SEO Strategy Template

______________ SEO Strategy

June 6, 2012

Jolie Fleming, SEO Advisor

Contents

Ten SEO Tenants We Believe....................................................................................................................... 3SEO Overview................................................................................................................................................ 4Goals.............................................................................................................................................................. 5Overview of SEO Focus By Area...................................................................................................................6Page Architecture & Accessible Page Design................................................................................................7Keyword Optimization.................................................................................................................................. 11Link Strategy................................................................................................................................................ 13Reporting...................................................................................................................................................... 15

Ten SEO Tenants We Believe

1. We believe the whole team needs to be trained on SEO so that we can all understand the impact of changes on site traffic

2. We believe in the three-pronged approach to SEO- Optimized Keywords, Optimized Page Architecture and Link Building- is what is required to succeed long term

3. We must monitor industry trends, but always be committed to the staying the course and following white hat tactics

4. We believe that SEO can be achieved without compromising the user experience

5. We are committed to studying consumer keyword behavior so that we give people what they want and how they want it

6. We understand that quality will always win over volume

7. And that to really own the our space, we need to “own” terms related to our space

8. We will aggressively link build because quality inbound links are essential for boosting our rankings and profile within Google

9. [Insert what you are committed to]

10. [Insert what you are committed to]

SEO Overview

SEO is based on three core building blocks- keyword optimization, accessible site and page architecture as well as external link development. When combined and implemented correctly, together they provide a site the momentum they need to build organic traffic. Without managing all three efforts in parallel, we will not be successful.

This document lays out the approach we will use to drive organic traffic to ____________________________.com.

In this document, we will review:

1. Accessible Site & Page Architecture. An overview of our approach to title tags, meta descriptions, internal links, information architecture, url structure, breadcrumbs and site maps.

2. Keyword Optimization. A detailed description of our keyword copy strategy including review acquisition, home page management and target keywords.

3. Link Development. Detailed link building strategy including how we gain momentum at the root, category and product level.

4. Reporting. We will also review our standard daily, weekly and monthly reporting to ensure we stay on top of SEO trends.

Goals

Home Page PR: ___ within ___ months

Interior Page PR: ___ within ___ months

Last Cached: _____ week rolling

Inbound Links: ____ new authority links per month; _____ annually

SERP: Page 1 listing for our Top _____ keywords

SERP: Top 5 listing for our Top ______ categories

Monthly Projections

We want to grow from to ______________________ organic monthly visits to _______________.

How to monitor our progress:

Google Analytics- keyword monitoring & traffic monitoring

Google Webmaster Tools

Indexed pages: Monitor this query: site: www._____________.com

Cache frequency: Monitor this query: cache: www._________________.com

Inbound links: Monitor this query: link: www._________________.com

http://www._________________.com/

http://www._________________.com/

http://www._____________.com/

Overview of SEO Focus By AreaAs we work to build SEO momentum, we will focus on our 3 core areas in a methodical way. Below is an outline of the specific elements we will work hard to deliver on. The following pages will then outline our specific tactics and philosophies in each of these areas.

Page Architecture

1 URL structure

2 Title Tags

3 HTML Coding- H1, H2, H3

4 Images/Alt text

5 Rich Snippets

6 Canonical Tags

7 No Index/ No Follow

8 Robots

9 Redirects

10 Cross Linking

11 Meta Descriptions

12 Site Maps

Keyword Copy

13 Keyword Research

14 URL Keywords

15 Title Keywords

16 h1 Keywords

17 h2 Keywords

18 Anchor Text

19 Keyword Consistency

Link Building

20 Building Authority

Page Architecture & Accessible Page Design

It is critical to structure the pages and hierarchy so that a search spider can quickly access the content of a page. Page Architecture ensures the pages have a clean outline that is easily read by the search engines. The goal is to get them to Index the page and rank it highly.

To use an analogy, think of site architecture as a term paper: Title, Intro Paragraph, Supporting paragraph 1, 2, 3, and closing paragraph. The same logic applies to Web Page architecture.

Below are the first steps we will take to ensure that the Page Architecture and Site Accessibility foundational elements are put into place for ____________________________.

