Search Engine Optimization Beyond META Tags Brian Smith
Search Engine Optimization Beyond META Tags Brian Smith Web Developer Flunky bsmith 2@uamail. albany. edu
Objectives • • Move beyond META tags SEO in Higher Education Define terms Establish “The Factors” Keyword Research Techniques Discuss Google Keepin’ it real - practical Resources
The Rise of Search Pew Internet and Americal Life Project • Search is the 2 nd most popular online activity, after email. • Percentage of net users who search on a typical day grew 70% from 2002 to 2008
The Rise of Search
SEO = Search Engine Optimization Definition Using targeted keywords and phrases so a website’s pages will rank high on SERPs. SERP = Search Engine Results Page Note that SEO also stands for Search Engine Optimizer
SEM = Search Engine Marketing Definition All endeavors that utilize search engines to promote a web site, increase its traffic and/or stickiness, and ultimately augment return on investment. SEM methods include SEO, paid placement, pay-per-click and paid inclusion campaigns.
SPAM "Dear google. com, I visited your website and noticed that you are not listed in most of the major search engines and directories. . . "
It’s not a quick fix SEO is a best practice • • • Web developers Writers Editors in various departments Application developers Administration Vendors
Conversions What is a higher ed conversion? • Getting a sale = convert a prospective into a confirmed • • Get students involved in activities Building school pride Provide audience for experts Allow faculty and research to publicize their findings, discoveries which could lead to more students, grants, funding, collaboration, tenure • Job postings
Fountain Day
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Organic vs. Pay Per Click “PPC”
Pay Per Click Definition Advertisers submit bids to searchengine companies for words. They pay each time the “sponsored link” is clicked.
PPC Related Terms Definitions CPC – Cost-per-click The cost to advertisers per click by a user. CTR – Click through rate The number of users who clicked on an ad divided by the number of times the ad was delivered (impressions). Usually seen as a percentage.
Pay Per Click Competition Universities and Colleges Especially the online Universities with a national/international presence such as Phoenix, Capella, Walden etc… Advertising Agencies & Online Directory Companies Use PPC to draw Web searches to sites they use to find prospective students, or "leads. " Examples Petersons, Off. To. College. com, College. Board. com, etc…
Weekend MBA PPC Biology Major
PPC Growing in Cost Prices for popular keywords… • "associate's degree" • "master's degree” • "business program" …on Yahoo have each about doubled in the past two years.
Negative Key Word “Online”
PPC Growing in Competition "It's both more expensive and less effective because more people are doing it. " Margee Ensign Dean of the School of International Studies University of the Pacific
PPC Bidding Techniques Start a campaign at the end of the day or the end of the month “It’s often possible to find popular keywords available for lower prices at those times because other groups have already spent their budgets. ” Greg Jarboe Co-founder SEO-PR Inc
PPC Bidding Techniques Bid on less popular words/phrases You’ll get less clicks, so it will cost you less. Those who actually click will more likely lead to a conversion = Quality Traffic
SERPs - Organic Listings
The Golden Triangle Eye Tools Research Pay Per Click $$$ Organic = Free
Focus on Organic Listings Metrics Conversion Rates Organic Listings Paid Listings 4. 2% 3. 6% Organic clicked 5 x more than PPC From “Marketing Sherpa” - Search Marketing Benchmark Survey 2005
Search Result Page Average Participant 6. 5 seconds to click Read 4 to 5 listings. Title Tags Compelling and Attractive TITLES increase click-through!
Golden Triangle Statistics 85% click on organic 72% click the first link of interest 25% read all listings first, then click
Golden Triangle Statistics Organic Search Results Viewed
Web Search Market Share August 2008 MSN Yahoo Google 71% Yahoo 18% MSN 5% Ask 3% Other 3%
Page. Rank • One of the methods Google uses to determine a page’s relevance or importance. • Each web page - not site - has a Page. Rank score • Developed by the founders of Google, Sergey Brin and Larry Page • It’s an algorithm which helps rank web pages based on the probability that a random person surfing the Internet will find a given page.
Page. Rank • Page. Rank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. • Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. • Votes cast by "important" pages weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important. "
Page. Rank View a page’s Page. Rank with Google Toolbar
Page. Rank Most Higher Ed Rank 5 -8 MIT, Harvard, Stanford = 9 Maria College = 5
Page. Rank
Google Page. Rank Page Rank Today • No longer the primary ranking factor • Page. Rank is no longer recalculated on a 30 day cycle • Used to determine crawl frequency, crawl depth, and database selection.
