Rider University SEO Presentation by Michael Fleischner

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SEO Made Simple Rider University November 2013

description

This presentation was designed for Rider University and delivered on November 13, 2013. The goal of the search engine optimization (SEO) presentation was to provide a basic understanding of organic search and fundamental explanation of organic ranking factors. During this presentation, students should learn: What organic search results are; factors that influence organic search results; the weight of organic ranking factors; techniques for optimizing websites and other digital assets.

Transcript of Rider University SEO Presentation by Michael Fleischner

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SEO Made Simple

Rider UniversityNovember 2013

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A little about myself…

Michael Fleischner

• 15 year corporate career in marketing• Top-selling author and entrepreneur• MarketingScoop, Marketing Blog, Scoop

Marketing Forum• Founder, Upward SEO

o Provide Search Engine Optimization and Reputation management solutions to businesses of all sizes (SEO, local optimization, reputation marketing, reputation management)

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Growth of Google Queries

http://www.quora.com/How-many-search-queries-does-Google-serve-worldwide-every-day

Currently, there are more than 3 billion searches/day

on Google

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Value of Search Engine Traffic

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Yes, You Can Compete with the Big Guys

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Good SEO is Easier

than It Looks

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You Have to Get These Right

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Before You Get These Right

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Using Wordpress? You’re 80% of the Way There

From a talk given by Google’s Matt Cutts at Wordcamp: http://www.howtomakemyblog.com/seo/googles-matt-cutts-wordpress-the-best-blogging-platform-for-seo/

“(Wordpress) is a fantastic piece of software, it makes your site easily crawlable by search engines, solves some 80-90% of mechanics of SEO and is the first big step anyone can take towards creating a popular online business.”

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Other SEO-Friendly Platforms Include:

http://drupal.org/, http://joomla.com and http://www.squarespace.com are all good choices if Wordpress isn’t a match.

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Tools to Help with Accessibility

http://www.google.com/webmasters/

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Keyword Research

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A Simple Process for Choosing Good Keywords

High Volume(many searches/month)

Low Competition(weak sites/pages in the top 10)

High Value(large % of visitors convert)

Ideal Keywords!

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Use Exact Match! Be Careful About Phrase + Broad

Note the much higher numbers!

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Analyzing the Top 10 to Determine Difficulty

Strong, popular sites w/ targeted titles + content

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Analyzing the Top 10 to Determine Difficulty

Weaker, lesser known sites and

non-targeted titles

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Keyword Difficulty Tool

I use SEOmoz tool to drill down on difficulty: http://pro.seomoz.org/tools/keyword-difficulty/

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Value of Visits? Use Analytics Data

Via Google Analytics (http://www.google.com/analytics) which is free!

Good proxies for the value of traffic from these sources

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A Simple Process for Choosing Good Keywords

High Volume(many searches/month)

Low Competition(weak sites/pages in the top 10)

High Value(large % of visitors convert)

Google AdWords

Gut Feel (or KW Difficulty Tool)

Gut Feel (or Analytics Data)

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How Great Writing and Great

SEO Go Hand-in-Hand

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High Volume Keywords = Content People Want

People really want to know this stuff!

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Great Content + SEO + Social Really Works.

Great Content

+SEO

Friendly+

Social Sharing

+Link

Building

=

HigherRankings

More Readers

More Followers

More Influence

=

Virtuous Cycle of Inbound Marketing!

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Link Building

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Why Links Matter to Search Engines

What You Say About Yourself.

What Others Say About You.<

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What Matters in a Link?

Editorially given

From a trusted source

Uses descriptive anchor text

Points to the right page

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What Matters in a Link?

<p><a href=“http://www.upwardseo.com” rel=“dofollow”> Search Engine Optimization from Upward SEO </a> is a great way to improve the ranking of your website and other digital assets like pictures and videos.</p>

Anchor text(tells the engine what

this link is about)

URL(the link target)

Surrounding Text(may provide context on

the link’s relevance)

Rel=“Dofollow”(a tag that indicates search engines should trust/count

this link)

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Manual Link Building

Tactics like discovering the links of competitors, getting listed in directories, resource lists, submitting content, building profiles, etc. are all in the “manual link building” category (above via http://opensiteexplorer.org and http://www.majesticseo.com

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Link Building through Outreach, Networking

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“Natural” Link Building

The AdAge 150 is a brilliant example of link building through the creation and sharing of a resource.

