SEO Search Engine Optimization Communicating well with search

SEO Search Engine Optimization: Communicating well with search engines and with human beings. GET OUT OF YOUR SEO TIME MACHINE SEO hasn’t died, but it has changed. You need to change your approach.

ABOUT US Haden Interactive builds, optimizes, and manages Word. Press websites for large and small organizations on four continents. WWW. HADENINTERACTIVE. COM Haden Interactive Address: 1337 E. Ash, Fayetteville, AR Phone: 479. 966. 9761 Email: info@hadeninteractive. com 02

OUR TEAM Many of us are here at Word. Camp and several of us are speaking. We’re happy to answer questions and we want to meet you. John Doe 06

SERVICE LIST Search Engine Optimization SEO/SEM includes a lot of different activities, including on-page optimization of content and code, strategy based on analytics, and offpage actions like link-building, guest posting, and integrating social media and advertising. • Web design • Web content • Word. Press websites • SEO analysis and strategy • Website optimization • Blogging • Link building • Social media management • Email marketing • PPC 04

WHY SEO ? Be found by people looking for Reach customers at the Zero your goods and services. Moment of Truth. SEO has the highest ROI of any marketing tactic. 05

THE SETTINGS ON THE SEO TIME MACHINE PAST Put in lots of meta keywords, post articles at Buzzle, and make sure your keyword is in the first and last sentences! FUTURE-UTOPIA Search engines don’t need anything special – they read websites just the way humans do and make the same decisions people would! FUTURE-DYSTOPIA Search engines just randomly change the rules all the time for no reason, so there’s no point in trying to communicate with them any more!

WHAT HAS CHANGED Search engines are smarter and people use them better. • How search engines work • How rankings work • How people use search engines 10

HOW SEARCH ENGINES WORK Google crawls and indexes sites. Each page is ranked by its topic and its value. When people search, Google looks at what it has already indexed. It offers the best match, according to the algorithm and the decisions it has already made about the pages it has already indexed. 15

WHY DOES THE ALGORITHM CHANGE? • Technology improves – Google works constantly to improve the search engine. • When people try to game the system, Google reacts, to keep the search engine working well. • Just like taxes, the search engine algorithms are also used to influence behavior.

RANKING FACTORS Rankings are still important, but they’re not the same as they used to be. • Quality website • Authority Directories Blogs Articles Press Release Reviews Social Media • Different people see different things. • Rankings are based on both on-page and off-page factors, including facts about the searcher. • Rankings are now only part of what determines what people see on the SERPs. • You can’t tell where you rank by Googling. 11

GOOGLE WEBMASTER TOOLS

RANKING EXPERIMENT (2012) We did 9 searches, 3 each on 3 computers, for bakeries in Fayetteville, AR Rick’s showed up #1 in 8 of the 9 searches. Personalized search doesn’t change rankings, and Rick’s is #1 for bakeries in Fayetteville. 09

RICK’S, BLISS, STONE MILL In 9 trials conducted on 3 different computers, the rankings are clear. However, the results were different. All three top bakeries were below the fold at least once. Other bakeries showed once or twice. We tried Bing and Google signed out, and Google signed in.

RICK’S, BLISS, STONE MILL

RICK’S, BLISS, STONE MILL The rankings are the same, but the results are different: • Rick’s was the only local result, and got the top two spaces. • An article from a Little Rock paper on Fayetteville bakeries came ahead of Stone Mill’s website.

2103 The look is different, but the rankings are the same. Below the fold options now have photos above the fold.

PEOPLE USE THE INTERNET DIFFERENTLY We’re not surfing any more. • We’re better at finding what we want. We modify our queries fast. • We’re all about the long tail search; few people use one-word searches. • We use more social media – we find things and share them. • We have online hangouts, like Pinterest or You. Tube. 08

NEW SEARCH STYLE • Lots of different keywords • Few one-word searches • Lots more social sharing

LONG TAIL SEARCH People are more likely to use longer searches, and the results are likely to be quite different from one-word searches. For your business, it’s not all about getting a #1 ranking for your #1 keyword.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR SEO? If you’re following advice from 2005 (other than having a great website), you’re doing it wrong. • Don’t obsess over rankings – have the best company and the best website you can and watch the competition. • Don’t act like a machine. If your methods can be done by machine, they’re not working, or won’t work in the future. • Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Not because there’s anything wrong with the basket. 18

SOCIAL MEDIA AND SEO Social signals are now used by search engines to decide what they show searchers • Integrate social media and SEO. • Don’t forget Google+. • Use data to plan your social media strategy. 14

SOCIAL MEDIA AND LINKBUILDING Links are still an essential part of the search engine algorithms, and social media can influence links. 16

SEO ECOSYSTEM Analysis SEO isn’t something you do once. Media Links Ongoing SEO efforts gain results. • Average year over year growth for unmanaged websites: -0. 17% • Average year over year growth for managed websites: +51. 6% Content Update 19

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