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JCPenney’s SEO No Go: What Went Wrong and What You Need to Do

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Topics for Today’s SEO Webinar

• SEO Fundamentals

• JCPenney’s SEO Saga

• What Went Wrong

• Link-Building Best Practices

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#wm123

@bradleywjoe

• SEO Fundamentals

• JCPenney’s SEO Saga

• What Went Wrong

• Link-Building Best Practices

Topics for Today’s SEO Webinar

#wm123

@bradleywjoe

Keywords Site

Content Meta

Content URL’s

Content Siloing

Inbound Links

Successful SEO Campaign

SEO Fundamentals - The 6 Pillars

Why Links Are Important

• They make up about 50% of SEO value

• Your site becomes more credible when you

have other sites refer to you

• Links provide your site with third party

validation

• Each inbound link is like receiving a “vote”

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#wm123

@bradleywjoe

Topics for Today’s SEO Webinar

• SEO Fundamentals

• JCPenney’s SEO Saga

• What Went Wrong

• Link-Building Best Practices

#wm123

@bradleywjoe

What Happened?

• JCPenney was using an SEO agency

• Paid links were built all over the Internet (source of links

unknown)

• Ranks increased for a variety of highly competitive

keywords, including dresses, area rugs, and bedding

• Drastic increase in inbound links raised red flags with

Google

• Google Spam Team penalized JCPenney’s rankings

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Google Spam Team’s Penalty

Result of poor off-site optimization

• Affects the ranking of the entire site for all keywords

• Top-ranking keywords fell 50+ ranks on the search engine

results page (SERP)

Keyword Former Page Number on

Google SERP

Current Page Number on

Google SERP

area rugs 1 6

bedding 1 7

comforter sets 1 5

dresses 1 7

furniture 1 7

home decor 1 6

skinny jeans 1 6

tablecloths 1 6

#1

#60

#wm123

@bradleywjoe

Topics for Today’s SEO Webinar

• SEO Fundamentals

• JCPenney’s SEO Saga

• What Went Wrong

• Link-Building Best Practices

#wm123

@bradleywjoe

Built Links at an Unnatural Rate

A natural rate of link-building is…

• A rate you can maintain over time

• Typically not more than ~50 links per

month

Problem #1: Drastically increased rate

of link-building during the holiday

season

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Built Links on Irrelevant Sites

Problem #2: Built links on

totally unrelated sites, such as

jewelry and bridal links on a site

for cars

Links must be placed on only

relevant sites or relevant

sections of sites

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Proxy Optimization

Problem #3: Main website could not be optimized

Proxy site URL

Main site URL

On-site factors include:

• Content

• Page titles

• Metas

• URLs

#wm123

@bradleywjoe

Topics for Today’s SEO Webinar

• SEO Fundamentals

• JCPenney’s SEO Saga

• What Went Wrong

• Link-Building Best Practices

#wm123

@bradleywjoe

KEYWORDS Monthly Search

Volume 5/1/2010 6/1/2010 7/1/2010 8/1/2010 9/1/2010 10/1/2010 11/1/2010 12/1/2010 1/1/2011 2/1/2011

example keyword 1 160,500 17 12 8 6 1 1 1 1 1 1

example keyword 2 60,500 16 12 6 7 1 1 1 1 1 1

example keyword 3 14,800 15 12 8 12 1 1 1 1 1 1

example keyword 4 76,800 15 13 9 8 1 1 1 1 1 1

example keyword 5 1,600 20 7 6 4 1 1 1 1 1 1

example keyword 6 2,900 100 72 45 49 34 17 18 9 9 4

example keyword 7 81,000 100 100 39 21 28 14 10 4 4 4

example keyword 8 590 100 100 32 59 41 23 22 20 5 5

example keyword 9 60,500 100 38 64 8 9 9 12 6 10 6

example keyword 10 18,100 58 50 41 44 29 14 19 6 12 6

example keyword 11 2,900 64 94 14 13 11 8 13 5 7 7

example keyword 12 33,100 100 100 17 18 20 15 18 10 15 8

example keyword 13 2,400 100 100 16 36 28 14 10 9 8 8

example keyword 14 1,600 100 100 100 23 30 22 27 14 14 8

example keyword 15 1,300 100 50 14 13 9 15 10 10 9 8

example keyword 16 9,900 100 100 100 100 100 19 23 11 18 9

example keyword 17 2,400 100 100 44 36 20 33 19 21 10 9

example keyword 18 1,000 100 100 26 23 28 35 11 27 11 9

example keyword 19 2,900 100 100 100 100 100 14 20 10 11 9

example keyword 20 14,800 100 100 100 24 23 8 18 10 11 9

example keyword 21 720 100 100 100 9 8 17 14 10 8 9

example keyword 22 6,600 100 100 76 100 100 40 27 23 10 10

example keyword 23 2,900 100 73 100 100 100 100 45 32 16 10

Total Search Opportunity 559,810

What Winning Looks Like Progress is Gradual

Domain Authority

Types of Inbound Links:

• Directories • Article Syndications

• Paid Listings

• Press Releases • Blogs

• Forums

Inbound Links - Best Practice Tip #1 Diversify Your Links

• Use a variety of link sources

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#wm123

@bradleywjoe

Best Practice for Directories

• Keyword as anchor text

• Include keywords in description beneath the link

Good Link:

Bad link:

Keyword – Anchor Text

Click here for spyware removal guides

Description

Inbound Links - Best Practice Tip #2 Building Directory Links

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Best Practice for Articles/Press Releases

• 250-500 words of content

• Articles should be non-branded, Press Releases can be branded

• Include 3-5 instances of keywords that are hyperlinked to relevant pages on your site

Press Release Example:

Keyword – Anchor Text

Inbound Links - Best Practice Tip #3 Article and Press Release Syndication

Home

Page

Category Page

Domain Authority

Products

Page

Sample Keywords

• clothing

• shoes

Example No. Links

Sample Keywords

• women’s clothing

• men’s shoes

30

10

5 Sample Keywords

• women’s black dresses

• men’s casual shoes

Inbound Links - Best Practice Tip #4 Link Proportioning

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@bradleywjoe

Don’t build all your links at once

Not all links are created equal

Reciprocal-linking is virtually ineffective

Inbound Links - Best Practice Tip #5 Getting the Most Value

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@bradleywjoe

Key Takeaways

• Link-building increases your site’s credibility to search engines,

allowing you to rank higher for your keywords.

• If done incorrectly, link-building can raise red flags with Google

and cost your site its hard-earned rankings

• Abiding by Google’s Webmaster policies are vital to ensure great

rankings and measurable results

#wm123

@bradleywjoe

Contact Us about Qualifying for a Complimentary Analysis

-Competitive Report: find out where you rank against your top

competitors and what tactics they’re employing

-Opportunity Analysis: learn how to improve your Digital

Marketing Strategy and see how much opportunity is available for

your company

-ROI Tracking: detailing the keywords and sources that visitors

are using to discover your website and if those visitors are

converting into leads and sales

Please contact:

seo@webmarketing123.com