1. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
Jan 16, 2013

2. AGENDA
• SEO Fundamentals
• What is SEO?
• Natural Search vs. Paid Search
• Click-Through Rates
• Anatomy of a Search Listing
• Algorithm Changes
• The 3 Pillars of SEO
• On-Page Optimization
• Off-Page Optimization
• Technical Optimization
• Summary
2

3. WHAT IS SEO?
• Search Engine Optimization is the process of influencing
natural search results so the right pages rank for the right
keywords
Higher rankings = more traffic
• SEO is NOT:
Telling Google what pages we want to rank
Buying keywords
• SEO takes time:
Changes in rankings after SEO efforts are implemented can
take from a few days to a few weeks.
3

4. SEO VS. SEM ESTIMATES
Paid Search Results
= ~30% of traffic
Natural Search Results
= ~70% of traffic
4

5. HIGHER RANKINGS = MORE TRAFFIC
Page 1 - Natural Search Click Through Rates - AVERAGE
40%
36.4%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
12.5%
9.5%
10%
7.9%
6.1%
5% 4.1% 3.8% 3.5% 3.0%
2.2%
0%
#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10
Moving from position #10 to #1 can result in a 1,500%+ increase in traffic
* Data Source: 2011 Optify Study
5

6. “CUSTOMERS” VS. SEARCH ENGINES
This is what our customers see: This is what search engines see:
To see source code:
Firefox & Chrome: type CTRL + U
Internet Explorer: select Page >> View Source
6

7. 7

8. SEARCH ALGORITHMS CHANGE… OFTEN!
More that 400 minor changes per year.
That’s more than once per day!
8

9. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
Google changes its search algorithm hundreds of times each year.
2 major updates had significant impact:
• Google Panda 2011 – New criteria valuing high-quality,
user-friendly sites (low bounce rate, high time on site)
• Google Penguin 2012 - penalizing keyword stuffing &
link schemes
Google says: Search is a complicated and evolving art
and science, so rather than focusing on specific algo-
rithmic tweaks, we encourage you to focus on delivering
the best possible experience for users.
9

10. THE 3 PILLARS OF SEO SUCCESS
Technical On-page Off-page
Optimization optimization optimization
• Keyword research • Inbound links from
• Age of domain + • Page mapping
+
external, relevant sites
= SEO success
• Title tags
• Domain strength • Description tags • Inbound links from region-
• No duplicate content • Body copy specific sites
• URL structure • Header tags
• No dash domains • Image ALT text • Social media engagement
• 301 redirects • URL page name
• Canonicalization
• Site speed
10

11. THE 3 PILLARS OF SEO SUCCESS
Technical On-page Off-page
Optimization optimization optimization
• Keyword research • Inbound links from
• Age of domain + • Page mapping
+
external, relevant sites
= SEO success
• Title tags
• Domain strength • Description tags • Inbound links from region-
• No duplicate content • Body copy specific sites
• URL structure • Header tags
• No dash domains • Image ALT text • Social media engagement
• 301 redirects • URL page name
• Canonicalization
• Site speed
11

12. KEYWORD RESEARCH
•Use a keyword research tool like Google Adwords Keyword Tool to identify
search volume potential for strategic terms:
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
•The key is to include keywords people are using to search for your products in the
content you are creating
Enter keyword(s)
Select country and language
Always select “exact match”
This menu can be found on
the lower left hand column
of the screen
12

13. INCLUDE KEYWORDS IN YOUR PAGES!
As Content Creators, you can help ensure strategic keywords appear in these
KEY SEO COMPONENTS of a page:
1. Title tag
2. Description tag
3. Header tag(s)
4. Body copy
5. Image ALT text
6. Link anchor text
13

14. TITLE TAGS
Quick Snapshot:
1. The MOST IMPORTANT tag for SEO
rankings
2. No more than ~65 characters (otherwise it
gets truncated in search results)
3. Primary keyword at the front
4. Include “PayPal” at the end (or elsewhere
if it makes the tag more readable)
5. Include the country if non-US)
14

15. META DESCRIPTION TAGS
Quick Snapshot:
1. No more than ~150 characters (longer
ones get truncated)
2. Primary keyword should appear
somewhere in the tag
3. Goal is to encourage click-through
but not be “salesy”
4. Include the country if non-US
(see Canada example)
Good to know:
• Description tags do not directly influence search results, but
they can encourage users to click, which will help rankings in
the long term
15

16. META KEYWORDS TAG
Quick Snapshot:
1. Meta Keyword Tags have NO
INFLUENCE on rankings
2. They do not appear in search
results or on the visible page
3. We only populate them to help with
the PayPal.com on-site search
results
Fun Fact:
• In the early days of SEO, Meta Keywords Tags did influence
rankings – but after A LOT of abuse (keyword stuffing, keyword
spam), search engines stopped considering them in their
algorithms
16

