blogher pro lunch keynote

Wireless Network: [TBD] Password (case sensitive, one word): BlogHerPro

Conference hashtag: #BlogHerPro

Lunch Keynote – brought to you by Bing Growing Your Audience and Influence with Social + Search

Elisa Camahort Page blogher.com @elisac

Duane Forrester bing.com @duaneforrester

Elise Bauer simplyrecipes.com @simplyrecipes

Who’s am I?

@duaneforrester

Bing Webmaster Tools Speaks at shows, runs forums and blog, provides guidance on new WM tools www.bing.com/toolbox/webmaster

Does he have a clue? 12+ years as an inhouse SEO; ran seo at MSN; has helped Disney, GAP, Walmart + http://www.linkedin.com/in/dforrester

And this helps me how? Blogging since 2001; owns 150 domains; makes money online http://twitter.com/DuaneForrester

what does duane do at bing

Your data, always fully provided.

Personal story of success

•  Started with a passion •  Jeeps & exploring nature •  www.ajeepthing.com/jeep-blog/

•  I uncovered an issue •  Land access was threatened •  There had to be a way to help

•  Helping the community •  Started SWAT •  Still going strong today

•  SWAT got National TV coverage, the community talked up my blog, traffic grew rapidly


Leveraging Success

•  Large companies see blogs as “press”

•  Reached out to Chrysler/Jeep to be a press hub

•  They gave me access to their press area

•  Contacted Canadian Association of Journalists and was awarded “press” status

•  Now had access to all auto events to grab photos, content material, interviews, etc.


Show me the Money!


•  Placed contextual ads on site •  Over $70k in revenue in 5 years •  Weekly investment of time averaged 4 – 5

hours

•  Wrote a book with what I learned •  Got a job at Microsoft •  Wrote a second book •  … and got an even cooler gig at Bing!

•  Grew my blogging into a career!

My approach then and now – what works?


•  Then •  Produce unique content •  Optimize and rank •  Drive traffic to contextual ads •  Wash, rinse, repeat

•  Now •  Identify an issue •  Craft a solution •  Drive growth of a mail list for the solution •  Wash, rinse, repeat

Providing value

•  Moving forward, how to provide value and grow an asset?

•  People want relevant information •  People have little time to sort & sift •  They want a trusted, reliable source •  Picked a niche; started the plan


Trusted RSS feeds

Copy & Paste

AUTOMATED

AU

TOM

ATED

MANUAL

Tools to get the work done

•  Tools I use for my blogs •  Bing Webmaster Tools – www.bing.com/webmaster •  Google Webmaster Tools - www.google.com/webmasters/tools/ •  Analytics – your choice: GA, AWStats, Omniture, etc. •  Hootsuite – www.hootsuite.com $5.99/month for PRO (recommended) •  Evernote – www.evernote.com •  IFTTT – www.ifttt.com •  Yoast SEO Plugin for WP - yoast.com/wordpress/seo/ •  Akismet for spam management – www.akismet.com •  Dreamweaver for html/php editing •  Adobe Photoshop & gimp - www.gimp.org/ (open source Photoshop)


Organic keyword research tool

Select multiple countries for the same languages

True organic data from Bing Search

Research multiple keywords at once


Fetch As Bingbot


Link explorer

Explore internal and external links

Explore links on your site and other sites


SEO reporting

Runs automatically every other week

Scans all URLs for all sites you have verified


SEO analyzer

On demand SEO scanning tool

More than 15 best practices checked


Wrapping up

•  Content is the reason •  Keyword research is a beacon •  Quality is your watch word •  Authority is your goal •  Niche is your starting point •  User Experience is your religion

…and use the free tools provided.

Thanks for your time! Duane Forrester

Sr. Product Manager - Bing

@duaneforrester


Appendix

SEO is simply a marketing tool

Throwing rocks Smoke signals Mercantile shops

Mail order catalogues

Billboards

Television Radio

Social Email SEO PPC Trading goods

Man’s History of Marketing

Image credit: www.conducthq.com Your data, always fully provided.

History of SEO

Data credit: gossip.greenlightdigital.com/blog/the-history-and-evolution-of-seo/

•  Keyword stuffing all the rage

•  SE submissions help rankings

•  Dawn of modern search engines w/Altavista

•  Death of SE submissions

•  SEO software works very well for #1 placements

•  cloaking makes its appearance

•  Google and MSN Search launch •  Word spreads that links help rankings •  DMOZ launches and starts directory

movement

•  Google Toolbar shows PR – drives link requests

•  Google fights spam with Florida update; hurts legit sites

•  Blogging takes off •  Text Link Ads creates

network link buying

•  First paid link network appears

•  First SEO conference held: SE Strategies

1994 1999

2012 2011 2010

1995 1997 1998 2000 2002 2003 2004

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

•  Universal search appears •  Text Link Ads banned by Google •  Wikipedia shows the future –

domain authority through content depth

•  Nofollow tags appear; PR sculpting follows

•  G Jagger/BigDaddy updates seek link spam

•  XML sitemaps jointly supported by all engines

•  Google notes the “sandbox”

•  Link Farms appear

2013

•  Google’s “Brand” update uses “trust signals” to restack SERP around brands

•  Bing partners with Facebook to integrate social signals into SERPs

•  rich snippets starting to be used by sites

•  Canonical tag appears

•  Caffeine rolls out allowing faster indexing – “real time” search is here

•  Tweets integrated showing future of social influencing search

•  Social signals

•  Mobile •  Gestures •  Voice

•  Google launches G+ •  G launches +1, tells

sites they rank better displaying it

•  Bing expands social inclusion with FB, Twitter & 4Square

•  Rich Snippets impacting SERPs

?


