10 seo tips for communications & pr

©2010 TopRank Online Marketing – All Rights Reserved

Lee Odden - CEO@leeoddenTopRankMarketing

.com

SEO TipsCommunicationsProfessionals

MustKnow

10

http://www.toprankmarketing.com/

http://twitter.com/leeodden





My World:aka “Minnesnowta”

Satellite Dish

Fireplace

Bottle Bass

Lots of Bottle Bass



“The SEO team at TopRank has been instrumental to growing a key business for our organization. I recommendTopRank’s SEO consulting services without reservation.”William Murray, President and COO, PRSA

Specialists in SEO & Social Media

Consulting & Training

Media:

Clients:



So, how do you say “Louisville”?




• accommodations• accomodations• acommodations• acomodations

Search Phrases Vary Too

• hotel• cheap• holiday• travel

hotel accommodations

cheap accomodations

holiday acommodations

travel acomodations


cheap accomodations


travel acomodations


cheap accomodations


travel acomodations


cheap accomodations


travel acomodations


cheap accomodations


travel acomodations


cheap accomodations


travel acomodations


cheap accomodations


travel acomodations


cheap accomodations


travel acomodations




SEO Basics

KeywordsSearchFriendly

Site

Link Building




“Companies that evolve their internal processes and technical frameworks to incorporate organic search and all that it has to offer will have a substantial edge over the competition.”

Vanessa Fox, Creator of

Google Webmaster Central

Author of “Marketing in the Age

of Google”

Adavantage SEO

http://bit.ly/8KYpi3




Search Demand

285 million watched TVmonthly

*Nielsen A2/M2 Three Screen Report

14 billion core searchesmonthly

*comScore Media Metrix




News Media Are Using SEO



Journalists Use Search. Are They Finding You?



The Search for News

”I have received over 25,000 email story pitches over the last two years. Products. Solutions. Tech innovations, etc. How many resulted in stories? None. I go to the web and search for information on the topic I want to do a story on.”

David Meerman Scott, Best-Selling author of “The New Rules of Marketing and PR"



What type of search do you use

most often?

• Standard search - 91% • News search - 27% • Social search - 27% • Image - 18% • Blog search - 14% • Video - 9% • Bookmarks - 9% • Local - 5% Source: TopRank Online Marketing Survey on Journalist Use of Search, Oct 2008

TopRank Journalist Survey


GWU & Cision Study

Source: George Washington University & Cision – 2009 Social Media & Online Usage Study

100% of Journalists surveyed use Google to research stories.


How do you use search?

• Research past stories - 95% • Research new sources - 91% • Specific companies/people - 91%• Story ideas - 82% • Research press releases - 59%

Source: TopRank Online Marketing Survey on Journalist Use of Search, Oct 2008




Source: TopRank Online Marketing Survey on Journalist Use of Search, Oct 2008


“I was writing a column about the planned partnership between Google and Yahoo.”

“I tracked down potential sources first using Google and LinkedIn, and came across a white paper prepared by a senior fellow at the American Antitrust Institute.”

“While I could not easily find an e-mail address, I went to Facebook where I located him, then sent a message. He replied and we followed up with a phone interview.”




Follow the Money




SEO = Increased Conversions

Source: Forbes Ad Effectiveness Survey June 2009

SEO is the most effective Online Marketing tacticfor generating conversions




Most SEO advice focuses on sales

FeaturesBenefitsBuy!

Google CustomerSearcher

FactsExpertsTrends

Trusted Source

Researcher

MediaRelationship

Google

News SEO focuses on media




PUSH - PULLOutreach:Wire ServiceNetworkingPitchingRSS

Optimized:Press ReleaseNewsroomSocial MediaMedia Coverage




Search Engine Optimization

Definition of SEO:

A set of methodologies that make it easier for search engines to find, index, categorize and rank web content.




What Happens With No SEO?

