Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program

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PennTAP Introduction

• Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program
• A Federal-State-University Partnership
• for Economic Development

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Organic Search Engine Marketing What It Is and
How It Works
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SEO Topics and Outline

• Current impact of Web-based marketing on how we
  conduct business
• What is a Search Engine?
• Components of an effective SEO campaign
  Keyword Research Applying Keywords to Website
  Link Building
• Tactics to avoid
• A few tricks  

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Why is SEO important?

• A 2006 study by Fathom/SEO shows over 70 of most
  industry related Web sites do not effectively
  market to their target audiences or have search
  engine visibility.
• A. C. Nelson 2005 study 95 of Web users
  initiate Web usage with a search engine, and the
  majority look for keyword terms over specific
  company names!
• Over 8 Billion searches a month! Are you being
  found?

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What is a search engine?

• Search Engines index or catalog pages of websites
• Crawl or follow links
• Rank Web pages Many factors considered, perhaps
  up to 200!

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Different Search Engines

• Numerous search engines
• Some general some specific targets often
  providing more relevant resultsjobs, supplies,
  ThomasNet, etc.
• Most popular general search engines
• 50
• 25
• 10-

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Google vs YahooComparison of search engine
optimization
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Search Engines Results

• 2 categories of results Sponsored Results
  Dominate location sequence varies according to
  individual search engine Organic Results
  sequence determined by SEO effectiveness and
  individual search engine algorithm

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SERP Example
Sponsored
Organic
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Improving Organic ResultsWhat does it take?

• Distinct steps Keyword Research
  Applying Keywords to Web site Link Building

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Keyword Research

• Brainstorm Keywords involve key stakeholders
• Use Website statistics - if available
• Utilize Web-based resources
• - Many are free
• Analyze competitor sites

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Some Free Tools
And More!
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Keyword Research

• Focus on what people search for not what you
  want them to find
• Use Known Keywords and Legacy Terms
• Speak the Users Language
• No one sells chocolate!
• Fine tune your list probably 3-5 per page

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Page Theme

• Overall page consistence
• Focus or theme for each page
• Push your USP (Unique Selling Position)
• Push a Call-To-Action
• Remember people buy not search engines.

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Applying Keywords to Web Site

• Meticulously apply keywords to Various objects of
  the Web site.
• Page Title Tag
• Content visitor keyword focused. 150
  words. Included linked text where possible.

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Applying Keywords to Web Site

• lthtmlgt
• ltheadgt
• lttitlegtSCMF - Custom Roll Forming and Roll Formed
  Parts Manufacturerlt/titlegt
• ltmeta name"description" content"Sharon Custom
  Metal Forming provides custom roll forming
  services for all metal utilizing industries."gt
• ltmeta name"keywords" content"custom roll
  forming, roll formed shapes, roll formed parts,
  roll formed products, welded shapes"gt
• lt/headgt

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Applying Keywords to Web Site

• Meta Keyword Tag no SEO value
• Meta Description Tag little value
• Navigation Links
• Image Alt and Title Attributes
• Heading (H1-H6) Tagged Text
• - And More

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Link Building

• Critical aspect often overlooked.
• Used as a measure of your Credibility. Numbers
  are good, but Quality, Authoritative, Relevant
  Links on Keyword-Rich anchor text will provide
  you excellent improvements in your SEO rankings.

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Link Building

• Quality over quantity
• Relevancy Important
• Reciprocals count but not the best
• Anchor Text coveted
• Good Neighborhoods
• Bad Neighborhoods
• Naturally Increase Over Time
• Preferably one link per domain
• Google PageRank

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Tactics to avoid

• Invisible/Tiny Text
• Invisible/Tiny Links
• Frameset Web site
• Over Submission to Search Engines
• Search engine robots do not follow flash or
  JavaScript links nor do they select options from
  a drop-down menu.
• Build a crawler-friendly Web site.

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Some useful tips/tricks/etc.

• What pages of your Website are in Googles
  index sitewww.domain.com
• Yahoo Link Analysis Tool http//.siteexplorer.
  searchy.yahoo.com/
• Cool tool analyzing Title, Keyword Desc. tag,
  Content, Anchor Text, and more
  www.scriptsearch.com/cgi-bin/jump.cgi?ID6257
• What is the Google PageRank of a page?
  www.smartpagerank.com
• What does Google see? cachewww.domain.com
  Then click on the fourth line cached text

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www.penntap.psu.edu