Authority & Reputation Links are Key Link Popularity / Authority • Links = “Votes” • Links from many pages signify an important page • Links from important pages carry more ‘weight’ • Important pages rank higher Link Reputation • Links from related pages enforce theme • Links from related words pass on that theme • Strongly themed pages rank well for related queries
Links - Best Practices Bad • http: //mysite. com • http: //www. mysite. com/index. html • http: //mysite. com/index. html Good • http: //www. mysite. com/ • Use redirects and make all internal links point to your domain using the “http: //www. mysite. com/” • Always include trailing “/” on folders.
Link Best Practices Search engines treat… http: //measuring-up. com/ and http: //www. measuring-up. com/ …as two different sites.
Link Text 4. 4 Anchor Text of Inbound Link 3. 1 Text Surrounding the Link Avoid “click here” SEO: Link nouns not verbs View the course catalog.
How can I create a Google-friendly site? Google Webmaster Help Center • http: //www. google. com/support/webmasters/bin/answer. py? answer= 40349 Google on SEO • http: //www. google. com/support/webmasters/bin/answer. py? answer=35291
“Department of Biology”
Off-The-Page SEO AKA Link Building Off page optimizations consist entirely of link building strategies. • • • Reciprocal linking RSS news feeds Linkbait = good topical content Digg, You. Tube, Facebook Forums
The Factors
SEOmoz. org
Search Engine Ranking Factors V 2 4. 9 4. 4 4. 1 4. 0 Keyword Use in Title Tag Global Link Popularity of Site – “Weight” or “Authority” Anchor Text of Inbound Link Age of Site Link Popularity within Internal Site Structure 3. 7 3. 5 3. 4 3. 3 3. 2 3. 1 Keyword Use in Body Text Links to Quality/Relevant External Sites Age of Document Keyword Use in H 1 Age of Link Text Surrounding the Link
Factor 1: Page Title The #1 important on-the-page ranking factor! The title is your search results link. It should be clear, sensible, and encourage a click. Length: 70 characters or less Google description uses 70 characters. Use Keyphrases or Keywords Also use it in beginning of page text.
Page Title Strategy Page titles are for more than just SEO • Bookmark text • Answers question “Where am I”
Search Engine Ranking Factors V 2 4. 9 4. 4 4. 1 4. 0 Keyword Use in Title Tag Global Link Popularity of Site – “Weight” or “Authority” Anchor Text of Inbound Link Age of Site Link Popularity within Internal Site Structure 3. 7 3. 5 3. 4 3. 3 3. 2 3. 1 Keyword Use in Body Text Links to Quality/Relevant External Sites Age of Document Keyword Use in H 1 Age of Link Text Surrounding the Link
Search Engine Ranking Factors V 2 4. 9 4. 4 4. 1 4. 0 Keyword Use in Title Tag Global Link Popularity of Site – “Weight” or “Authority” Anchor Text of Inbound Link Age of Site Link Popularity within Internal Site Structure 3. 7 3. 5 3. 4 3. 3 3. 2 3. 1 Keyword Use in Body Text Links to Quality/Relevant External Sites Age of Document Keyword Use in H 1 Age of Link Text Surrounding the Link
Search Engine Ranking Factors V 2 2. 8 2. 6 2. 4 2. 0 Keyword Use in H 2, H 3 etc… Keyword Use in Page URL Keyword Use in ALT Tags Frequency of Page Updates Keyword Use in Meta Description Tag 1. 4 HTML Validation 1. 2 Keyword Use in Meta Keywords Tag
META Description Keyword Use in Meta Description Tag • 70 words • Sometimes shows up in Google SERP • Page specific • Includes main page keyphrases
Search Engine Ranking Factors V 2 2. 8 2. 6 2. 4 2. 0 Keyword Use in H 2, H 3 etc… Keyword Use in Page URL Keyword Use in ALT Tags Frequency of Page Updates Keyword Use in Meta Description Tag 1. 4 HTML Validation 1. 2 Keyword Use in Meta Keywords Tag
Search Engine Ranking Factors V 2 2. 8 2. 6 2. 4 2. 0 Keyword Use in H 2, H 3 etc…Semantic markup Keyword Use in Page URL Keyword Use in ALT Tags Frequency of Page Updates Keyword Use in Meta Description Tag 1. 4 HTML Validation 1. 2 Keyword Use in Meta Keywords Tag
META Keywords 1. 2 Keyword Use in Meta Keywords Tag • Abused and discredited • Stuff you don’t want in page text • Misspellings • Keyword “forks” – SUNY Albany • 5 to 10 phrases • Do not repeat too much
