Search Engine Optimisation

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Optimising for individual organisations and for
three South West Wales sites a presentation for
SWWTP Tim Aldiss, Account Director Zoe Forbes,
Account Manager

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Search enables people to find what is relevant to
them

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Which information sources are most important?
71
Search engines
67
Personal recommendations
Websites of well known retailers
57
Price comparison websites
56
Reviews on the web written by experts
50

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How does natural search work?

• The search engines look at your website and via
  an algorithm assess your relevancy against other
  content in their index.
• If other websites link to you then this is seen
  as them recommending you in the eyes of the
  search engines.

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The benefits of natural search

• Natural search, also called organic search, is
  the most cost-effective way of marketing your
  website.
• It requires a long-term strategy but with the
  right approach sustained performance can be
  achieved.
• The natural search results are trusted by users.
• A site based around search engine friendly design
  will also be a usable website from the
  point-of-view of its audience.

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Targeting your customers through search term
analysis

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Research

• Search term research
• What are users who are looking for your services
  searching for?
• Information experience
• Other sources
• Generic v Specific (e.g. Carmarthenshire vs.
  rainy day activities in Carmarthenshire)
• The tail of search
• Site / Content structure

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The tail of search

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Generic or niche?

• Generic terms generally
• Will drive a lot of traffic to the site
• Early part of the buying cycle (less conversion)
• Have the strongest branding impact
• Are difficult to rank for as so many other sites
  are competing for them
• Need more in-coming links to be effective

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Generic or niche?

• Niche terms generally
• Do not individually drive much traffic to the
  site
• Will deliver more focussed traffic that generally
  converts better
• Will have a better chance of ranking highly
• Need less in-coming links
• Mix of both generic and niche terms is usually
  preferable

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Sources

• Log files
• Tracking
• Paid Search campaigns
• Industry and consumer Blogs
• Forums
• Other social media websites
• News
• Offline advertising
• Competitors
• Competitor copy titles, meta tags, headings etc
• Keywords they bid on
• Anchor text in link campaigns

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Google

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Copy writing and structuring

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Content structure

• Each page focussed on single topic
• Multiple search terms on each page grouped by
  relevance
• One primary term per page the most
  competitive
• Tone of voice (Objectives, brand description,
  competitors, USPs, audience)
• Address the user query
• Write for your audience first
• Research and offer something different to the
  competition
• Do not duplicate other peoples content ? Ranking
  issues / filter out sites
• Talk about benefits, not just features
• Try to become the authority on the subject

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Content

• Tone of voice (Objectives, brand description,
  competitors, USPs, audience)
• Address the user query
• Write for your audience first
• Research and offer something different to the
  competition
• Do not duplicate other peoples content ? Ranking
  issues / filter out sites
• Talk about benefits, not just features
• Try to become the authority on the subject

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On-page elements

• Placement is important
• Can have effect on ranking
• H1 Heading tag
• Body Copy
• lta hrefgt - Link text (more important for page
  leading to)
• ltimg altgt - Image text

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HTML page title

• Title is the first thing a user sees
• Keep it short to increase Keyword Density (Max
  80 characters)
• Including the Search term will attract more
  clicks
• The most generic (competitive) phrase first, then
  the sub topics
• Use attractive qualifiers (best, fast etc)
• Include the brand first, if you have the link
  equity

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Meta description

• No ranking value (important for click throughs)
• Googles site description comes from
• Page copy
• Dmoz.org
• Meta description
• Look at SERPs to find out maximum length
• Include the core terms
• Call to action (e.g. listen to...)

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Body copy

• No perfect page length (150-250 words)
• The first sentence is the most important
• Control the snippet in the SERP
• Use the most important phrase
• ltpgtUse structured paragraphs of 50 wordslt/pgt
• Include the search term once in each paragraph
• Call to action / keep it fresh
• More words in a search term, less instances
  required
• Link to related pages, using relevant text

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Tips and tricks

• Search engines see words in the order they appear
  in the HTML (More focus on 1st paragraph)
• Break up difficult search terms using punctuation
  and breaks
• E.g. cheap flights uk popular search but
  difficult to write
• Try We offer the most extensive range of cheap
  flights. UK airlines work with us because
• Use lists to keep important phrases close
• Readable text more important than right number of
  search terms

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Pause
Deep breath!

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As Wild As You want it
Inspirational Wales
One Big Garden
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Positional Report - Wild West Wales
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Positional Report - One Big Garden
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Positional Report - Inspirational Wales
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and now for something completely different