demystify seo
TRANSCRIPT
Demystify SEOSorting Value from Hocus Pocus
Drew Landis*Marketer, Strategizer, Developer, CV3 Breakerer, Geek
International Greenhouse Companywww.greenhousemegastore.com
What is SEO?SEO: Search Engine OptimizationSEO is a set or the set of techniques by
which web pages are built, created, or formatted to rank as well as possible on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), and to entice users to engage those results
SEO has probably changed as much in the last two years as in the previous 5-10
Why Listen to Me?Since “taking over”,
greenhousemegastore.com has gone from about 2 million in online sales in 2008, to just under 10 million in 2013.
50% increase in total revenue from 2012-2013
60% increase in organic traffic since 2010up 25% just over last year
Professional CV3 breakerBecause I’m the one Nathan asked to be up
here, so :-P
A Word to Non-GeeksIf you are an owner or other such decision
maker in your company, it is useful for you to know this stuff, but...
In most cases, you should not be the one carrying it out. There are professionals for that. They are worth it. Find one, pay one (well).
I then promise you can feel free to put a down payment on the luxury car of your choice.**I don’t actually promise.
90% of consumers begin purchase research with Search
almost half of these are now mobilehalf of that is Local
SEO has the biggest ROI potential of any channel
Google is as Google doesYour customers expect it.
Why is SEO important?
How Does Search Work?
Matt Cutts@mattcuttsHead of Webspam at Google
The first rule......of Fight Club:
“Write and build content for people, not search engines.”
...of Fight Club SEO
Examples of Bad IdeasKeyword Stuffing
if it doesn’t sound ridiculous when you read it then it’s prolly OK“We sell custom cigar humidors. Our custom cigar humidors
are handmade. If you’re thinking of buying a custom cigar humidor, please contact our custom cigar humidor specialists at [email protected].”
Hidden keywordsLink or Content FarmsPaid Links (that aren’t Google or other legit PPC
provider)Non-original, stolen, or duplicate content
If you are not providing value to your visitor with the content on your page, then you are spamming the web and we will punish you for it.Google Sez…
“If you are not providing value to your site visitors, then you are
spamming the web.”#truthhurts
How Do We Provide Value?Well-Structured PagesRelevant KeywordsOriginal ContentLegit Linking SchemesLocal & MobileReputationSite Speed
Page StructureStarting at the TopURL structure
Target keywords in URL if possible, but drop the conjunctions 301 Redirect
CV3 Settings > URI RedirectsUse the HTML5 doctype
<html> or <!doctype html><head>
Use clear, helpful, and relevant Page Titles by using your target keywords
<head> Structure, pt.2Home Page Examples
Bad: <title>home</title> or <title>default</title>Good: <title>Your Store | Keyword, Keyphrase, Super
Awesome</title>Category Pages
Be Specific - Men’s Leather Dress Shoes, not just Shoes<title>Category Name - Keywords | Your Store</title>
Product Pages<title>Product Name - Value Proposition | Your
Store</title><meta> Tags
<meta name=”description” content=”This is a description.”>No SEO value but often used as the “snippet” on the SERPs
<head> Structure, pt.3<meta name=”keywords”
content=”keywords”>Keywords mostly irrelevant for SEO
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<head> Structure, pt.4Authorship (rel=”author”)
you get a nice little mugshot right on page #1 of Google to show your friends
Google is beginning to rank author’s of high reputation higher
increases click-through from SERPs<link rel="canonical" href="
http://www.yourdomain.com/actual-url"/>specifies which version of a page is the one to be
indexed
<head> Structure, pt.3Semantic Markup (Opengraph, Schema.org)
used to create “rich snippets” which greatly increase click-through on the SERPs
Page Structure, <body>HTML5 tags
<header>, <nav>, <article>, <aside>, <footer>
http://www.w3schools.com/tags/Headings
keywords in heading - <h1>, <h2>, etc.section content appropriately
Contenttarget keyword in first paragraph of copy - <p>
<body> Structure, pt.2Aim for 1-4% keyword density
http://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword-density/write your own product descriptions
woot.comif you have a blog, it should be located at
yourdomain.com/blogAnchor Text
<a href=”link”>Your Keyword</a> instead of <a href=”link”>Click Here</a>
Videosjust having video on the page, regardless of whether a
visitor clicks, increases conversions
Choosing the Right KeywordsPage content is what search engines look at, so pick the most relevant 1-3 keywords/phrases and hammer them.
MAKE SURE YOU PICK THE RIGHT WORDSwhat would new customers usewhat about repeat customers?
Use keyword research tools to find new or better keywords
Keywords, pt.2Google Keyword PlannerKeyword SpySpyFuUber Suggest
Content is King (and Queen)Just call it Content Marketing
By far the most value added for your visitors.Original content is the single biggest
tactic you can pursue for long term SEO returns.
Content SourcesCustomer ServiceCompetitor’sTrade publicationsBlogs
set up a feed reader!
Content is King (and Queen)
Social Mediafacebooktwitterg+
follow industry folksAge of content is a factor Google’s algo.
Find your stale content.Curation
Just fake actual content. Filtering is a service.
I got Links and Links andLinks and LinksThe web runs on links.Check your incoming links.A successful link-building strategy is really a
content strategy.http://pointblankseo.com/link-building-strategies
blogfeedsinterlinkingresource pagesforums & member sitesasking (begging)
Links, pt.2Be aware that link building is where people have gotten in trouble in the past couple years.
Penguin and Panda updatesWhat should I avoid?
anyone guaranteeing #1 rankinglink farmscontent farmsmass link submission
What the Hell is SoLoMo?Social Local Mobile http://visual.ly/solomo-stats-no-business-can-afford-ignore-infographichttp://socialmediatoday.com/somolo-revolution-webinar-replay20% of Google searches involve location modifiers
best coffee orlando38% or shoppers use mobile for price comparison
70% of mobile searches result in action <1 hour
SoLoMo, pt.2If you don’t have a mobile site, get one. This
year.Especially true if you have a brick and mortar.Mobile is really the wrong way to look at it.
Design should be “agnostic”Google has begun to factor mobile presence in
their algo.If you are not on Google+, get there.
not much going on, however there are many SEO benefits
much of this is local
SoLoMo, example
SoLoMo, pt.3If you don’t have a mobile site, get one. This year.
Just like the Internet was here to stay in 1997, mobile is here to stay now.
Google has begun to factor mobile presence in their algo.
I guarantee your competitors aren’t waiting.Social sharing buttons.
use the latest code, optimize itLocation Segmentation
SoLoMo, pt.4You may not need all the social networks, but you need the right ones
Pinterest - projects & visualFacebook & twitter - curation, engagement,
customer serviceInstagram - showcase, gallery, add humanityGoogle+ - when you figure what you’re
supposed to do here, let me know
Reputation & SpeedSpeed is something Google factors in their algo
a slow site is costing youfind out site speed best practices
minimize http:// requests, javascript to the footer, css sprites, image compression
https://developers.google.com/speed/docs/best-practices/rules_intro
It will work out better for you if you are an authority in your industry. Content is the way to do this.
Final ThoughtsSEO is not magic. It is not voodoo. It is simply creating great content and sharing relevant information in a way that is easily decipherable by both man and machine.
Questions?
You either have none or a lot, which means I was either awesome or terrible. It’s hard to tell which.
Suggested Siteshttp://static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.google.com/en/us/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdfwww.seomoz.comwww.searchengineland.comwww.searchenginewatch.comwww.mattcutts.com/blogwww.seobook.comhttp://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/