The Fundamentals of Great SEO A guide on how to increase rankings & traffic from search engines
SEO? Bah, Humbug
The Use of Search Engines
Growth of Google Queries
Currently, there are more than 3 billion searches/day on Google
Value of Search Engine Traffic
Yes, You Can Compete with the Big Guys
Good SEO is Easier than It Looks
You Have to Get These Right
Before You Get These Right
Making Your Site SEO-Friendly
Using Wordpress? You’re 80% of the Way There
“(Wordpress) is a fantastic piece of software, it makes your site easily crawlable by search engines, solves some 80-90% of mechanics of SEO and is the first big step anyone can take towards creating a popular online business.”
If You Use Wordpress, Read This
Other SEO-Friendly Platforms Include:
These Are Less Ideal for SEO
Tools to Help with Accessibility
Tools to Help with Accessibility
RSS: Essential for Bloggers (and anyone producing regular content)
XML Sitemaps – Recommend, But Not Always a Must
I wouldn’t go so far as to say I recommend against it, just that for many, relatively basic sites and blogs, you don’t need to worry about submitting these (unless you use video, in which case there’s some cool options; we’ll chat about that later in the deck)
Keyword Research
A Simple Process for Choosing Good Keywords
High Volume (many searches/month)
Low Competition (weak sites/pages in the top 10)
High Value (large % of visitors convert)
Ideal Keywords!
AdWords: The Best Choice (Most of the Time)
Use Exact Match! Be Careful About Phrase + Broad
Note the much higher numbers!
Google Insights: Interesting Trend Data
Analyzing the Top 10 to Determine Difficulty
Strong, popular sites w/ targeted titles + content
Analyzing the Top 10 to Determine Difficulty
Weaker, lesser known sites and non-targeted titles
Keyword Difficulty Tool
Value of Visits? Use Analytics Data Good proxies for the value of traffic from these sources
A Simple Process for Choosing Good Keywords
High Volume (many searches/month)
Google AdWords
Low Competition (weak sites/pages in the top 10)
High Value (large % of visitors convert)
Gut Feel (or KW Difficulty Tool)
Gut Feel (or Analytics Data)
How Great Writing and Great SEO Go Hand-in-Hand
High Volume Keywords = Content People Want
Not Everything Needs to Be Keyword-Targeted
The Better Your Content, The Better Your SEO
Great Content + SEO + Social Really Works. Great Content
+
SEO Friendly
+
Social Sharing
+
Link Building
=
Higher Rankings
More Followers
More Readers =
Virtuous Cycle of Inbound Marketing!
More Influence
Link Building
Why Links Matter to Search Engines
What You Say About Yourself.
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What Others Say About You.
What Matters in a Link?
Editorially given
From a trusted source
Uses descriptive anchor text
Points to the right page
What Matters in a Link? URL (the link target)
Rel=“Nofollow” (a tag that indicates search engines shouldn’t trust/count this link)
<p><a href=http://www.seomoz.org rel=“nofollow”> SEOmoz’s Website </a> is a good resource for those seeking to learn more about search engine optimization.</p> Anchor text (tells the engine what this link is about)
Surrounding Text (may provide context on the link’s relevance)
Manual Link Building
Link Building through Outreach + Networking
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Naturalâ&#x20AC;? Link Building
Many of these blogs will use the badge and link to the list, because it makes them look good!
Link Building & Social Sharing Resources
• Beginner’s Guide: Chapter 7 – Growing Links & Popularity
• Link Building Blog Posts on SEOmoz • Webinar on Link Building Strategies • 101 Ways to Build Links from SEOBook • Link Building Presentations on Slideshare • The Science of Retweets from Dan Zarrella
Social Media & SEO
How Social Media Helps SEO Directly
Indirect Impacts of Social on SEO
All these shares lead to visits, which may lead to links, comments and positive user/usage signals
Twitter & Google
Google UK
Result #42
Google US
Result #13
Facebook Correlation of Social Media-Based Factors (data via Topsy API & Google Buzz API)
Amazing: Facebook Shares is our single highest correlated metric with higher Google rankings.
Facebook and Bing
Google+
Google+
Anyone logged-in to any Google service will see results like these. Time to get on G+!
Other Networks to Consider
14mm
Millions
14mm
6.5mm
2.5mm
500mm
1.5mm
10mm
A Few Specific SEO Questions
What Was Panda? Do I Need to Worry About It?
Should I Worry About Spam Comments?
Are Scraper Sites a Danger to My SEO?
Via Googleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Head of Webspam
Can Links from Low Quality Sites Hurt Me?
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/what-if-my-competitors-point-spammy-links-to-my-site
What About Image Search SEO?
What About Local/Maps SEO?
Normal Algorithm
Maps Algorithm
What About Recipe Search?
Really?
How Do I Get These Cool Results!? Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s my face!
What About Those Awesome Video Results?!
These are great for driving clicks
Want to Dive Deeper on SEO? I Recommend:
Just For Fun: Some of My Favorite Google Suggestions & Results!
Thank You!
Rand Fishkin, SEOmoz | March 2012