WeWork Seattle - SEO 101

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Who’s the speaker today?

Duane Forrester

@duaneforrester

Bing Webmaster ToolsSpeaks at shows, runs forums and blog, provides guidance on new WM toolswww.bing.com/toolbox/webmasters

Does he have a clue?14+ years as an inhouse SEO; ran seo at MSN; has helped Disney, GAP, Walmart +http://www.linkedin.com/in/dforrester

And this helps me how?Blogging since 2001; owns 150 domains; makes money onlinehttp://twitter.com/DuaneForrester

what does duane do at bing

Paid v. Organic & Shopping

Orange• Paid ads – you pay per click for traffic• Auction-based system• Higher bid; higher placement

Green• Organic & News results• SEO works here• Trusted results• Clicks are free

Red• Shopping results• Combination of organically sourced and

paid inclusion results• Not as wide a net as organic, but more

focused than paid adsMore Organic

What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of improving a website to make it more relevant to searchers and search engines.

At it’s very core, SEO is about improving usability on a website.

What SEO is not…• Fast• Guaranteed• Once & done• Free

Why Perform SEO?

•Increase relevancy•Increase exposure•Increase visits•Increase page views•Increase revenue•Better UX•Low cost•Investment in future•Users starting here

12 Things To Know About SEO?

1. SEO isn’t an overnight success story or a one-time effort. Like wealth-building, investing in SEO takes time and continued effort to earn full benefits.

2. Research targeted keywords, create a targeted list per page, and use them in multiple places (in key meta tags, folder & file names, etc.).

3. The <title> tag is one of the most important tags for SEO – put most valuable keywords at start, write unique titles for each page.

4. Add page-relevant, descriptive alt text to content images with copyrights at the end – search bots can’t “see” image contents like humans.

5. Write one keyword-rich <h1> tag per page to serve as the page’s headline.

6. Write compelling <meta> descriptions for SERP snippets – this is what converts SERP impressions.

7. Every page should offer crawlable text for bots to create more keyword relevance.

8. Submit a validated Sitemap.xml file to search engines via their webmaster tools.

9. Canonicalize your URLs to eliminate duplicate content and diluted page rank in the index.

10. Never put content to be crawled inside images, JavaScript, Silverlight, or Flash – bots can’t read it.

11. Don’t expect to get high rank for a newly-published page. Search engine “trust” takes time to build.

12. Use social media to build a community that supports and amplifies your content/products.

The Secret to Success

The Basics

• Build social followers & fans organically

• Wall posts/tweets with links are perceived as more credible and useful

• Get the basics of SEO covered, then focus on content

• Its worth repeating: unique, compelling content still works

The Secret to Success

Compelling Content

• The engines really respond to unique, useful content

• Your visitors respond to this as well

• It’s a wise investment of your time

• Don’t take shortcuts – limit syndicated content

image credit: http://mashable.com/2011/01/10/social-content-strategy/

The Secret to Success

Niche & Voice

• The Internet is B.I.G. Slice and dice to find your niche.

• Plenty of niche areas to explore/exploit – start your fight where you can dominate

• Choose your voice wisely; don’t be afraid to express an informed opinion

• Watch what users respond to, then amplify along those lines

The Secret to Success

Keyword Research

• Know exactly what users are searching for

• Data can help you uncover new niches or refine your focus

• Helps keep you focused on creating compelling content

• Got writers block? Check your keyword research for inspiration

A Fresh approach to Targeting Optimization

• Start with your Home page, categories, products, etc…

• Then…when you have numbers…

• Every area of your site has a value - $, PV, Emails, etc.

• Determine what the value is

• Sort your site by value to see what really matters

• Organize work around high-value areas first

Let’s get a bit more technical

• SEO is not just content

• SEO can be affected by technical elements

• You need both

• Content can win, but technical SEO helps

• Clean domain

• Clean, keyword rich URLs

• Page Load times

• Layout of pages – content v. ads

• Tech hiding elements – javascript nav.

