1. How To: Intro to SEO

2. #451Workshop
Francis Skipper
VP of Digital Marketing
617-259-1605
francis@451marketing.com
linkedin.com/in/francisskipper
@fskip
www.451Marketing.com

3. Agenda…
• Intro to SEO
• Code, Content, Connections
• On Page SEO
• Off Page SEO
• Open Q & A

4. Search engine popularity has increased
Worldwide, 1,722,071,000,000
searches conducted on Google last year.
(Yes, that’s trillion)
4,717,000,000 Per Day

5. What is SEO?
• SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the
process of improving a website to make it
more relevant to searchers and search
engines.
• AKA:
• Natural search
• Organic search

6. What SEO is NOT…
• Paid Search (but it’s also not free)
• Fast
• Guaranteed
• Fire & forget

7. SEO Has Three Core Components
Code Content Connections
• Crawlability • On-Page
• Linking
• HTML • Keyword Density
• Directories
• XML sitemaps • Title Tags
• Social, blogs, articles
• URL Structure • Meta tags
• Press releases
• Robots.txt • H1, H2 etc
• Partners
• Navigation • Anchor Text
• Internal links
• 301’s • Navigation
• 404’s
• Canonical

8. Search Engine Results Page (SERP)
Search
Query
Paid
Results
Organic
Results

11. Code

12. Code - Technical Considerations
 User Input Requirements
 Site Security
Technical issues  Cookie Implementation
limit search index  Robots.txt
 Frames
inclusion  Broken Links & 404 Trapping
 Server Load Balancing
 URL Redirection
 <Noscript> Tags
 Internal Navigational Elements
 Internal Linking
 Domain and URL structure
 Session IDs
 Flash

13. Check for Indexing
Use the “site:”
command on
Google, Bing, & Yahoo.
If site is not
indexed, need to find
what is preventing
search engines from
crawling.

14. Optimized URL
Short, descriptive urls are optimal.
It is very important the url for your webpage contains your
keyword phrase and is no longer than 100 characters.

15. Search Friendly URLs
http://www.451marketing.com/services/search-marketing/

16. Search UN-Friendly URLs

18. SEO Friendly URL - Solutions
• Wordpress: Turn on “pretty permalinks”
• Drupal: Install URL alias plugin
• Magento: Install SEO Links
• LAMP/WAMP: use .htaccess and mod rewrite*
• IIS 7.0: URL Rewrite extension*
*Get your developer to do it

19. Information Architecture
As few clicks as possible for user to get to
content they are searching for

20. Redirects
The Power of 301 Redirects

21. Robots.txt
What is Robots.txt?
The robots exclusion protocol (REP), or robots.txt is a text file webmasters create to
instruct robots (typically search engine robots) on how to crawl & index pages on their
website.
http://www.451marketing.com/robots.txt

22. Robots.txt
Block all spiders and bots:
User-agent: *
Disallow: /
Block a specific spider from a folder:
User-agent: Googlebot
Disallow: /uploads/
Best way to insure blocking by spiders?
<meta name="robots" content="noindex">

23. Content
Everything in SEO, and broader online
marketing, starts with content

24. Content - Performance Considerations
 Site Optimization Tags
Opportunities to increase  Content Gaps
search visibility  Optimizing Website Content
 Internal Linking Convention
 Mirror Domains and Duplicate
Content
 Sub-Domain Strategy

25. Keyword Research
Keyword
To get optimal traffic from search engines, need to
Research
create content around ht
How can you find the best
keywords to include in your
content?

26. Before You:
• Consult a keyword tool
• Analyze keyword density
• Rewrite any content
Sit down and perform a Google search.

27. Keyword Research
Analyze SERPS for Your Keywords
• Who is ranking?
• What are they doing effectively?
• Create a list of competitors
• Is your search too broad?
• Can you add modifiers?

