Advanced SEOfor Web DevelopersNathan BuggiaLead Program ManagerMicrosoft Corporationhttp://webmaster.live.com
Who is this guy
Webmaster Center
• Troubleshooting Tools
• Content Management
• Business Intelligence
• Feedback & Support
Who is this guy
Robot stolen from http://SEOMoz.org, go check them out to really learn about SEO.
And they need it by when?!?
…and they need more tools, and data and technical info, and 302s…
Agenda
Why you should care about SEO
How a search engine works (the highlights)
SEO Best Practices
Site Review
Why should you care about SEO?
Search 43%
Direct 22%
Referring Sites 35%
Where page views come from
SEO = Organic results
6
Organic
Paid
SEO == Good design
Online Resources: www.aslistapart.org www.seomoz.org www.sitepoint.com
How A Search Engine Works
Crawling
Live Search Thinks….
• What does the REP say?
• Can I download this page?
• Can I process this page?
• What is this page about?
• What are all the links?
• How does this compare to past versions?
• How does this compare to related URLs?
• Does anything look abnormal? (title, h1, text, links)
• Maybe I’ll save a copy of all pieces of the page
Ranking
Page Rank Is….
• Base value of every page in our index
• Primarily based on quality and relevancy of inbound links
• AND quality of content on your page
• Computed for each URL
• Computed for each FQDN
• Computed periodically
High quality link
Low quality link
Link with penalty
Searching
Let me think….
• Is it spelled right?
• Do they want a navigational link, a
question answered, a video, some websites or
maybe an advertisement?
• What content can best fulfill their need?
• How should I order those results?
1. Building Pages
Use HTML semantically
<h1>My Article Title</h1>
<p>Scientists reported Wednesday…</p>
<span class=“heading1”>My Article Title</span>
<p>Scientists reported Wednesday…</p>
Proper use of common tags<a>
Anchor text really import, try to use something descriptive of the destination, not “more info” or “click here”
<h1>
Did you know there is only 1 per page? This signifies the most important topic on the page.
<title>
You must include a descriptive title. Use relevant keywords in front, and brand names on the end. (e.g. “My product name – Company Name”)
<meta>
Description tag is a must; make it short & sweet and unique to the page. You don’t need a keyword tag.
<frame>
If you use them other webdevs will mock you… are you prepared for that type of ridicule?
<table>
Generally used for displaying tabular data, should not formatting
JavaScript & CSS
Don’t lock navigation behind JavaScript
The old advicePut JavaScript at the bottom of the page or in *.js file, so it doesn’t block real content.Use CSS, and host externally (*.css)
The new adviceStill best practices for usability, but not required for search
Rich internet applications (RIAs)
Classification Example SEO Capabilities Best Used for
MonolithicApplication has 1 URL for the world to see, and is a black box beyond that. Like hosting a rich application online.
Entry point indexed
• Email• Configuration/ Admin Tools
LinkableApplication is a black box, but there are multiple URL entry-points for collaboration.
Full site indexed • Metrics/ reporting• Document Editors
CrawlableApplication is a small black box meant to spice up a content rich page.
Full site indexed and well ranked
• E-commerce• Content Sites• Gadget/ Widget
RIA strategy guide
http://mail.live.com
http://finance.yahoo.com
http://giffy.com
Tips & tricks
Watch out for ASP.Net post-backs, engines cannot crawl those URLs
XHTML compliance in ASP.NetWhitepaper
XHTML Compatibility Pack
How to optimize Silverlight for search
Questions?
Site review….
Query term: mix08Desired URL: http://visitmix.com/2008
Are there any problems?
Summary of Issues
Google Yahoo Live Search
Ranking Good Bad Bad
Title Okay Okay Okay
Description Bad Bad Bad
URL Good Bad Bad
One more clue…
Was #1 result on all engines a couple months ago.
Ranking on all engines has improved considerable in past 2 weeks.
2. URLs and Linking
http://store3.com/product.aspx?id=MB147L&SessionId=2344&RegionCode=en-US&format=rich&cat=3
http://store2.com/Microsoft_Zune_80_G2_Black/dp/B000J01IPI
http://store1.com/Microsoft-Zune-80-G2-Black/dp/B000JO1IPI/
Classing up your URLs
• store1.com• microsoft• 80• zune
• G2• dp• b00j01ipi
• store2.com• Microsoft_Zune_80_G2_Black• dp• b00j01ipi
• store3.com• product.aspx• id=MB147L• SessionId=2344
• RegionCode=en-US• format=rich• cat=3
HTTP Status Codes
200 OK
W3 standard for HTTP Status Codes
301 Moved Permanently
302 Moved Temporarily
304 Not Modified
404 Gone
Canonicalization What’s the difference?
www.visitmix.com
visitmix.com
visitmix.com/default.aspx
Detailed article on the issue from Matt Cutts
Recommendation
Choose one option and stick with it
301 to your preferred option
Canonicalization in Action
Tips & tricks
URL Rewriting in ASP.Net
Implementation whitepaperWork around for 404 error pages
Implementing Redirects in ASP.Net
Implementing Redirects in IIS
ASP.Net URL session state management
301 Redirects in ASP.Net
<script>
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) { Response.Status = "301 Moved Permanently" ; Response.AddHeader("Location", "http://mysite.com/new-URL"); }
</script>
Include in any *.aspx file… (you don’t need a code behind file)
Canonicalization in ASP.Net
protected void Application_BeginRequest(Object sender, EventArgs e) {
if (HttpContext.Current.Request.Url.ToString().ToLower().Contains( "http://www.mysite.com")) { HttpContext.Current.Response.Status = "301 Moved Permanently"; HttpContext.Current.Response.AddHeader("Location", Request.Url.ToString().ToLower().Replace( "http://www.mysite.com", "http://mysite.com")); }
}
Create in your Global.asax file….
More information and examples: http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=301+redirect+asp.net
301 Redirects in IIS
Click here for a whitepaper
Questions?
3. Advanced Topics
35
Unique Titles & Descriptions
36
Use the language of your customers (in addition to your own branding)
37
Generate content landing pages
amazon.com/books-used-books-textbooks/b/ref=sd_al
amazon.com/b/ref=amb_link_5269162_50/105-46793
amazon.com/Streetwise-Paris-Michael-Brown/dp/0935039252
Geographically Relevant Sites
Recommendations:• Use regional domains when possible (.co.uk, .jp. .cn …)• Use a sub-domain, domain, or folder solution if possible (don’t use params or cookies)• Proper encoding of languages on a page• Host the server in the geography of the region you’re targeting
39
Generate sitemaps & ping on updates
40
Link baiting can work well
Questions?
Tools of the TradeOn-page Optimization
Internet Explorer and…FiddlerDeveloper Toolbar
Firefox and…Firebug, YSlowLive HTTP HeadersSearch StatusDeveloper Toolbar and Flashblock
Web-based HTTP ViewerWebmaster Tools (Rank, Penalties, HTTP Compression)
LinksYahoo Site Explorer
Keyword ResearchadCenter Excel Add-in
Webmaster Center
demo
© 2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista and other product names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries.
The information herein is for informational purposes only and represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after
the date of this presentation. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.