URL Structure

The URL schema should be simple and relevant. For example, we will avoid a numerical naming convention and use descriptive keywords throughout. Note: we will always use hyphens rather than underscores. (best practice methodology)

Please explain your page hierarchy:

Home page URL will be:

Page template #1; the URL will be __________________



Title Tags

Title tags are critical for the spiders and are among the first data points read on a page (and the MOST important). We will work to make titles consistent with URLs to reinforce the key term of the page. Unique title tags should be created for each page.

Titles should be 40-69 characters

Home page title tag will be:

Page template #1; the title tag will be __________________



HTML/Coding

Semantic markups are critical for clean code. As a company, we will use H1-H6 tags and new HTML5 elements such as HEADER, FOOTER, SECTION, ARTICLE and ASIDE to ensure pages have a clean structure that is machine- and human-readable. From an SEO perspective, we specifically care about the use of h1, h2, and h3 used throughout the page. Therefore, those will be our SEO focus. (developers can use H4-H6 at your discretion). We will work to highlight the most important keywords in H1, H2 and H3. We will also ensure that they support the title tag and URL structure.

We will have one h1 tag at the root document level and it should be the most important title on the page (ideally it should not be a link) and it should be very high up on the page

With HTML5, we have the option to have multiple H1s. At this time, we WILL NOT use multiple H1s. Instead, we will default to H2 usage in the headlines in the SECTIONS and ARTICLES.

Extremely important that the H tags are keyword-rich Within each section, limit to one or two <h2> tags Quality Code. We will avoid black-hat practices that diminish SEO value, such as hiding,

disguising or misleadingly styling content so that it looks one way to 'bots and another way to human readers.

We will ensure that any content with SEO value is visible to bots. Even if human visitors see such content delivered dynamically via JavaScript/Ajax, the content must also be available to spiders through normal HTML link elements with real URLs that resolve to full pages. Content that has no SEO value - or negative SEO value - is OK to deliver solely through JavaScript. (Example: SDC links.)

Notes:

Home page H1 will be:

Page template #1; the H1 will be __________________



Images & Alt Tags and Title Attributes

“Alt” tags are the alternative text used for describing images in the code. Title attributes are attributes applied to images and are displayed on the site while the images on the page are loading, or when you hover over the image with your mouse once the page has loaded. Title attributes are used for screen readers for the visually impaired.

We care about ALT TAGS from an SEO perspective. Smart labeling of alt tags is critical for SEO optimization of images. Relevant pictures with corresponding alt tags are scanned by Google Search bots and can positively affect Search Engine Results- specifically in Google Image Search. Titles attributes are equally important, but more relevant from a usability perspective.

DEFINITELY need alt text if using an image as a link Alt text should be keyword-rich

o If it’s an image of a product, alt text should be product name

Image file names should also include keywordso AVOID: image file names that are just image1.jpg

Do we have any pages that this applies to?

Rich Snippets

Rich snippets are segments of code featured on site pages that allow additional information to appear in Google Search results. The rich snippets on our pages will allow review information (average rating and number of ratings) to appear in SERPs.

Currently, Google only allows rich snippets to appear on product or review pages (not category pages)

Rich snippets should be applied to all product and review pages. Rankings will need to be converted to star ratings to be retained. Rich snippets can have up to a 40% impact on traffic.


Canonical Tags

Canonical tags are intended to tell engines which URL is suitable for indexing when multiple pages contain the same or similar content

This is a <link rel> item in the header that suggests to the search engine what the “original” or “canonical” version is.

Do not use Canonical Tags on pagination.


No Index and No Follow

The No Index and No Follow designation can be used together or separately. It is critical when being applied that you check with the SEO team first. Wrongly applying No index or No Follow can significantly hurt SEO.