What we see





Help/Contact Us About Us Careers Press Partners Corporate Information Legal Store Locator WARNING: Email Scam © 2009 adidas

What search engines see:

Adidas has no ranking for“men's running shoes”first 10 pages on Google





What we see





What search engines see:Sales, new gear and more:

Visit a store: From our blog The Cleanest Line®

Backyard Adventures: Toiyabe Trails - Part 1

Mention Nevada to most folks and what comes to mind is Las Vegas glam and desert heat. Truth be…

Product Testing - Whale Watching with a Wee One

"Signatures" from Sweetgrass Productions Coming this Fall

Subscribe to The Cleanest Line RSS feed E-Fiber Favorites

Men's Polo Shirt

Men's Simple Synchilla Jacket

Men's All-Time Shell

Women's Netty Dress

Women's R1® Full-Zip Jacket

Kids' Live Simply T-Shirt

Freewheeler

Voluntary Recall:

Lotus Designs, Inc. is notifying consumers that the Mildwater PFD, may pose a potential casualty hazard.

If you own the Mildwater PFD, the Fishing PFD or the Patagonia Fishing Vest please read this important notice.

PATAGONIA® CLOTHING & GEAR

Men's Apparel: Shirts, Pants, Footwear

Women's Apparel: Shirts, Skirts, Yoga

Travel Gear: Luggage, Packs, Totes, and Backpacks

Kids': Jackets, Pants, Fleece for Children

Accessories: Posters, Blankets, Books

Web Specials

Welcome to the Web site for Patagonia, a designer of outdoor clothing, outdoor gear, footwear, and luggage. Patagonia specifically makes hard shells, soft shells, rain jackets, ski jackets, ski pants, organic cotton clothing, sportswear, travel clothing, Patagonia fleece, technical Regulator® fleece, Synchilla® fleece, Capilene® underwear, Capilene Baselayers (and base layers), luggage, packs, backpacks, totes, haul bags, rolling luggage, wetsuits, rashguards, board shorts, surfboard bags, hats, caps, visors, bucket hats, belts, socks, books, posters, flying discs, and Patagonia shoes. For the young ones in your life we also make children's clothing, kids' apparel and baby clothes. Our online store, retail stores and independent dealers offer women's outdoor clothing and men's outdoor clothing, including jackets, outerwear, gear, sportswear, shells, pants, bibs, vests, pullovers, hats, gloves, waterproof jackets, waterproof pants, and windproof fleece for a variety of outdoor sports like skiing, snowboarding, surfing, camping, rock climbing, alpine climbing, hiking, trail running, yoga, mountain biking, world travel, kayaking, and disc golf. Still looking for Water Girl and Rhythm clothes? Patagonia makes great women's surf clothes and swimwear and functional clothes for rock climbing. If you're looking for discounted Patagonia gear or Patagonia on sale, visit our Web Specials page or check out one of our Patagonia Outlet Sales. Patagonia believes in causing the least harm while doing business so we Lead an Examined Life as a company and maintain transparency through The Footprint Chronicles™. Environmentalism, sustainability and a commitment to protecting the natural environment through activism are part of our company's heritage and continue to this day as we work to continually reduce our carbon footprint. We hope you'll subscribe to the Patagonia catalog and Patagonia emails, and stop by the Patagonia blog, The Cleanest Line®, every morning to read a field report or listen to a podcast while you enjoy your coffee. Patagonia.com is the online presence of the company, Patagonia, Inc. If the whiskey bottle gets passed around the campfire too many times, folks might try and spell Patagonia like patigonia, pategonia, padagonia and pantagonia. Thank you for visiting Patagonia.

© 2009 Patagonia, Inc.

#3 on Google“outdoor clothing”




SEO Can Be Confusing

How’d they do that?




SEO Basics

KeywordsSearchFriendly

Site

Link Building




Search Engine Market Share

Google 65.7%

Yahoo! Sites 17.3%

Microsoft Sites 10.7%

Ask Network 3.7%

AOL 2.6%

Source: comScore Dec 2009




• Googlebot finds links to documents• Makes a copy of the web• Organizes into an index• Repeat

Google Basics:

• Keyword1 - Doc 14334• Keyword2 - Doc 75633• Keyword3 - Doc 18631• Keyword4 - Doc 40035• Keyword5 - Doc 12983• Keyword6 - Doc 35634




• User searches• User location/login id’d• Words matched with index• Returns matching docs• Docs are sorted (ranked)

as search results• Customized by location/history

Google Basics

Image from Google.com




What is “Google Caffeine”?• Next-generation architecture for Google's web search• Improves: size, indexing speed/method, accuracy,

comprehensiveness• Few front end, user experience changes (for now)• Changed order of blended results:

depreciates news, image, video• Foundation for more “real-time”

results i.e. Twitter• More emphasis on content but links

are still important

Google Caffeine




Personalized Search




Real Time Search




1. SEO tactics – if I could only do one thing...

2. PR tactics that affect SEO

3. When is PPC better than SEO for PR?

4. How to choose the best keywords?

5. Basics of on-page SEO

6. Press release optimization tips

7. Newsroom optimization tactics

8. Link building fundamentals

9. SEO and social media promotions

10. Measuring & selling the value of SEO

Top Ten SEO Tips for PR




And the magic answer is…..

