Introduction%20to%20SEO

1
Introduction to SEO

• Steve Adolph
• Worthington Industries, Inc.
• February 22, 2005

2
Websites A Marketing Tool

• Can be a powerful communication tool along with
  traditional print broadcast media
• Used to promote or sell products services, or
  to inform target audiences
• Sites are only beneficial if the audience is
  aware of it or can easily find it
• About 50 of browsers use search engines, the
  other half type in the URL directly

3
Marketing Approach

• Organic search engine listings
• Free listings provided by Google, Yahoo!, MSN
• Utilize spider or crawler to index page
  content
• Search directory listings
• Doesnt use crawlers. Humans categorize and index
  your site URL and a short description
• Yahoo! is fee-based, Open Directory Project is
  free
• Paid listings -
• Called pay-per-click campaigns
• Buy your way to the top of the search results
  page
• Unlike organic, results are guaranteed

4
Marketing Approach

• Recommendation is to follow a diversified
  approach by using a combination of all three
  areas for the best results.
• This is known as Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

5
Search Engine Introduction

• No guarantees with search engines
• Best practices and guidelines will help
• There are no specific details since they could be
  exploited
• The process of analyzing and making changes to a
  website to improve search rankings is called
  Search Engine Optimization, or SEO.

6
Search Engine Introduction

• Consider search engines design BEFORE building
  site.
• But remember, a website is intended for HUMAN
  audiences, not search engines.

7
Organic Best Practices

• Research select keywords/phrases
• What people type into engines
• One study shows 56 of searchers use 2-3 word
  keyword phrases
• Keyword research tools
• Log analyzer software (e.g. WebTrends)
• WordTracker.com ()
• Overture.com (free)
• Google AdWords (free with account)
• Place keywords prominently in page copy, titles,
  ltMETAgt description tags.

8
Organic Best Practices

• Design a user-friendly site that is searchable

• Use with caution Javascript, flash, DHTML,
  frames, cookies, session IDs, more than 3 URL
  parameters
• Always have 2 forms of navigation user and
  search engine
• Avoid excessive URL depth more than 3 to 4
  levels
• Tailor search terms and web pages for your
  audience
• Site should have Home, FAQ/Help, About Us,
  Contact Us, Site Map, Links/Resources,
  Products/Services (when appropriate)
• Each page needs a unique, focused title relevant
  to the content and incorporates keywords. Dont
  use company name.
• Get links to your site on other RELEVANT sites.

9
Organic Best Practices

• Do NOT spam the search engines or you could be
  banned!

• Keyword stacking or stuffing, unrelated keywords
• Hidden text and links, tiny text (under 10pt)
• Duplicating pages and sites (same content,
  different URLs)
• Doorway/Gateway/Ghost pages overly optimized,
  well-ranked pages that redirect to real site.
• Page redirects (with Refresh Meta tag)
• Link farms used to increase link popularity
  scores

10
Directory Listings Intro

• Before search engines, Yahoo! search directory
  was the only game in town
• A directory differs from an engine in that it
  doesnt index web pages or content.
• Human editors review submitted site put it in a
  category/subcategory structure
• Only the URL and short description is recorded
• Yahoo! is 300/year, Open Directory Project is
  free (ODP feeds Google).

11
Directory Best Practices

• Choose a very specific category and subcategory
  in the directory
• Locate your competitors in the directory
• Register with second tier directories. They
  offer specialty or niche listings.

12
Paid Advertising Intro

• With pay-per-click (PPC), you pay each time
  someone clicks on your ads
• Two major ( most expensive) players are Overture
  (owned by Yahoo!) and Google AdWords
• Smaller players are FindWhat, Espotting
• Start an account w/credit card, create word ad,
  bid on ad keywords in auction
• Lots of ads? Mgmt tools available

13
PPC Best Practices

• Calculate what a click is worth to your company
  before PPC campaign
• Be aware about 20 of browsers dont trust ads
  and wont click on them
• Review follow PPC guidelines
• Do not use superlatives (such as greatest,
  largest, best, etc.), all capital letters, or
  exclamation points.
• Do not put contact information such as phone
  numbers or e-mail addresses in the ad.
• Make sure the ad matches the site content.

14
Sample Site Analysis
15
Sample Site Analysis
16
Sample Site Analysis
Page Area Description / Recommendation
Page Title All page titles are Aegis Metal Framing. Each page should have a unique, focused title relevant to the content and should incorporate specific keywords. Make the title read like a newspaper headline. Dont target your company name.
Section A These navigation buttons are graphics and will not be read by the crawlers. Include a second, text navigation system at the bottom of the page for the crawlers.
Section B This is the only text on the home page that the crawler can read. Unfortunately it is a 9 point font. Some search engines consider very small fonts (below 10 point) to be spam and will ignore it. The font should be increased to 10 or 11 point.
Section C This is the site navigation menu. All items are graphics (rather than text) and are ignored by the crawlers. Include a second, text navigation system at the bottom of the page for the crawlers.
Section D This company contact information is important, but it isnt indexed since it is a graphic. This should be changed to plain text.
17
Resources

• Search engine syntax and extras
• sitewww.yoursite.com. Shows what the engine
  has in the index for the site.
• defineyour_word. Searches web for definitions.
• Built-in calculator. Type in your calculation on
  the search bar and press Enter. (e.g. 72533)
• Package tracker. Enter your package tracking
  number (FedEx, UPS, USPS) for a status.
• Stock price check. Enter stock symbol.
• Street maps. Type in US address w/ city or zip.
• For a list of Google operators see
  http//www.google.com/help/operators.html

18
Resources

• Search engine guidelines
• Google http//www.google.com/webmasters/guideline
  s.html
• Yahoo! http//help.yahoo.com/help/us/ysearch/basi
  cs/basics-18.html
• MSN http//search.msn.com/docs/siteowner.aspx?tS
  EARCH_WEBMASTER_REF_GuidelinesforOptimizingSite.ht
  m
• Open Directory Project
• http//www.dmoz.org/
• Search Engine Watch tips, articles, news
• http//www.searchenginewatch.com/