Search Engine Basics for Writers and Editors

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How are these results ranked?

How did the these get to the top of 13,300,000 pages indexed by Google?

By meeting Google’s criteriaRelevance Matching keywords (in bold)

• Freshness(match relevance, then date; users can search by timeframe)

• Likability (Others link to it, people share it, page loads quickly, and no coding errors)

How you can show relevanceWrite page titles, descriptions, and headings that accurately describe your content.

When writing a link to another page, use specific keywords. No “click here.”

Page titleFrom code: <title>Late planting : Crops : University of

Minnesota Extension</title>

To search results:

To browser:

Headings, also important

Bad title / Good title

• Pacific Groves - Plant Descriptions - Fruit Tree Varieties (Apples)Keyword at very end of title. Page 18 result.

• Directory of apple varieties starting with AKeyword phrase is in the title. The word directory tells me what to expect on the page. Page one result.

Good titles are

Reader-oriented

Clear

Concise

Definitive

May contain numbers, questions, “how to,” or other techniques to hook the reader

How you can show relevanceWrite page titles, descriptions, and headings that accurately describe your content.

Write pages for readers, not for search engines. Entice readers to click on your link from the search page. Write content worth reading.

Don’t use the same title or description for multiple pages.

Titles and headingsKnow your keywords: What terms does your intended audience use?

Don’t use clever titles; use meaningful titles and headings. (Save clever titles for social media teasers.)

Place keywords closer to the beginning of titles and descriptions.

Write a succinct sentence or two which use the keyword phrases to sum up the article. Provide it to the person posting the article for the page’s meta description tag.

Page descriptions

Use meaningful descriptions with keywords

This appears in the meta code of the page: <meta name="description" content=" " />

Page descriptionsPage descriptionsPage descriptions

Missing descriptions Search engines will pull the first words it finds on the page or make up their own descriptions if none is available.

Page descriptions - FAIL

Titles and descriptionsThese are inside the code.

Provide these to your webmaster.

If webmasters don’t have titles and descriptions they sometimes write their own.Blogs sometimes make it easier to include these meta codes.

Word Press Plugin

Ignore keywordsfields

Meta description

Title will default tothe article’s headingif left blank.

Another Word Press plugin

Use up to 156 characters (or so).

Sample article submission

Tools• These tools were created for marketers, but

they can help you, too.

– Google AdWords Keyword Tool– Google Trends

Google Keyword Tool

Choosing keywords

Reports on global and local searches

Competition refers to howmuch you might have to payto bid on that word usingGoogle AdWords.

Use data to win arguments• If you’re fighting over the best word to use in

a title or for link text, use the keyword tool.

• Should you use mental health or psychological health?(You can always use both terms in the body text.)

Psychological health vs. mental health

• Keyword tool indicates a better choice

• Mental health is searched for more often and is less likely to be misspelled.

• Keywords used for searches on your own site can also help you choose keywords your audience actually uses.

Use data to come up with story ideas

• What are people searching for related to your product, idea, topic?

• Let’s look at soy.

People wonder about eating soy while pregnant and about dogs (not pets) eating soy.Blog ideas!

Google AdWords Keyword Tool

Google Trends

Try Google Trends (http://www.google.com/trends)Compare the world’s interest in your favorite topics. Enter up to five topics and see how often they’ve been searched on Google over time.

Find ideas for narrowing a topic. (See Related Terms example on next screen.)

Learn what interests the general population.

Google Trends

Refined by News Search

News trends

Google News stories

Apples don’t interest Canadians during the summer.

how often terms have been searched

Why is there more interest in ovarian cancer in Fort Collins?

Google Trends shows in which geographic regions people have searched most often for your topics.

Following trends

New ways of measuring

What was your last article’s

• Conversation Rate

• Amplification Rate

• Applause Rate

Conversation Rate

Conversation Rate = # of Audience Comments (or Replies) Per Post

• You are responding to comments, aren’t you?

• And listening for their word choices (keywords!) and interests and questions, right?

Amplification Rate

Amplification = # of Retweets Per Tweet

• On Facebook, Google Plus:Amplification = # of Shares Per Post

• On a blog, YouTube:Amplification = # of Share Clicks Per Post (or Video)

Applause Rate

• Twitter: Applause Rate = # of Favorite Clicks Per Post

• Facebook:Applause Rate = # of Likes Per Post

• Google Plus:Applause Rate = # of +1s Per Post

• Blog, YouTube:Applause Rate = # of +1s and Likes Per Post (or video)

Data from your websiteMake sure you have access to the search logs on your site and a regular listing of your most popular content and keywords.– Mine your search logs for content ideas

and direction– Why writers need to see analytics reports

Learn from your own most successful pages.

Learn more about

SEO

• More details at Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide.

Writing headlines for the Web• How to Write Magnetic Headlines

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