seo: from soup to nuts (part 1)

SEO from Soup to Nuts

Stephan Spencer VP of SEO Strategies, Covario

2 © 2009 Stephan M Spencer Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com [email protected]

FirstOff...WhoAmI?

• VPofSEOStrategiesatCovario• FoundedNetconceptsLLCinMadisonWIin1995.SoldittoCovarioin2010.FoundedNetconceptsLtdinAucklandin1999.

• LivedinNewZealandfor8yrs,returnedtoUSin2007.

• InventorofGravityStream,apay‐for‐performanceSEOtechnology(rebrandedasOrganicSearchOpUmizer)

• Co‐authorofTheArtofSEO

KeywordResearch

Toolsforbrainstormingaseedlist– Quintura– GoogleSuggest(nowintegratedintoGooglesearch)– YahooAssist– Soovle

Toolstocheckpopularityofkeywordsearches– Wordtracker– Trellian’sKeywordDiscovery– Google’sKeywordSuggesUonTool– GoogleTrends– GoogleInsightsforSearch

Quintura

• Clickontermsonthele_torealignthedata.

• ShowsrelaUonsofterms&websiterelatedresults.

www.quintura.com

Quintura

• Pros– Free!– DataisfromalargesampleofInternetsearches(includingallsearchesonYahoo!).

– ProvidesavisualrepresentaUon• Cons

– NoquanUfiabledata– InterconnecUons&relaUonsmaynotberelevant

GoogleSuggest

• OriginallyaseparatetesUnglabinbeta,rolledintowebsearchAugust2008.

• Searchvolumeinferredbasedonorder,butnoquanUfiablevalue.

GoogleSuggest

• Pros– Free!– DataisfromGooglesearchdata– ProvideslivesuggesUonsasyoutype

• Cons– NoquanUfiabledata– Basedontypingorder

• PartofYahooSearch• Kicksinwhendelaywhileenteringsearchphrases

• Wordcanmatchanypartofsearchphrase

YahooAssist

YahooAssist

• Pros– Free!– DataisfromYahoosearchdata– ProvideslivesuggesUonsasyoutype– TypedphrasescanmatchanywherewithinthesuggesUons

• Cons– NoquanUfiabledata

Wordtracker

• Enterinkeywords&searchphrasestobeexpoundupon.

• Buildoutaprojectwithrelevantterms.

• Useforbrainstormingaswellasdrillingdownintospecificphrases.

• ObtainquanUfiablesearchnumbers. Freeversion:freekeywords.wordtracker.com

Wordtracker

Pros– Basedonlast130daysworthofsearches– Singularvs.plural,misspellings,verbtensesallseparatedout– AdvancedfuncUonality:keyword“projects”,importdatainto

Excel,synonyms,… Cons

– RequiressubscripUonfee($59/monthor$329/year)– DataisfromasmallsampleofInternetsearches(fromthe

minorsearchenginesDogpileandMetaCrawler).– Containsbogusdatafromautomatedsearches– Nohistoricalarchives

KeywordDiscovery

• SimilarfeaturesasWordtracker.

• Trendgraphsprovideavisualthatgoesbeyondtotalsearches.

• Varioussenngstorefinedata.

• Note:pluralsenngonlypluralizesthelastword.

Freeversion:www.keyworddiscovery.com/search.html

KeywordDiscovery

Pros– Fullyearofhistoricalarchives– DataisfromalargersampleofInternetsearches– Singularvs.plural,misspellings,verbtensesallseparatedout

– Cansegmentbycountry– AdvancedfuncUonality:keyword“projects”,importdataintoExcel,synonyms,…

Cons– AccesstothehistoricaldatarequiressubscripUonfee($69.95/monthor$599.40/year).

– Containsbogusdatafromautomatedsearches

• Enterinlistsofterms.

• Pulltermsfromawebpage.

• Searchvolume– SwitchtoExact

match– ShowSearchVolume

Trendscolumn.

