seo, keywords and google analytics
DESCRIPTION
What it SEO, how does web searching work, why are keywords so crucial (and how to optimize them), how to harness Google Analytics to master your campaign; plus- QR Codes, building a trackable URL, Google Trends, AdWords and more!TRANSCRIPT
SEO, Keywordsand Google Analytics
09 July 2013 • #UNHCS13Neil Larson, Technical Lead, New & Emerging Media
How will they find you?
Hyperlinks
Other siteSocial mediaEmail or IMQR codes, texts
Typing in a URL
• Short• No extraneous characters• Real words with meaning• Character clarity
Web Search
Google or Bing
SERP snippet is your calling card…
How will people get to you?
Following a hyperlink• Other site• Social media• Email or IM• QR code or SMS
It All Begins with a Search
it will probably be:
…but don’t bank on it!
The Science of Search
The Science of Search
The Science of Search
Relevancesite content | URL | semantics
Authoritymarkup | trustworthiness | page-links
The Science of Search
Keyword Resources
•Google Ad Words
•Google Trends
•Webmaster Tools (Google / Bing)
•Google Analytics
•MOZ
The Science of Search
Keyword Stuffing
The Science of Search
FrequencyHow often is it searched for?
RelevanceHow specific is the search?
CompetitionHow many others are using your keywords?
The Science of Search
Search Engine Results Page
Paid AdsPaid Ads
SERP Snippet
Page Title (meta)URL
Description (meta)
SERP SnippetPage Title (Meta Tag)
• Include the name of your site, not just the specific topic.
• Use Vertical Bar to separate entities• Approximately 65 characters
SERP SnippetPage Title (Meta Tag)
Drupal users take note if changing your title…
Your URL alias may change as well. If you have already shared the link through social media or otherwise, uncheck the ‘automatic alias’ box so that your URL can remain the same.
Webpage URL
• Concise but relevant• Consider using keywords or phrases• Separate words with hyphens• Use real or recognizeable words, keep
abbreviations to a minimum• Tildes (~) denote amateur websites
SERP Snippet
Bad URLsSince spaces can’t exist in URLs, this may cause some confusion. Most people are used to deciphering strings of text
Avoid tilde characters and try to get around using “weighty” words like ‘adult’ in your URL.
Link shortener services like bit.ly are great, but especially for print situations, be sure to customize them with real words. In this case the last two characters are unclear. After two failed attempts to type in a URL, most users will give up & move on…
Bad URLs
come on, really…?
Description
SERP Snippet
• 150 – 160 characters; think of this with a Tweet-composing mentality.• In other words, be compelling.• If description field is non-existent, search engines will grab either the first
text that appears on your site, or possibly some arbitrary text instead, which might not have a lot of relevance to your site!
• Drupal users: check in with Web Solutions for a way to optimize your meta descriptions
Preview your SERP snippets!
SEO Strategy
• Headers• <h1> and <h2> tags
• Body text• <p> element / <em> and <strong>
• Images• <img> ‘alt’ meta tags
• Navigation• Organized and consistent
• Page Speed• Image size, extraneous scripts, etc
Why is the Site Slow?
Y-Slowyslow.com
Google Page Speeddevelopers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/
Finding KeywordsGoogle AdWords: www.google.com/adwords
What’s Hip & TrendingGoogle Trends: www.google.com/trends/
Google Analytics Concepts
Pageviews vs. Unique Pageviews
A pageview is tallied when a page is loaded. For example, if you click a link and the page loads, you’ve triggered a page view. If you click that link 10 more times, there will be 10 more page views. Same thing if you refresh the site or navigate back to the site from a different page, page views are continuously tallied.
Unique pageviews are tallies of page views that are generated by the same user during the same session. A session is visits within a period of 30 minutes or more. Future activity is attributed to a new session. Users that leave your site and return within 30 minutes are counted as part of the original session. A unique page view represents the number of sessions during which that page was viewed one or more times.
Google Analytics ConceptsVisits vs. Visitors
Analytics measures both visits and visitors in your account. Visits represent the number of individual sessions initiated by all the visitors to your site.
The initial session by a user during any given date range is considered to be an additional visit and an additional visitor. Any future sessions from the same user during the selected time period are counted as additional visits, but not as additional visitors.
Unique Visitors
A unique visitor is an individual user who has accessed your site. It is determined by the IP address of the computer or device that the user is browsing from, combined with a cookie on the browser they are using. No matter of how many visits a visitor makes, if he is on the same device and same browser, only one unique visitor is counted.
For example, if you visit a link once today, you will be counted as a unique visitor. If you come back to that site 10 more times today, you are still counted as one unique visitor. If you visit the site from another computer or device (or another browser) it will count you as a new visitor.
Google Analytics
Other Terms
EntrancesThe number of visits to your website that occurred on that particular page.
Bounce RateThe percentage of people who entered your site on that page, didn’t navigate anywhere else & then left – or “bounced”.
% ExitThe percentage of people who exited from your site on this page and didn’t return (for at least 30 minutes)
Google AnalyticsFind keywords that organically brought people to your site
Traffic Sources > Overview > Sources > Search > Organic
Google AnalyticsReporting: create pie charts!
Traffic Sources > Overview > Sources > Search > Organic
Google URL BuilderCreate trackable URLs for
campaigns Example URL:
http://www.unh.edu/admissions/visit-campus/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=search
Parameters used:
utm_source=emailutm_medium=referralutm_campaign=search
(UTM stands for Urchin Tracking Module)More info here!
Tracking QR Codes1) Create trackable URL using URL Builder2) Create QR code using Kaywa3) Check Analytics to see campaign activity