Current Trends and Best Practices in Search Marketing

CURRENT TRENDS AND BEST PRACTICES IN SEARCH MARKETING

Digital Insight

Current Trends and Best Practices in Search Marketing

Digital Insight

Current Trends and Best Practices in Search Marketing

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Search MarketingSearch Marketing

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What is SEO?As defined by Darren Rowse, co-founder of one of the world’s largest blog networks:

1. The right answer - SEO is something that helps a website to increase it’s ranking in a search engine.

2. My ‘historical’ answer (ie what I would have answered a few years ago)

• SEO is about manipulating Search Engines in order to get them to send you as much traffic as possible.

3. The ‘in practice’ answer (ie how it impacts me these days) - SEO for me these days is a combination of:

• About knowing some of the general principles that help a site or page to rank well in search engines

• Building the best quality site that I can with content that meets the needs of readers (and as a result attracts links from other sites)

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Why SEO?

SERPSearch Engine Results Page

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Why SEO?

Heat MapClick Trends

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Factors That Affect SEO

On-Page Keywords Unique Content Relevance

Off-Page External Links Domain Authority

Measurement Visits Traffic Sources Ongoing Optimization

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When SEO?Development Process

1. Strategy2. Keyword Discovery3. Design 4. Production5. Launch 6. Ongoing Optimization

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On-Page SEO FactorsOn-Page SEO Factors

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Start with the Keywords

Find the most relevant keywords

• Tools such as Google Keyword Tool, Wordtracker, Microsoft Adcenter, Google Insights

• Check the competition Balance Popularity, Competitiveness and Relevance

• Long tail – represents 75% of all search queries Target to optimize 1-3 keywords per page, minimal duplication among

pages Use targeted keywords consistently throughout each relevant area of the

page for optimal impact

• Titles, URLs, Content, etc.

• Do not Keyword Stuff

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Where to Use Keywords

In Order of Ranking Importance

1. Title Tag

2. Body Text

3. H1 Tag (Header)

4. Domain Name

5. Page URL

6. H2, H3, Hx Tags (Sub-headers)

7. Alt Tags (Image Titles)

8. Bold/Strong Tags

9. Meta Description Tag (no affect on ranking)

10. Meta Keywords Tag (no affect on ranking)

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Title Tag

Each page should have a unique Title Tag specific to the content on that page featuring the targeted keywords

Should be short and to the point – succinct and targeted as possible

Do not stuff with keywords Should not exceed 70 characters in length Place important keywords at the beginning


Content

Write content for your visitors, not search engines (but keep them in mind)

Mention keywords within content when it makes sense Write for conversions

• Have a clear call to action• Be descriptive, not just “click here”

Do not copy content for similar pages, changing only the product name.

• Each page should be as unique as possible Use “Anchor Text” to link to other pages within the site Write meaningful content that people want to link to


Other Keyword Opportunities

H1 Tags• Headers normally very similar to the Title• H2, H3, Hx not as important

Domains and URLs• Utilize keywords• Dashes instead of underscores

Alt Text• Used with images and graphics (ex. logo)• Include keywords• Most useful for sites with many images


Meta Data

Meta Description• Unique for each page, relevant to page content• Not relevant in rankings, but engines will use it as a

descriptor in listings, so important for click-throughs• Sentence format• A properly written description can get more traffic

Meta Keywords• Listing of keywords, separated by a comma• Use most relevant keywords first• Not a factor in ranking


Site Architecture

Make your site easy to crawl Try to keep it flat – no more than 3 levels or 3

clicks away from the home page Internal linking structure Site Map

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Off-Page SEO FactorsOff-Page SEO Factors

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PageRank

According to Google

“PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important".”

A B

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PageRank


PageRank & Backlinks

YourSite.com

Passing “Link Juice”

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Link Building Directory listings

• Can help site gain visibility• Both free and paid can be useful

- DMOZ- Yahoo & BoTW

Social bookmarking• Process of saving web addresses (bookmarking) to social networking

sites thereby creating a one way link• Free and (relatively) simple• Sample sites: Reddit (PR7), Digg (PR7), Delicious (PR8)

Submit original articles to article submission sites• Link back to site using anchor text• Links from high PR “dofollow” sites contribute to higher rank

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Backlinks

Important Inbound Link Attributes

Domain Authority/Importance of Linking Site Anchor Text of Inbound Link Relevance of Linking Page Age of Link Internal Popularity of Linking Page Top Level Domain of Linking Site - .edu, .gov, .org


Levels of Indexation

The more important your domain, the more likely Search Engines will crawl and index

your site

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Thank You

Thank You

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Current Trends and Best Practices in Search Marketing

Technology

page content

page b

page seo factors

targeted keywords

page url h2

ranking meta keywords

keywords dashes

relevant keywords tools