Google Got Binged!and other SEO stories…

Harry LynchChelsea Whitaker

Matt Ryan

On the Agenda

• Introductions• What is SEO and why does it matter?• How does SEO work?• SEO in the News• SEO and Social• How Google and Yahoo/Bing differ• How you can get started with SEO

Who are we?

Harry Lynch,

President, SankyNet

@HarryLynch

Chelsea Whitaker,

Strategist, SankyNet

@chelawhita

Matt Ryan,

Technical Director, SankyNet

@mrevd

Who is SankyNet?Who is SankyNet?

• Team of 18 web specialists• 14 years of online experience• Email marketing• Website design and development• Comprehensive analytics reporting • SEO Specialists, focusing on website visibility

Fun fact: When SankyNet started, AskJeeves was a popular search engine! Times have changed!

So much has changed in SEO…

…And so much has stayed the same!

Why SEO Matters

Why SEO Matters

Source: Google.com

Why SEO Matters

• Connect the right people to your mission• Higher visibility• Find potential donors• Boost credibility and authority

What is SEO?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process

of improving the visibility of a website or a web 

page in search engines via "natural" or

unpaid search results.

source: wikipedia.org

Search by Keyword

Keyword: What the person searches for

Unpaid results that match the keyword

Paid ad targeted to keyword

Google and Bing remember your previous searches!

Each person and computer has slightly different results based on past search history.

What SEO Is

• The Facts – Each day, millions of people search for information. If your site is not well optimized, people will not find you in search engine results listings.

• “If you build it – they will come”

What SEO Really Is

• The Facts – each day, millions of people search for information. If your site is not well optimized, people will not find you in search engine results listings.

• “If you build it – they will come”

SEO…– Makes sure your website gets found by people using

search engines, by having it show up on the first page of Google, Bing or Yahoo for the right search terms.

What happens without SEO?

Your site gets buried by more optimized content!

How Search Engines Work

• The Internet is a network of websites, pages, documents and images

• Search engines look at site periodically– Automatic crawling– Snapshot of current site

is indexed

How Search Engines Work

Each search engine has a unique

Ranking Algorithm to determine placement

It takes into account:– URL of site and URL structure– How site is coded– How and when keywords appear on a site– How many quality links to and from a site

SEO Audit• Accessibility: Are pages accessible to both users and

search engine crawlers?

• Index-ability: How many pages are getting indexed by search engine crawlers?

• On-site Ranking Factors: What techniques are you already using on your site?

• Off-site Ranking Factors: How popular are you on the web?

• Competitive Analysis: How do you stack up against the competition?

On-Site SEO

• Develop descriptive metadata and body text with keywords. 

• Create and update content containing keywords

• Improving architecture for site crawlability

• Add alt-tags to your images

• Have a modern CMS? Install modules to help!

• Content formatting with tags

• Create sitemap and footer with copyright and contact

Off-Site SEO

• Building a network of quality links

• Using social media for link-building

• Share content with others and link back and forth

• Submit your sitemap to search engines (Webmaster Tools)

• Submit your site to directories and galleries

How Search Engines Look at Links

• Each link is like a vote for the website.• When two sites link to each other, that is like two

votes!• Both Google and Bing use links to and from

websites to gauge the relevance of content, more so than keywords or coding.

Cross-Linking: A Symbiotic Relationship

• Both pages are able to reach the audience that needs them

• Both pages increase in Search Engine rank

Like a bee and a flower… both get the benefits of the connection!

Link-Building with Directories

• Directories exist to help build links!• NEVER pay for links• Use keywords in your submission• Tweet @SankyNet for a list of directories to get

you started!

SEO and Social

- Social creates relevant links- Social directories are constantly updated, and

therefore more relevant- SEO and Social work together to drive traffic

SEO and Social

Bing Integrates with Facebook and Twitter

SEO and Social

Google+ • How the profile is crawled

– Does query term appears in the Introduction, Employment, Education or Places you have lived?

