Search  Engine  Op.miza.on:

Understanding  the  Engines  &   Building  Successful  Sites

Rand  Fishkin  –  August  2010

Travel  Industry:  Client  1

•  Client  came  to  us  with  no  on-­‐site  opBmisaBon  on  website •  We  opBmised  website •  Within  2  months  of  opBmisaBon,  website  traffic  began  to  increase •  AHer  4  months,  search  engine  traffic  increased  300%

Travel  Industry:  Client  2

•  Client  came  to  us  for  on-­‐site  opBmisaBon  consultaBon  and  link    •  building  research •  We  opBmised  website •  Within  2  months  of  opBmisaBon,  website  traffic  began  to  increase •  AHer  6  months,  search  engine  traffic  increased  1000%

Online  DaBng  Industry

Organic  Traffic

•  Client  came  to  us  with  no  on-­‐site  opBmisaBon  on  website  or  •  link  building •  We  opBmised  website  and  implemented  a  link  building  strategy •  Within  5  months,  traffic  increased  by  300%    and  360%  over  11  months

Online  DaBng  Industry

Paid  Traffic

•  Client  managed  a  high  cost  Google  Adwords  campaign  and  was  not  seeing  •  return  on  investment •  Once  #1  posiBons  were  achieved  in  Google  Organic  Search  there  was    •  no  need  to  use  Google  Adwords  anymore •  Client  stopped  Google  Adwords  campaign  aHer  4  months

Online  DaBng  Industry

Bounce  rate

•  Bounce  rate  was  high  (23%)on  website  when  we  began  opBmisaBon  •  process •  We  implemented  a  design  change  and  immediately  the  bounce  •  rate  dropped  to  11%

Home  Improvement  Industry

•  Client  came  to  us  to  assist  in  geWng  their  website  more  targeted    •  traffic •  Website  had  no  on-­‐site  opBmisaBon  done  to  it •  We  opBmised  the  enBre  website  and  within  5  months  traffic  began  to  •  increase •  AHer  9  months  traffic  had  increased  500%

Home  Improvement  Industry

•  Client  came  to  us  to  assist  in  geWng  their  website  more  targeted    •  traffic •  We  marketed  products  on  various  online  shopping  plaYorms •  AHer  7  months  referral  traffic  had  increased  500%

Content  in  this  Presenta.on

1.  Case  studies  2.  The  search  markeBng  landscape

3.  How  Search  Engines  Work

4.  Building  Accessible  Sites

5.  ConducBng  Keyword  Research

6.  Link  Building  Strategies

7.  Social  Media  &  the  Web’s  Influencers

The  Search  Marke.ng  Landscape

Organic  vs.  Paid  Search

Organic

Paid

Organic  vs.  Paid  Search

90%  of  Clicks

10%  of  Clicks

Click-­‐Through  Rates

Ver.cal  Search

Local  Results

Probably  doesn’t  get  traffic  like  most  “#1”  results

Completely  different  ranking  algorithm  than  standard  search  

results

Image  Results

Video  Results

News  &  Blog  Results

Shopping  Results

Instant  Answers

News  Results

Real  Time  Results

Local  Results

Image  Results

How  Search  Engines  Work

Crawling  &  Indexing

Without  links,  the  engines  might  never  

find  this  page

Many  Domains  vs.  One  Domain

VS.

Domain  Authority

The  Flow  of  PageRank

Algorithmic  Ranking  Factors

Algorithmic  Ranking  Factors

Building  Accessible  Sites

Crawlability  /  Link  Architecture

Duplicate  Content  &   Canonicaliza.on

Duplicate  Content  &  Canonicaliza.on

Search  Friendly  URLs

www.naBonalgeographic.com/animals/african-­‐elephants

Single  domain Shallow  folder  structure  with  relevant  words

Keywords  in  page  name, separated  by  hyphen

Search  UN-­‐Friendly  URLs

Xyz3.naBonalgeographic.com/a/?q=31z&mg=vv7z&sd=8

Unnecessary Subdomain

Dynamic  URLs  don’t  perform  as  well  as  staBc  and  engines  recommend  against  

more  than  two  parameters

No  keywords  in  the    URL  string

Important  Tags  &  Signals

Title  Tags

Meta  Descrip.ons

Anchor  Text

Page  Copy

Image  Alt  ATributes

Good  keyword  usage  in  the  alt  tag

Keyword  Research  +  Targe.ng

The  Long  Tail  of  Keyword  Demand

Tools  &  Tac.cs  for  Brainstorming

&  Refining  Your  Seed  List

Google  AdWords  Tool

Be  Wary  of Match  Type

hrps://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Google  Trends

Compe..ve  Keyword  Research

Restrict  query to  compeBtor’s

domain

Link  Building  Strategies

Bolster  Individual  Rankings

Drive  Traffic  &  Branding  Awareness

The  7  Basic  Kinds  of  Link  Building

#1  -­‐  Manual  Link  Submissions/Requests

#2  -­‐  Compe..ve  Link  Research/Acquisi.on

#3  -­‐  Links  via  Embedded  Content

#4  -­‐  Linkbait  &  Viral  Campaigns

#5  -­‐  Content,  Technology  &  API  Licensing

#6  –  Links  within  editorial  content  

Creating newsworthy content is difficult for small companies

#7  –  Blog  contribu.on  

Building relationships with blogs takes time

Free  Tools  for  Compe..ve  Link  Research

•     Brand  name  -­‐site:brand.com

Brand  name  -­‐site:brand.com

Brand  name  -­‐site:brand.com

Social  Media   &  the  Web’s  Influencers

Influencers  on  the  Web

Cannibaliza.on  of  the  Link  Graph

MMM… LINK GRAPHS ARE DELICIOUS!

Cannibaliza.on  of  the  Link  Graph

Tweets  can  seemingly  overpower  links

Page  B 1  link  from  1  root  domain

522  tweets

Page  B  –  the  tweeted  version  

–  ranks  #1! Page  A

646  links  from  36  root  domains 2  tweets

Retweet  e.quiTe

•  Leave room (100 chars). •  Do not start the ReTweet with an @ sign. •  Give credit. •  Try to keep as much of the original tweet intact as possible.

Algorithmic  Ranking  Factors

þ  Sign up to Google Adwords Keyword Research Tool þ  www.google.com/adwords/ þ  Keyword research

þ  Sign up to Google Analytics þ  www.google.com/analytics þ  Bounce rates þ  Referral traffic þ  Organic traffic

þ  Competitor Research þ  Brand name –site:brand.com

þ  Twitter þ  Advanced search þ  # hashtag þ  Build relationships þ  Understand domain authority

þ  Install SEOmoz toolbar þ  SERP’s þ  Domain check

Prac.cal  lessons