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Search Engine Optimization

By Brandon White

Search Engine Optimization

SEO – The process of improving a website’s visibility in search engine results pages.

We’ll focus on Google

85% of the search market

Why it matters• It matters to users• 89% of consumers user search to plan purchases• 77% of users always or frequently use an organic

results

• It’s “free” exposure on Google• It’s part of building an online reputation

Chitika – 2013, fleishmanhillard.com – 2012, compete.com 2012

How it worksWhen a user searches -•Google rates your site on hundreds of factors• Each factor has a different amount of importance• Google also considers the user, their device and

location

Check this out: http://www.google.com/intl/en/insidesearch/howsearchworks/thestory

The Factors• Technical• Site content and structure • Domain name and url structure• Page speed• Trust and authority of host

• Popularity• Social signals• Incoming links• Quality of associations• Click-through-rates

The Factors•Content• Relevance to the user’s search • Keyword usage on page and site• Freshness of content• Volume of content (and media) related to the topic• Originality• Spelling and Grammar

What you can do

Page Titles

URLs

• Concisely state what the page is about• Have unique titles for each page• Be descriptive, but not deceptive

• Should be simple and logical• Should relate to the page content• Never have the same content on more than one URL

What you can do

Meta Descriptions

Headlines

• An enticing snippet of the page’s content• Unique for each page• Google will change if unuseful

• Give pages a single headline (H1)• Make sure it’s readable text• Relate to page content• Be concise

What you can do

Avoid text in images, pdfs and documents • Search engines (and

people) prefer easy to read text• Avoid documents• Think mobile friendly

What you can do

•Get links from other sites• Higher quality and relevant links are better• Links from low quality sites are bad

•Build a following in social media•Generate content that visitors will share

Don’t Cheat

Google’s Penguin and Panda updates designed to hurt cheaters and low quality sites

•Give value to your visitors•Don’t use tricks to get people to your site•Don’t do anything in excess

If you only do one thing…

Make your site as useful as you can to your audience.

Reputation

• Technically sound• Mobile friendly• Good content• Fresh content• Good associations• Reviews• News recognition• Social popularity

Competing in SEO requires a good site foundation and persistence that is equal to or great than your competition.

There is huge value in winning.

Thanks

Brandon White@bmatthewwhite