SEO Training Class For BeginnersThe basics of search engine optimization and how to optimize webpages for common search terms!Presented by: Jacob Lett

Overview

• How I got started optimizing websites

• A historical perspective

• What is a search engine?

• What is SEO?

• How do I improve search engine rankings?

• How can I get the greatest impact with the least amount of time or money?

Case study How I got started optimizing websites

A Christmas gift inspired a creative outlet

Why do some videos get more views than others?

Google Analytics showed high impressions for “things to draw” so I tried to understand what they were looking for and how I could help them.

Can I create something better than what is already available?

Ranking and traffic was low until… I changed my persona from parents to art teachers.

Pinned in a shared pinterest board for art educators

I started getting traffic for keywords I was not even targeting but relevant to the topic or theme of the page.

It would be impossible to target all of these

in meta title

I did not post in web directories or add links to blog comments

What I learned

• Let the data (actual people not just numbers) do the talking and guide decisions.

• A lack of results does not mean your content is bad. It may be your marketing strategy needs adjustment.

• High volume traffic does not equal high volume sales or leads. So know your goal first and make sure you are measuring against that goal through the process. Maybe the goal shifts from sales to brand awareness.

continued

• SEO is really just marketing (heavy on the market research side). If I just focused on keywords and on page optimization I do not think my results would have been the same.

• Once you find something that works, brainstorm other ways (marketing channels) you could achieve similar results.

• CTR or click through rate can have a huge impact - Test different titles, descriptions, and thumbnail images

continued

• Never depend on one single marketing channel or technique. At any moment your rankings could drop and you need a tangible way to reach your existing customers. Name, email, phone, address, etc.

A historical perspective

How the internet started - layers

• email @ - 1971

• TCP/IP - 1975

• Apple Computers - 1976

• .com domain - 1985

• DOS - 1986

• http:// - 1990

• HTML - 1991

• Mosaic browser - 1993

• Excite Search Engine - 1993

• CSS - 1996

• Google Search Engine - 1998

Google Indexes (sorts, organizes, ranks) the World Wide Web

Paper Index Digital Index

A web browser like Google Chrome downloads individual files, and is programmed to know how to turn them into a webpage.

Domain Name System

Stores the website files .html .jpg .css .js

www.about.com files are on server

IP address 11.111.11.11

server IP address

11.111.11.11

What is a search engine?

A web-based tool that enables users to locate information on

the World Wide Web, a specific domain, or application.

Google crawls and collects information on pages or collections of pages (websites)

100%

Intranet20%

80%

Web app

90%

10%

Facebook1%

99%

Local Business

Google Index

Blocks robots blocks 20% of pages blocks 90% of pages blocks 1% of pages

Google works hard to match searcher intent and not keyword matching

What is the name of that movie?

What someone thinks or wants is oftendifferent than the words they search for

Google depends on people to create new content

I will index your pages unless you tell me no.

robots.txt User-agent: *

Disallow: /private/

Search engines are dependent on content creators to name, label, and categorize content

• <title>Descriptive page title - Under 50-60 characters</title>

• <meta name="description" content="Here is a description of the page - roughly 155 Characters">

• URL http://www.domain.com/page-title

Visit class resource page for more links

What is SEO?

moz.com

SEO is the practice of improving and promoting a

website to increase the number of visitors the site

receives from search engines.

http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/study/2355020/

Organic Search Accounts for Up to 64% of Website Traffic

Danny Sullivan

Site owners started to recognize the value of having their sites highly ranked and visible in

search engine results, creating an opportunity and

desire for optimization.

To ensure quality results Google continues to optimize their secret algorithm

All we can do is speculate, reverse engineer, and test

EVERYONE ELSE(ME INCLUDED)

I am a SEO GURU!

And establishes webmaster guidelines

www.feedthebot.com/

www.google.com/webmasters/

www.theshortcutts.comVisit class resource page for more links

Ok, but how do I improve search engine rankings traffic?

Total Number of Pages Indexed by Google

• 2014 67,000,000,000

• 2013 58,000,000,000

• 2012 50,000,000,000

• 2011 46,000,000,000

• 2010 29,000,000,000

• 2009 17,000,000,000

• 2008 11,000,000,000

A 509% increase in the number of pages since 2008

More pages = more competition

6 million results and only 10 can show up on the first page

– Rand Fishkin, Moz

Overall SEO is becoming more difficult. In 2004, SEO primarily consisted of keywords, rankings, crawl and links. Today, great SEO

consists of webspam, mobile, PR, email, localization, speed,

content, social media and more.