17. HEADER TAGS
Quick Snapshot:
1. H1 Tags is another importance
piece of on-page optimization for
SEO
2. The primary targeted keyword for
the page should appear in the H1
tag
3. H2, H3, and H4 tags can be useful
places in which to place secondary
targeted keywords
17

18. BODY COPY
Quick Snapshot:
1. Pages should have ~100 words of
INDEXABLE copy – this does not
include links
2. The SEO keywords targeted for the
page should appear 2-3 times each
in the copy
3. “Keyword density” (ratio of
keywords to total text) isn’t used as
a guide anymore
4. Primary goal is to make the text
READABLE for users – no keyword
stuffing or “forcing”
5. If it’s hard to “work in” the SEO
keywords, the page might not be
appropriate for those terms
18

19. IMAGE ALT TEXT
Quick Snapshot:
1. Image ALT Text is a great, but
under-utilized place in which to
incorporate targeted SEO keywords
2. Targeted SEO keywords should be
included in the ALT text – in a
readable way
3. Populating the ALT text with
meaningful content also helps with
Accessibility
19

20. LINK ANCHOR TEXT
Quick Snapshot:
1. Link anchor text helps communicate
the keyword focus for the
DESTINATION page
2. The primary targeted keyword for the
destination page should be included in
the link anchor text
3. This is CRITICALLY important for SEO
– it helps reinforce the keyword focus
for the destination page
4. Links like click here and learn more
provide NO SEO value
5. Links must ALWAYS point to the same
version of the URL
20

21. TAKEN FROM
SEOMOZ.ORG
21 Confidential and Proprietary

22. TECHNICAL OPTIMIZATION
Technical On-page Off-page
Optimization optimization optimization
• Keyword research • Inbound links from other
• Age of domain + • Page mapping
+
PayPal pages
= SEO success
• Title tags
• Domain strength • Description tags • Inbound links from
• No duplicate content • Body copy external, relevant sites
• URL structure • Header tags
• No dash domains • Image ALT text • Inbound links from region-
• 301 redirects • URL page name specific sites
22

23. 301 REDIRECTS
23

24. URL STRUCTURE
24

25. OFF-PAGE OPTIMIZATION
Site quality On-page Off-Page
optimization Optimization
• Age of domain • Keyword research • Inbound links from other
• Domain strength + • Page mapping
+
PayPal pages
= SEO success
• No duplicate content • Title tags
• URL structure • Description tags • Inbound links from
• No dash domains • Body copy external, relevant sites
• Header tags
• 301 redirects
• Image ALT text • Inbound links from region-
• Canonicalization
• URL page name specific sites
• Site speed
25

26. LINK BUILDING
All other things being equal, the page with the most high-
quality, relevant links wins.
Link
Link
Link Link Link Link
Link
Link
Link
Link
Link Link Link Link
Link Link
Link Link Link
Link
Link
Link Link
Link Link
Link Link Link
Link Link Link
Link Link
Link
Link Link Link Link
Link
Link
Link
Link
Link Link
Accept Accept
Link
Credit Link Credit
Cards Cards
A B
WINNER!
26

27. CRITERIA FOR A GOOD LINK
To be valuable for SEO, inbound links MUST:
Be from relevant sites
For international sites, links from the same country are the most valuable
Be high-quality
Include keywords in anchor text
click here = not useful
accept credit cards = very useful!
Point to the targeted page
accept credit cards points to home page = okay, but not great
accept credit cards points to accept credit cards page = perfect!
Use the same URL every time *
These URLs are NOT the same to search engines, even though they result in the same page
1. https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/Marketing/mobile/MobileOverview-outside&nav=0.2.3
2. https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/Marketing/mobile/MobileOverview-outside
3. https://www.paypal.com/mobile
27

28. AN EXAMPLE OF GOOD ANCHOR TEXT
28

29. NOT-AS-GOOD ANCHOR TEXT
29

30. AN EXAMPLE OF GOOD ANCHOR TEXT
30

31. NOT-AS-GOOD ANCHOR TEXT
31

32. ADDITIONAL SEO RESOURCES:
Search Engine Land –
Online resources, industry-leading articles
http://searchengineland.com/
Highly recommend the “Search Cap” daily email
Google Webmaster Blog –
Stay up-to-date with the latest Google news that could affect your site
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/
SEOmoz –
Online resources, numerous tools
http://www.seomoz.org/
Yearly “PRO” memberships can be purchased and can be very useful for
deep research
Marketing Sherpa –
Includes more than SEO, but often includes great info and charts
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/
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33. THANK YOU