GoogleAdWordsKeywordTool

Free version: adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

GoogleAdWordsKeywordTool

Pros– Free!– AccessingwithinGoogleAdWordsyieldsmorefeatures– DataisfromalargesampleofInternetsearches(fromGoogle)

– Singularvs.plural,misspellings,verbtenses– Cansegmentbycountry(withinAdWords)– Synonyms– Monthly&averagesearchvolumes

Cons– NumbersareapproximaUons

• Providesagraphical,relaUvesearchvolumecomparison.

• Enterinupto5searchterms.

• Showsrelatednews.

• Sign‐intogetrelaUveranking.

GoogleTrends

www.google.com/trends

GoogleTrends

Pros– Free!– SigningintoGoogleaccountprovidesaddiUonaldetail&features– DataisfromalargesampleofInternetsearches(fromGoogle)– Showsrelatednewssearches– Cansegmentbyregionorsubregion– FilterbyUmeframe– Canrunagainstwebsitesaswell

Cons– NumbersarepurelyrelaUonaltothequeryset– Nowaytoexport– Onlypresetdatafiltering– Limitedtobroad,popularsearchphrases

GoogleInsightsforSearch

• SimilartoGoogleTrends• AddiUonaluniquefeatures

– Compareagainstacategory– Geographicsearchvolumemaps

– ProvidesarelaUveindexmeasureagainstallsearchesperformedonGoogleoverUme.

www.google.com/insights/search/

GoogleInsightsforSearch

Pros– Free!– SigningintoGoogleaccountprovidesaddiUonaldetail&features– DataisfromalargesampleofInternetsearches(fromGoogle)– Showsrelatednewssearches– Showstopsearches– Showrisingsearchphrases– Cansegmentbyregion&subregion– FilterbyUmeframe,evencustomdateranges– ExportasCSV

Cons– Numbersareanormalizedindex– Limitedtobroad,popularsearchphrases

SevenStepstoHighRankings

1)GetYourSiteFullyIndexed2)GetYourPagesVisible

3)BuildLinks&PageRank

4)LeverageYourPageRank

4)EncourageClickthrough

6)TracktheRightMetrics

7)FollowBestPracUces

1)GetYourSiteFullyIndexed

Pagescan’trankiftheyaren’tindexed ThebereryourPageRank,thedeeper&moreo_enyoursitewillbecrawledbyGoogle.

IndexaUonchallengestypicallystemfrom:– Overly‐complexURLs– ContentduplicaUon– CannibalizaUon– Non‐canonicalizaUon(wwwvs.non‐www)

IndexaUon…toomuch,ornotenough?

WhatShould&Shouldn’tBe

Page#esUmatesarewildlyinaccurate,&includenon‐indexedpages(e.g.oneswithnoUtleorsnippet).

MisconfiguraUons(inrobots.txt,inthetypeofredirectsused,requiringcookies,etc.)cankillindexaUon.

UUlizeXMLsitemapstohelpindexaUon&overcomecrawlinghurdles.

Makesureyour“404FileNotFound”pagereturnsahard404headerstatuscode.

KeepduplicatepagesoutoftheindexbystandardizingyourURLs,eliminaUngunnecessaryvariables,using301redirectswhenneeded,&CSSstylingforprinterfriendly.

ComplexiUesCanKilltheCrawl

Searchenginesarewaryof“dynamic”pages‐theyfear“spidertraps.”

Avoid:– stopcharacters(?,&,=),‘cgi‐bin’– sessionIDsorlongnumericalstringsthatmightappear

likeasessionID.– unnecessaryvariablesinyourURLs,tracking

parameters.– frames– redirects– pop‐ups– navigaUoninFlash/Java/JavaScript/pulldownboxes– Ifnotfeasibleduetoplaxormconstraints,canbeeasily

handledthroughproxytechnology(e.g.,Netconcepts’GravityStream).

Tips:‐ Passparametersviacookies‐ Appendtrackingparametersasanamedanchorusing“#”insteadof“?”E.g.,ratherthantrackinglike?nav=footeruse#nav=footer.

