Welcome!

SEO Basics

Introduction to SEO

December 1, 2011

SEO Basics Agenda

• Define SEO

• Why Search Matters

• Organic Vs. PPC

• Search Position

• Blended Search

• How SEO Works

• How to Take Advantage of SEO

• 3 Tips for SEO

• Q/A

Definition of SEO

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the “organic” or un-paid search results.

- Wikipedia.org

Why Search Matters

Why Does Search Matter

Organic vs. PPC

Where the Clicks Happen

Where Do People Really Click• 28% of all clicks occur in the Paid Search areas

• 72% of all clicks occur in the Organic Search areas

Click Through Rates (CTR)

Click Through Rates | Position MattersResult

PositionAverage

Percentage of Clicks

Fraction of Top Ranking

Results#1 42.1% N/A

#2 11.9% 3.5X Less

#3 8.5% 4.9X Less

#4 6.1% 6.9X Less

#5 4.9% 8.5X Less

#6 4.1% 10.4X Less

#7 3.4% 12.3X Less

#8 3.0% 14.0X Less

#9 2.8% 14.8X Less

#10 3.0% 14.1X Less

#11 - #20 10.1% N/A

Blended Search (Caffeine)

SEO isn’t just words

• Images

• Blogs

• Real Time (Twitter of Facebook)

• News

• Videos

Social is part of search

Social indicators impact search rankings

Your Ranking

How SEO Works• Search engines use spiders to crawl sites

• Sites are ranked (Like getting graded on a curve)

• Data is compiled, and delivered as specificallyas possible to a user via SERPs

• Ranking Factors• General ranking algorithm

• Improvements/changes take time• Google Cache

Maximize Your SEO Efforts

How to Take Advantage of SEO1. Make sure your site is technically sound (for SEO)

2. Identify Keywords

3. Use Keywords on your site• In your content• In Your coding

4. Build Links

5. Incorporate Blended Search

6. Build More Links

Sometimes 4 is Better Than 1

Tip #1 Keywords

Google’s SEO Resources

Tip #2 Use Google Tools• http://www.google.com/analytics/

• https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/

• https://www.google.com/support/webmasters/

• http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_dlcp/www.google.com/en//webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf

If You Build Links Traffic Will Come

Tip #3 Build Some Links• List your organization in Google Places and Yelp

• Ask a sister organization for a link

• Distribute a press release optimized for search with a link to your site

• Create a Twitter profile and “tweet” a link to ypur site (no followed, but more often than not spawns legit links for legit content)

• List yourself with DMOZ.org (be specific)

• List yourself in Yahoo Directory ($299 yearly cost)