Continuing Education UCC Fall 2010 Search Engine Optimization

Overview What is SEO? What Effects Rankings? What Can You Do? Tracking Results Resources & Tools Q & A

What is SEO? Search Engine Optimization A definition: The modification of a web site’s build, content, and inbound linking to better position the site in the natural/organic results of the major search engines. Pull vs. push marketing Why Search is So Popular The SEO Process White Hat vs. Black Hat Which Engines to Target?

Why is SEO So Popular? Consumer skepticism towards advertising Consumer trust in advertising has plunged 41% in the past 3 years – only 10% of consumers say that they “trust” ads today With today’s media choices, the consumer is increasingly in control 70% of consumers are actively trying to block out, opt-out or eliminate advertising iProspect study shows that 61% of internet searchers think natural listings are more relevant B2B users have a 63% preference for organic listings Organic listings get higher conversion rates than paid

SEO Process 5-step process: Research Reporting Optimization Submission/Re-Crawl Follow Up Reporting

White Hat vs. Black Hat  White Hat  Quality content creation  Light keyword optimization  Sound website building tactics  Everything out in the open  Nothing designed to trick the search engine or the user  Black Hat  Cloaking  Hidden text or tiny text  Keyword stacking or stuffing  Use non-related keywords  Duplicate pages/ duplicate content  Domain spam / cybersquatting  Re-directs  Page swapping

Which Engines? Google and Yahoo 79.8% of total searches for top 2 engines Google and Yahoo are critical to SEO success

What Affects Rankings? Where does the optimization happen? On-Page Factors Content is King Evaluate existing content Develop additional content with targeted keyword phrases in mind Prominence of keywords in content Regular updates will bring spiders more often >> higher rankings Build Spiderability or Indexability oSite Navigation & Site Map oStop Characters Title,, meta and alt tags Trim down code Off-Page Factors Link Popularity Quality of Incoming Links (backlinks) e.g. PR4+ Age of backlinks Links in prominent directories (ODP, Yahoo Directory) Anchor text of inbound links Age of Site

Site Build Spiderability A measure of if or how well a site can be indexed (or crawled) by a search engine spider Site Navigation Site Map Splash Pages Frames Flash A view from a spiders’ eyes SE Spider Simulator: Live Examples

Title,, Meta, and Alt Tags Use keywords only once in each tag Use unique tags for each page – don’t copy and paste throughout Title Lead with most important keyword phrase 8-10 words, or shorter Max of 75 characters, including spaces Will be used as the search results listing link Write titles that serve as an ad campaign Headings Lead with single most important phrase for that page See my site as example Meta Description Maximum of 150 characters, including spaces Will be used to describe site in some SEs search results Use to your advantage – treat as an ad Alt Keep it related to a description of the image Live Examples

What Can You Do? Spend time on quality content development Build sites that have the following: Text-based navigation Anchor text that contains keywords Site map with a text link to it on every page No splash pages Contact info on every page Design layout that allows for plenty of content Use the page titles and other tags to your advantage Move css and javascript code to external files Don’t build with frames Limit the use of flash In a re-build, keep pages names the same if possible

Slim Down Code Move JavaScript and CSS to external files Moves site content (read keywords) up in the code, giving them more importance Decreases download time for the user Decreases download time for the SE spiders Makes universal changes easy with edits to only one document

Universal Search Beyond Ten Blue Links May 16, 2007: Google begins delivering blended results – Universal Search Digital content that used to be in separate search verticals is now delivered together (images, news, blogs, video, books) Everyone else has followed Yahoo: Launched The New Yahoo! Search in October Ask: Launched Ask 3D in June Microsoft: Announced upgrades to Live Search in late September Bottom line: The competition for valuable real estate on the results page is steeper

Tracking Results Site Traffic Log Analysis Web Trends Tracking Script Google Analytics Net Applications Information Tracked Level of traffic Source of traffic Keywords Used Changes over time Conversions Bounce Rates Site Rankings Web Position Specify engines and phrases Shows rankings and changes over time

Resources & Tools Search Engine Watch (and SearchDay newsletter) Link Popularity Checker Worktracker Keyword Research Tool Search Engine Spider Simulator SEMPO Google Maps Yahoo! Local Online Web Training (certification programs) Search Engine Visibility (by Shari Thurow)