Seven Steps to Becoming an SEO. Superhero. Stephan Spencer. Co-Author of
The Art of SEO;. Author of Google Power Search;. Founder of Netconcepts ...
Seven Steps to Becoming an SEO Superhero Stephan Spencer Co-Author of The Art of SEO; Author of Google Power Search; Founder of Netconcepts
First Off... Who Am I? • Author of Google Power Search & Co-author of The Art of SEO • Founder of SEO agency Netconcepts • Sold Netconcepts to Covario in 2010 • Lived in NZ for 8 yrs, returned to US in 2007 • Invented an SEO technology called GravityStream • Launching an SEO training/coaching program at ScienceofSEO.com
A Blog is an Asset
SEO: So simple even a child can do it!
My daughter, blogger & SEO. $5 - $30 / day passive income. Started when she was 14.
Want this PowerPoint… in “Extended Edition”? • With copious notes, already taken for you? • Text your name and email to (630) 343-5833
The Three Pillars of SEO • Content • Architecture • Links
What Are Searchers Looking For? • Keyword Research – “Target the wrong keywords & all your efforts will be in vain.”
• The “right” keywords are … – Relevant to your business – Popular with searchers – Attainable for you to rank for
Keyword Research Tools for brainstorming a seed list – Google Suggest – Yahoo Search Assist – Soovle
Tools to check popularity of keyword searches – KeywordDiscovery.com – Google Keyword Planner – Google Trends
Google Suggest
Yahoo Search Assist
Soovle
Soovle.com Soovle.com
Soovle.com
Keyword Discovery
Google Keyword Planner
adwords.google.com/ko/KeywordPlanner/Home 16
Google Keyword Planner
Google Trends
www.google.com/trends
Seven Steps to High Rankings 1) Get Your Site Fully Indexed 2) Get Your Pages Visible 3) Build Links & PageRank 4) Leverage Your PageRank 5) Encourage Clickthrough 6) Track the Right Metrics 7) Follow Best Practices
The Organic Conversion Funnel
1) Get Your Site Fully Indexed Better PageRank = deeper & more frequent crawling Check your indexed pages with GWT & site: queries Indexation challenges from: – Overly-complex URLs – Content duplication – Cannibalization – Non-canonicalization
Complexities Can Kill the Crawl Search engines are wary of “dynamic” pages – they fear “spider traps.” Avoid: – – – – – – –
stop characters (?, &, =), ‘cgi-bin’ session IDs, user IDs unnecessary variables, tracking parameters chains of redirects pop-ups navigation in Flash/JavaScript/pulldowns Returning 200 status on error pages
Tips: - Pass parameters via cookies or append after “#” in URL - Use CSS for dropdown menus - Use hyphens
Avoid Complex URLs
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
Canonicalization • One source – one destination • Example: – qvc.com – www.qvc.com
• Content duplication • “Canonical” tag
Robots.txt
Tip: This will block all bots from your entire site User-agent: * Disallow: /
Are you sure that’s what you want?
Infinite URL Bloat
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 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
XML Sitemaps
2) Get Your Pages Visible
Hundreds of “signals” “Title tag” most important “on page” signal Home page most important page Every page has a “song” Keyword prominence “Meta tags”? Text navigation Flash & AJAX?
Meaningful Titles Digital Camera Reviews and News: Digital Photography Review: Forums, Glossary, FAQ
Not So Meaningful Titles
site:www.domain.com intitle:“Untitled Document”
Duplicate Title Tags
site:www.officedepot.com intitle:"Office Supplies: Office Products and Office Furniture: Office Depot"
Visually Appealing to Humans
Textually Appealing to Bots (& humans)
Meta Tags No Magic Bullet
Beware the Whizz Bang
This Nokia page may still be loading … I didn’t wait to find out.
3) Build Links & PageRank
“Link popularity” PageRank = weighted link popularity A window into your PageRank: Google Toolbar Alternative to PageRank score: mozRank (Open Site Explorer)
PageRank 101
10 Google
Sampling of Homepage PageRank Ratings
Amazon
9
8 7 6 5
E F F O R T
ebay Disney Gap Culligan
4 3 1
2
0
Relative number of pages with PR rating
Boston Store
Logarithmic Nature of PageRank
Google Toolbar
Building High Quality Links • • • • • •
Great content Business partners Link bait Social media Blogging Syndicate
Leveraging Social Media • Seed linkbait into social networks – Each has its own quirks
• Have something viral to spread (such as a meme).
Time To Get Creative! • Give awards / recognition (badges) • Allow webmasters to republish your articles • Publish unique content, such as… – Microsites – Infographics – Quizzes/Personality Tests – Widgets
• Above all: Be remarkable!
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4) Leverage Your PageRank • • • • •
Your internal linking structure Anchor text rel=“nofollow”? Don’t hoard your PageRank Don’t link to “bad neighborhoods”
Avoid PageRank Dilution • Many of the structural issues that impact indexation, can impact PageRank. – Canonicalization – Duplicate pages – In general, search engines are cautious of dynamic URLs (with ?, &, and = characters)
Even You Know Who Struggles
5) Encourage Clickthrough
#1 ranking = implied endorsement Synergistic effect Compelling call-to-action & value prop Title tag Snippet built automatically, but influenceable. http://searchengineland.com/anatomy-of-a-googlesnippet-38357
Power of Position
Do You Sing in Search?
6) Track the Right Metrics • • • • • • •
Indexation Link popularity Rankings Keyword popularity Cost/ROI Alternative trust & authority metrics Long Tail metrics
SEO Metrics • • • • • • • •
Page yield Keyword yield Brand-to-nonbrand ratio Unique pages Visitors per keyword Index-to-crawl ratio Engine yield More at http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/506/SEOMetrics-That-Matter/
SEO Metrics • Email
[email protected] for my 60 min webinar recording on SEO Metrics
• • • • • • • • • •
7) Avoid Worst Practices Low quality links (link farms, directories, etc.) Tiny text Keyword stuffing Irrelevant keywords Duplicate content Machine generated spam Doorway pages Cloaking Scraping Splogging
Doorway Page Example
Doorway Page Example
Hidden link – in the “All” of “All Rights Reserved” – leads to a hallway page
Link Detox toxic links report
In Summary • • • • • • •
The right keywords Optimized site architecture Killer content Link building Spend your PageRank wisely Measure Test
Q&A • To contact me:
[email protected] • Follow me on Twitter: @sspencer • Email
[email protected] for – a heavily ANNOTATED copy of this PowerPoint – my SEO Metrics webinar recording – my SEO Best & Worst Practices checklist
