This is a presentation I prepared for Star Group to demonstrate the value of SEO and search tactics for each department. It helped integrate SEO more fully into overall strategies. Full integration of SEO into agency marketing teams is more like Search Conversion Optimization, since it goes further than the simple on-site (or even recent social) SEO that is commonly expected of SEOs at agencies. Agencies that create an SCO instead of hiring an SEO are at an advantage.

1. Search Engine Optimization...
How it Can Help You

2. WARNING:
This isn’t an introduction
to SEO or a lesson on how
to “game” Google’s many
search variables

3. SO MANY VARIABLES!

4. WARNING:
This isn’t a lesson
on SEO tactics

5. SEO TACTICS ARE BORING
What is the difference?
STRATEGY
SUPPORTING
TACTICS
Content
Op)miza)on
-­‐
Keyword
Research
-­‐
Header
op)miza)on
-­‐
Site
organiza)on
and/or
IA
restructure
-­‐
Meta
Data
-­‐
Content
Distribu)on
Campaign
Op)miza)on
-­‐
Link
tagging
(to
track
site
visits)
-­‐
Keyword
Research
(to
target
keywords
in
links)
-­‐
Webmaster
Tools
and
Analy)cs
-­‐
Backlink
analysis
(of
compe)tors,
too!)
Technical
Op)miza)on
-­‐
Webmaster
Tools
and
Analy)cs
-­‐
Site
restructure
-­‐
Content
audit
(check
for
dupe
pages,
etc.)
-­‐
Image/video
tagging
-­‐
Back-­‐end
coding
tac)cs
(robots.txt,
404
error
pages,
etc.)
SEO tactics such as including Meta data or setting up Webmaster Tools are more
effective when they’re coordinated with an overarching strategy.

6. This is about When SEO
Can Help You, and How

7. (RE)DEFINING SEO

8. (RE)DEFINING SEO
Search Engine Optimization has not been strictly site-based for years,
rendering most of the definitions Google provides obsolete.
Site-based SEO is the most common tactic deployed for optimization; to
put it in plain English, you must prepare the house for a party if you’re
going to send out invitations.
Since SEO is about more than just the site, I propose this new definition.
SEARCH ENGINE CONVERSION OPTIMIZATION:
The process of optimizing all searchable online assets
and campaigns in order to drive as much qualified
traffic as possible to the most valuable pages of a site.

9. This is Your Campaign

10. And This is Your Campaign On SEO
The goal is not to be just another egg that is online
The goal is to be the most informative,
easily found egg that is online

11. How Can SEO Help Users (and
Search Engines) Find Your Eggs?

12. Paid Search and SEO

13. PAID SEARCH AND SEO: The Difference
Paid
Organic

14. PAID SEARCH AND SEO: Complementary Tactics
Landing Pages and Keyword Optimization
User goes directly to the
Dosage page, which was
optimized with “Dose”,
“Dosage”, “Dosing”, etc.
Potential Results:
- Better Click-Through-Rate; targeted landing pages for specific
search terms can improve CTR
- Lower Cost Per Click; As your on-site keyword authority, measured
by the Google/Bing algorithms, improves, your CPC will decrease
- Increased Search Share; If the page is optimized well organically,
you can “own” the top spots in results for both Paid and Organic,
which increases clicks on each result (per Google data)

15. Social and SEO

16. SOCIAL AND SEO: Gaining Value from Links
Social actually emerged from SEO, so there is a unique relationship.
Briefly, here is how and why Social became its own discipline:
- SEOs found you can improve Organic Search ranks by increasing links to the
site
- Over time, Google devalued links that were not clearly user-generated; “Link
Farms” became SPAM factories, and Google results were being too easily
manipulated by buying - rather than earning - links
- Only links from “bad” sites became detrimental, and the most effective way to
increase user-generated links was (and is still) through social sites and tactics
- This first meant placing links on sites like Wikipedia, Reddit and StumbleUpon,
but has greatly evolved as Social has grown up