What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of improving a website to make it more relevant to searchers and search engines. At it’s very core, SEO is about improving usability on a website. What SEO is not… •  Fast •  Guaranteed •  Once & done •  Free


The Secret to Success

The Basics •  Build social followers & fans

organically

•  Wall posts/tweets with links are perceived as more credible and useful

•  Get the basics of SEO covered, then focus on content

•  Its worth repeating: unique, compelling content still works



Compelling Content

•  The engines really respond to unique, useful content

•  Your visitors respond to this as well

•  It’s a wise investment of your time

•  Don’t take shortcuts – limit syndicated content

image credit: http://mashable.com/2011/01/10/social-content-strategy/ Your data, always fully provided.


Niche & Voice

•  The Internet is B.I.G. Slice and dice to find your niche.

•  Plenty of niche areas to explore/exploit – start your fight where you can dominate

•  Choose your voice wisely; don’t be afraid to express an informed opinion

•  Watch what users respond to, then amplify along those lines



Keyword Research

•  Know exactly what users are searching for

•  Data can help you uncover new niches or refine your focus

•  Helps keep you focused on creating compelling content

•  Got writers block? Check your keyword research for inspiration


Let’s get a bit more technical

•  SEO is not just content

•  SEO can be affected by technical elements

•  You need both

•  Content can win, but technical SEO helps


6 major investment areas for SEO

•  Crawlability –  Xml sitemaps –  Navigational structure –  Rich media cautions –  Graceful degradation –  URL structure –  Robots.txt

•  Site Structure –  Internal Links –  URL structure and keyword usage –  Clean URLs – no extraneous parameters (sessions,

tracking, etc.) –  HTML & XML sitemaps –  Content hierarchy –  Rel-canonical usage to manage duplication issues –  Rich media – don’t bury links in Javascript/flash /

silverlight/AJAX –  Responsive design for managing mobile & web

•  On-Page –  Head copy

•  Titles – unique, relevant, 60 characters or so long •  Descriptions – unique, relevant, grammatically correct,

160 or fewer characters –  Body Copy

•  H1, H2 and other H tag usage •  ALT tag importance & usage •  Keyword usage within the content/text •  Anchor text – using target keywords to support other

internal pages

•  Content –  Build based on keyword research –  Down-level experience enhances discoverability –  Keep out of rich media and images –  Produce new content frequently –  Make it unique – don’t reuse content from other

sources –  Content management – using 301s to reclaim value

from retiring content/pages –  <LINK> canonical to help engines understand which

page should be indexed and have value attributed to it –  404 error page management to help cleanse old pages

from search engine indexes •  Links

–  Plan for incoming & outgoing link generation –  Internal & external link management –  Content selection – planning where to link to –  Link promotion via social spaces – direct traffic & seo

value –  Managing anchor text properly –  URL structure can help insert keywords where they are

needed •  Social

–  Be an authority –  Build your community –  Interact often –  Share useful content –  Be consistent and useful –  Grow facebook, twitter, pinterest, etc.


Going mobile?

•  Skip m. domains

•  m. domains produce unwanted duplication

•  Responsive design is your friend

•  HTML5 can help


Are you a Local business?

•  Mobile rules your local world


Source: http://www.mmaglobal.com/research/xad-mobile-local-performance-stats-q1-2012

Source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2206119/Local-Search-Insights-What-Are-Consumers-in-Your-Local-Area-Searching-For

Here’s what mobile users searched for most in Q1 2012 & here’s where they were

Are you a Local business?

•  Bing Business Portal is your entry

•  Free to businesses

•  Except for reviews you control information


www.bing.com/businessportal

•  Don’t try to extrapolate from this graph •  Importance is relative •  Use as a guide – no item is unimportant

Where does SEO fit in?

Content Social User Experience Link Building SEO


Search – you’re trying to solve…

QUALITY TIMELINESS POPULARITY TRUST

When optimizing your site for search, you invest in these major areas

Content Links

Appearance

Authority Usefulness Resource

Traffic Repeat Visits Links

Current Fresh

Relevant


Search – we're trying to solve…

ComScore and Microsoft Internal Analysis 2010 Your data, always fully provided.

Why social matters to search

•  Signal of topical authority

•  Real-time – engines want fresh content, fast

•  Integrated social signals influence click actions of searchers

•  Social signals remain only a few of thousands of signals for organic ranking

How users click on your results can impact rankings and when we show cues like your Facebook friends with results, click rates can be impacted.

http://www.kyleclouse.com/social-media-marketing/ Your data, always fully provided.

Search - Evolved

Deliver knowledge by computationally understanding user intent.

“home gym”

•  Purchase •  Install •  Sell •  Set fire to •  Impress friends

•  Who •  Where •  Others •  Semantic •  Research

Content Social Media Real Time

+ Signals

“Linda” Query Intent Detection Task Derivation


Broaden your view

•  What else will be considered “search”?

•  Mobile image capturing

•  Voice activated search

•  APPs are refined search experiences

•  Gestures could indicate search intent

•  Look at kids today and the habits they are developing to help understand what they will need in the future from technology

Think about how people looking for your business will find you using the technologies available to them. Smart phones, in-car systems, tablets, xBox, etc.


Conversion optimization


•  Different sources must be handled differently

•  Organic traffic is building trust

•  Paid traffic is ready to open their wallets

•  Email traffic is ready to buy…now

•  Ensure your conversion path is short and sweet

•  Off the shelf carts can usually be tweaked to gain improvements in conversions.

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