‐ UseCSS&HTMLfordropdownmenus,onlyrelyingonJavaScriptfortheinteracUvity.

‐ Usehyphenstoseparatewordsinsteadofunderscores.

AvoidComplexURLs

• Mayinhibitorevenpreventcrawling.

• WatchPageRank,checkcache&indexaUonofURLstodeterminewhereissuesmaylie.

One click in and cached: www.cdw.com/shop/search/hub.aspx?wclss=C

Two clicks, not cached: www.cdw.com/shop/search/hub.aspx?wclss=C3&cm_re=HubPA-_-Computers-_-notebook+computers+hub

CanonicalizaUon

• Onesource–onedesUnaUon

• Atitssimplest,referstothehomepage.Example:– qvc.com– www.qvc.com

• RelatestoanycontentduplicaUon.

• “Canonical”tagcanhelp

Robots.txt

• Protocolforblockingbots– KeepthemoutofspecificsecUons– Helpavoidduplicatecontent– Auto‐discoveryofXMLsitemap– Donewrong,canblockbotsfromenUresite– Unfortunately,tooo_en,implementedincorrectly

Tip: This will block all bots from your entire site User-agent: * Disallow: / Are you sure that’s what you want?

InfiniteURLBloat

• InfiniteURLcombinaUonsdueto:– PaginaUon– SorUng– Filtering– DisplayopUons

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/LCD-Plasma-TVs/sem/rpsm/catOid/-12869/N/20012866+20012867+20012869+40001426+4589/link/ref/Ns/accm_num_unts_sld|1/link/ref/rpem/ccd/categorylist.do

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/LCD-Plasma-TVs/sem/rpsm/catOid/-12869/N/20012866+20012867+20012869+4589+40001426/link/ref/Ns/accm_num_unts_sld|1/link/ref/rpem/ccd/categorylist.do

XMLSitemaps

Informthesearchenginesofyourpages.– Auto‐discoverythrough

robots.txt.– GoogleWebmasterCentral– YahooSiteExplorer– BingWebmasterCenter

NotasoluUonforbadURLs Google’sreporUngofindexed

URLscomparedtototalURLssubmiredmaybeanindicatorofURLorcontentquality.

2)GetYourPagesVisible

100+“signals”thatinfluenceranking “Titletag”isthemostimportantcopy“onthepage” Homepageisthemostimportantpageofasite

Everypageofasitehasa“song”(keywordtheme) IncorporatekeywordsintoUtletags,hyperlinktext,headings

(H1&H2tags),altarributes,&highupinthepage(wherethey’regivenmore“weight”).

EliminateextraneousHTMLcode “Metatags”arenotamagicbullet

HavetextfornavigaUon,notgraphics Don’tletwhizz‐bang,oh‐ahbringyoudown

MeaningfulTitles

• Keyword‐rich,withoutbeingspammy.

• Leadwithmostimportantkeywords.

• Looksgoodtohumans&bots.

• DPReview.com– #1for:digitalcamera– #1for:digitalcameras– Page‐1inGoogleforall

phrasevariaUonswithinUtle.

Digital Camera Reviews and News: Digital Photography Review: Forums, Glossary, FAQ

NotSoMeaningfulTitles

• NotchangingUtlesisawastedopportunity.

• Checkyourownsiteforthiscostlymistake. site:www.domain.cominUtle:“UnUtledDocument”

DuplicateTitleTags

• CheckforduplicaUon– Usespecialquerieswith

GoogletofindduplicaUon.

– Over9,000duplicatesofthisUtlealone…whatdoesitsaytoGoogle?

• PurelyduplicateUtles• CanonicalizaUon• Parameters&URLbloat

site:www.officedepot.com intitle:"Office Supplies: Office Products and Office Furniture: Office Depot"

VisuallyAppealingtoHumans

• Textualbodycopy• TextualnavigaUon&

links.

