within content rather than a directory format Link has good anchor text for determining relevancy Link is bold, italicized (but readability is priority)

Find Candidates for Backlinks: Look for Related Sites Search Google for niche keywords – copy the URLs and check them out Visit DMOZ.org and find your niche category Locate those sites that link to your competitor (SEO Spyglass -

Dont Tick Them Off!

It usually takes around a year to get a site off the banned list with Google.

Dont hide text Be careful redirecting to new domains Avoid duplicate content Dont stack a page full of keywords at the bottom

Dont Stop Now!

Feeling Overwhelmed? Not Enough Time? There are Options!

Can you spend an hour a day on SEO? Let us help you... SEO Solutions from Northwoods

In Summary, 1.Zero In on Your SEO Objectives 2.Take a Long-Tail Look at your Keywords 3.Check out the Competition 4.Master the ABCs of SEO 5.Content is Still King 6.Offer Up Some LinkBait 7.Watch Your Backlinks 8.Dont Tick Them Off 9.Dont Stop Now! 10.Overwhelmed? Consider Northwoods SEO Solutions

Thank You ?s

Next Lunch & Learn: eCommerce Success Techniques Tuesday, November 18 th Presenter: Patrick Bieser