For existing websites

• Review Google Webmaster tools and Analytics for keywords you are currently ranking for and improve on-page keyword targeting

• Decrease bounce rate and page load time

• Increase engagement (time on site, multiple page views, branded search terms)

• Make your pages high quality - design, usability, content - useful, and possible interactivity

• Encourage social media sharing of content by including social share buttons on all pages

Visit class resource page for tutorials

For new pages and content - keyword research

• First, write your page for your audience without thinking about keywords

• Now, brainstorm 3-4 word phrases you would use to find your content. Enter your keyword phrases in Google and scroll to the bottom of the page to see related searches.

•

• Enter your keywords in http://keywordtool.io/

Criteria for quality high ranking content

• One-of-a-Kind – appears nowhere else on the web

• Relevant – contains content engines can interpret as on-topic

• Helpful – resolves the searcher’s query in a useful, efficient manner

• Uniquely Valuable – provides information that’s unavailable elsewhere

• Great user experience – is easy & pleasurable to consume on any device

• Likely to Spread – convincingly answers the question: “Who will amplify this content and why?”

Criteria for quality high ranking content

• A website may only have a handful of pages that fit this criteria. Especially for brochure type websites without a content marketing strategy (consistent content creation).

I have 3 pages with more views than my homepage

and traffic from pinterest is close to google organic search

Not all content can go viral, rank high, get likes, or generate sales. But all content can be helpful and useful.

• Help your customer first. Test and analyze what works.

• Sometimes you create a piece of content to help your customers or internal employees and may not require organic search traffic

• So for this you would not need to spend the time performing keyword research or optimizing on-page factors

Know your customer and create content for them

• Develop a persona for your business - perform market research

• Search Youtube for videos related to your business. What videos have a large number of views?

• http://buzzsumo.com/ or http://topsy.com/ to find content heavily shared on a keyword to find content your audience likes.

• Enter competitors into http://www.quicksprout.com/ to find pages with high social shares for ideas

• Filter search keywords in Google Analytics for ones that are questions http://bootstrapcreative.com/how-to-get-traffic-to-your-bigcommerce-store

For new pages and content - keyword research

• Select 3 or 4 keyword phrases that are most relevant to your content and try to include them in your article without sounding unnatural.

• Next write your on-page headline or H1 tag

• Next write your meta title, description, url & image file names

• Brainstorm relevant internal and external links to link to. Only link to high quality sites. This helps to define relevance for your new piece of content.

• Share new content on social networks and email list.

http://moz.com/blog/visual-guide-to-keyword-targeting-onpage-optimization

See handout

How can I get the greatest impact with the least amount of time or money?

Innovation moves faster than infrastructure

mobile friendly!schema!

social media!

Didn’t we just redesign our website?

Digital marketing requires agility, awareness, and interest in data analysis

The introduction of new industry terms since the release of the iPhone in 2007

Focus on your strengths

• Determine what is easier for you to invest: time or money

• Review Google Webmaster tools and Analytics for keywords you are currently ranking for and improve on-page keyword targeting

• Make sure you have your business listed with Google and Bing and your name and contact information is accurate

• If you service locally include city and state in your meta title tags and urls. Add location schema markup.

• Add relevant social sharing buttons on your website

• Create content you do not find a burden (images, articles, videos, presentations)

Diversify your traffic sources

• Use vanity url’s (www.domain/page) to direct traffic to your site in off-line media like direct mail and print collateral

• Develop a customer database of email, phone, and mailing address to drive traffic to your website.

• Pick one social media platform you enjoy and works for your business model… or maybe social media isn’t a good fit for your business.

Amplify what works

• Over time you will find a page that seems to stand out with a lot of social shares, comments, or page views.

• Create a list of blogs or websites your audience frequents and advertise a display web banner promoting that piece of content.

• Display advertising has a relatively low cpc (cost) compared to Google search. The existing social proof will also add credibility and possibly encourage them to share your content. These signals tell Google your website is quality and people like it.

Seth Godin

I made a decision to write for my readers, not to try to find more

readers for my writing.

bootstrapcreative.com/training

Thank you!