An introduction to SEO

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• An introduction to SEO

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SEO how it works

• Site goes live
• search engine spider enters site through link
• crawls site 3 levels deep
• indexes all content
• ignores non-textual elements
• creates mirror copy of site for cache
• determines re-visit schedule
• robot ensures honesty
• checks for attempts to spam
• reads in the same way a user does

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SEO factors affecting rankings

• Factors affecting search rankings
• 100 per search engine
• Pareto Principle (80-20)

On-site Keywords Content Crawlability Meta
Tags Alt Tags Text Types Site Map
Off-site Anchor Links Link Relevancy Link
Popularity Directories Blogs Press
Releases Social Networking RSS Feeds
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SEO factors content

• Manual analysis
• optimised but still readable
• Keyword / content ratio
• keyword proximity
• keyword density
• different engines different preferences
• Rules the three Rs
• relevancy readability repetition

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SEO factors keywords

• Search term used by user
• Single most important element
• 50 of searches contain 3 keywords
• Online keyword analysis tools
• Yahoo Search Analysis Tool MIVA
• 350m recently used search terms
• What are the sites main terms

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SEO factors PR content

• News stories, surveys, corporate info
• discreet way to generate more links
• Must appear on your site originally
• Should be optimised for SEO
• Submitted to news portals
• aim to be picked up by other websites
• Included in Google Base

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SEO crawlability issues

• The problems
• page redirecting
• solved with 301 redirects
• content management / databases
• solved with flattened pages
• also URL Mod-rewrite
• JavaScript navigation / Flash animations
• use accessible alternatives
• convoluted site hierarchy
• use deep linking
• try to shorten bread-crumb trail
• secure site pages (https)
• keep important content in main site

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SEO factors META tags

• Three pieces of information
• Title
• 40-70 characters
• use keywords sensibly
• Description
• 100-200 characters
• less important than title
• Keywords (Inktomi and directories)
• specific relevant
• lower priority than in past
• Order of content important
• prioritise many browsers abbreviate
• Used as snippets

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SEO factors Alt Tags

• Alternative text tag
• allows spiders to read images
• original purpose - disability access
• Must contain link to give anySEO benefit to
  site.
• Necessary throughout the site
• Must be relevant

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SEO factors text types

• H1 tags
• headings tags
• used in style sheets
• content ranked higher than plain text
• Bold text
• ranked higher than normal text
• lower than heading text
• Plain text
• Used throughout rest of site

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SEO factors sitemap

• Enables spiders to crawl and index site
• Alleviates access issues
• Helps usability
• Google sitemaps

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SEO factors deep linking

• Internally cross link URLs of pages deep within
  your site
• Allows multiple levels of entry
• Niche and specific
• Helps with Flash and CMS feeds
• Spiders often only go 3 levels deep
• dont always enter https//

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SEO factors social networking

• Using networking sites to build links
• MySpace.com, Del.icio.us
• These sites are seen as authority
• Must contain on-topic information
• Staff and affiliates should set up accounts
• These sites are increasing in value
• early adopters benefit greatly
• User-generated content sites
• Ciao.co.uk

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SEO factors feeds

• Use RSS feeds for media section
• Product feeds for Froogle
• Google Base feeds for news items

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SEO factors RSS feeds

• How to optimise your RSS content for search?
• Optimise your lttitlegt and ltdescriptiongt tags
• Use full-path URLs in all links
• Blogging etiquette says leave in links when
  aggregating
• Each feed should have a keyword theme
• Include images for branding
• Syndicate the feed

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SEO factors vertical creep

• Between sponsored and natural results
• Natural results subsequently creep down
• Increases the need to be top of page
• Opportunity for three or more links to site
• Need to get in early to build history

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SEO how the user sees your website
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SEO how spiders see your website

• Spidered text Business Insurance, Commercial
  Insurance, Public Liability Insurance business
  insurance and commercial van insurance from
  premierline direct home see all policies why
  choose us existing customers about us contact
  save 10 on your business insurance etc.
• Spidered links http//www.premierlinedirect.co.
  uk/http//www.premierlinedirect.co.uk/http//www
  .premierlinedirect.co.uk/web/index.htmlhttp//www
  .premierlinedirect.co.uk/web/products/index.htmlh
  ttp//www.premierlinedirect.co.uk/web/whychoose/in
  dex.htmlhttp//www.premierlinedirect.co.uk/web/cu
  stomers/index.htmlhttp//www.premierlinedirect.co
  .uk/web/about_us/index.html

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SEO how spiders see your website

• Meta keywords Commercial Van
  InsuranceBusiness AssuranceHotel
  InsurancePubsRestaurantTradesmenRetailManufac
  turingWholesaleOfficeQuoteUK
• Meta description We offer competitive quotes
  for business insurance, from shop insurance and
  commercial insurance to pub insurance as well as
  manufacturers, public liability insurance and
  wholesalers insurance

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Summary

• Age
• Older the better
• Content
• More the merrier but relevant
• Crawlability
• Let the spider crawl
• Links
• 65 of the game but useless with the other factors