Veronica FieldingJuly 27, 2011

SEO and Content Marketing

About DBE

• DBE’s forecast-focused, measurement-based content marketing programs deliver supreme competitive advantage

• Solutions typically include integrating content marketing:– SEO– Paid Search– Mobile– Social Media– Analytics & Measurement

• …into the rest of the mix

World Class Solutions For Leading Brands

SEO Is…

• A part of an integrated content marketing mix• A means to leverage knowledge about search engine

behaviors around the technical and content aspects of the Web

• Is not rocket science But neither is heart surgery

• Great content has always been at the core of white hat SEO

• Now, more than ever, post-Panda, unique, relevant, shareable content drives SEO success

What We’ll Cover Today

• How to approach optimizing your content sets for the websites and other digital properties where they reside

• What matters most: To the search engines To your stakeholders To your business objectives

• How to think beyond the keyword to make shareable the key word

What Panda Did

• It wasn’t a surprise to most “real” optimizers Google doesn’t make changes overnight—it tests them and it’s

up to professional optimizers to pay attention to the signals

• The search engines have always been about connecting people with the “right” answers The right answer means a better user experience

• They look for signals that tell them how they’re doing in providing the “right” answers Old days: on website tags and content Then: in-bound links Panda: unique, quality content written for the reader And: what people are engaging with

Evolving Best Practices

• The evolution we’re seeing is part of a continuous effort on the part of search engines to connect people with the information they are really seeking

• As content publishers, you want to be the “right” answer for the questions that matter to your business

The Content Building Hierarchy…

Source: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/do-tweets-still-effect-rankings

…Is a 3-Way Balancing Act

Action Takers

Marketer Search Engines

White Hat SEO ^Focuses on Content

• What’s changing is how that content moves from the originator (marketer) through the web of influence1. SEO still relies on link building and connecting with influencers

who can redistribute your content 1. Major media

2. Bloggers

2. But it also is skipping the middleman and going right to the public

3. AND the public = content generators too

• Great SEO uses content to get the search engines to pay attention to your story So that your action takers will too

Still

7 On-Website SEO Must Haves

1. Keywords are still the SEO starting point What are the keywords that will draw the action takers that your

business needs?

2. Align the existing content sets with those keywords and assign the content sets a place on your website that becomes its home base For keywords with no existing content to support them, think

beyond text and think shareable from the start

3. Ensure the search engines have no barriers to reaching your content and showcasing it in the top rankings

On-Website SEO for Content Providers

4. Surround the content with optimized on-page best practices: Title tag Description tag (still pulled into the natural search listings to

describe the page) Keyword count Cross and outbound links

5. Make Your Content Unique—add Author Tags Tells search engines that the content originated with you Enables search engines and other web services to identify

works by the same author more easily.

On-Website SEO for Content Providers

6. You can still use the ROD model for link building (research/outreach/distribute content)--just don’t rely on it exclusively. Article placements on authority sites with anchor-text link back to

keyword optimized page—articles must be unique, not mass distributed

Directory listings Web release distributions

7. Now think SHAREABLE What do you need to do to the content to get your action

takers to be engaged and to share around the content:• Pass it along• Comment on it• Point to it

Shareable Content – Think Connections

• For example: if we start with your content as a web page Think of key points that could be tweets with links to the page Load related images to Flickr and tag them Upload short video interviews with the author or other subject

experts, tag and link to your other content sets to YouTube, Ustream.TV, etc.

Talk about related topics in online groups (a la LinkedIn Groups)

Make related presentations that link to the article downloadable from various points on the Web

Create a podcast, load it to popular channels, tag it and cross-promote it on BlogTalkRadio, PodOmatic, PodcastAlley, etc.

Here’s How That Can Play Out

Shareable Content – Think Connections

• Think beyond “lots of keyword-rich content” to engagement and shareability

• Think cross-pollination• Think building momentum

Lots of Keywords Engagement Shareable

Engagement

7 Off-Website SEO Must Haves

• Content has got to be:1. Unique

2. Relevant

3. Real

4. Connect with the person

5. Shareable

6. Easy to share

7. Trackable for the marketer

Uniqueness Counts

• No one wants content they can easily find anywhere else Webmasters don’t want to post it Bloggers don’t want to write about it People don’t want to read the same thing repeatedly

from one website to another

• Everyone wants something theycan’t find anywhere else Including the search engines

• Make your content one of a kind to ensure offsite SEO success

Marketing 101: Relevance for Receipt

• Know your stakeholders—Marketing 101 hasn’t changed Marketing always starts with the recipient’s need in mind Broadcasting is dead Customize the messaging and deliver channel as much as you

can

• Content has to be relevant to be meaningful Instantly recognizable as having a value

• I was thinking about that!• I need that!• My friend would like this.• My boss was just mentioning this.

They’ve Got to Trust It

• Make the content reliable/trustworthy In this age of untruth and distrust, make your content 100%

right:• Factual• Grammatical• Error free punctuation

Trust is built from many perspectives

Create a Connection

• Creates an emotional or intellectual connection—a positive one to associate with your brand

• First they should think/feel: Funny Heartwarming Smart Ah-ha Hmm Cool!

• Next they should be in a hurry to share it!

Make It Shareable

• If you connect with the person, they will want to share it because they want to pass the value you sparked along: With their boss (This may help you.) With their colleagues (Would this be helpful?) With their friends (Is this funny or what?) With their family (Remember we were talking about this?)

So Make It Easy to Share

• Break content into smaller bites • Spin it into different media• Connect the pieces so people can self-select the ways

they want to ingest the fuel you’re providing• Consider rewards for sharing: badges, coupons,

exclusive deals, etc.

Make It Trackable

• Set measurement systems for success• Tag and track everything• Monitor, measure, inquire, improve

Don’t Forget: Technical Considerations

• Don’t put the content behind a registration field If you offer subscription based access to your website

content, implement Google's First Click Free (FCF) for your content so Google knows you are permitting 5 free accesses per user each day.

• Don’t provide identical or vastly similar content that's accessible through multiple URLs

• Still avoid Flash intro pages—and flash doesn’t work well on many mobile devices either

Don’t Forget the Mobile Factor

Source: Morgan Stanley 11-3-10

Make Sure Your Content Is Mobilized

• Resides on mobile friendly pages• Chunked into bites digestible by action takers on the go• Easily saved for deeper review later, links easily to

expanded info

Bonus Info: Tips and Tools

Free Keyword Research Tools

– https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

– Keyword Tool and Traffic Estimator to identify competitive phrases and search frequencies

– http://www.google.com/insights/search/#

– Compare search patterns across specific regions, categories, time frames and properties

Free Keyword Research Tools

– http://www.google.com/trends

– See what keywords people are searching for by region and timeframe

– www.google.com/adplanner

– Media planning tool to identify websites your target customers are likely to visit

– Good for competitive intelligence

Tags in Your Page Coding

• Title Tags

– Text in the top of the browser when visiting a website

• Meta Description Tags

– Text shown in search results underneath the site URL

• Both tags entered in the website source code

Optimized Content Best Practices

• One keyword per page

• 250 words “visible” page content

• 3-5 keyword mentions

– Placement in top 1/3 of page

– Use in headers (H1 tags) and sub-heads (H2 and H3 tags)

Free Links Research Tool

– http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/

– External links

– Internal links

– Competitors’ links

Questions, Contact and Connect

Veronica Fielding

Twitter: @VFieldingLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/veronicaFielding

VFielding@DigitalBrandExpressions.com

Or Call Toll Free: 866/651-6767