INTRO TO WEB OPTIMIZATIONJENNIFER LILL

Topics Covered: • History of Search Engines

• How Relevance Ratings Work

• SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

– Meta Data

– Navigation

– Linking is Key!

• SMO (Social Media Optimization)

– Do Your Research

– Be Social

• Analytics

SEARCH ENGINES

The History of Search Engines• 1993 - MIT Student invents the first “web crawler”

• 2000 - Google search engine rose to prominence

• "PageRank“ - The priority rank by which search results on Google's search-results pages are ordered• The algorithm computes a

recursive score for pages, based on the weighted sum of the PageRanks of the pages linking

to them.

How Relevance Ratings WorkWhat Google indexes:• Web pages• Hyperlinks (in-bound & out-bound)• Images (alt tags!)• PDFs, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets,

Flash SWF, embedded video, etc.• The more you do with Google the better your

ratings are:– Google Maps (Free - verified account)– Google Analytics (Free)– Google AdWords (Paid)

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION(SEO)

Meta Data• Meta Tag should include a description and keywords.

– Use Google Search-based Keywords tool to find keywords

• Found in the HTML code of the site and not visible to the user

<meta name="Description" content="CNN.com delivers the latest breaking news and information on the latest top stories, weather, business, entertainment, politics, and more. For in-depth coverage, CNN.com provides special reports, video, audio, photo galleries, and interactive guides.">

<meta name="Keywords" content="CNN, CNN news, CNN.com, CNN TV, news, news online, breaking news, U.S. news, world news, weather, business, CNN Money, sports, politics, law, technology, entertainment, education, travel, health, special reports, autos, developing story, news video, CNN Intl">

NavigationNavigation should be:

• Text based

• Easy to find and located in more than one place on EVERY page

Linking is Key!• Get listed on directories like Yelp.com

• Join your local Chamber of Commerce

• Offer link exchanges with businesses you work with

• Use Link Exchange services: GotLinks.com or Linkmarket.net

• Add your website to your Google Maps account

– Get it verified too!

• Use Social Media:

– Use Facebook and Twitter to link back to your site!

– Use URL shorteners to offer easy links:

SOCIAL MEDIA OPTIMIZATION(SMO)

Do Your Research• Do not waste your time on social media mediums that don’t apply to

you and your goals for your site!

Be Social!Social Media is a two way conversation!

– You need to respond to users compliments AND complaints

– Participate in the conversation or start one of your own

• Speak their language:

– Use URL shortner

– Use Hash Tags

• Direct message users to create a more personal experience

• Give them a reason to listen

– Send out special offers to your “followers”

– Offer interesting links, videos, photos in addition to your marketing message

• BE TRANSPARENT & HONEST!

Analytics• Set goals and benchmarks• Use an analytics tool to know if it’s working!

– Google Analytics (Free)– Radian6 (Fee based on “buzz” volume)– PR Newswire (Annual Fee)

• Create detailed monthly reports to track progress– How many re-tweets on Twitter?

• Create a relationship with a popular user and ask them to re-tweet in exchange for a discount or service!

– How many fans on Facebook?• Would a pay-per-click ad help?!

– What pages are viewed most?• Add links on those pages to the less view content

– What time of day are they visiting your site?• Use that as the prime time to put up new content!

Questions?

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