the secrets of seo
DESCRIPTION
The Secrets of SEO: What Your Web Guy Won't Tell You. ‘Build it and they will come’ might work for the field of dreams, but it does NOT work for websites. Your website must follow the best practices in SEO to get found online. But SEO is primarily a content strategy. Your web guy may know how to fill in meta tags, but he or she doesn’t know WHAT to put in those critical tags, nor does he know how to write content that will be rewarded by Google. This presentation explains how to find keywords in the “sweet spot” and other SEO secrets that can bring your website out of the search rankings’ basement and onto the first page.TRANSCRIPT
- 1. WHAT YOUR WEB GUY WONT TELL YOUThe Secrets of SEO Maria Verven, VERVE
2. MARIA VERVEN Entrepreneur and ownerof Verve P.R. and Vaping Vamps 25 year career inP.R., former V.P. of Piper Jaffray, FleishmanHillard Lecturer at the U ofMN, Teaches New Rules of Marketing & SEO classes Passionate abouthelping small businesses get found online 3. What is SEO?Doesnt my web guy do that? 4. HUB SPOTS 2013 SEO MYTHS 5. WHAT HAPPENED? Theres been a massive shift from traditional marketing to Internet or inbound marketing 6. THE BIG PICTURE 634 million websites 51 million websites added last year 42 million blogs, 60% of businesses have ablog 11 million publish using social networks 7. OLD SCHOOL MARKETING Yellow Pages Newspaper Advertising Direct Mail TelemarketingINTERNET (INBOUND) MARKETING SEO: Search-Optimized Website PPC & Banner Ads Social Media Content Marketing, New P.R. 8. WHY THE SHIFT? Because it cuts the sales cycle in half or less 9. WHAT HAPPENED IN JAN 2012?Assessment.com Google Analytics 10. WHERE WOULD YOU HANG A PICASSO? Building a website thats not optimized is like hanging a Picasso in your basement 11. SEO DEMYSTIFIED SEO = Optimizing websitesso they show up higher in the organic search engine results It is not PPC (pay per click) SEM (Search Engine SEO = Search Engine OptimizationMarketing) includes both SEO and PPC 12. U.S. SEARCH ENGINE MARKET SHARE 13. DONT FORGET ABOUT 14. SEO: LIKE A BRICK HOUSE The House = SEO on every pageThe Chimney = Your content strategy (blog, social media, P.R., etc.) The Smoke = Keywordrich content updates 15. ON-PAGE VS. OFF-PAGE SEO On Page SEO: 1. Pick the best keywords for each page 2. Do everything right so Google gets it 16. KEYWORDS Words describing theproduct or service youre selling Keywords are usuallya string of 3-5 words You want your site torank when people search for your keywords 17. TYPICAL GOOGLE SEARCH Title TagDomainMeta Description 18. KEYWORDS MUST MATCHYour Keywords 19. CHOOSING KEYWORDS Use Keyword Tools Adwords.Google.comAnalyze the Competition Type keywords into search engine while logged out Research backlinks to highly ranked sitesGoogle Analytics & Webmaster Tools See which pages are getting the most traffic 20. FINDING THE SWEET SPOTKeywords with good search volumeTheSwe et Spot Keywords thatarent overly competitive 21. USING KEYWORD CLUSTERS 22. THE DEAD GIVE-AWAYTitle tag has no keywords 23. KEYWORD CHART Welchlin KeywordTrafficCompetition 24. HOW TO BUILD A WEBSITE Build your website from the outside lookingin Optimize every page for a different keyword Content, content, content 25. WHERE TO USE KEYWORDS Title and meta description (Meta tags) Headings and content (On page) Titles and descriptions for images and videos Anchor text (text with a link to your website) Internal and external links 26. META DESCRIPTION AND TITLE Meta Title 70 characters (about 8-12 words) Use keywords, avoid filler words (like your business name) Search engines read L to R. Include keywords first!Meta Description 160 characters Can be more promotionalCreate unique meta tags for each page 27. QUALITY (ACCORDING TO GOOGLE) Original content (250+ words) Consistency and relevancy Images and Videos Correct spelling, proper grammar, proper textformatting Links and social shares from high quality sources 28. BEST PRACTICES FOR CONTENT 250 words per page Limit keywords to1-2 per page Content should make sense & flow naturally OK to substitute relevant keywords (lawyer forattorney) and variations (speaker/speaking) 29. IMAGE OPTIMIZATION Use keywords in Alt text to describe photos Good: wedding photographer in Maple Grove.jpg Bad: bride photo.jpg, bride with bouquet.jpg 30. OFF-PAGE SEO TIPS Build links by creating quality content Update content frequently Do NOT invest in link-building schemes Social search (intersection of social mediaand SEO) is increasingly important Usability of your site is also increasingly important High bounce rate and low engagement are red flags 31. SEO FOR PR Good P.R. is worth tons of link-building effortsOptimize the title, lead and 1st 250 words Free pitch services: PRWeb, Pitch Engine Deep link to inside pagesArticle marketing: 400-500 word articles usingkeywords eZineArticles.com, etc. 32. SOCIAL MEDIA 33. FINAL TIPS SEO = part art, part science. Your web developermay know the science but not the art of content. SEO = an ongoing strategy. Ranking can takemonths, so be patient. SEO = part analytics. Look at your web stats to seewhich pages are getting the most traffic. 34. KEEP IN TOUCH! Maria VervenVERVE www.VervePR.com [email protected] linkedin.com/in/mariaverven