• Doesn’tmeanasitecan’tbevisuallyappealing.

TextuallyAppealingtoBots(&humans)

• Checkfortextvs.images:– Selectindividualtext– Ctrl‐Atoselectall– View“textonly”

versioninGooglecache.

MetaTagsNoMagicBullet

• MetadescripUonsaresomewhatimportant,butonlyforclickthrough.

• Metakeywords–ignoredbyGoogle&Bing,nodiscernablevalueinYahooorAsk.

CodeBloat–MoreCodeThanCopy

• Tables‐basedlayoutsvs.table‐less&CSS.

• Inline&embeddedCSSvs.external.

• EmbeddedJavaScriptvs.external.

BewaretheWhizzBang

• FurtheryoumovefrompureHTML,thegreatertherisksofstoppingthebots,oreventurningawaythehumans.– JavaScriptpowereddropdown

navigaUons.– AJAXinteracUvity– Flash

• Progressiveenhancement–startwiththelowestcommondenominator,thenlayerontheeffects.

ThisNokiapagemaysUllbeloading…Ididn’twaittofindout.

3)BuildLinks&PageRank

“Linkpopularity”affectssearchenginerankings PageRank–Linksfrom“important”siteshavemoreimpact

onyourGooglerankings(weightedlinkpopularity). GoogleoffersawindowintoyourPageRank

– PageRankmeterintheGoogleToolbar(toolbar.google.com)&3rdpartytoolslikeSEOforFirefox&SEOChat.comPageRankLookupareallpoweredbyGoogle’sToolbarServer

BingandYahoohavesimilarmeasurestoPageRank ExcellentalternaUvetoPageRankscore:mozRank

(Linkscape)

LogarithmicNatureofPageRank

39

4)LeverageYourPageRank

• Yourhomepage’sPageRankgetsdistributedtoyourdeeppagesbyvirtueofyourhierarchicalinternallinkingstructure(e.g.breadcrumbnavigaUon).

• PayarenUontothetextusedwithinthehyperlink(“Googlebombing”).

• UUlizerel=“nofollow”internally,butwithcare• Don’thoardyourPageRank• Don’tlinkto“badneighborhoods”

AvoidPageRankDiluUon

• ManyofthestructuralissuesthatimpactindexaUon,canimpactPageRank.– CanonicalizaUon(www.domain.comvs.domain.com)

– Duplicatepages:(sessionIDs,trackingcodes,superfluousparameters).

– Ingeneral,searchenginesarecauUousofdynamicURLs(with?,&,and=characters)becauseof“spidertraps.”

• RewriteyourURLs(usingaservermodule/plug‐in)oruseahostedproxyservice(e.g.,GravityStream).

Read:catalogagemag.com/mag/markeUng_right_page_web/

• 1product• 5differentURLs

– DiluUngPageRank– Duplicatedcontent– Self‐compeUng,cannibalizing

– Dilutedcrawlequity

EvenYouKnowWhoStruggles

5)EncourageClickthrough

BeingontopofsearchresultscommandsarenUon.It’sanimpliedendorsement.

SynergisUceffectofbeingatthetopofthenaturalresults&paidresults.

EnUcetheuserwithacompellingcall‐to‐acUon&valueproposiUoninyourdescripUons.

YourUtletagiscriUcal SnippetgetsbuiltautomaUcally,butyouCANinfluencewhat’sdisplayedhere.SeemySELarUcle:searchengineland.com/anatomy‐of‐a‐google‐snippet‐38357

PowerofPosiUon

• Wheredosearcherslook?– Enquiro,Did‐itEyetools

study.– GoldenTriangleor“F”shape

• Focuson– Naturalsearchvs.Paid– Abovethefold– Reinforcementbasedon

searchtermpresence.

• Genngthereisonlyhalfthebarle.– DoUtlescapUvate?– Doesthe

descripUonreinforcethesearchterms?

– DoesthedescripUoncallthesearchertoacUon,leadingtoclickthrough?

