Search Engine Optimization SEO Prepared by Larry Stewart

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Prepared by: Larry Stewart

Topic Outline l l l Introduction How Search Engines Work SEO Building Blocks • • • Keywords Crawler Links SEO Tools Black Hat Methods Summary and Conclusion 2

Introduction 3

Definition of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)1 "Natural, " or "organic, " search engine optimization (SEO) is designing, writing, and HTML-coding a Web site to maximize the chance its pages will appear at the top of spider-based search engine results for selected keywords and phrases Organic Listings: Listings that search engines do not sell (unlike paid listings) 4

SEO l l Iterative process Dynamic environment Art Science 5

Why is it important? l l Internet advertising 1 H 2006 : $7. 9 Billion 2 Search ranking more site visitors Internet users tend not to click through Depends on webs role in your economic model 6

Variation in Approaches White Hat l Abide by terms and conditions set forth by search engines Black Hat l Breaches search engine terms and conditions l May provide short-term gains l You run the risk of being penalized by search engines 7

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Defining Success (Context) Search-Friendly (SEO) • • High ranking Terms and conditions set by search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN Search) User-Friendly • Site must satisfy the needs of visitors Persuasive • Profitable for site owner 9

How Search Engines Works 10

Search Engine Operations 1. 2. 3. Gather Content • Crawler or spider moves recursively downloading content Builds sophisticate index Individual web searches run against index • Results are retrieved and ordered • Page. Rank & Relevance 11

Google Search Placement 4 Placement: importance and relevance l Page. Rank (importance) • Counts links • Weights links l Query matching (relevance) • sophisticated text-matching techniques • examines all aspects of the page's content (and the content of the pages linking to it) 12

SEO Optimization 13

SEO Optimization Categories l Keywords l Crawler l Links • Keyword selection and keyword-rich text • A crawler-friendly site navigation scheme • Link popularity 14

Keyword Recommendations 1 l l Page title: visible HTML text , “Above the fold” Page Size: "100 KB" limit is still widely held. The optimum page size is 500 -3000 words (or 2000 to 20, 000 characters) Be specific Example: “Apple i. Pod” verses “i. Pod” • exact phrase should appear generously throughout your site copy on every page 15

More Keyword Recommendations 5 Meta tags: use but don’t stuff l <meta name="description" content="Free Web tutorials on HTML, CSS, XML, and XHTML"> Alt tags: use for graphics l <IMG src="star. gif" alt=“star logo"> Content is king l Write good content with relevant and important keywords in mind. Geo Targeting l Add geocentric terms to target local areas Domain Names l Use keywords as part of domain name 16

Crawler-friendly l Engine spiders are primitive beings l Goal • choose simplicity over complexity • All your web pages seen by crawlers • Google: enter in searchbox “allinurl: utexas. edu” 17

Suggestions to be Crawler Friendly 5 l l l Traditional <a href> tag Keywords in subfolder names Minimize quantity of subfolders Cross link relevant terms and phrases within the site Multiple paths to pages to eliminate orphans 18

Avoid or Minimize: May Negatively Impact Crawler 5 l l l Flash (slow to load and difficult to navigate) Frames Java navigation Session ID to track visitors exact same Title tags on every page set to require a cookie when a visitor gets to the page 19

Link Development Inbound Links Impact Page. Rank (Popularity, importance) l Number and quality of links pointing to a website l Measure of usefulness of site 20

Link Development Tradeoffs l Advantage • it is dynamic, cumulative, and difficult to imitate l Disadvantage • takes time (vs. advertising) 21

Link Development Approaches (White Hat)7 l l l Quality content to start with Cultivate quality link (not quantity) Begin with web directories Harness online publicity Use Blogs and forums wisely Investigate competitors • • • Understand their strategy Online publicity, blogs and forums See inbound links ("link: domain. com" in Google, "linkdomain: domain. com" in Yahoo) 22

SEO Tools 23

Search Engine Term and Conditions l l l Google Yahoo MSN Search 24

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Vendor Tools Example: Seo Administrator 8 l Ranking monitor: site positioning in for keywords l Link popularity checker: checks inbound links l Site indexation tool: check site indexation l Server Log-analyzer: Administrator log analyzer l Page. Rank analyzer: analyze competitor sites l Keywords tool: suggestions, associations, competitor analysis l HTML analyzer: dissect html text in the same way that a search engine would (syntax, keyword density) 29

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Black Hat Methods

Head of the webspam group at Google l l l Matt Cutts Worked on his Ph. D Computer Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Undergrad Comp Sci and Math (Graduated with M. S. ). Moved into information retrieval after classes from the university's Information and Library Science department 32

http: //www. searchenginegenie. com/seo-blog/images/matt. gif http: //www. searchenginegenie. com 33

