A brief history of the internet, SEO and it’s future

1. A brief history of the
internet, SEO and it’s future
And most importantly how this affects all of us at JUMP

2. Lets start at the beginning
Nearly 26 years ago, on August 6, 1991, Tim
Berners-Lee launched the world’s first
website.
He created a system for sharing and
distributing information not just within a
company, but globally.
This became known as the World Wide Web.
What the internet looks like from space. Serious!

3. Websites began to crowd the internet……like this (notice how they are crowded)

4. Search engines came to the rescue
• There was a need for structure and accessibility

5. 1993.
Excite revolutionised how information was
catalogued
1994.
Yahoo then helped to improve and simplify
everything with Yahoo! Directory
1997.
Google! entered the scene and also helped
indexing and delivering results.
Larry Page & Sergey Brin
Each worth 42 billion!

6. In the early days marketers were naughty and stuffed pages and meta information with keywords and got as many
backlinks as they could get to falsely generate high rankings in search.
Google eventually began to value better content and worked on implementing more rules and regulations to stop this
happening.
An unimpressed Prince George

7. What actually is a search
engine though?
Please, I need to know now!

8. Part 1 of a Search Engine
Crawling
Googlebot is Google's web crawling bot (sometimes also called a
"spider"). Crawling is the process by which Googlebot discovers new
and updated pages to be added to the Google index.

9. Part 2 of a Search Engine
Indexing
Googlebot processes each of the pages
it crawls in order to compile a massive
index of all the words it sees and their
location on each page.
In addition, they process information included in
key content tags and attributes, such as Title tags
and ALT attributes.

10. Part 3 of a Search Engine
Serving results
When a user enters a query (i.e.
‘trumpet’), a search engine looks
through the index for matching pages
and return the results they believe are
the most relevant to the user.
In this case, the most relevant pages for trumpets.
Relevancy is determined by over 200 factors.

11. What the flip is SEO though and why should
our developers AND designers care???

12. Search Engine + Optimisation = YAY
SEO is the practice of increasing the quantity and
quality of traffic to your website through organic
search engine results.
Simply put, it attempts to improve search engine rankings.
How do we do this...

13. Onsite SEO
• On-page factors that
influence search engine
ranking.
• Google’s main method
is a ranking system for
pages known as
PageRank…
• Constantly being
updated

14. RIGHT: Main ranking factors
for every page on a website
PageRank
PageRank (PR) is an algorithm used by
Google Search to rank websites in their
search engine results.
PageRank was named after Larry Page,
one of the founders of Google.
PageRank is a way of measuring the
importance of website pages.
Each year, Google changes its search
algorithm around 500–600 times.

15. 5 on-page factors
1. Content
1. User-Friendly
2. Authoritative
3. Keyword Targeted
4. Heading Tags – H1 –> H6
2. Meta tags
1. Title Tags
2. Meta Descriptions
3. Optimise URL structure
4. Optimise images
5. Internal and External Links

16. 1. Content is king
ONE OF TOP 3 RANKING FACTORS
• Good content supplies a demand - does the
best job of supplying the largest demand
• Good content is linkable - if people can’t link
to it, search engines will be very unlikely to
rank it, and as a result the content won’t
drive traffic to the given website
• Long content is good - tends to rank
significantly higher on Google’s first page.
Don’t be afraid. Boosts dwell time.
• Wrap Title in an H1 Tag – this is the headline
of the page and is very important.
• Start Title Tag with main keyword.
• Subheadings – use main keyword(s) in at
least one subheading.

17. 2. Meta Title tags
• A title tag is an HTML element that
specifies the title of a web page.
• They are the first impression both search
engines and people have of your page.
• The optimal format is something like this:
• Primary Keyword - Secondary Keyword |
Brand Name
• 8-foot Green Widgets - Widgets & Tools |
Widget World
• The ideal title length is under 60
characters. Currently Google’s display titles
max out (currently) at 600 pixels.