17. Media and SEO

18. MEDIA AND SEO: Tracking Success Online
SEO for Media is not about optimizing the actual creative; it is about
tracking the ad’s success in order to optimize it’s placement in the future.
We can even track offline placements that use QR codes or vanity URLs.
It is also about ensuring that there are quality landing pages - as with
Paid - for the user to land on that match the Banner Ad’s language and
topic. Again, this is true even for offline banners.
Potential Results:
- Refined Placements; Tracking allows you to more easily see which
placement generates the highest conversion
- Better Engagement; With corresponding landing pages, banner
ads will be more effective at engaging the user once they’re on the
site
- Consistency Across Platforms; If specific language is used in
offsite branding and ads, the same language should have a home
onsite

19. MEDIA AND SEO: Leveraging Offline Placements
Offline, Saladworks uses the
phrase “Fanatic’ly Fresh”
Searches for the phrase “Fanatic’ly
Fresh” return Saladworks.com because
the term is used prominently on the site
When updating site content for SEO, always ask for all assets, offline included

20. PR and SEO

21. PR AND SEO: Optimizing Online Distribution
There are two key ways SEO can assist PR teams:
1) Optimization of release content; adding keywords where possible,
providing Meta data, and ensuring linking text is keyword-focused
2) Tagging links and reporting data that may be valuable
BusinessWire (and to a lesser extent PRNewswire) has services that can do the rest!

22. Creative and SEO

23. CREATIVE AND SEO: Content and Asset Optimization
Two Words: More Impressions!
If you paint a Mona Lisa, but hang it randomly in a forest, how can users find it?
If you are not optimizing content and not naming and tagging videos or
images well, you are hanging your art in the middle of a forest with no map or
markers to help people to find it!
SEO cannot make your creative better, but it helps ensure that users will find it.
It’s the Mona Lisa!

24. Dev and SEO

25. DEV AND SEO: Getting the Site Indexed
Classic on-site SEO requires updates to coding and things like:
- URL structure/naming
- Image naming/tagging
- Content updates
- XML site maps
- Robots.txt files
Many updates are made only to communicate directly with the search engines
instead of users.
In other words, on-site SEO - outside of content - is very boring. It’s also better
understood; we know that if we alter X, than Y will likely happen.
On-site SEO is science. Off-site SEO is art.

26. DEV AND SEO: Optimizing Search Results
The benefit of good on-site SEO, aside from top rankings, is how those rankings
appear. Tools from Google are available to make your results appear as you
would prefer.
Meta Title
Meta Description
Search Snippets are
controlled via
Webmaster Tools
Title should be mostly branded; if the keyword searched is in there, it usually
helps CTR (organic CTR is tracked in Webmaster Tools!)
Description should be a call to action, similar to a Paid Ad; also good to use
keywords, as inclusion here also helps CTR
Search Snippets (additional page links) should highlight top pages and/or
most vital information, such as new pages with promotions

27. CONCLUSION: WHY CLIENTS NEED SEO
1. It acts as insurance for their online spending
When a client asks us to build them a site, the goal is to get people there. SEO ensures that
the site will perform to its maximum capability and will be trusted by search engines
2. It elevates online campaign performance
Paid costs can be lowered or conversions made more efficient; banner placements can be
tracked and optimized based on performance; content can better target search engines along
with consumers
3. It makes our work better
Determining an SEO strategy can help tie content strategies to social, media, PR, and other
online campaigns, helping to make the user experience more coherent
4. It reveals strengths and weaknesses online
The up-front competitive research and analysis needed to perform proper SEO often reveals
issues that will lead to larger project opportunities, and not just for SEO but for Paid, Media,
Creative, etc.

28. TOOLS FOR SEO
Any Questions?
Contact Josh Spiegel:
JSpiegel@StarGroup1.com