NOINDEXo Use “NOINDEX” for all other pages we don’t want search engines to index (aka we don’t

want them to list in the Yellow Pages!) That way, we still get the value if someone links to a page

o No Index should be used on pages such as Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, Review

Form, Log-in, Profile, Customer Service rel=”nofollow”

o Use to tell the BOTS that we do not want them to follow the links on the page.

o Use No Follow on any third party providers that have links on our site such as Quantcast

o Put a NF on any “review it” buttons, Post a Comment, Innapropriate Link; Reviewer; Add

a Friend; E-mail a Friend; Share This; Subscribe; o Put a NF on any links from Compare Prices or SDC links

o NF any ads

o NF privacy policy, terms, etc


Robots.txt

Robots.txto A “robots.txt” file tells search engines whether they can access and therefore crawl parts

of the site. Use the Robots Exclusion Standard to block sensitive or confident material The Robots Exclusion Standard is a convention to prevent cooperating web

spiders/crawlers, such as Googlebot, from accessing all or part of a website which is otherwise publicly viewable.

o Use robots.txt SPARINGLY

Only admin, beta sites, registration page, login page, etc.


Redirects

301 Redirect - Tells browsers and search engines that a page has been permanently redirectedo Passes link equity and ranking metrics (link juice) to the new page

302 Redirect – Temporary redirecto Does not necessarily transfer link juice

If we disable/reject a review, we need to make sure there is a 301 Redirect to the product page in place

404o Should be useful to users and help guide them back to the site

Creating the Perfect 404 Page

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/perfect404/

o Could be creative so users are not as annoyed to see a 404 page - Great examples

Cross-Linking

In addition to a spider-friendly URL structure and a spider-friendly navigation scheme, all sites should have relevant internal (within the site) cross-links. Cross-linking is often confused with link development. Cross-linking is internal. Link development involves objective, 3rd-party links from external Web sites (link from the Yahoo directory to your Web site). These are the types of cross-links we need to have on ____________________________:

Vertical (hierarchal)o Breadcrumbs are ideal

o Category/subcategory (or parent/child) links

o Ideally, we can feature the keyword in the breadcrumb

Horizontalo Alternative links that are highly relevant

o Related links

There should be no more than 100 links per page

Meta Descriptions

Meta descriptions are extremely important because Google can choose to use them as the description of a page in the SERP. These descriptions are very important in convincing a searcher to click on our result. They should be optimized and unique for every page. We have default meta descriptions that can also be overridden manually.

Home page MD will be:

Page template #1; the MD will be __________________



Site Maps & Hierarchy

We will develop a site map to help users and spiders find the sites content. We will also upload all site maps into google and, if relevant, msn and yahoo. However, it is important to note that a site map is NOT a substitute for poor information architecture, site navigation, and relevant cross-linking. The information architecture must be intuitive on its own and we will work to ensure the hierarchy and

http://mashable.com/2010/09/04/404-error-pages/

taxonomy is intuitive on the site. Search engines (and people) are seeking a clean, simple taxonomy and understandable information architecture.

Keyword Optimization

Once we know the site is accessible to the spiders, we will focus on ensuring the spiders are able to determine the focus of the page. This is achieved through consistent use of keyword copy. Note: This also helps achieve a usability objective of helping people gain a strong sense of place and relevancy.

What terms overall are you trying to optimize for?

Please list the top 10 terms and their competitiveness as you have seen in Google. Term Competitiveness Notes/Questions

Link Strategy

We will get very aggressive with link building and send out _______ messages per week with a goal of getting _____ quality links per month.

We will work to OWN the terms:

Here are my best tactics: Target for link: Term I would like them to use: Why they will link to me:

Sample Infographics

Reporting

We will do detailed daily, weekly and monthly reporting as well as audits in each of our core areas.

Page Architecture Maintain daily monitoring and reporting of crawl activity, indexed pages, webmaster tools Monitor Webmaster Tools monthly – be certain to check SPEED We will complete a post build audit (one day after build) against our 12-point architecture

checklist to ensure nothing major is missing. The checklist that we will monitor against can be found on page 6 of this document.

Keyword Optimization Here is how I will monitor my keyword traction:

Retail Trends Quarterly, we will identify key category search trends by month to determine what should be

highlighted when. We will then modify home page placements to highlight the appropriate areas.

Traffic Analysis Here is how I will monitor my keyword traction:

Link Building We will report monthly on outbound links and our success rate

Documents

SEO Strategy Template