The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of SEO

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Chipper NicodemusTwitter: @chipnicodemus#VR4SEO

SEO Overview

• Search Engine Optimization• Making your site easier for search engines

Google to find and index• Almost everything you have known about SEO

in the past is obsolete (read Grey or Black hat)• A little knowledge goes a long way• BUT the WRONG knowledge can hurt bad• Allow me to explain…

Top 5 SEO Myths• SEO is too hard for regular

peeps• I’ve NEVER done any SEO,

I’m too far behind• SEO takes too much time• My site is too big/ small• Meta tags are the most

important thing

The Face of (Google) SEO • @mattcutts • Head of Web spam at Google• Works to rid the internet of spam• Frustrates SEOs• Cutts is like Batman, SEOs are the

the Gotham PD

The Three Hats of SEO

Stay in Google’s Good Graces

The Good• White Hat SEO • The ONLY type of SEO you

want to do• Has always been in Google’s

good graces• AVOID Algorithm penalties• Slow and steady• There is no quick way to a #1

ranking

5 White Hat TO DOs

• High quality content that is sharable• High quality link building earning• Anchor text, landing page diversity• Natural Link profile• Healthy site performance (loads quickly,

sitemap submitted, good on page SEO)

The Bad

• Grey to Black Hat• Spur from white hat techniques • Not on the DO NOT DO list, but not on the “A –

OK” list • Grey hat is tempting because “Google didn’t say

not to…”• It might work now, but you will always be

checking your back (Panda and Penguin)

5 Grey Hat No-Nos

• Over optimizing• Reciprocal linking• Three-Way linking• Spun/Low quality content• Duplicate content

(different than content syndication)

The Ugly

• DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT• Better known as Black Hat• Google will PUNISH your site, rankings• Dishonest

5 Black Hat

• Keyword Stuffing• Buying Links/ Paid

Links• Comment Spamming

• Cloaking• Deceptive Practices

like hidden links or invisible text

What if… in the past… black hat…

• It was easy to get caught up in the wild west of link building

• Ask Google to forgive• Google Disavow Tool (be careful!) DANGER!

DANGER!

How to Stay On Top of SEO

• Google Alerts• RSS Feeds/ Feedly • Follow industry leaders, companies and others

on Twitter, FB and RSS feeds

Who to Follow• @VR4SmallBiz• VR Marketing Blog• Matt Cutts: @mattcutts• SEOMoz: @SEOmoz• Rand Fishkin, CEO of SEOMoz, @randfish• SearchEngineRoundtable• SearchEngineLand• Moz SEO Blog• Inbound.org

Cool Tools

• SEOMoz: Great affordable SEO tool• Google Webmaster Guidelines• Boostsuite: kick-@ss web marketing assistant• Feedly: The end all of RSS Readers

Questions?

• Can XYZ SEO Co get me a #1 rank next week?