6 major investment areas for SEO

• Crawlability– Xml sitemaps– Navigational structure– Rich media cautions– Graceful degradation– URL structure– Robots.txt

• Site Structure– Internal Links– URL structure and keyword usage– Clean URLs – no extraneous parameters (sessions,

tracking, etc.)– HTML & XML sitemaps– Content hierarchy– Rel-canonical usage to manage duplication issues– Rich media – don’t bury links in Javascript/flash

/silverlight/AJAX– Responsive design for managing mobile & web

• On-Page– Head copy

• Titles – unique, relevant, 60 characters or so long• Descriptions – unique, relevant, grammatically correct,

160 or fewer characters

– Body Copy• H1, H2 and other H tag usage• ALT tag importance & usage• Keyword usage within the content/text • Anchor text – using target keywords to support other

internal pages

• Content– Build based on keyword research– Down-level experience enhances discoverability– Keep out of rich media and images– Produce new content frequently– Make it unique – don’t reuse content from other

sources– Content management – using 301s to reclaim value

from retiring content/pages– Rel canonical to help engines understand which page

should be indexed and have value attributed to it– 404 error page management to help cleanse old pages

from search engine indexes

• Links– Plan for incoming & outgoing link generation– Internal & external link management– Content selection – planning where to link to– Link promotion via social spaces – direct traffic & seo

value– Managing anchor text properly– URL structure can help insert keywords where they are

needed

• Social– Be an authority– Build your community– Interact often– Share useful content– Be consistent and useful– Grow facebook, twitter, pinterest, etc.

Going mobile?

• Skip m. domains

• m. domains produce unwanted duplication

• Responsive design is your friend

• HTML5 can help

Authority Building Short List

Know the topic inside outEngage your communityShare useful content freelyBe consistent and usefulMarket your strengthsBe a go-to resourceLearn to spot trends in data

You’re an authority when others say you are

Search continues to evolve

New devices demand different search experiences other than links

The ability for these devices to feed in real time signals help us handle intent better and therefore can provide a more tailored experience

Its not just mobile phones or tablets and its not just text entry.  Anything could be a search – voice, a picture, a gesture, sound – anything.  We are building the universal interface for search.

• Don’t try to extrapolate from this graph• Importance is relative• Use as a guide – no item is unimportant

Where does SEO fit in?

Content Social User Experience Link Building SEO

A Changing Web of Your Objects

Schema.org can help

Mark up your content

Why social matters to search

• Signal of topical authority

• Real-time – engines want fresh content, fast

• Integrated social signals influence click actions of searchers

• Social signals remain only a few of thousands of signals for organic ranking

How users click on your results can impact rankings and when we show cues like your Facebook friends with results, click rates can be impacted.

http://www.kyleclouse.com/social-media-marketing/

Conversion optimization

• Different sources must be handled differently

• Organic traffic is building trust

• Paid traffic is ready to open their wallets

• Email traffic is ready to buy…now

• Ensure your conversion path is short and sweet

• Off the shelf carts can usually be tweaked to gain improvements in conversions.

Core StrategiesOp. Strategies Tactics

Plan … or #FAIL

Oh, and here’s a streamlining trick for ya!

• Moving forward, how to provide value and grow an asset?

• People want relevant information• People have little time to sort &

sift• They want a trusted, reliable

source• Picked a niche; start the plan

Trusted RSS feeds

new

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Copy & Paste

AUTOMATED

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MANUAL

Tools to get the work done

Useful toolsBing Webmaster Tools – www.bing.com/webmaster (SEO reporting, link development)For Twitter

Hootsuite – www.hootsuite.com $9.99/month for PRO (recommended)Tweetbot - tapbots.com/software/tweetbot/ Echfon - www.echofon.com/

For InstagramStatigram - statigr.am/ (stats for IG)Instafriends - inst.me/ (manage friends at Instagram)

For PinterestCuralate - www.curalate.com/ (Analytics & Marketing)

Evernote – www.evernote.com (Data collection point)IFTTT – www.ifttt.com (connector of dots)Elastic.io - http://elastic.io/about.html (competitor to IFTTT)Zapier - https://zapier.com/ (competitor to IFTTT)Trackur - www.trackur.com (social media analytics)Social Management Platforms

Sprinklr - www.sprinklr.com/ (enterprise level gear) Visible - www.visibletechnologies.com/ (SM monitoring, analytics & engagement)

Social Mention – www.socialmention.com – cool search engine to see stats on queriesFor Windows Phone - mehdoh.com/

6 seconds to start a relationship

• Vine – you know it, but are you using it?

• Lowes, Kate Spade, Urban Outfitters, GE, A&W, Mailchimp and more

• Using Vine to share knowledge, entice engagement, entertain and offer behind the scene glimpses

• 6 second becomes many minutes of engagement

http://socialmediatoday.com/julie-blakley/1516266/7-brands-getting-creative-vine

18 Social Media Management Tools

Alexa.comBoard ReaderSysomos Facebook InsightsFollower WonkGoogle InsightsHow Sociable Ice Rocket trends Buffer

• Klout

• Peerindex

• Kred

• Mention Map

• Social Mention

• Statigram

• Twitter Counter

• Tweetreach

• Visual.ly

© 2014 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows 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.

@duaneforrester