Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Prepared by: Larry Stewart

2 Topic Outline Introduction How Search Engines Work SEO Building Blocks Keywords Crawler Links SEO Tools Black Hat Methods Summary and Conclusion

3 Introduction

4 Definition of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) 1 "Natural," or "organic," search engine optimization (SEO) is designing, writing, and HTML-coding a Web site to maximize the chance its pages will appear at the top of spider-based search engine results for selected keywords and phrases Organic Listings: Listings that search engines do not sell (unlike paid listings)

5 SEO Iterative process Dynamic environment Art Science

6 Why is it important? Internet advertising 1H 2006 : $7.9 Billion 2 Search ranking  more site visitors Internet users tend not to click through Depends on webs role in your economic model

7 Variation in Approaches White Hat Abide by terms and conditions set forth by search engines Black Hat Breaches search engine terms and conditions May provide short-term gains You run the risk of being penalized by search engines

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9 Defining Success (Context) Search-Friendly (SEO) High ranking Terms and conditions set by search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN Search) User-Friendly Site must satisfy the needs of visitors Persuasive Profitable for site owner

10 How Search Engines Works

11 Search Engine Operations 1. Gather Content Crawler or spider moves recursively downloading content 2. Builds sophisticate index 3. Individual web searches run against index Results are retrieved and ordered PageRank & Relevance

12 Google Search Placement 4 Placement: importance and relevance PageRank (importance) Counts links Weights links Query matching (relevance) sophisticated text-matching techniques examines all aspects of the page's content (and the content of the pages linking to it)

13 SEO Optimization

14 SEO Optimization Categories Keywords Keyword selection and keyword-rich text Crawler A crawler-friendly site navigation scheme Links Link popularity

15 Keyword Recommendations 1 Page title: visible HTML text,“Above the fold” Page Size: "100 KB" limit is still is still widely held. The optimum page size is words (or 2000 to 20,000 characters) Be specific Example: “Apple iPod” verses “iPod” exact phrase should appear generously throughout your site copy on every page

16 More Keyword Recommendations 5 Meta tags: use but don’t stuff Alt tags: use for graphics Content is king Write good content with relevant and important keywords in mind. Geo Targeting Add geocentric terms to target local areas Domain Names Use keywords as part of domain name

17 Crawler-friendly Engine spiders are primitive beings choose simplicity over complexity Goal All your web pages seen by crawlers Google: enter in searchbox “allinurl:utexas.edu”

18 Suggestions to be Crawler Friendly 5 Traditional tag Keywords in subfolder names Minimize quantity of subfolders Cross link relevant terms and phrases within the site Multiple paths to pages to eliminate orphans

19 Avoid or Minimize: May Negatively Impact Crawler 5 Flash (slow to load and difficult to navigate) Frames Java navigation Session ID to track visitors exact same Title tags on every page set to require a cookie when a visitor gets to the page

20 Link Development Inbound Links Impact PageRank PageRank (Popularity, importance) Number and quality of links pointing to a website Measure of usefulness of site

21 Link Development Tradeoffs Advantage it is dynamic, cumulative, and difficult to imitate Disadvantage takes time (vs. advertising)

22 Link Development Approaches (White Hat) 7 Quality content to start with Cultivate quality link (not quantity) Begin with web directories Harness online publicity Use Blogs and forums wisely Investigate competitors Understand their strategy Online publicity, blogs and forums See inbound links ("link:domain.com" in Google, "linkdomain:domain.com" in Yahoo)

23 SEO Tools

24 Search Engine Term and Conditions Google Yahoo MSN Search

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29 Vendor Tools Example: Seo Administrator 8 Ranking monitor: site positioning in for keywords Link popularity checker: checks inbound links Site indexation tool: check site indexation Server Log-analyzer: Administrator log analyzer PageRank analyzer: analyze competitor sites Keywords tool: suggestions, associations, competitor analysis HTML analyzer: dissect html text in the same way that a search engine would (syntax, keyword density)

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Black Hat Methods

32 Head of the webspam group at Google Matt Cutts Worked on his Ph.D Computer Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Undergrad Comp Sci and Math (Graduated with M.S.). Moved into information retrieval after classes from the university's Information and Library Science department

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34 Link Exchange Advertisement

35 Keyword Consulting Advertisement

36 Black Hat Terms Link Farming: exchanging reciprocal links Keyword Stuffing: Hidden text, Stuffing text in every nook and cranny Cloaking: stealth, deliver different page to a search engine for indexing Doorway Pages: bridge, jump page, designed to appeal to search engine spiders Fast meta refresh: used to quickly switch doorway pages to the page the user is supposed to see Code swapping: swap it on the server with the "real" page once a position has been achieved. also sometimes done to keep others from learning exactly how the page ranked well. Bait and Switch: loads the page with a popular search words such as sex, travel or antivirus when is irrelevant to site

37 Online Resources

38 Search Engine Standards Google Yahoo MSN timizingSite.htm Web Robots

39 Keyword Tools Overture tool Wordtracker tool [recommended] Google Sandbox Tool Espotting Tool Related Pages

40 Conclusion and Summary Website Success Search-friendly User-friendly Persuasive Search-friendly Optimization components Keywords Crawler Links

41 Bibliography 1 Thulow, Shari. “What Search Engine Marketing Does Your Site Need?” Clickz. 15 Nov “2006 Second Quarter Results (October 4, 2006).” Interactive Advertising Bureau. 15 Nov “Event Homepage.” Search Engine Strategies 2006 Conference and Exposition. 15 Nov “Our Search: Google Technology.” Google Website. 15 Nov

42 Bibliography 5 Laratro, Joe. “Dos and Don’ts of Search Engine Optimization.” MoreVisibility. 15 Nov Donts_WP.pdf 6 Thulow, Shari. “Link Development: The Key to Successful SEO ” Clickz. 15 Nov link farming. webopedia. 15 Nov SSEO Tools. SEO Administrator.

43 Backup

44 Vendor Tools Example: Seo Administrator 8 Ranking monitor: monitor web site positioning in the major search engines for keywords Link popularity checker: checks inbound links across a number of search engines Site indexation tool: check site indexation in Google, Yahoo, MSN and other search engines Server Log-analyzer: Administrator log analyzer automates (Number of unique IP addresses, Number of visitors… ) PageRank analyzer: analyze competitor sites Keywords suggestion tool: Keyword suggestion services, Keyword Associations, search query suggestions, Competitor analysis HTML analyzer: dissect html text in the same way that a search engine would (syntax, keyword density)

45 Black Hat Terms Link Farming: exchanging reciprocal links with Web sites in order to increase search engine optimization Keyword Stuffing: Hidden text, Stuffing text in every nook and cranny Cloaking: stealth, deliver one page to a search engine for indexing while serving a different page to everyone else. Doorway Pages: A Web page that is designed to appeal to search engine spiders. Fast meta refresh: used to quickly switch doorway pages to the page the user is supposed to see Code swapping: swap it on the server with the "real" page once a position has been achieved. also sometimes done to keep others from learning exactly how the page ranked well. Bait and Switch: Another technique combines word stuffing with "bait- and-switch," which loads the page with a popular search word such as sex, travel or antivirus, even though the word has nothing to do with the site content.