It depends on the problem.

SEO Tactics – One Thing




• Google uses 200+ “signals” to

sort search results• A handful could sabotage an entire

site’s search visibility





Issue:

Many pages not ranked

Problem:

Robots.txt file blocking bots

Solution:

Update ONE file





Issue:

Needed better search rankings

Problem:

Most Title tags duplicates

Solution:

Dynamically publish unique titles





Back to the magic answer ...

Make sure the site is crawlable• Remove barriers• Navigation• URLs• HTML & XML sitemaps• Talk to IT, Webmaster, SEO





PR Tactics That Affect SEO

If content can be searched on,it can be optimized




1. Press releases

2. Letters to the editor

3. Online newsrooms

4. Media kits

5. Corporate blogs

6. White papers

7. Webinars/demos

8. Newsletters

9. Real world interviews

9 PR Tactics That Affect SEO



• Webinars• Press Releases• Images• Video• Blog/RSS• PDFs• MS Office Docs

Optimize & Promote

News Content

Digital Asset Optimization


Micromedia Optimization



PR Tactics That Affect SEO




SEO: • Long term• Part of content process• Contingent on content and links over time

PPC:• On demand• Pay to play – pay more to scale• Alternative & complimentary to natural Listings

PPC vs SEO for PR




PPC for Search Reputation

PPC vs SEO for PR




1. Brainstorm phrases

2. Import to a keyword research tool

3. Find popularity & variations

4. Create a keyword glossary

4 Step Keyword Research




Keywords show intent: • Broad Concepts• Trends• Brands & People• Specifics

Keywords

Discovery

Credibility

Match

Research Funnel




6 Keyword Research Tools:

• Google Keyword Tool• Google Insights & Trends• Google Trends• WordTracker• Keyword Discovery• SEMRush.com

Choose the Best Keywords




Structure of a Keyword Glossary

• Categories• Primary phrases• Derivatives• Permutations• Popularity • Relevance• Competitiveness

Choose the Best Keywords




Basics of On-Page SEO

• Title tags• Keyword placement• On-page titles• Navigation links• Body copy• Keyword text links• Image alt text• URLs




• Content is reachable by “bots”• Content is added often/periodically• Content is organized in themes/categories• Keywords exist in content and internal text links• Monitor, adjust

Basics of On-Page SEO




• Research Keywords • Optimize Content• Call to Action• Landing Pages• Post to Newsroom• Pitch to media• RSS• Wire Service Distribution• Measure Success

Get More From News Releases




1. Think upward and to the left

2. Optimize for people first

3. Use keywords in Title, Subheading, body

4. Don’t obsess over keyword density

5. A 500 word release – keyword 2-4 times

6. Use keywords in links to site

7. Add media: images, podcast, video

pdf/word docs

7 Press Release SEO Tips




Press Release Optimization




• Title tag: 8-12 words, important keywords on the left. Focus on 1-2 keyword phrases. MOST important location for keywords in a document used to rank web pages.

• Meta description: 10-25 word elaboration of the title tag. Used to describe the site in search results. NOT used for rankings., pdf/word docs

Meta Data




Meta Data

www.prnewsonline.com




• Blog software: WordPress, TypePad, Blogger.com

• Share/Save bookmarks• Keyword categories• Chronological archives• Site search• Subscribe RSS Feed• Optimized for keywords• SEO: Press releases, Media coverage, Events• Cross link to related pages on main web site

Newsroom Optimization




Newsroom Optimization

Top Ten Google Rankings

• online PR• news optimization• internet marketing firm• digital marketing account manager

www.toprankmarketing.com/newsroom/




Keyword research Title tags (dynamic AND hard coded) Keywords in categories Keywords in document titles, directory names, file names Social links: make it easy to bookmark and share Optimized RSS feed facilitates syndication Optimize digital assets: images, video and audio Optimize other file formats: MS Office docs & PDF