Many of these blogs will use the badge and link to the list, because it makes

them look good!

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Link Building Types•Naked URLs consist of some variation of the actual URL of the link destination. Examples include searchenginejournal.com, http://www.searchenginejournal.com, www.searchenginejournal.com

•Brand Anchors consist of some variation of the brand name of the destination website. Examples include Search Engine Journal, SearchEngineJournal, Search engine journal, and SEJ

•Brand-keyword hybrid anchors consist of some variation of the brand name of the destination website mixed with a relevant exact-match or LSI keyword. Examples include SEO blog Search Engine Journal, Search Blog Search Engine Journal, and Search Engine Journal, a search blog

•Universal/junk anchors consist of words that can apply to any destination website, or are universal in nature, such as “click here,” “visit this website,” and “here.”

•KEYWORDS SHOULD ONLY BE USED IN ANCHOR TEXT ABOUT 20% - 30% OF THE TIME

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Link Building & Social Sharing Resources

There are literally infinite numbers of ways to build links – creativity is your only limitation!

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Social Media & SEO

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Indirect Impacts of Social on SEO

This handy tool can be found at http://sharedcount.com

All these shares lead to visits, which may lead to

links, comments and positive user/usage signals

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Result #42

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Result #13

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Facebook

But correlation is not causation!

Correlation of Social Media-Based Factors(data via Topsy API & Google Buzz API)

Amazing: Facebook Shares is our single highest

correlated metric with higher Google rankings.

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Google+

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Google+

http://searchengineland.com/examples-google-search-plus-drive-facebook-twitter-crazy-107554

Anyone logged-in to any Google service will see results like these. Time to get on G+!

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LinkedIn

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Other Networks to Consider

There are many social networks potentially worthy of participation

10mm

14mm Millions 14mm 6.5mm

2.5mm 500mm 1.5mm

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A Few Specific SEO Questions

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What Was Panda? Do I Need to Worry About It?

Where’s the beef?-low ration of original content above the fold

Pages that exist simply to link to other pages…

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Redundant content

Too many ads

Affiliate links and auto generated content

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What Was Hummingbird?

• What’s “Hummingbird?”It’s the name of the new search algorithm that Google is using, one that Google says should return better results.

• What type of “new” search activity does Hummingbird help?“Conversational search” is one of the biggest areas of focus with this update. Google uses context to determine meaning and return results

Danny Sullivan - http://searchengineland.com/google-hummingbird-172816

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Can Links from Low Quality Sites Hurt Me?

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LOCAL

•Just over a year-and-a-half ago, Google introduced Blended Place Search, merging its traditional organic algorithm with its index of Local businesses from Google Places

•We saw the number of "pure" Local results (those showing traditional "7-pack" formats) go from a consistent majority to a consistent minority

•Local is growing in importance. Estimated that up almost 40% of all search queries have a local component

•All businesses must be listed in Google Places (90% have not claimed) and local search engines

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What About Local/Maps SEO?

http://www.davidmihm.com/local-search-ranking-factors.shtml

Maps Algorithm

Normal Algorithm

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How Do I Get These Cool Results!?

Rel author tag… http://www.vervesearch.com/blog/seo/how-to-implement-the-relauthor-tag-a-step-by-step-guide/

That’s my face!

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What About Those Awesome Video Results?!

http://wistia.com/doc/video-seo

These are great for

driving clicks

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SEO is NOT once and DONE!

Some things to consider:

• SEO is an ongoing process – focus on fundamentals- Quality content- Engagement- Basic blocking a tackling (URLs, keywords, site speed,

etc.)• Authority matters

- Quality link partners- Quality in bound links

• Slow and stead wins the race• Think local

- Growth of mobile devices- Local search engines- Local consumer behavior

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Michael Fleischner, Upward SEO | November 2013

Thank You!Want to get in touch?

[email protected]

MySEOmadesimple.com

Forum.MarketingScoop.com