Search Engine Optimization: Rankings, Tactics

1
Search Engine OptimizationRankings, Tactics
Trends

1. How Search Engine Rank Pages
2. Best Practices for Effective SEO
3. Hot Trends in Search

www.seomoz.org ingest daily for best rankings
2
How Search Engines Rank Pages

• Most Common Theories
• Dartboards
• Horseshoes
• Drunken Wagers
• Complex AI-like algorithms

www.seomoz.org worth reading as often as
possible
3
Relevance through Text Concept Matching

• Text Matching
• Terms on the Page
• Terms on the Site
• Terms on Pages Linking to the Site
• Important Areas (title tags, headlines, etc.)

www.seomoz.org like finding an ROI needle in a
haystack
4
Links as Votes
Googles initial PageRank model pre-supposed
that links could be interpreted as editorial
votes for the quality relevance of a page
www.seomoz.org fires on all the search cylinders
5
Recent Upgrades to Search Algorithms

• Historical Data
• Past Rankings
• User Visits
• Site Performance
• Temporal Data
• Rate of New Content
• Rate of Inbound Links

• Registration Data
• Who Owns the Site?
• What Other Sites do they control?
• Social Data
• Bookmarking
• Branded Searches
• Navigation

www.seomoz.org smarter than the average blog
6
Best Practices for SEO

• www.seomoz.org/beginners.php

www.seomoz.org smarter than the average blog
7
Accessibility

• A search engine is, essentially, a different
  type of visitor, like a user with a screen reader
  or one that has poor eyesight.
• Clean URLs
• Simple Site Architecture
• Indexable, HTML Content

www.seomoz.org smarter than the average blog
8
Keyword Targeting

• KW Research What do Your Visitors Search for?
• Important Keywords Belong in
• Title Tags
• Meta Description Tags
• Headline Tags (H1, H2, etc.)
• HTML Text Content
• The Anchor Text of Links

www.seomoz.org smarter than the average blog
9
Duplicate Content Problems
www.seomoz.org read by search marketers far and
wide
10
Design Usability

• Attract More Links
• Inherently More Accessible
• Encourages Positive User Behavior
• Builds Better Brand Association

www.seomoz.org the next big thing
11
Link Building
www.seomoz.org a force for good on the web
12
Hot Trends in Search
My Schwetty Balls are Delicious(sorry
couldn't resist)
www.seomoz.org you've got a friend in search
13
The Accuracy of Alexa
www.seomoz.org oh the places you'll go
14
Personalization in Search
www.seomoz.org your search is over
15
Google's Market Share Dominance
Google 70 Yahoo! 18 MSN 9 Ask
2
Rand's Numbers
ComScore Numbers
www.seomoz.org SEO at the end of the rainbow
16
Linkbaiting
www.seomoz.org just what the webdev team ordered
17
Leveraging UGC for Search
www.seomoz.org just what the webdev team ordered
18
Web 2.0 Revenue Models
- Contextual Text Ads
- CPM Banner Ads
- Freemium Business Models
- Paid Inclusion for Traffic
www.seomoz.org just what the webdev team ordered
19
Additional Resources

• This Presentation Online at
• www.seomoz.org/2007/bostonseo.ppt
• Beginner's Guide to SEOwww.seomoz.org/beginners.p
  hp
• Search World Blogswww.searchengineland.com
• www.marketingpilgrim.com

www.seomoz.org this is the end my friend