Enhancing visibility:Search Engine Optimization

Website promotion workshop> Tourism sector

January 2012:: Joost van der Kooij

:: Alfons van Duijvenbode

SEO

• What is SEO• SEO success factors• Examples• Assignments

Agenda

Search Engine Marketing

“… A form of internet marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing visibility in search engine result pages (SERPs)

SEM methods include• SEO• Paid listings (Adwords)

Source: Forrester, 2011

“Natural search brings 61% of website visitors”

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

“ … process of designing and improving a website so it ranks high in search engine results when someone who doesn’t know your business searches for the services or products you offer …

SEO success factors

• Domain name and Search Engine Friendly URLs

• Meta tags• Listing with search engines

• www.google.com/addurl• Google maps ‘places’• Headers and keyword rich

content• Link structure• Alt tags• XML sitemap

• Listing with DMOZ (www.dmoz.org)

• Linking• Trip Advisor, Travel

directories, Travel blogs• High ranking sites (bizz

directories, ref. www.onewaytextlink.com)

• Social media (‘mentions’ with links)

• 301 Redirect• Monitor linking and ranking

SEO success factors

• Domain name and Search Engine Friendly URLs

• Meta tags• Listing with search engines

• www.google.com/addurl• Google maps ‘places’• Headers and keyword rich

content• Link structure• Alt tags• XML sitemap

• Listing with DMOZ (www.dmoz.org)

• Linking• Trip Advisor, Travel

directories, Travel blogs• High ranking sites (bizz

directories, ref. www.onewaytextlink.com)

• Social media (‘mentions’ with links)

• 301 Redirect• Monitor linking and ranking

Domain name and SEF URLs• Keywords in the domain name• Possible to redirect multiple domain

names to 1 site• Check availability of domain names

• e.g. www.eurodns.com

Domain name …. and SEF URLs

Domain name …. and SEF URLs

non SEF URL …

Availability of domain names

Assignment 4a Domain names

SEO success factors

• Domain name and Search Engine Friendly URLs

• Meta tags• Listing with search engines

• www.google.com/addurl• Google maps ‘places’• Headers and keyword rich

content• Link structure• Alt tags• XML sitemap

• Listing with DMOZ (www.dmoz.org)

• Linking• Trip Advisor, Travel

directories, Travel blogs• High ranking sites (bizz

directories, ref. www.onewaytextlink.com)

• Social media (‘mentions’ with links)

• 301 Redirect• Monitor linking and ranking

Meta tags• Title tag

• Company name + most important keywords• Optimize for max 70 characters• For every page …• Visible (Top of browser and SERP)

• Description tag• Sentences with most important keywords • Optimize for max 160 characters• Trigger for users to click• For every page …• Visible (in SERP) and bold when the keywords

match a user’s query…

Keyword tag---------------------Not relevant anymore

Example

Meta tags

Title Tag

Description Tag

Trigger to click!

Meta tags

Title TagDescription Tag

Trigger to click!

SEO success factors

• Domain name and Search Engine Friendly URLs

• Meta tags• Listing with search engines

• www.google.com/addurl• Google maps ‘places’• Headers and keyword rich

content• Link structure• Alt tags• XML sitemap

• Listing with DMOZ (www.dmoz.org)

• Linking• Trip Advisor, Travel

directories, Travel blogs• High ranking sites (bizz

directories, ref. www.onewaytextlink.com)

• Social media (‘mentions’ with links)

• 301 Redirect• Monitor linking and ranking

Add url / submit to Google

• Add new domain / url to Google:• http://www.google.com/addurl/• Also country specific Google databases• Same goes for XML sitemap• Tip: use Google Webmaster Tools

Assignment 4b Meta Tags and submit to Google

SEO success factors

• Domain name and Search Engine Friendly URLs

• Meta tags• Listing with search engines

• www.google.com/addurl• Google maps ‘places’• Headers and keyword rich

content• Link structure• Alt tags• XML sitemap

• Listing with DMOZ (www.dmoz.org)

• Linking• Trip Advisor, Travel

directories, Travel blogs• High ranking sites (bizz

directories, ref. www.onewaytextlink.com)

• Social media (‘mentions’ with links)