Newsroom SEO Checklist




Links “electrify”

content in search

- Earn links with content

- Promote socially

- Link up with partners

- Cross link internally

- Embed links in releases

- Social bookmark pickup

Use keywords in link text No: click here Yes: red widget

Press Release

Press Release

Release

Press

Pickup

NewsRoom

Pickup

Pickup

Bookmark

Pickup

Blog

Bookmark

Linking Building




Social Media Link Building

Blog




Link Building Tactics

Profiles

Article Submissions

Unpaid Directories

Paid Directories

Widgets

Conference Sponsorships

Association Sponsorships

Aggregated Content

Research & Surveys

Blog Reviews

Job Listings

Testimonials

Letters to the Editor

Contributed Articles

RSS Feeds

Blogroll

Bookmarking

Social Media Pages

Squidoo Page

Applications

Optimized Press Releases

Build and Host Useful Tools

Awards (badge)

Contest (badge)

Cross link company-owned websites

Write reviews

Promote Content on Social Sites

Blog/RSS Feed Directory Submissions

Ads on Search Friendly Sites

Classified Ads

Post Ebook or Substantial Whitepaper

Exchange links with marketing/business partners

Post Surveys

Write Guest Posts on Other Blogs

Speak at events, offer PPT with links embedded

Donate where a link of donors is published

Transcribe video interviews to text as separate posts

Apply for industry awards, web site and blog awards

Ensure industry groups you’re involved with, link to you

Create a wiki

Create microsites for causes, events, specific purposes

Affiliate program

Become resource on Q/A websites like Yahoo Answers

Slideshare and similar content hosting

Monitor 404 stats and ask link sources to fix broken links

Solicit links directly from sources

Provide ‘link to us’ content on blog and/or web site

Leverage publicity and media relations for links

Digital asset submissions: images, audio, video




Optimize Social Media for Search

The role of SEO in a social media effort is to directly influence discovery of social communities or content via search.

Link Building for SEO Through Social Media

Indirectly, social content can boost links to website content, improving search traffic and online sales.

SEO & Social: Yin Yang




Rise of Social Search

comScore qSearch Aug 2009 U.S. Search Engine Rankings

Facebook % of increase was more than

double of any other search engine

3 of the top search engines are search

within a social network




Power of the Retweet

Content

Tweet

This

Blogs &Publishers

Links!

Ret

wee

t

Retweet

Blogs &Publishers

Links!

Blogs &Publishers

Link




Power of the Retweet




News Can Be Social

NewsroomBlog

Comments

Outbound Links

Blog

Comments

Facebook

Twitter




SEO and Social Media

Tactics

Twitter

Strategy

SocNetVideoBlog News

Goal

Objectives

Audience

Search Engine Optimization




1. News wire service metrics

2. Web analytics for landing pages and web site

3. Google and Yahoo alerts

4. Monitor blog search engines (via RSS)

5. Press release landing page conversion tracking

6. Social media monitoring

7. Inbound links

8. Pickups on blogs

9. Pickups on other web sites

10.Pickups on publications

11. Search rankings

11 Metrics for News SEO




Compare Company with Competition:• Social search visibility (Google)• News search ranking (Google News)

• Research a keyword glossary and run a ranking report on those phrases. Show the lack of search visibility

• Run a test of a few optimized news items, take benchmark measurements, then show progress

• Set keyword ranking goals and estimate cost to achieve the same goals with PPC. Then demonstrate the cost of organic search traffic vs PPC traffic

Showing the Value of SEO




Using keywords important to you, not customers Content is not reachable by search bots New content is not added periodically Content is not organized logically – according to

themes/categories Keywords missing in content and text links Low quantity of relevant sites linking in Not monitoring KPIs and ongoing refinement

Learn From SEO Mistakes



Thank You

Lee OddenEmail: [email protected] on Twitter: @leeoddenLearn: TopRankBlog.comHire us: TopRankMarketing.com

Download: TopRank Guides to SEO & Social Mediatoprankmarketing.com/SEOGuidePR/

http://twitter.com/leeodden

http://www.toprankblog.com/



http://www.toprankmarketing.com/prsa09/

10 seo tips for communications & pr

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