18. Search engine result pages
Why are title tags important?
Your title tag determines (with a few exceptions) your display title in SERPs, and is a search visitor's first experience of your
site. Even if your site ranks well, a good title can be the make-or-break factor in determining whether or not someone clicks
on your link.

19. Web browsers
Why are title tags important?
Your title tag is also displayed at the top of your web browser and acts as a placeholder, especially for people who have many
browser tabs open. Unique and easily recognizable titles with important keywords near the front make sure that people don't
lose track of your content.

20. Social networks
Why are title tags important?
Some external websites—especially social
networks—will use your title tag to determine what
to display when you share that page.
In this example, Facebook picked up the Title Tag.

21. Email clients
Why are title tags important?
I noticed the other day that links now
get shown as snippets in Outlook too.
Cool.
Another good reason why we & clients
should optimise the Title tag.

22. A test using wesayhowhigh.com
OLD: “Web Design, Development
and Digital Marketing creative
agency | Newcastle | JUMP”
On the 20th April I changed the
Meta Title.
NEW: “Branding, Graphic & Web
Design, Digital Marketing Newcastle
– JUMP”
7 days later…

23. 2. Meta descriptions
• Meta descriptions are HTML elements
that describe / summarise concisely
the web page.
• They are the first impression both
search engines and users have of your
page.
• Act as extra advertising space in SERPs.
• The ideal description length is no
longer than 160 characters. Any longer
and they will get truncated.

24. Why is the meta description important?
The meta description summarises each and every web page on a site, and is a search visitor's first experience of your site.

25. Please note.
Google announced in 2009 that meta descriptions and meta keywords are not
factors in it’s ranking algorithms.
They are however still an effective way to get users onto a website.

26. 3. URL’s
• URL stands for Uniform Resource Locators
• Human-readable text designed to replace IP addresses that
computers use to communicate with servers.
217.147.91.115
212.113.142.226

27. Optimal URL Format
http://www.example.com/category-keyword/subcategory-keyword/primary-keyword.html

28. Improved user experience
Why do they matter for SEO?
Optimised URLs provide both humans and search engines with an easy-to-understand indication of what
the destination page is all about.
For example, what have I searched for here
Boom! I did indeed search for ‘Canon eo5 5d review’

29. Mobile search
On mobile searches, you may notice that
the URL is replaced with a breadcrumb
path.
Google is taking it on to create this.
Make it easy for Google to do this and we
are all happy … like Kris here …

30. Rankings
Why do they matter for SEO?
• URLs are one of many ranking factors
that search engines use to determine a
particular page relevance to a search
query
• Try and ensure page keywords are
within the URL

31. Links and readability
Why do they matter for SEO?
• Copied & pasted into Forums, Blogs, Social Media or other stuff
• Some websites may leave links unformatted

32. Conclusion
Why do they matter for SEO?
• Keep them simple and relevant
• Does the URL make sense to a user AND a search engine?
• Make them readable
• Hyphens to separate words i.e. /bowling-king-clark
• Use lowercase letters i.e. /bowling-king-clark instead of /Bowling-King-Clark as they may be seen as two
distinct URLs
• No underscores, spaces or any other characters /bowling>king_clark

33. 4. Optimise images
1.Choose the right file type
2.Optimise the images for web
3.Use informative file names
4.Provide ALT text
5.Provide good context for
your image
6.Good user experience

34. Choose the right file type
Optimise images
• JPEG
• Strength: Versatile, small file size
• Weakness: Loss of fine details
• Best Usage: Full colour photographs
• GIF
• Strength: Small file size, allows for animation
• Weakness: Loss of quality of photographs
• Best Usage: Icons, graphics with few colours
• PNG
• Strength: Versatile, supports transparency
• Weakness: Larger file size, doesn’t support CMYK
• Best Usage: Graphical elements

35. Use informative file names
Optimise images
• Give your images detailed, informative
filenames
• The filename can give search engines clues
about the subject matter of the image
• Try to make your filename a good description of
the subject matter of the image
• For example, my-new-black-kitten.jpg is a lot
more informative than IMG00023.JPG