Search Engine Indexing Limits Page File Size No more than 150 kilobytes Before Images, CSS and other Attachments Links Per Page No more than 100 unique links per page Title Tag No more than 70 characters Meta Description No more than 155 characters
Search Engine Indexing Limits Parameters in URL: No more than 2 Depth of URL: No more than 4 Bad Example http: //www. mysite. com/people/places/things/noun/danny/car Best Practice http: //www. mysite. com/people/danny/
Avoid Image Text Iframes for displaying content Flash, Silverlight or video for content without text equivalents AJAX – Avoid navigation that relies on javascript on. Click="navigate('ajax. html#)
Keywords are the foundation of SEO Your institution, departments, offices etc… should determine critical keywords Research their potential value and effectiveness
Keyphrase Research 1. Brainstorm 2. Bust out the tools 3. Finalize list 4. Implement 5. Rinse and repeat
Brain Storm • What words would prospective students use? • Avoid overly generic terms are difficult to rank for and won't provide qualified traffic • Check out competition and their Keywords META tags if they use them • Add location! • Misspellings • Break out sessions by category – department, school, organization etc…
Number of keywords used 1 Word Query – 15% Admissions 2 Word Query – 32% UAlbany Admissions 3 Word Query – 27% SUNY Albany Admissions 4 Word Query – 15% UAlbany Admissions Campus Tour 5 Word Query – 11% University at Albany Admissions Tour 85% of searches online are with 2 or more keywords Source: Search Engine Watch 2007
Keyphrase Combos Word Game: Create a 3 or 4 -Term Combo 1. Create as complete a sentence as possible 2. Specifically describe page content 3. Using strongest keywords and phrases 4. Avoid highly competitive phrases
Are visitors looking for “Prospective Students”? Search Volumes “Prospective Students”= 6, 500/month “University Admissions”= 135, 000/month Use keywords in the navigation that visitors use to find your site. – Easier for visitors to navigate the site – Improved rankings, search engines better understand how your site is related to searches.
Keyword “Stemming” Swim = Swimming = Swims It’s all the same to the major search engines
Keyphrase Brainstorm Fountain Day School Spirit Celebration Community Campus Tradition University Tradition Alumni Memories College Fountain University Fountain Celebration World Record SUNY Albany Fountain Spring Celebration Guinness World Record Pillow Fight Beach Balls Fountain Countdown Campus Party Campus Unity Fountain Party College Rite of Spring Food fun and fountain Jump in Fountain Non-alcoholic event Student Party College Student Party Fountain Day Drunk Fountain Day Drinking Fountain Day Mayhem Party School SUNY Albany Party School
Keyphrase Research Determine the value of keywords/phrases to increase traffic to a page or site.
Keyphrase Tools
Utilize Internal Search Results What are visitors using Find out what words your visitors use to get to your site. Consult web analytics or Google Webmaster Tools – Top Search Queries
Keyword Research “Head” vs. “Tail” Terms What’s the difference?
Step 2 – Keyphrase Research Brand Key Phrases 65% of our queries
Keyword Research “Head” vs. “Tail” Terms Head Terms Dominated by Brand key phrases Drive most of your traffic Most expensive for PPC Most competitive Less relevant Shorter
Keyword Research “Head” vs. “Tail” Terms Long Tail Dominated by generic category key phrases Drives least amount of traffic per search Least expensive for PPC Less competitive and easier to win Drives less but more qualified traffic to website
Keyword Research “Head” vs. “Tail” Terms Long Tail The combined effect of optimizing for many longer search terms will be to bring in a great deal of highly qualified traffic Optimization for the general terms will occur naturally by their inclusion in these more specific phrases
Keyphrase Research Tools • Assists with keyword/phrase brainstorming • Show often search terms are used • Quantifies the effectiveness of keywords/phrases
“Competition” Less competition for a keyword/phrase mean that it will be easier to reach the top of SERPs.