• 301 Redirect• Monitor linking and ranking

Google Maps business listing – ‘places’

Google Maps business listing – ‘places’

Google Maps business listing – ‘places’

Assignment 4c Google Maps

SEO success factors

• Domain name and Search Engine Friendly URLs

• Meta tags• Listing with search engines

• www.google.com/addurl• Google maps ‘places’• Headers and keyword rich

content• Link structure• Alt tags• XML sitemap

• Listing with DMOZ (www.dmoz.org)

• Linking• Trip Advisor, Travel

directories, Travel blogs• High ranking sites (bizz

directories, ref. www.onewaytextlink.com)

• Social media (‘mentions’ with links)

• 301 Redirect• Monitor linking and ranking

Headers and keyword rich content

• Headers (H1) get bigger weight in the ranking…. Include keywords

• Fill your content with keywords• Be creative and think of derivates and synonyms of popular

keywords• Brainstorm keywords based on your core offerings• For core offerings: do not only focus on your main activity (e.g.

accommodation) but also your services (e.g. snorkeling tour)• Helpful tool for keyword research:

• https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Keyword rich content

Related services

Tool for keyword searchhttps://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Tool for keyword searchhttps://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Assignment 4d Keywords

SEO success factors

• Domain name and Search Engine Friendly URLs

• Meta tags• Listing with search engines

• www.google.com/addurl• Google maps ‘places’• Headers and keyword rich

content• Link structure• Alt tags• XML sitemap

• Listing with DMOZ (www.dmoz.org)

• Linking• Trip Advisor, Travel

directories, Travel blogs• High ranking sites (bizz

directories, ref. www.onewaytextlink.com)

• Social media (‘mentions’ with links)

• 301 Redirect• Monitor linking and ranking

Link structure• Navigation bar on all pages essential for users and search

engines – to index your pages• Include hyperlinks in the content to indicate relevance to both

users and search engines• Name hyperlinks effectively: Keywords in the hyperlink text!

• ‘Click here’ informs the search engine that the topic of the page is ‘click here’ ….

Link structure

Submenu

Mega menu

Assignment 4e

Identify relevant links that you plan to use in your navigation menu or content

SEO success factors

• Domain name and Search Engine Friendly URLs

• Meta tags• Listing with search engines

• www.google.com/addurl• Google maps ‘places’• Headers and keyword rich

content• Link structure• Alt tags• XML sitemap

• Listing with DMOZ (www.dmoz.org)

• Linking• Trip Advisor, Travel

directories, Travel blogs• High ranking sites (bizz

directories, ref. www.onewaytextlink.com)

• Social media (‘mentions’ with links)

• 301 Redirect• Monitor linking and ranking

Alt tags

Note:Picture title and description are equally important for SEO

SEO success factors

• Domain name and Search Engine Friendly URLs

• Meta tags• Listing with search engines

• www.google.com/addurl• Google maps ‘places’• Headers and keyword rich

content• Link structure• Alt tags• XML sitemap

• Listing with DMOZ (www.dmoz.org)

• Linking• Trip Advisor, Travel

directories, Travel blogs• High ranking sites (bizz

directories, ref. www.onewaytextlink.com)

• Social media (‘mentions’ with links)

• 301 Redirect• Monitor linking and ranking

XML site map

• A list of all the pages on your website• Dynamically generated • Helps Google to know about all the pages on your website

XML file: • Include every page of your website • Use protocol / code of www.sitemaps.org• Use Google Webmaster Tools to submit

More information• http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/

answer.py?hl=en&answer=156184

SEO success factors

• Domain name and Search Engine Friendly URLs

• Meta tags• Listing with search engines

• www.google.com/addurl• Google maps ‘places’• Headers and keyword rich

content• Link structure• Alt tags• XML sitemap

• Listing with DMOZ (www.dmoz.org)

• Linking• Trip Advisor, Travel

directories, Travel blogs• High ranking sites (bizz

directories, ref. www.onewaytextlink.com)

• Social media (‘mentions’ with links)