36. Provide ALT text
Optimise images
• The alt attribute is used to describe the contents of an image file
• Google uses the alt text information to help determine the best image to return for
a user's query
• Visually-impaired users or users who have screen-readers are provided with
information about the image which can be vital to them using a web-page.
• Highlights identity of image when you hover over it
Not so good:
<img src=“image.jpg” alt=“”>
Better:
<img src=“image.jpg” alt=“puppy”>
Best:
<img src=“image.jpg” alt=“Dalmation puppy playing fetch”>

37. Provide good context for your image
Optimise images
The page the image is on, and the content around the image (including
any captions or image titles), provide search engines with important
information about the subject matter of your image
• Make sure that images are placed near the relevant text
• Provide good, descriptive titles and captions for your images

38. Good user experience
Optimise images
•Good quality photos
•High up the page
•Specify width & height for page load speed
•Keep the file size down

39. 5a. Internal links
ONE OF TOP 3 RANKING FACTORS
• Help navigate people around your site in a more targeted fashion
• Keep people on your site, particularly if the links are relevant to that
particular webpage
• Provides your audience with further reading options, and if they continue
to click around your site without leaving, this can help reduce your bounce
rate
• Help Google crawl and index your site
• Tells Google (and visitors) that a particular page of content is important

41. 5b. External links
• An external link is a link that points at an external domain
• Links are a form of content and provide value
• External links pass "link juice" (ranking power) differently than internal
links because the search engines consider them as third-party votes
• Search engines want to recommend the best sites. Sites that are unhelpful would
not be considered the best.
• “Outgoing relevant links to authoritative sites are considered in the algorithms
and do have a positive impact on rankings” - Reboot

42. External link test by Reboot
A study conducted by marketing firm Reboot aims to
show that there is a positive correlation between a page’s
outgoing links and its search rankings
Reboot hypothesized that Google can determine the
authority of a page or website based on what other
authority sources it associates itself with (by linking to
them)

43. Helpful uses
• Explanation of technical terms
• Partnerships
• References
• Providing other points of view

44. Final conclusion
How does this effect us all on a daily basis

45. Designers
• Ensure every page has a H1 and ideally that this includes the main
page keyword
• Engaging images, videos and diagrams can reduce bounce rates and
increase time on site
• Wrap sub-headings in H2 tags
• Don’t be afraid to use (and tell clients) to use external links
• Encourage the use of internal linking
• Long content is great, so always test designs with shortand l o n g
content

46. Developers
• Everything the designers need to do, plus more…
• Ensure Meta information is provided on all pages (and ideally make it
editable)
• Ensure URLs match the optimal format and are easily readable
• Make sure images have an informative filename (where possible)
• Provide alt text on all images

47. Everyone
• All of the previous stuff, plus more…
• Encourage our clients to write engaging content that is very linkable
and ideally keyword targeted
• Encourage the use of high-quality images
• Encourage the use of internal & external links
• When discussing websites in the early phases, take time to think
about how the site can be as SEO-friendly as possible

48. The future of SEO
CONTENT
Relevant, natural and well-written content will take over from keyword-
focused content. Google evaluates content according to its relevance—
and not by the inclusion of individual keywords.
To do list ✓
• Fix existing thin content
• Explore fewer topics in greater detail on each page
• Become an expert in your niche

49. The future of SEO
MOBILE-FIRST UX
Friday, November 04, 2016 – Google announce they will index mobile-
first. Algorithms will eventually primarily use the mobile version of a
site’s content to rank pages from that site
To do list ✓
• Create well-coded / well designed, responsive websites so we are
ready
• Ensure images are optimised – large images cause slow loading!
• Ensure navigation is super-simple

50. The future of SEO
OTHER
Encryption – Google confirmed on August
06, 2014 that HTTPS is now a ranking signal.
Interstitials (popups) – Google confirmed
on August 23, 2016 that they will penalise
intrusive popups
To do list ✓
• Switch to HTTPS encryption
• Remove all intrusive interstitials from your
mobile website

51. Google is making a steady push for
rich , quality , and a
perfect experience
links
links

52. The end.
Thanks for listening