Search Engine Optimisation “SEO Basics” Training23 April 2013

Shanelle Newton Clapham

Parachute Digital

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process of improving your website and content so that it is visible to search engines.

Website SEO aims to make the information & services that your organisation provide deemed most relevant (by the search engine) to match the keywords that their users are searching for.

What is SEO?

SEO means Search Engine Optimisation,

which is optimising your website to make it easier for search engines to find you.

•Good SEO = High rankings in Google search listings (pg. 1)•SEO is about many small tactics, implemented in increments over time to help your website rank better in search engine results. These tactics include:

• Website content (engagement objects [images, maps, video, infographics, ebooks] + words)

• Internal and external linking strategies (expertness)• Information architecture and siloing (URLs and site navigation)• Meta data + keywords (html)• Site map (html and XML) and much more.

Optimising for Google

90% of all internet sessions start with a Search query

Google Global Market share Nov 2012#10 on Google gets more traffic than #1 on Yahoo

93% of all searches in Australia are on Google (Nov 2012)

Optimising for Google

There are [reportedly] over 200 variables in Google’s algorithm which determine rankings, some of them are:

• Content

• language and uniqueness

• frequency of updating

• Duplicate content

• Keywords used and anchor text + alt text

• Domain age

• Where you servers are located

• URL structure

• Internal cross linking

• Outbound and Inbound linking

• Authority of domains being linked to

• XML and html site maps

• Robots.txt

• Page load time

Content is King!

What is ‘Content’?

In the digital world, everything you can add to a webpage is ‘content’

•Written words

•Images

•Video

•Graphs and infographics

•Links.

Treat your Content like a Queen!

Content brings

•Search engines

•People/ Partners/ Prospects

•Credibility

•A good user experience

•Variety

•Inbound links

•Sharing

•Stickiness (repeat visitation).

How people search

There is no right way to search

Different strokes for different folks

Spelling & grammarMicromachining, micro-machining, micro machining

Suggestive or Predictive search

Some people use abbreviations when they type, others only type in 3 letters.

The Consideration CycleFrom generic to specific

How many searches does a shopper make

before deciding to buy?

How many searches does a shopper make

before deciding to buy?

Browsing behaviourThe location of Google’s Sponsored links changes so people don’t ignore it

Browsing behaviour

Universal SearchSearch Preview

Can we make assumptions about a user’s assumed

knowledge?

SEO Fundamentals

The stuff you need to know and get right

SEO FundamentalsWhat you can control

Target keywords for Parachute Digital

• Digital marketing consultant• Online marketing consultant• Internet marketing consultant• Digital marketing consultant Sydney• Online marketing consultant Sydney• Internet marketing consultant Sydney• Digital marketing strategy• Online marketing strategy• User experience website planning• Social Media strategy• Mobile marketing strategy• Content marketing strategy• Email marketing strategy• Search engine optimisation strategy• SEO strategy• SEO optimisation strategy

Ideally every keyword

Parachute Digital wants to rank

well for should have its own

webpage.

Ideally every keyword

Parachute Digital wants to rank

well for should have its own

webpage.

Meta Data or Meta tags

• Page title – the title that shows in Google’s Search listing• Description – the description that shows in Google’s

Search listing• Keywords

• Meta tags must be specific to each page• They must describe the page content and use the SEO

keywords• They must match the page URL• Any words that are hyperlinked through the page content,

should match the keywords (this is called anchor text).

Parachute Digital Meta data example

http://parachutedigitalmarketing.com.au/blog/usability-2/planning-your-website-for-the-best-possible-user-experience/

Ideal: Meta Data example

• Page title: Deforestation, illegal timber imports, logging - Say No to Bad Wood

• Description: The wood you have in your home could be linked to deforestation or logging in some of the world's most precious ecosystems. Help us to ban illegal timber imports of bad wood into Australia.

• Keywords: ban illegal logging imports into Australia, ban illegal timber imports into Australia, ban illegal forest products, Say no to bad wood, ecosystem Papua New Guinea, deforestation Papua New Guinea, illegally logged forest products, logging Papua New Guinea, illegal logging New Guinea, illegal timber imports, illegal logging practices, illegal forest products, illegal timber Australia, illegal logging Borneo, illegal logging Indonesia, illegal logging Malaysia, , good wood Australia, tropical forest timber, ecosystem Sumatra, deforestation Sumatra, ecosystem Borneo, deforestation Borneo, illegal logging, logging Sumatra, logging Borneo, logging Australia, bad wood, ecosystem, deforestation, logging, forests, timber, wood, Australia.

Meta data template

• Page title• 8-10 words: Literally what the page is about

• the most important words first (brand is the last thing)

• Description• 12-24 words: this is what the user will read in the

Google search listings • so it needs to be an accurate description of what is on the

page

• Keywords• 24-48 keywords: this is what we think people will be

typing into a Google Search• starting with the longest keywords (5+ words) down to

single word keywords

Heading tags <H1> to <H6>

Linking – Internal, External, Inbound

Linking is important because Google’s “spiders” crawl the internet, moving from one link to another. So these links should have relevant keywords in them

•Internal linking•creating hyperlinks to move users around your own site

•External linking•hyperlinks that direct users to websites outside of your domain

•Inbound links •Google gives points to sites who have lots of links pointing to them

•Ideally, you want inbound links from authority or “expert” websites (page rank 4 and above).

Anchor text

• The words you choose to hyperlink are called “anchor text”. • Google puts more emphasis on words that are linked or

bolded

• These anchor text words should match your keywords wherever possible

• Therefore, your anchor text gives Google a quick snapshot of your page content and the pages you’re linking to.

Don’t hyperlink words like “Find out More” or “Click here for more information”.We want to hyperlink our keywords such as “digital marketing strategy” or “online marketing consultant sydney”

Don’t hyperlink words like “Find out More” or “Click here for more information”.We want to hyperlink our keywords such as “digital marketing strategy” or “online marketing consultant sydney”

Alt text or Alt tags

Alt text is a literal description of your images that search engines can read.This should be different to the caption (but many websites use the same info).

On Page SEO Template

What you can do now

Quick Wins for your website’s SEO

Quick Wins for SEO

• Improve the page content by using identified keywords within the text on the page

• Remove duplicate pages/ content across the network

• Add page specific meta tags to every webpage

• Increase internal and external linking, with anchor text rich in keywords

• Add more images

• Add alt tags to all images

• Create transcripts for videos.

What else can I do to influence SEO?

• Write articles or Blogs • On your website• On other websites that will link back to you

• Participate in Social media, add social/ user generated commentary to your website

• Create location markers – such as Google Places or GPS maps• Build up your website quality score with Paid search• Optimise your website for Mobile search.

Long term SEO Success

1. Continued publication of new content2. Ongoing maintenance of SEO optimisation3. Quality control and refinement of silos and linking strategy

1. Inbound linking This is really tough!2. External linking3. Internal linking

4. Maintenance of site maps to ensure all pages are indexed1. Html2. XML

5. Regular SEO reporting to measure success and then continue to optimise for best results.

Thank You