28. Keyword Research
Q: For what Google search should
you rank #1?
A: “innovative, creative, game-
changing”

29. Keyword Research
Q: What do you do/make/sell?
A: “Oh. Cloud-based storage for
small business”.
“Keyword Research begins by admitting that you
may not have all the data” – Totally wise man

30. Determining User Intent
Navigational Queries
Informational Queries 80%of all Searches
Transactional Queries

31. The Long Tail

32. Keyword Research

33. Keyword Research
I. Brainstorm Search Queries
• What would users who know my products type in?
• e.g. full suspension mountain bikes
• What about users who don’t know about my products?
• e.g. mountain bike car racks
• What are some searches I DON’T want to show up for?
• e.g. BMX bikes

34. Keyword Research
II. Research Chosen Keywords
adwords.google.com/o/KeywordTool
www.wordtracker.com
www.keyworddiscovery.com
www.compete.com
www.spyfu.com

35. Keyword Research
II. Research Chosen Keywords
Use “Exact Match”
Be careful about
“Phrase” + “Broad”

36. Google Trends
http://www.google.com/trends

37. Internal Search Logs
#2 Searched Term:
“bed spreads”

38. Competitive
Research
Restrict query
to competitor’s
domain

39. On Page SEO

40. Optimized Titles
Title Tag
and Headings
These are the strongest on-page
indicators to the crawlers of
what your content is about.
Heading (H1 Tag)

41. Keyword Density
(Nkr/Tkn) * 100
Percentage of times
a keyword appears
on a web page
compared to the
total number of
words on the page
Rule of Thumb: 4% - 250-500 words
http://tools.seobook.com/general/spider-test/

42. Optimize HTML Tags
View Source
Right click web page
and select view source
Primary objectives
should be accomplished
from the homepage

43. Optimize HTML Tags
Title Tag
Title tag is main text that describes an
online document. It is the single most
important on-page SEO element (behind
overall content) and appears in three key
places
I. Browser
II. SERP
III. External Websites
(esp. social media sites)

44. Optimize HTML Tags
Title Tag
Optimal Format
Primary Keyword - Secondary Keyword | Brand Name
or
Brand Name | Primary Keyword and Secondary Keyword
Best Practices
Less than 70 characters, as this is the limit Google displays in search results

45. Optimize HTML Tags
Meta Description
Meta Descriptions, provide concise
explanations of the contents of web
pages.
They are used by search engines on
search result pages to display preview
snippets for a given page

46. Optimize HTML Tags
Meta Description and Tags
The meta description should employ the keywords and create compelling
description that a searcher will want to click
Direct relevance to the page and uniqueness between each page’s meta
description is key
Best to keep meta descriptions between 150-160 characters

47. Optimize HTML Tags
H1 Tag
At a minimum, make sure that your primary keyword or
phrase for the page is enclosed in an H1 tag

48. Optimize HTML Tags
Meta Keywords
The meta tags are the main keywords for the page

50. Address & Phone Number
Add to every page
Company Name
Street Address
City, State Zip
555-555-5555

51. Copyright Date
Ensure it is updated annually

52. Check Browser Compatibility
View site in Mozilla
Firefox, Internet
Explorer, and Safari.
Remember to do this on
Mac and PC

53. Set Up Google Analytics
Sign up/verify Google
Analytics.
Let GA run for two
weeks before doing any
SEO to determine a
baseline

54. Evaluate Visual Design of Site
If site drives people
away, no amount of SEO
will help

55. Off Page SEO

56. Ranking Factors
43%

57. The 8 Basic Kinds
of
Link Building

58. #1 - Manual Link Submissions/Requests

59. #2 - Competitive Link Research/Acquisition

60. #3 - Links via Embedded Content

61. #4 - Linkbait & Viral Campaigns

62. #5 - Content, Technology & API Licensing

63. #6 - Partnerships, Exchanges & Trades

64. #7 - Paid Links

65. #8 - Link Reclamation

66. Matching the Right Link Building Strategies
to
Your Organization’s SEO Goals

67. Links for Individual Rankings

68. Links for Domain “Authority”

69. Links for Indexation

70. SEO Tools

71. • Bing Webmaster Tools
• Google Analytics
• Google Webmaster tools
• Google Trends
• SEOMOZ
• Raven Tools
• Rex Swain Http viewer

72. Questions

73. #451Workshop
Francis Skipper
VP of Digital Marketing
617-259-1605
francis@451marketing.com
linkedin.com/in/francisskipper
@fskip
www.451Marketing.com

74. – National Communications Agency
Founded in 2004
– 30 Experienced PR, Social
Media, and Search Marketing
Professionals
– Named a 2011 & 2012

75. Integrated Communications Campaigns
The experienced team at 451 Marketing
specializes in integrating public
relations, social media, and search marketing
tactics into dynamic communications
campaigns.
We work with brands to build
awareness, engage customers, and drive
business using custom, integrated
communications campaigns.