seo - how does it work, why is it important, and why do we have to do it?

SEO SEO

How does it work, Why is it important, andWhy do we have to do it?

ObjectivesObjectives

• To understand what Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is• To understand how Google works and how it is evolving• To define search ranking factors• The importance of understanding search and how it affects

today’s business decisions and strategies

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Why SEO?Why SEO?

• Internet growth (a trusted research and lead generation channel)• SEO as part of the Digital Marketing Strategy: e-mail, Social Media,

website development, conversion optimisation• Inbound Marketing

– Non-branded keywords: new customers – Branded keywords: secure sale/reputation/brand strength

• New business acquisition (70% new business)• Supports other channels as a potential path prior to purchasing

(e.g. e-mail – brochure – Search – website – purchase)

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Why Google?Why Google?

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqxLmLUT-qc

Why Google?Why Google?Google: 34,000 searches per second (2 million per minute; 121 million per hour; 3 billion per day; 88 billion per month, figures rounded)Yahoo: 3,200 searches per second (194,000 per minute; 12 million per hour; 280 million per day; 8.4 billion per month, figures rounded)Bing: 927 searches per second (56,000 per minute; 3 million per hour; 80 million per day; 2.4 billion per month, figures rounded)

5Source:http://theeword.co.uk/seo-manchester/february_search_volume_share_dips_for_google.html

How does Google work?How does Google work?

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Crawl the web comprehensively and deeply

Rank and Serve those pagesand return the most relevant ones first

Index pages

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Crawl the web comprehensively and deeply

In the past Google would stay without crawling the web for 3 to 4

months

Page rank as the primary determinant. The more page rank you have- that is, the more people who link to you and the more

reputable those people are- the more likely it is we're going to discover your page relatively

early in the crawl.

The Google DanceCrawling the web used to take 30 days

And then Google would index for a week.Another week to push that data out.

In 2003, Google switched to crawling a fairly significant chunk of the web every

day.No longer waiting the crawling to finish to

start indexing

Google is getting faster: updates are found very quickly

Segment the web

FreshnessFind updates

quicklyMain Index

Supplemental Index

Googlebots

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Index pagesIndexing is basically taking

things in word order.Keyword Inverted Index

Trading ConferenceEquity

Documents or Pages

14567

3505,605

10,000

71267

8545,605

10,000

74567

4535,605

22,500

The whole process of doing the index is reversing, so that instead of having the documents in word order, you

have the words, and they have it in document order

What documents will match “Equity Trading Conference”?

Google finds the documents that they believe have those words, either on the page or maybe in back links,

in anchor text pointing to that document.

Equity Trading ConferenceEquity Trading

Equity ConferenceTrading Conference

Keyword placement and proximity

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Google uses page rank as well as over 200 other factors to rank a site to a given keyword.

All those machines return their matches. what's the creme de la crème?

What's the best page that matches this query across the entire index? And then Google takes that page and try to show it with a useful

snippet. And you get it all back in under half a second.

Rank and Serve those pagesand return the most relevant ones first

Provide most appropriate results for the user

Google provides different results for people:

Different countries - .co.uk/.com/.jp/.com.br

Different languages (PC set up)

Individual behaviour (previous visited sites, previous performed searches

Query independent metrics

Not only Keyword (on-page)Off-page too (PageRank or

page authority

Search Engine Results PageSearch Engine Results PageSERPSERP

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Paid Listing (PPC Bidding)

Organic Search (SEO)

Other Ads

10 per page

10-15% of clicks

85-90% of clicks

Site Links

How important is it to be #1?How important is it to be #1?

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Branded and Non-branded Branded and Non-branded KeywordsKeywords

Branded• Small search universe• Target customers that have heard

of our brand before

Non-branded• Huge universe• Allows us to reach 70% of new

business• Vast potential (multiple relevant

keywords/keyterms)• Customers not necessarily looking

for a conference

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Branded and Non-branded Branded and Non-branded KeywordsKeywords

Branded Non-branded

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TradeTech

Search Engine Optimisation Search Engine Optimisation and the way its evolvingand the way its evolving

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Past

Keyword Stuffing

Quantity of Backlinks

Search Engine Manipulation

Today

From now on

More relevance in Social Factors

Natural On-Page Optimisation

Over-Optimisation Penalty

Social Factors

Backlinks Quality and not Quantity

Site Quality and Content

Facebook Search

Harsh penalties for Search Engine Manipulation

Hidden Keywords

Visitor’s Interaction

Content Usability, Readability, Design

Ranking FactorsRanking Factors

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Future of SearchFuture of Search

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Bad site structure Password - https

SEO Best PracticesSEO Best Practices

rel="nofollow"

keyword

SEO - Medium Term StrategySEO - Medium Term Strategy

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Keyword ResearchAudit

Page AnalysisStrategy

Keywords

On-Page Optimisation

Off-Page Optimisation

Tracking

SEO Activities ModelSEO Activities Model

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Audit & Keyword ResearchThe backbone of your SEO activity

On-Page Optimisation

25%

Off-Page Optimisation

75%

Keyword Performance Analysis/Review

Ways to move your SEO forward

KeywordsKeywords

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Keywords Selection

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Is the keyword relevant to our business? Does it bring qualified and potential traffic?What does our GA data tells us about the traffic?

How competitive my keywords are? Can I potentially rank above other sites or are they more authoritative and optimised then mine?

Are people using my keyterms in Search Engines? Will I secure a certain level of visitors if I improve my site position in SERPs?

Keyword GroupsKeyword Groups

A keyword group is a set of keywords which derive from one or two main keyterms•Geospatial•Geospatial intelligence•Geospatial intelligence London•Defence geospatial intelligence•Defense geospatial intelligence•Geospatial intelligence agency•Geospatial agency•Geospatial agency London•Geospatial analysis•Geospatial sciences•Geospatial software

The main purpose of a keyword group is that we do not only concentrate on one keyword but also understand that keywords can be used with variants in searches (Geospatial as a broad match). By looking at variants of the main broad keyword we can then categorise them by the level of relevance, traffic volume and competition.

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The Long TailThe Long Tail

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e.g. conferences geospatial sciences europe 2012

20% of searches performed everyday have not yet been performed beforeWe can’t optimise for what we don’t know, but we can be open for the unknown

[T]here are known knowns; there are things we know we know.

We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know.

But there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we do not know we don't know.

United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld

Why Should We Bother?Why Should We Bother?

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Because It Works!

For crying out loud!

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ConclusionConclusion

• SEO is constantly evolving and old (manipulative, spammy, black-hat) techniques are no longer working

• The practice of treating SEO as an isolated channel is dead• SEO is now part of a bigger thing: the marketing mix• SEO has to be incorporated in PR, Social Media, Content

Strategy and other marketing activities. Only then we will see positive effects and ROI.

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Any Questions?Any Questions?

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Ask the SEO Croc!