DoYouSinginSearch?

6)TracktheRightMetrics

• IndexaUon:#ofpagesindexed,%ofsiteindexed,%ofproductinventoryindexed,#of“freshpages.”

• Linkpopularity:#oflinks,PageRankscore(0‐10)

• Rankings:bykeyword,“filtered”(penalized)rankings

• Keywordpopularity:#ofsearches,compeUUon,KEI(KeywordEffecUvenessIndicator)scores.

• Cost/ROI:salesbykeyword&byengine,costperlead

SEOMetrics

• Gobeyondrankings,referrals,conversions,andrevenue.

• AlsobeyondindexaUon,linkpopularity,keywordpopularity,KEI,PageRank

• UsealternaUvetrust&authoritymetricslikemozRank&mozTrust

• TrackandmeasurethehealthoftheLongTailoforganicsearch

SEOMetrics

• Pageyield–%ofuniquepagesyieldingsearchengine‐deliveredtrafficinagivenmonth

• Keywordyield–raUoofkeywordstopagesyieldingsearchtraffic

• Brand‐to‐nonbrandraUo–%ofsearchtrafficcomingfrombrandkeywordsvs.nonbrandkeywords

• Uniquepages–non‐duplicatepagescrawled

SEOMetrics

• Visitorsperkeyword–raUoofsearchenginedeliveredvisitorstosearchterms

• Index‐to‐crawlraUo–raUoofpagesindexedtouniquecrawledpages

• Engineyield–howmuchtraffictheenginedeliversforeverypageitcrawls

• Moreontheseathrp://www.pracUcalecommerce.com/arUcles/506/SEO‐Metrics‐That‐Marer/

7)FollowBestPracUces

• Targetrelevantkeywords• Don’tstuffkeywordsorreplicatepages• Createusefulcontent• Don'tconceal,manipulate,orover‐opUmizecontent

• Linksshouldberelevant(noscheming!)• Observecopyright/trademarklaw&Google’sguidelines

• AndsomeUmesthebestpracUcesarejustavoidingtheworstpracUces…

SpamminginItsManyForms…

• Hiddenorsmalltext

• Keywordstuffing• Targetedtoobviouslyirrelevantkeywords• Automatedsubminng,resubminng,deepsubminng• CompeUtornamesinmetatags

• Duplicatepageswithminimalornochanges

• Spamglish• Machinegeneratedcontent

SpamminginItsDarkerForms…

• Pagejacking• Doorwaypages• Cloaking• SubminngtoFFA(“FreeForAll”)sites&linkfarms

• BuyingupexpireddomainswithhighPageRanks• Scraping• Splogging(spamblogging)

DoorwayPageExample

• BMW.dehostedmanydoorwaypageslikethisone,withlotsofkeywordstuffedtextforsearchenginespiders…

DoorwayPageExample

• Whichusedasneakyredirecttosendhumansearcherstothispage.

NotSpam,ButBadforRankings

• Splashpages,content‐lesshomepage,Flashintros• Titletagsthesameacrossthesite• Errorpagesinthesearchresults(e.g.,“Sessionexpired”)

• "Clickhere"links• Superfluoustextlike“Welcometo”atbeginningofUtles

• SpreadingsiteacrossmulUpledomains(usuallyforloadbalancing).

• Contenttoomanylevelsdeep

InSummary

• Focusontherightkeywords• Focusonsitearchitecture• Havegreatkeyword‐richcontent• Buildlinks,andthusyourPageRank• SpendthatPageRankwiselywithinyoursite• Measuretherightthings

• ConUnuallymonitor,benchmark,&don’tbeafraidtotest

NowWhat?

• Whatcanyoudotomorrowthatwillimproveyoursite’sSEO?Writedown3things.Get‘emdone!

• Remember:youeatanelephantonebiteataUme

• Tocontactme:[email protected]• ForanSEOBest&WorstPracUceswhitepaper&checklist,e‐mailme

seo: from soup to nuts (part 1)

Documents