Search Engine Optimization:Connections that Matter

Melissa Lee

Chelsea Whitaker

On the Agenda

• Introductions• What is SEO and why does it matter?• How do search engines work?• The SEO process• How organizations can use SEO• Off-Site connections and linking • Lupus Research Institute SEO goals• Questions

Who is SankyNet?

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

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

How SankyNet is Helping LRI

• Analyzing LRI/Coalition website• Providing a full report of SEO recommendations• Making sure LRI is in the top few search engine

results for important keywords

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

un-paid 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! Google and Bing remember your previous searches!

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

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.

• “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.

• “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.

What is the payoff of SEO?

• Connect the right people to your mission• More visibility and brand awareness• More potential to help patients and find donors

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, like LRI’s.

• Search engines look at the LRI website periodically– Automatic crawling– Snapshot of current site is indexed

• Each engine has a unique ranking algorithm– Ranked based on links

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.

LRI’s Current Results

- First page results for “Lupus Information” and “Lupus Research”- These terms alone gets 22,000 searches monthly!

LRI – Strong Visitor BaseIn one year:

• 110,469 visitors• 286,780 views of the site• 61,572 came from a search engine• 85,571 visitors from 5,796 cities in the USA

What Kind of Visitors Come to LRI?

Top Keywords:• Lupus Diagnosis – 18%• Lupus Research Institute – 7%• Lupus Criteria – 3%

40% of all traffic is from “diagnosis” keywords

Links on Website

News: Link to Partners

Promoting Coalition Goals

Text Links

Vistors Pathways

Traffic Moves from Google to LRI to a Coalition Link

Build a Hub for Lupus

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!

How Do We Build Links?

• Add linked LRI logo to the homepage• Pre-linked HTML code is available on LRI site

How Do We Build Links?

• Add text links into blog posts • Integrate links into the story

How Do We Build Links?

• Link to news item– LRI site has content you

can use!

LRI Linking to Partners

Reciprocal Linking: Example

LRI Link to Partner

Partner Link Back to LRI

Linked Pages Move Up in Results

• Every link is a vote to get to the top of Search Results

• Every link connects traffic to each other

• Every link helps to amplify advocacy

Every Site

• Post to website about 2012 Advocacy Day• Include links to LRI, and other partners!• A template of text and link insertions are available to personalize for

your site• Together, we can amplify our impact!

Wrapping it Up

• Linking helps increase placement in search results• Higher placement in search results means more website

traffic• There are easy tools to create links• Be a part of a lupus resource hub

QUESTIONS?

THANK YOU!Melissa Lee & Chelsea Whitaker, SEO Seminar