Download - Introduction to SEO - by Ian Miller
CIMDigital Marketing BootcampSearch Engine Optimisation
Ian Miller, Search Director at Crafted Media
Team of 15 across all search disciplines
Responsible for increasing visitors, & converting them
Wide range of clients across B2B & B2C industries
Hello
What’s SEO?
http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2010-02-19/
The UK internet economy is worth £100 billion.
Over 1 billion searches per day on Google alone
Google has over 91% market share in UK
Organic search results have around 3 times more clicks
than paid (AdWords)
Google has $43 billion in cash
Industry of big numbers
SEO is not magic
“To organise the world’s
information and make it
universally accessible and
useful”
Google’s mission statement
Improves the technical foundation of a site
Increases the authority and presence of a site against its
peers
Ensures the content is in line with the desired searcher’s
intent
Helps shape user experience for maximum response
Good SEO
Treat Google like a child
It follows things blindly, good or bad
If you feed it what it wants, it likes you
If you try and lie to it, it will probably find out
If you’re nicer to it, it prefers you to others
Popularity breeds popularity
The more information you give it, the more it looks for
Sometimes, it throws a tantrum
Building blocks
What does a site look like to a search engine?
Can a search engine find all your pages?
Is there duplication e.g. non-www & www?
Can it see the content e.g. Flash?
Is authority being passed through the site properly?
How do you treat errors?
Google’s Webmaster Tools
Crawl errors
Sitemaps
Content quality
Geo-targeting
Statistics
http://crftd.md/gwmtintro
Webmaster Tools
Analytics healthcheck1
2
3
http://crftd.md/wikiseo
How does your site look to a search engine?
◦ Xenu crawler
◦ IIS Toolkit
◦ Screaming Frog
“Performance is the
aggregation of marginal gains.”
Dave Brailsford: British Cycling, Team Sky
Build a brand
Highly visible
Influential in their sector
Mentioned outside of an anchor text link
Referenced against their peers
3rd party citations
Have brand advocates
Number and quality of links
Anchor text distribution
Brand mentions
Social media activity
PR coverage
Citations
Resource hubs
Translating to online authority
Just ask
Leverage all your contacts and ask:
o Suppliers
o Organisations
o Partners
o Charity work
o Customers
o Staff
How to get links
Create your own links:
◦ Resource lists
◦ Niche directories
◦ Event listings
◦ Contact blogs/news sites in your sector
◦ Give away products for review and competitions
◦ Videos
◦ Screencasts and webinars
◦ Awards, ego-bait
Fast, effective
Install SEOmoz toolbar
Create master contact list
Contact someone on that list every day
Find common issues, work to fix them
Business process often at odds with SEO, integrate
Improve the process
Advanced search operators
◦ http://www.soloseo.com/tools/linkSearch.html
◦ http://crftd.md/advsearch1
Examples:
◦ intitle: “intitle:directory haulage company”
◦ inurl: “inurl:gov.uk essex business”
◦ Compound “inurl:ac.uk intitle:links graphic design”
It works
What data do you own?
Scale is interesting – “World’s biggest…”
Effective PR is about the reader, not the source
Find communities and engage before you need them
Get a link!
◦ “brandname –site:brandname.com”
Create online PR
Have a hub that people can point back to
◦ http://www.newsroom.hsbc.co.uk/
Social has many benefits, but for SEO it’s links and mentions
Use social to find contacts
◦ Followerwonk
◦ Simply Measured
Social media activity
Become a resource
Ensure all company content is online
◦ Brochures
◦ Case studies
◦ News & PR
◦ Help files & FAQ’s
◦ Call centre notes
◦ Tacit knowledge
Create non-commercial content
Interlink, give people something else to see
Use this content as a basis for outreach
Look after your customers
Small surprises are best, do the unnecessary Ask for feedback, push them to other review sites Customer reviews on products or services Keep in contact, be interested in them away from a
transaction Consider if they have a website, ask for a link Promote them, they’ll promote you
Words are key, not keywords
Site structure is paramounto If you want to rank for a keyword, what page justifies it?
Avoid “This is a...” use “This widgetomatic is a…” Keywords come first – optimise page titles & H1s Use words that are relevant to your searcher, not just your
industry Good copy naturally includes keywords; avoid any “density”
metrics Google keyword tool Google Insights
What do you want them to do?
Consider wider goals than a sale, create a funnel Make calls to action clear and obvious Remove barriers for them
◦ Avoid unnecessary fields on contact forms◦ Remember their details◦ Follow up automatically
Prove it all in Analytics
Be patient
SEO is the long game Expect incremental success Embed it as part of the business process Quick wins are often shallow Prove results against additional value created, not always
final objectives
Takeaways
1. Be critical of your own site. Get registered with tools2. Produce a content plan (and stick to it)3. Create master contact list4. Ensure SEO is considered as part of business process5. Learn advanced search queries6. Understand your competitors7. Mobilise your customers8. Make friends with the sales department9. Define success and measure against it
Advanced link operators
◦ http://www.googleguide.com/advanced_operators_reference.html
◦ http://www.google.com/intl/en/help/operators.html
◦ http://searchengineland.com/21-link-builders-share-advanced-link-building-queries-29848
Learn Google Analytics
◦ http://www.seomoz.org/blog/overcome-the-google-analytics-learning-curve-in-20-minutes
◦ http://www.google.com/support/conversionuniversity/bin/request.py?hl=en&contact_type=indexSplash&rd=1
Tools
◦ http://www.facebook.com/insights/
Links◦ http://www.verticalmeasures.com/link-building/top-100-link-building-resources/
◦ http://ontolo.com/blog/61-new-link-building-resources-post-panda-link-building-edition-0225-0310
◦ http://wiep.net/talk/link-building/link-request-email-template /
Links
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mats_eriksson/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dahlstroms/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/manfrys/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/preppybyday/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eschipul/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikebaird/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/quinnanya/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeshlabotnik/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/powerbooktrance/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stewart/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmsmith000/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tmray02/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertvega/
Credits
