1. SEARCH ENGINES &SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)

2. AGENDA What is a Search Engine? Examples of popular Search Engines Search Engines statistics Why is Search Engine marketing important? What is a SEO Algorithm? Steps to developing a good SEO strategy Ranking factors Basic tips for optimization 3. WHAT IS A SEARCH ENGINE? Definition:An internet-based tool that searches an index of documents for a particular term, phrase or text specified by the user. Commonly used to refer to large web-based search engines that search through billions of pages on the internet. Different than a Directory Common Characteristics: Spider, Indexer, Database, Algorithm Find matching documents and display them according torelevance Frequent updates to documents searched and rankingalgorithm Strive to produce better, more relevant results thancompetitors 4. EXAMPLES POPULAR SEARCHENGINES 5. HOW DO SEARCH ENGINES WORK? Spider crawls the web to find new documents (web pages, otherdocuments) typically by following hyperlinks from websites already in theirdatabase Search engines indexes the content (text, code) in these documents byadding it to their databases and then periodically updates this content Search engines search their own databases when a user enters in asearch to find related documents (not searching web pages in real-time) Search engines rank the resulting documents using an algorithm(mathematical formula) by assigning various weights and ranking factors 6. SEARCH ENGINES STATISTICS1.Google 41.6%2.Yahoo 31.5%3.MSN 27.4%4.AOL 13.6%5.Ask Jeeves 7.0%% bases on usage 7. WHY IS SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING IMPORTANT? 85% of all traffic on the internet is referred to by search engines 90% of all users dont look past the first 30 results (most only viewtop 10) Search engine traffic is low and websites arent indexed becausethey are generally poorly optimized Cost-effective advertising Clear and measurable ROI Operates under this assumption:More (relevant) traffic + Good Conversions Rate = MoreSales/Leads 8. WHAT IS SEARCH ENGINEOPTIMIZATION? SEO = Search Engine Optimization Refers to the process of optimizing both the on-page and off-page ranking factors in order to achieve high search engine rankings for targeted search terms. Refers to the industry that has been created regarding using keyword searching a a means of increasing relevant traffic to a website 9. WHAT IS A SEO ALGORITHM? Top Secret! Only select employees of a search enginescompany know for certain Reverse engineering, research and experiments gives SEOs(search engine optimization professionals) a pretty good ideaof the major factors and approximate weight assignments The SEO algorithm is constantly changed, tweaked & updated Websites and documents being searched are also constantlychanging Varies by Search Engine some give more weight to on-pagefactors, some to link popularity 10. STEPS TO DEVELOPING A GOOD SEO STRATEGY: Research desirable keywords and search phrases(WordTracker, Overture, Google AdWords) Identify search phrases to target (should be relevant to business/market,obtainable and profitable) Clean and optimize a websites HTML code for appropriate keyworddensity, title tag optimization, internal linking structure, headings andsubheadings, etc. Help in writing copy to appeal to both search engines and actualwebsite visitors Study competitors (competing websites) and search engines Implement a quality link building campaign Add Quality content Constant monitoring of rankings for targeted search terms 11. RANKING FACTORS On-Page Factors (Code & Content) Title tags #3 Header tags #5 ALT image tags #4 Content, Content, Content (Body text) #1 Hyperlink text #6 Keyword frequency & density #2 Off-Page Factors Link Popularity (votes for your site) adds credibility #2 Anchor text #1 12. WHAT A SEARCH ENGINE SEES View > Source (HTML code) 13. PAY PER CLICK PPC ads appear as sponsored listings Companies bid on price they are willing to pay perclick Typically have very good tracking tools and statistics Ability to control ad text Can set budgets and spending limits Google AdWords and Overture are the two leaders 14. PPC VS. ORGANIC SEO Pay-Per-Click Organic SEO results in 1-2 days results take 2 weeks to 4 months easier for a novice or one little knowledge of requires ongoing learning and experience toSEOachieve results ability to turn on and off at any moment very difficult to control flow of traffic generally more costly per visitor and per generally more cost-effective, does notconversion penalize for more traffic fewer impressions and exposure SERPs are more popular than sponsored easier to compete in highly competitiveadsmarket space (but it will cost you) very difficult to compete in highly competitive Ability to generate exposure on related sitesmarket space(AdSense) ability to generate exposure on related ability to target local marketswebsites and directories better for short-term and high-margin more difficult to target local marketscampaigns better for long-term and lower margin campaigns 15. BASIC TIPS & OPTIMIZATION TECHNIQUES Research keywords related to your business Identify competitors, utilize benchmarking techniques and identify levelof competition Utilize descriptive title tags for each page Ensure that your text is HTML-text and not image text Use text links when ever possible Use appropriate keywords in your content and internal hyperlinks (dontoverdo!) Obtain inbound links from related websites Monitor your search engine rankings and more importantly your websitetraffic statistics and sales/leads produced Educate yourself about search engine marketing