Toby EversMORPHEUS MEDIA A CREATETHE GROUP COMPANY
127 West 26th St., 7th FloorNew York, NY 10001 212.253.1588 212.353.8793
INTRODUCTION TO SEO
APRIL 2012
an editors approach
Understand SEO
Doing The Research
Content Promotion
Importance, Ranking Factors, Goals, Traffic, The SERP
Keywords, Analytics, Keyword Suggestions, Insights, Social Research
Goals, Page Structure, Title Tags, Meta Tags, Image Optimization, Interlinking
Off-site PromotionAuthor Rank, Link Building, Link Bait, Digital PR, Social Importance, Google +, PRWeb
Contents
understand SEO a simplified approach
Google Algorithm
Source: http://seomoz.org
Search Ranking Factors Survey 2011
✓make it easy for search engines to find our content
✓make it easy for search engines to understand our content
✓make it easy for users to find our content
Three Main Goals
The Importance of SEOWebsites ranked number one received an average click-through rate (CTR) of 36.4 percent; number two had a CTR of 12.5 percent; and number three had a CTR of 9.5 percent.
Source: http://bit.ly/k7fO3C
Title Tag of Page (Clickable Link)Meta description & URLBread Crumbs (Rich Snippets)
News Results
Image Results
Video Results
The SERP - Search Engine Results Page
• universal Search allows for multiple opportunities within the SERP to garner natural traffic
• by optimizing each of these areas, we can control more SERP real estate, increasing the likelihood of receiving a click
Social Media (Twitter)
do the researchfind your audience
What are keywords?
• keywords are common terms used in your content that identify what your content is about
• keywords represent the specific language and terminology that users use when they search
• more commonly searched keywords appear in Google “suggest” as you type
Keywords
What keywords are currently being used?
Analytics (Google, Omniture, etc)
• determine your current audience through keywords driving to your site
• find keywords that result in a more engaging audience (more page-views, more time on site)
• look for ‘non-branded’ keywords to find opportunity
• find areas you’re missing out on
Google Adwords Keyword Tool - adwords.google.com
Finding the traffic & opportunity
• find monthly search volume for keywords
• discover competition levels
• get recommendations for similar keywords to target
• best to research before writing a post
Google Insights allows you to identify comparative relative search volume for keywords
Use Google Insights to help you:• determine how people are searching
• what are people typing?• gain insight into seasonality
• when do people start searching? • connect to trending topics
• who else has written about this?• find rising searches
• what keywords are trending?• understand Geographical info
• where are people searching?
Finding the traffic & opportunityGoogle Insights - google.com/insights/search
Finding the buzz
• discover sentiment and demographics
• find trending topics on twitter
• discover articles and hash tags being shared
• find reputable targets & influencers
- rs.peoplebrowsr.com
put that research to work
content optimization
The Goal
The goal is to optimize content by aligning your language with the language that our readers use
Where are keywords the most effective?
Article / Post Optimization
• beginning of your headline• use of a sub-headline or deck
• beginning of title tag & meta description• if you have control
• within first 200 characters of article body
• image alt tag & caption
• utilized a few times more in body
• try to use synonyms and different keywords of similar semantics (don’t be repetitive!)
Page Titles / Title TagsBest Practices:• most important element for SEO• should describe the page like a table of
contents• should be very similar to your main
headline (H1)• place the most important keywords at the
beginning of the title• homepage: brand name first, then
value proposition or keywords• article pages: article title, category,
brand name• first 3 words in title are most relevant• search engines bold keywords included
in the user’s query• try to keep shorter than 75 characters
(keywords beyond that are ignored, and truncated on results)
Meta Descriptions
Best Practices:• doesn’t impact SEO relevancy, but impacts click-through rate on SERPs• don’t forget them - or Google will make something up• make each one unique• mix branded text with short description of page• this is your chance to ‘sell’ this page to users• try to keep shorter than 175 characters (long meta descriptions are
truncated, and are not optimal for the search engines)
Image Optimization
Best Practices:• all images should contain an alt tag• adds to keyword value of page• can bring additional traffic through
Google image search• should describe image in 3 - 5 words• helps to add an “image caption”
underneath the image• title=”” tag only provides text to users
as they hover over image, do not benefit SEO
alt=”Three Blind Mice”
caption
Three blind mice, photo by Toby Evers
Internal LinkingBest Practices:
• interlinking with other articles within your site can connect similar content together for users and search engines
• don’t overlink: no more than 1 link per 100 words of content is a best practice
• choosing the right anchor text (text within the link) is essential
• use relevant keywords about the next article
• avoid “click here”
Image Credit: http://bit.ly/gMZnIa
outbound link to referenced site
internal link to article about “Kate Upton”
PR done the ‘SEO’ way
off-site optimization
Author Rank / Trust Rank• trust rank is the search engine authority
value given to an author that can effect search engine ranking for certain topics
• creating a ‘bio’ page on a blog can give you an ability to connect authors to their external profiles with rel=”me” - and create a list of articles by that author
• a Google+ page should also be created by each author - and social profiles connected
• Author/Trust Rank is determined by a number of variables including:
• # of linked social profiles and their relevancy
• PageRank of authored content
• # of followers & friends - social graph
• generalization of content written by author
• postings to Google+ and +1’s
Independent PR to Support SEO
• PRWeb - cheap and simple solution ($200 for optimized release)
• SEO package provides distribution from AP wire to Google news
• allows linking to your site (SEO value)
• allows video and images to be added
• can use to distribute to partners in link-building process
Social Media’s Impact On Search
• SEOmoz social/search research data shows a high correlation between social media based factors, like Facebook Shares and Likes, and ranking well in Google
• search engines will rely more on these signals to provide higher quality search results as the web becomes more social in nature
Source: http://mz.cm/o5UM8N
Google+
• ‘Search Plus Your World’ is essentially an update to Google’s search algorithm which will increase the likelihood of Google+ pages appearing in search results
• with ‘Search Plus Your World’ personal results, the user will receive relevant tips, photos, and Google+ posts alongside results from the web
• users now have the ability to toggle back and forth between personal and regular search results
Personal Regular
The Importance of Link Building
• authority of the site linking to you• content on the page that is linking
to you• overall content of the site linking to
you• anchor text contained in link
(keywords)• whether the link is ‘followed’
Authority x Relevancy = Value
Important Search Engine Factors:
www.opensitexplorer.org
Link Bait• top 10 lists, infovideos &
infographics are currently the most popular forms of link bait• popularity and sharability allow
sites to acquire many links from a variety of domains
• also a great source of referral traffic through social platforms like Facebook and Twitter
• example: RSA Animate - The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us• over 1,400 linking domains
and 8 million views
http://www.thersa.org/events/video/animate/rsa-animate-drive
Toby EversSVP, Media OperationsMorpheus MediaTwitter: @tobassist
Thank You!
Please don’t hesitate to DM me on twitter with any questions
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