seo for ecommerce today - janet driscoll miller, search mojo
DESCRIPTION
Janet Driscoll Miller, President & CEO, Search Mojo, presented the basics of SEO to the IDEA Industry Standards Committee (ISC). This presentation takes a look at how to impact/improve SERPs within the eCommerce realm and at eCommerce SEO opportunities.TRANSCRIPT
SEO FOR ECOMMERCE TODAY
JANET DRISCOLL MILLER
MAY 22, 2012
SEARCH-MOJO.COM
ABOUT SEARCH MOJO
• Search engine marketing firm founded
in 2005
• Specialize in:
– Search engine optimization
– Search engine advertising
– Social media advertising
– Online reputation management
– Analytics
• Located in Charlottesville, Va.
– Charleston, SC office opening
Summer 2012
SEARCHMOJO.COM
OUR CLIENTS
SEARCH-MOJO.COM
WHAT IS SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING
(SEM)?
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
– Act of improving “natural” result rankings on search engines via
tactics that adjust elements that are important to search
engine algorithms
• Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC)
– Also known as “sponsored results”, advertising that appears to
the top, bottom, or side of search engine natural results
– Typically cost is generated on a “pay-per-click” model, where
advertiser pays for each click a searcher makes on an ad, vs.
the traditional online marketing method of “cost per
impression”.
SEARCH-MOJO.COM
ANATOMY OF SEARCH RESULTS GOOGLE
PPC
Ads
PPC
Ads
Organic / Natural Web Results
SEARCH-MOJO.COM
HOW SEARCH ENGINES
ORGANIC RANKINGS WORK
Search
Engine
Server
Searcher
Searcher
enters
query
Engine
returns
results
Websites
Bots index
websites
Algorithm
ranks sites
SEARCH-MOJO.COM
HOW A BOT INDEXES A WEBSITE
• Follows links through the website
• May index several pages at a time and come back often
• Sometimes bots visit several times per day
Website A
Website B
Website C
Page 1 Page 2
Page 2a
SEARCH-MOJO.COM
HOW THE SEARCH ALGORITHMS WORK
• Complex mathematical equation
• Used to rank websites around a search term in the
search engine
• Key factors include:
– How often keyword appears in page content
– Quantity and quality of links pointing to site
– Age of the website or page
• Result is a position in the search engine result page
(SERP)
SEARCH-MOJO.COM
WHY IS SEO IMPORTANT?
SEARCH-MOJO.COM
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR SEO?
• Answer: It depends!
– Marketing
– IT
• Both play a pivotal role in the success
of SEO
• Marketing must make SEO part of its plan
SEARCH-MOJO.COM
THE 4 BASIC COMPONENTS OF SEO
• Keyword Research
– Select good keywords
– Not too broad (“shoes”), not too specific (“Asics Gel 2010 running shoes”)
• Content Editing
– Include the keywords in the text of the website
– Keyword Density: percentage of times that a keyword appears in page text
– Site structure
• Certain technologies can “block” search engine bots
• Inbound links
– Serves as a measure of site “popularity” on a subject
• Social Media Monitoring
– Tweets count as inbound links
– Find new sites to link from
– Social profiles and Google Plus
SEARCH-MOJO.COM
INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON SEO
• Google Search Plus Your World
– Shows personal results by default
– Based on your “social circle”
• New thoughts on what constitutes
“popularity” or “expertise”
– We used to share things through links on
blogs/websites
– Now we share info via social media
SEARCH-MOJO.COM
WHAT ABOUT THIS INDUSTRY?
• Recent Updates:
– Panda and Penguin
• Penalize sites for duplicate content
– Watch your site rankings closely
• To fix:
– Edit content
– Claim ownership
– Differ it somewhat in verbiage from
site to site
SEARCH-MOJO.COM
WHAT ABOUT THIS INDUSTRY?
• Rich Snippets
– GREAT to enhance click through and visibility
– Does NOT improve rankings
– Add code around current page content
to enable
• Shopping Results
– Create FREE Google Merchant account
to enable
www.google.com/merchants
SEARCH-MOJO.COM
WHAT CAN YOU DO TODAY?
• Create a Google Plus profile
– Create other social profiles
– Link them up on your Google Plus profile
• Get in the Google Shopping Results!
• Use Rich Snippets
• Monitor your results closely
• Google Webmaster Tools
www.google.com/webmasters/tools/
SEARCH-MOJO.COM
CONTACT
Janet Driscoll Miller
800-939-5938 x101
Google+: +Janet Driscoll Miller
(and +Search Mojo)
Twitter: @janetdmiller
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/SearchMojo