– Links you share– Names of Images

• Results on Google go social

Google+ - Search + Your World

SEO and Social

“Personal” Search on Google

SEO and Social – Technical Elements

• Technical, on-site social elements– Twitter feed for updating content– “Share This” buttons

Common SEO Mistakes

• Whole site is made of images, no text to crawl• Image descriptions are blank• Long metadata with too many keywords• Forgetting that people SEE your page title• Using Flash and not properly coding it• Misuse of heading and title tags• No sitemap, no footer• Outdated and stale content

QUESTION BREAK!

Search Engines aren’t all the same…

Google vs Yahoo/Bing– Technical differences in how they look at sites

Yahoo/Bing (owned by Microsoft) = meta-tags

Google (and AOL) = quality links

Search Engine Market Share – June 2012

• Google’s share of the U.S. search engine market stood at 68.7% as of June – topping its record 66.7% in May. Google commanded 65.5% of the U.S. search market a year ago.

• Bing grew its search market share to 15.6%, up from 14.4% a year ago. While Yahoo fell to 13% in June from 15.9% last year, the combined Bing-powered search share is now 28.6%!

• Ask is 3.0%, AOL is 1.5% - +0.1% month-to-month change

Search Engine Market Share

Search Engine Market Share

Search Engine Demographics

2010 study by Cowan & Co• Yahoo appeals to 50+. As a home page, it is more “set-up” in advance for its

users and doesn’t push or require customization. People over 50 who were “leading edge” Internet users 10-15 years ago set up a Yahoo email account when Yahoo was THE dominant search engine and they still have and use that account today.

• Seventy-nine percent of 22- to 25-year-olds use Google as their primary search engine, compared to 63% of total respondents.

• Google usage is skewed toward younger demographics, high-income households, users with college and graduate degrees, and mobile Internet users.

• Bing’s highest penetration rate is in the 55-and-over demographic.

Google vs Bing – Survey

Marketing on Search Engines

SEM (paying for ads) on Google and Bing show some demographic differences…

Bing –

Cheaper keywords + higher dollar gifts = higher ROI

Google –

More clicks + keyword variety = higher overall income

Free Tools to Find Differences

• Google Trends

www.google.com/trends

• Yahoo Buzz Log

http://buzzlog.yahoo.com

• Bing Keyword Research Tool (requires sign in)http://www.bing.com/toolbox/keywords

• AOL Trends

http://search.aol.com/aol/trends

QUESTION BREAK!

SEO in the News

Bing-Powered Search Hits 30%

SEO in the News

Google Instant – Search getting political?

SEO in the News

• New Bing design accused of copying Google

SEO in the News

• Big brands, big investment... Big drama?

Google lures Bing to show algorithm

SEO in the News

Twitter fight between Microsoft’s Frank Shaw and Google’s Matt Cutts…

Microsoft wants Google Meta-data

• Microsoft contends that Google will not make metadata connected to YouTube video’s available to its Bing search engine

• Google has refused to allow Microsoft’s new Windows Phones to access this YouTube metadata in the same way that Android phones and iPhones do

How can a nonprofit get started in SEO?

• Think about your keywords– Mission based– What a donor would search for– Or, to serve the constituents who need you– Keep it simple! 3 groupings of 1-2 words

• Work Keywords into your site– Mission statement on homepage?– Tagline in footer?– Alt-tags on images?

How can a nonprofit get started in SEO?

• Build obvious link partners– Partner organizations? Local chapters? Bloggers?– Send a nice email!

• Update content often– News update – once a week?– Cross-post from partners

• Content format– Header tags– Title tags

Next Steps for SEO

• Get technical– Add in meta-data with short, keyword rich description– Submit a sitemap (it’s free!)– Submit site to Google and Bing Webmaster (its free!)

• Think about site architecture – Do your URLs have keywords?– Are your menu items using keywords?– Is it time for an overhaul?

Staying Competitive in SEO• Ongoing (Never-ending) process

– Keep adding content!– Must build links consistently– Don’t optimize and walk away

• Keep in touch with Search Engine changes– Read Search Engine Watch blog

Looking to the Future of SEO

• Google will stay dominant

• HTML5 will change how new sites are coded

• Mobile will grow

QUESTIONS?

THANK YOU!Harry Lynch, Chelsea Whitaker, Matt Ryan