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A Beginner’s Guide to Search Engine Optimization
Josh Braaten
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 2
Who is Josh Braaten?
Online Marketing Manager,Rasmussen College
Blogger & FounderBigPictureWeb.com
Raised in the GreatState of Minnesota
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 3
SEO is Misunderstood
• “SEO is black magic and/or witch craft.”• “SEO is a fraud. Everyone knows you just
buy Google ads and you’ll rank higher.”• “Just take the rel canonical tag and point
the page to the permanent URI on your root domain.”
• “Get hundreds of links and rank #1 in a week!!!”
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 4
The Truth About SEO
• Some aspects are technical, but it’s mostly common sense and/or intuitive
• SEO isn’t evil, but it can be used that way
• Mastering SEO takes time, resources, and excellent content on your website
• Marketing investment, not advertising
Objectives
• Learn how search engines operate
• Identify the key factors involved in SEO
• The difference between good and evil SEO
• A mental framework for using SEO and inbound marketing
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 5
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 6
How Search Engines Work
• Crawling
• Indexing
• Search
• Relevancy
• Search Results
Crawl Index Search Relevance Results
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 7
• Spiders visit websites and “crawl” content they find
• Spiders note new links found and crawl them too
• Spiders report all content back to the index
Search Engines - Crawling
Crawl Index Search Relevance Results
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 8
• The Index is a mirrored copy of the entire web
• Spiders work hard to keep the index fresh
• Low quality & duplicate content don’t make it into the index.
Search Engines - Indexing
Crawl Index Search Relevance Results
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 9
• How relevant is each page for a given search query?
• Links, anchor text, site speed, keyword prominence & users drive algorithm
• 200+ factors, 600+ tweaks to the main algorithm in 2009
Search Engines – Relevancy
Crawl Index Search Relevance Results
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 10
• SERPs consist of query, retrieval, rankings & results
• #1 result: ~18% of clicks
• #2 result: ~10% of clicks
• #3 results: ~7% of clicks
• <1% on page two
Search Engine Results Page (SERPs)
Source: http://bit.ly/ql10f1Crawl Index Search Relevance Results
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 11
How Search Engines Work
• Crawling
• Indexing
• Search
• Relevancy
• Search Results
Crawl Index Search Relevance Results
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 12
What’s Important in SEO?
• Architecture
• On-Page
• Links
• Social Media
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 13
• Organized, “flat” site
• Human-friendly URLs
• Pages that spiders can read (i.e., not flash, iframes)
• Build on your own domain
SEO Architecture
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 14
• Google AdWordsKeyword Tool standard
• Cast a wide net
• Use the right words
• Balance volume and competition
• Keyword mapping
On-Page Keyword Research
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 15
On-Page SEO Guidelines
• Each page should target 1 or 2 keyword phrases
• Small pages (<400 words): use keyword(s) 2-3x
• Large pages (>400 words): use keyword(s) 4-6x
• Page Titles should not exceed 65 characters
• Keywords should be used first and last 100 words
• Images, videos, and audio should be optimized, too
• Keyword synonyms, partials and deviations are good
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 16
On-Page SEO Visualized
Source: http://mz.cm/rorHV7
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 17
• Links are the cornerstone of the Google algorithm
• A link from one site to another is a vote in the eyes of Google
• Not all links are created equal
Links: Google’s Currency
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 18
Links are Like Flight Patterns
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 19
• Authority: Is the linking page/site authoritative? (e.g., Wall Street Journal)
• Relevant: Is the linking page/site relevant? (e.g., Regional/Industry sites)
• Trust: .gov/.edu sites
Links: Google’s Currency
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 20
• Social media increases reach of content
• Search engines index much of social media
• Social media also has relevance and authority
• Soon: Likes and Links
Social Media and SEO
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 21
What’s Important in SEO?
• Architecture
• On-Page
• Links
• Social Media
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 22
SEO Rankings Factors for 20112009 2011
Links decreased in importance by ~50% but still remain most important signal. On-page factors still very important as well. 2011 introduced more factors than ever before.
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 23
Good and Bad SEO
• Excellent Content
• Earned Links
• Earned Social Media
• Manipulated Links
• “Spammy” Content
• Purchased links is a gray area
SEO through Inbound Marketing
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 24
Inbound Marketing: Earning new customers by gaining attention, trust and permission before the sale through the creation and sharing of engaging, entertaining and/or educational content.
Graphic Source: SEOmoz - http://bit.ly/gM7OGb
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 25
The Principles of Inbound Marketing
The Principles of Inbound Marketing
Identify – Find your online audience
Listen – Understand how you can help
Create – Publish what you know
Share – Share content to solve problems
Measure – Fine tune your progress
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 26
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 27
• Who is your ideal customer?
• Search for resources, influencers and communities where your customers gather
Identify Your Audience
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 28
• Be quiet and listen
• Understand what your customers need
Listen to Your Audience
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 29
• Publish to educate, engage and entertain
• Publish content to build inbound equity
Create Content Your Audience Loves
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 30
• Solving problems through sharing
• Building relationships through solving problems
Share Content with Your Audience
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 31
• Online media is measurable
• Identify and work towards goals
Measure Your Efforts
Inbound Marketing in Action
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 32
Search social networks and the web for your audience and their needs
Monitor social conversations to determine content needs of your audience
Create optimized text, images, audio and video to solve problems
Share content with audience & influencers via blog and social networks
Measure impact of social media and blog content on business goals
8/16/2011 33
Inbound Marketing Visualized
Your Website
Your Blog
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 34
The Relative Costs of Marketing
Source: Hubspot – http://bit.ly/fxzOLd
Small Business Boosted by Inbound
35
“Social media helped consultant Deborah Dolan, owner of Senior Life Transitions, more than double her business last year.
The key was using social media to establish herself as a credible resource -- a social authority -- onaging issues, through a blog, a new Advocate on Aging podcast and other social and search marketing efforts.”
Source: Star Tribune -http://bit.ly/dR09bP
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 36
Additional Resources
Facebook.com/RasmussenOcala
BigPictureWeb.com@JLBraaten
Rasmussen.edu/student-life/online-community/
8/16/2011 Copyright Rasmussen, Inc. 2010. Proprietary and Confidential. 37
Internet Marketing Education
8/16/2011 38
Small Businesses: The Time is Now