Link Exchange Advertisement 34

Keyword Consulting Advertisement 35

Black Hat Terms l Link Farming: exchanging reciprocal links l Keyword Stuffing: Hidden text, Stuffing text in every nook and cranny l Cloaking: stealth, deliver different page to a search engine for indexing l Doorway Pages: bridge, jump page, designed to appeal to search engine spiders l Fast meta refresh: used to quickly switch doorway pages to the page the user is supposed to see l Code swapping: swap it on the server with the "real" page once a position has been achieved. also sometimes done to keep others from learning exactly how the page ranked well. l Bait and Switch: loads the page with a popular search words such as sex, travel or antivirus when is irrelevant to site 36

Online Resources 37

Search Engine Standards Google http: //www. google. com/support/webmasters/bin/answer. py? answer=35769 http: //www. google. com/support/webmasters/bin/answer. py? answer=40349&ctx=related Yahoo http: //help. yahoo. com/help/us/ysearch/basics-18. html http: //help. yahoo. com/help/us/ysearch/basics-17. html http: //help. yahoo. com/help/us/ysearch/basics/index. html MSN http: //search. msn. com/docs/siteowner. aspx? t=SEARCH_WEBMASTER_REF_Guidelinesfor. Op timizing. Site. htm Web Robots http: //www. robotstxt. org/wc/robots. html http: //help. yahoo. com/help/us/ysearch/slurp/index. html http: //www. google. com/support/webmasters/bin/topic. py? topic=8843 38

Keyword Tools Overture tool http: //inventory. overture. com/d/searchinventory/suggestion Wordtracker tool [recommended] http: //our. affiliatetracking. net/wordtracker/a/12246 Google Sandbox Tool https: //adwords. google. com/select/main? cmd=Keyword. Sandbox Espotting Tool http: //www. espotting. com/popups/keywordgenbox. asp Related Pages http: //www. related-pages. com/adwordskeywords. aspx 39

Conclusion and Summary Website Success l Search-friendly l User-friendly l Persuasive Search-friendly Optimization components l Keywords l Crawler l Links 40

Bibliography 1 Thulow, Shari. “What Search Engine Marketing Does Your Site Need? ” Clickz. 15 Nov. 2006 < http: //www. clickz. com/show. Page. html? page=3105241 >. 2 “ 2006 Second Quarter Results (October 4, 2006). ” Interactive Advertising Bureau. 15 Nov. 2006 < http: //www. iab. net/resources/ad_revenue. asp >. 3 “Event Homepage. ” Search Engine Strategies 2006 Conference and Exposition. 15 Nov. 2006 <http: //www. searchenginestrategies. com/sew/winter 06/index. html >. 4 “Our Search: Google Technology. ” Google Website. 15 Nov. 2006 < http: //www. google. com/technology/index. html >. 41

Bibliography 5 Laratro, Joe. “Dos and Don’ts of Search Engine Optimization. ” More. Visibility. 15 Nov. 2006 <http: //www. morevisibility. com/whitepaper/2006/SEO_Do_and_ Donts_WP. pdf> 6 Thulow, Shari. “Link Development: The Key to Successful SEO ” Clickz. 15 Nov. 2006 <http: //www. clickz. com/show. Page. html? page=3431741 >. 7 link farming. webopedia. 15 Nov. 2006 <http: //www. webopedia. com/TERM/l/link_farming. html>. 8 SSEO Tools. SEO Administrator. <http: //www. seoadministrator. com/seo-tools. html> <http: //seo-tutorial. seoadministrator. com/> 42

Backup 43

Vendor Tools Example: Seo Administrator 8 Ranking monitor: monitor web site positioning in the major search engines for keywords Link popularity checker: checks inbound links across a number of search engines Site indexation tool: check site indexation in Google, Yahoo, MSN and other search engines Server Log-analyzer: Administrator log analyzer automates (Number of unique IP addresses, Number of visitors… ) Page. Rank analyzer: analyze competitor sites Keywords suggestion tool: Keyword suggestion services, Keyword Associations, search query suggestions, Competitor analysis HTML analyzer: dissect html text in the same way that a search engine would (syntax, keyword density) 44

Black Hat Terms l l l l Link Farming: exchanging reciprocal links with Web sites in order to increase search engine optimization Keyword Stuffing: Hidden text, Stuffing text in every nook and cranny Cloaking: stealth, deliver one page to a search engine for indexing while serving a different page to everyone else. Doorway Pages: A Web page that is designed to appeal to search engine spiders. Fast meta refresh: used to quickly switch doorway pages to the page the user is supposed to see Code swapping: swap it on the server with the "real" page once a position has been achieved. also sometimes done to keep others from learning exactly how the page ranked well. Bait and Switch: Another technique combines word stuffing with "baitand-switch, " which loads the page with a popular search word such as sex, travel or antivirus, even though the word has nothing to do with the site content. 45