Introduction to SEO

Steve Adolph

Worthington Industries, Inc.

February 22, 2005

Websites – A Marketing Tool

• Can be a powerful communication tool along with traditional print & broadcast media

• Used to promote or sell products & services, or to inform target audiences

• Sites are only beneficial if the audience is aware of it or can easily find it– About 50% of browsers use search engines,

the other half type in the URL directly

Marketing Approach

• “Organic” search engine listings• Free listings provided by Google, Yahoo!, MSN• Utilize “spider” or “crawler” to index page content

• Search directory listings• Doesn’t use crawlers. Humans categorize and

index your site URL and a short description• Yahoo! is fee-based, Open Directory Project is free

• Paid listings - $$$• Called “pay-per-click” campaigns• Buy your way to the top of the search results page• Unlike organic, results are guaranteed

Marketing Approach

• Recommendation is to follow a diversified approach by using a combination of all three areas for the best results.

• This is known as Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Search Engine Introduction

• No guarantees with search engines

• Best practices and guidelines will help

• There are no specific details since they could be exploited

• The process of analyzing and making changes to a website to improve search rankings is called Search Engine Optimization, or SEO.

Search Engine Introduction

• Consider search engines design BEFORE building site.

• But remember, a website is intended for HUMAN audiences, not search engines.

Organic Best Practices

• Research & select keywords/phrases– What people type into engines– One study shows 56% of searchers use 2-3

word keyword phrases

• Keyword research tools:• Log analyzer software (e.g. WebTrends)• WordTracker.com ($)• Overture.com (free)• Google AdWords (free with account)

• Place keywords prominently in page copy, titles, <META> description tags.

Organic Best Practices

• Design a user-friendly site that is searchable

• Use with caution: Javascript, flash, DHTML, frames, cookies, session IDs, more than 3 URL parameters• Always have 2 forms of navigation: user and search engine• Avoid excessive URL depth: more than 3 to 4 levels• Tailor search terms and web pages for your audience• Site should have: Home, FAQ/Help, About Us, Contact Us, Site Map, Links/Resources, Products/Services (when appropriate)• Each page needs a unique, focused title relevant to the content and incorporates keywords. Don’t use company name.• Get links to your site on other RELEVANT sites.

Organic Best Practices

• Do NOT spam the search engines or you could be banned!

• Keyword stacking or stuffing, unrelated keywords

• Hidden text and links, tiny text (under 10pt)

• Duplicating pages and sites (same content, different URLs)

• Doorway/Gateway/Ghost pages – overly optimized, well-ranked pages that redirect to “real” site.

• Page redirects (with Refresh Meta tag)

• “Link farms” used to increase link popularity scores

Directory Listings Intro

• Before search engines, Yahoo! search directory was the only game in town

• A “directory” differs from an “engine” in that it doesn’t index web pages or content.

• Human editors review submitted site & put it in a category/subcategory structure

• Only the URL and short description is recorded

• Yahoo! is $300/year, Open Directory Project is free (ODP feeds Google).

Directory Best Practices

• Choose a very specific category and subcategory in the directory

• Locate your competitors in the directory

• Register with “second tier” directories. They offer specialty or niche listings.

Paid Advertising Intro

• With pay-per-click (PPC), you pay each time someone clicks on your ads

• Two major (& most expensive) players are Overture (owned by Yahoo!) and Google AdWords

• Smaller players are FindWhat, Espotting

• Start an account w/credit card, create word ad, bid on ad keywords in auction

• Lots of ads? Mgmt tools available

PPC Best Practices

• Calculate what a “click” is worth to your company before PPC campaign

• Be aware: about 20% of browsers don’t trust ads and won’t click on them

• Review & follow PPC guidelines– Do not use superlatives (such as greatest,

largest, best, etc.), all capital letters, or exclamation points.

– Do not put contact information such as phone numbers or e-mail addresses in the ad.

– Make sure the ad matches the site content.

Sample Site Analysis

Sample Site Analysis

Sample Site Analysis

Page Area Description / Recommendation

Page Title All page titles are “Aegis Metal Framing.” Each page should have a unique, focused title relevant to the content and should incorporate specific keywords. Make the title read like a newspaper headline. Don’t target your company name.

Section A These navigation buttons are graphics and will not be read by the crawlers. Include a second, text navigation system at the bottom of the page for the crawlers.

Section B This is the only text on the home page that the crawler can read. Unfortunately it is a 9 point font. Some search engines consider very small fonts (below 10 point) to be spam and will ignore it. The font should be increased to 10 or 11 point.

Section C This is the site navigation menu. All items are graphics (rather than text) and are ignored by the crawlers. Include a second, text navigation system at the bottom of the page for the crawlers.

Section D This company contact information is important, but it isn’t indexed since it is a graphic. This should be changed to plain text.

Resources

• Search engine syntax and extras– “site:www.yoursite.com”. Shows what the engine has

in the index for the site.– “define:your_word”. Searches web for definitions.– Built-in calculator. Type in your calculation on the

search bar and press Enter. (e.g. 7*25+33)– Package tracker. Enter your package tracking number

(FedEx, UPS, USPS) for a status.– Stock price check. Enter stock symbol.– Street maps. Type in US address w/ city or zip.– For a list of Google operators see: http://www.google

.com/help/operators.html

Resources

• Search engine guidelines– Google: http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html

– Yahoo!: http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/ysearch/basics/basics-18.html

– MSN: http://search.msn.com/docs/siteowner.aspx?t=SEARCH_WEBMASTER_REF_GuidelinesforOptimizingSite.htm

• Open Directory Project– http://www.dmoz.org/

• Search Engine Watch – tips, articles, news– http://www.searchenginewatch.com/