There are many misconceptions about search engine optimization. This session will detail five reasons SEO efforts fail.

1. Affiliate Summit West 2010 Fixing Failing SEO efforts Wil Reynolds (@wilreynolds) SEER Interactive

2. Be a Tiger – Be Focused

3. Be a Tiger Regardless of transgressions, Tiger Woods is someone who always wants to be on top.

4. Be a Tiger Seriously, even when at the top of his game, he re-invented his swing. Its hard to change when you are #1.

6. KILLING the Long Tail

7. ANALYZING Universal search impact

9. SEO

10. Get off the SEO CRACK

12. No Crack? Good Lets get to work

14. Homepages vs sub pages ranking on page 1?

15. # of links pointing in?

16. # of deep links?

17. Adwords competitiveness?

20. How do you find this?

21. Linkscape (paid)

22. Majestic SEO (paid)

23. Yahoo Site Explorer

24. Authority of linking sites?

25. Sometimes these get buried?

27. Sometimes these get buried?

28. Links from NYT – Redbook – GQ – Shape – O Magazine can be useless

29. Develop strategies to maximize the impact

30. Deep links to these pages

32. Client is consistently around 18 – 25 (started in 100’s)

33. Was on page 1 (3M searches / mo – highly commercial)

34. Had links from authority sites / magazines

35. Well respected CEO

36. Great tech team implementing our recommendationsWe’re not moving up anymore!!

38. Not a major brand / household name

39. Did not have keywords in the domain

42. You can’t always replicate the ways big brands get links

44. Image or text link

45. # of links

46. No-followed?

47. IP Block

48. Domain Trust/Authority

49. PageRank (MozTrust)MUST bring this into Excel!!!

50. Linkscape Analysis – Common Trends Do competitors beat you on? Mozrank Passed? No followed links? Authority? Age? Raw # of links?

52. Deep into archives (10-12 clicks away)

53. Never used target anchor text

55. New Link Strategy Not about one offs (guest blog posts) Not about authority Unless we can dictate anchor text Unless we can get placement in plain HTML IS about heavy anchor text IS about networks

56. Your Takeaways DEEP analysis of your competitors (who are ranking above you) is one of the first steps in SEO today.

57. Your Takeaways – Anchor Text # of links is no longer sufficient Authority links are not always better than ads / sponsorships where you can’t dictate anchor text. Watch anchor text rich links in blog posts (they get archived). Homepage anchor text links to something 4 clicks away = ranking fluctuations

58. Affiliate Threat Level is Severe

59. Biggest Threat to affiliates – Shopping Results

60. Biggest Threat to Affiliates – Universal Search

61. Don’t WHINE about GOOGLE

62. Fight Back

64. Review / Best / Top Content

66. Fight Back Fight Back – Buying Guides Listing buying guides in shopping results is new Google is in a constant state of flux It is a hint that Google may like “guide” content

67. Fight Back – Niche Content

68. Fight Back – Niche Content

69. Fight Back – Niche Content Minimal UNIVERSAL RESULTS Go where the big brands aren’t

70. Hit the long tail, HARD Athletic Shoes Site – Google Adwords Sandbox

71. Hit the long tail, HARD Athletic Shoes Site – Google Suggest (generate content ideas)

72. Hit the long tail, HARD Athletic Shoes Site – Yahoo Search Assist

73. Hit the long tail, HARD Athletic Shoes Site – Google Insights

74. Hit the long tail, HARD Athletic Shoes Site – Google Insights

75. Hit the long tail, HARD Athletic Shoes Site – Google Insights Rising Searches

76. Google Insights – Rising Searches Last 12 months 2004 - Present

77. Know the options Insights is a powerful tool, but without setting the right options, you’ll be making decisions on wrong data

78. Impact of Threat Running in a panic is never a good thing

79. Panic = you become someone’s floor cover Ask these guys

80. Panicking Zebra’s become food or floors Ask these guys

81. Impact of Threat – Get Smart, Get Strategic What you’ll need Ranking Checker Capture the SERPS Analytics w/ Alerts Webmaster Tools

83. Captures SERPs

85. Impact of Threat – Google Analytics Analytics Alerts At least 2 weeks Traffic and/or conversions declines significantly Google Intelligence Report (Beta) Automatic Notification!!!!! 

86. Impact of Threat – Google Analytics – How-To

87. Impact of Threat – Google Analytics – How-To

88. Google Webmaster Tools

89. Webmaster Tools – Identify Impact of Universal View Click through Percentage By Month If your position is similar yet your click through % decreases / increases that is an indication to look deeper into universal search factors impacting your CTR. Note: I have seen Google be way off in the ranking report, but it appears to be getting better.

90. Never rest, Google isn’t!

91. Why Can’t We Be Friends?