Keyword/phrase Tools 1. Google Ad. Words is the best free keyphrase tool https: //adwords. google. com/select/Keyword. Tool. External 2. Word. Tracker The industry standard, a subscription is required – also has a free tool 3. Overture Database Search No longer consistently available 4. Microsoft Ad. Center Not for Mac/Safari
Other Keyword Search Tools • • • Trellian – Keyword Discovery Spyfu Nichebot Hitwise Trends Yahoo suggestion on search
Wordtracker Uses Metacrawler Search Engines Metacrawler and Dogpile Metacrawler Search Engines Queries several of the main search engines to compile its own results - Google, Yahoo and MSN 175 million searches each month Wordtracker keeps the last two months of search results in its database
KEI Keyword Effectiveness Index Higher the KEI, better the keyword Ratio of Two crucial variables 1. Popularity Number of times a term is searched 2. Competition Number of pages returned by search for a term
Wordtracker KEI - Find a Niche - Opportunities Example Find a baseball card that is searched many times, but has few page results. Pete Rose baseball card Searched 100 times daily found on 1, 000 pages Ratio is 1/10 Derek Jeter baseball card Searched 1000 times daily found on 100, 000 Ratio is 1/100
We are looking for opportunity.
Google Ad. Words Keyword Tool https: //adwords. google. com/select/Keyword. Tool. External Best free keyphrase tool Helps with brainstorming Displays keyword/phrase effectiveness Finds opportunities
Ad. Words vs. Wordtracker Ad. Words is a better free tool than the free Wordtracker tool. Full Wordtracker has more sophisticated tool set and is the industry standard. Wordtracker service keeps track of multiple projects. Wordtracker provides more precise measurements for word/phrase effectiveness. Ad. Words integrates well with Google Analytics.
Using Ad. Words for Keyphrase Research The Process • Begin with one general keyword • Be sure to check the “Use synonyms” box • Let the tool build a large list of keywords Source: Google External Keyword Tool
Keyword Research Building Lists • Scroll through the results list and add all terms appropriate to the School of Business site. • When complete, download list into Excel or other tool. • Repeat the process as other terms become apparent and expand those as well with the “Get more related keywords” button. • Continue building the list using all free tools available – Don’t worry about adding duplicates at this point – Keep looking for new terms that have been missed and expand those
Keyword Strategy Building Lists Repeat the process using the “website content” tool on Google. – Select the option “Include other pages on my site linked from this URL”
Keyword Strategy Organizing and grouping lists Create a full list of your keywords Break out the list into categories
Web Writing • • • Write for the “inverted pyramid”. Make the visible text on a page "search-friendly" Embed links in body copy Add <strong>tags</strong> Add captions with strong keywords/phrases frequently
Optimizing Body Copy YUCK! Large blocks of text without headlines and subheadings Bad for SEO Bad for Visitors
Web Writing Use keywords – a few times per page Create AZ indexes for Department, Organizations, College and Schools Write more - at least 250 words per page Add extra pages Never sacrifice tone, feel or usability
Eye Tracking Studies Nov 2007 Poynter Institute 600 subjects in 4 cities We have not lost our ability to read in depth
Eye Tracking Studies Poynter Institute Inverted Pyramid F Pattern
Eye Tracking Studies Nov 2007 Poynter Institute Attention spans have not shortened dramatically. Readers are more selective about what they read. We are more dependent on navigation, headings and bulleted text It helps us find info or identify what not to read
Eye Tracking Studies Nov 2007 Poynter Institute “Most surprising, they read further into stories online than in print. That was true for stories of all lengths. ”
Metrics Measuring Success • Track ranking in SERPs – screenshots, or excel files • Follow traffic through web analytics
Black Hat SEO
Black Hat SEO • • Evil trickery Breaks search engine rules Poor user experience Google hacks
Black Hat SEO Techniques To Avoid Keyword stuffing Packing long lists of keywords. Invisible text White text on white background. Doorway Pages Redirects packed with keywords. It can get you banished from search results!
Social Media Optimization Potential for organic traffic and quality backlinks “Linkbait”
Google News Sitemap • News releases and other campus related stories are packed with keywords • But they may be getting lost and not recognized by Google in a timely way • Search for “Google News Sitemap”
Resources: Books Search Engine Optimization: Your visual blueprint for effective Internet marketing
Resources: Books Search Engine Optimization: How to Optimize Your Website for Internet Search Engines
Resources: On the Web SEOmoz. org Especially see SEOmoz Beginner’s Guide Search. Engine. Watch. com http: //blog. searchenginewatch. com/blog/ Google Webmaster Tools http: //www. google. com/support/webmasters/bin/answer. py? answer=40349 SEOBook. com http: //tools. seobook. com/keyword-tools/seobook/
Don’t let the tail wag the dog. • • • SEO is a best practice Write good content Get everyone involved Know the factors Try out key phase research tools
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