• 301 Redirect• Monitor linking and ranking

DMOZ

SEO success factors

• Domain name and Search Engine Friendly URLs

• Meta tags• Listing with search engines

• www.google.com/addurl• Google maps ‘places’• Headers and keyword rich

content• Link structure• Alt tags• XML sitemap

• Listing with DMOZ (www.dmoz.org)

• Linking• Trip Advisor, Travel

directories, Travel blogs• High ranking sites (bizz

directories, ref. www.onewaytextlink.com)

• Social media (‘mentions’ with links)

• 301 Redirect• Monitor linking and ranking

Trip advisor, travel directories, blogs

“ … 33% of leisure travelers changed their hotels based on what they read on blogs or other travel related community sites (Forrester Research)

Examples of tourism specific directories: Adventure.Travel - http://www.adventure.travel

(for members of the Adventure Travel Trade Association)

EcoTour Directory - http://www.ecotourdirectory.com (eco tourism)

TouristClick.com - http://www.touristclick.com (travel directory)

Travel Quest - http://www.travel-quest.co.uk (UK travel directory, focused on specialist and adventure holidays)

Travel Library - http://www.travel-library.com (travel directory) Yahoo Travel - http://travel.yahoo.com

(travel guides about destinations, travel plans, shows paid links by keywords and provides the option to compare rates with its ‘FareChase’)

YouGoDo! - http://www.yougodo.com (collects tours and activities)

Linking / Directories

Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries | March, 2011

45

SEO success factors

• Domain name and Search Engine Friendly URLs

• Meta tags• Listing with search engines

• www.google.com/addurl• Google maps ‘places’• Headers and keyword rich

content• Link structure• Alt tags• XML sitemap

• Listing with DMOZ (www.dmoz.org)

• Linking• Trip Advisor, Travel

directories, Travel blogs• High ranking sites (bizz

directories, ref. www.onewaytextlink.com)

• Social media (‘mentions’ with links)

• 301 Redirect• Monitor linking and ranking

Link to high ranking sites

Assignment 4F

Identify portals / directories that you want to submit your site to.

SEO success factors

• Domain name and Search Engine Friendly URLs

• Meta tags• Listing with search engines

• www.google.com/addurl• Google maps ‘places’• Headers and keyword rich

content• Link structure• Alt tags• XML sitemap

• Listing with DMOZ (www.dmoz.org)

• Linking• Trip Advisor, Travel

directories, Travel blogs• High ranking sites (bizz

directories, ref. www.onewaytextlink.com)

• Social media (‘mentions’ with links)

• 301 Redirect• Monitor linking and ranking

SEO success factors

• Domain name and Search Engine Friendly URLs

• Meta tags• Listing with search engines

• www.google.com/addurl• Google maps ‘places’• Headers and keyword rich

content• Link structure• Alt tags• XML sitemap

• Listing with DMOZ (www.dmoz.org)

• Linking• Trip Advisor, Travel

directories, Travel blogs• High ranking sites (bizz

directories, ref. www.onewaytextlink.com)

• Social media (‘mentions’ with links)

• 301 Redirect• Monitor linking and ranking

301 RedirectInclude a 301 redirect to avoid duplicate content (which causes problems to search engines)

1 www versus non-wwwwhttp://yourdomain.com redirect to http://www.yourdomain.com

Example: Adventureshop

2 Extra domain names with your serviceExample: ecolodgesgalapagos.com surtrektours.com.ecAdventuretoursecuador sierraviajes.com.ec

301 Redirect

301 Redirect

SEO success factors

• Domain name and Search Engine Friendly URLs

• Meta tags• Listing with search engines

• www.google.com/addurl• Google maps ‘places’• Headers and keyword rich

content• Link structure• Alt tags• XML sitemap

• Listing with DMOZ (www.dmoz.org)

• Linking• Trip Advisor, Travel

directories, Travel blogs• High ranking sites (bizz

directories, ref. www.onewaytextlink.com)

• Social media (‘mentions’ with links)

• 301 Redirect• Monitor linking and ranking

Page rank and Link popularity

Page rank and Link popularity

Link popularity

Evaluate your SEO

> SEO rank checker

Example: www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/ranking-reports/

SEO rank checker

And finally ….

Don’t forget to forget about Flash

Don’t use frames

show

show

Flash

Frames