Google's SEO
Starter Guide
Tina Arnoldi
Coastal Community Foundation
I’m easy to find
The Day Job
• [email protected] o 793-6036
The Evening Job
• [email protected] o 410-9320
o Blog with helpful tips
Online
• Twitter: TinaArnoldi
• LinkedIn: TinaArnoldi
• Slideshare: TinaArnoldi
• YouTube: TinaArnoldi
The Fun Stuff
• Pinterest: TinaArnoldi
• UniqueAndHandmade.com
A quick plug for upcoming events
RestartSC.org Social media workshop – June 22nd
SCTechAcademy.org Email Marketing – June 20th & 27th
Computer Security – July 10th & 17th Email: [email protected]
What is SEO?
• It’s about making your website easy to find
- both by spiders and by humans.
• Intent
o Navigational
o Informational
o Transactional
• Short phrases
• Blended search
Tags
What are tags anyway?
• HTML tags are coding instructions that tell
the web browser how to see the page
• <title>
• <h1>
• <meta description>
• <alt> (images)
<title>Coastal Community Foundation of
South Carolina - Community Giving -
Charleston, SC</title>
Title
Examples
Online marketing strategy for nonprofits and small business
Google Analytics Training - On site - Charleston, SC
Why do page titles matter?
• Lets the user and search engine know what
the site is about
• Describes the content
• Descriptive. Relevant. Brief.
• Keep it under 70 characters
Meta Descriptions
Why do meta descriptions matter?
• Lets the user and search engine know what
the site is about
• Not a ranking factor
• It’s a quick ad for your content
• You don’t always need to write it
• Keep it under 160 characters
Heading <H1>
• H1 - tells Google and users this is important
o <h1> Training </h1>
o <h2> Google Analytics </h2>
o <h1> Services</h1>
• Think of it like an outline: h2, h3, h4, h5, h6
Alt (for images)
If your image doesn't display for some
reason, the "alt" attribute will at least show a
description of the picture.
What if this picture doesn't
display?
alt="Geekend Savannah GA 2011"
src="http://360internetstrategy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Geekend-screen-shot-300x164.png
Friendly URLs
x8alskjfd?a;slk.html
Navigation
Why does navigation matter?
• People want to find what they need quickly
• If an item on your site is more than three
clicks away, it’s not important
Don’t do this
http://360internetstrategy.com/online-
marketing-services/
http://360internetstrategy.com/online-
marketing-services/another-
directory/have-you-found-what-you-need-
yet/are-you-seriously-still-reading-
this/now-i’m-annoyed
Sitemaps
Sitemaps
• A list of pages on your site.
• Dynamic content.
• New site with few links.
• For people to use if they have trouble finding
something on your site.
o Hopefully, they won’t need it
• For Google to use to find pages on your site. o Sitemap generators
Sitemap for people
Sitemap for Google http://360internetstrategy.com/sitemap.xml
Is it working?
Google Webmaster Tools
404 errors
404 errors
• An irritation more than a crisis
• A status code seen by the user when the
page doesn’t exist o Link out there pointing to that page
• Use Webmaster tools to find URLs causing
"not found“
Customize your 404 page
• Will help users find what they are looking for o Same look and feel as rest of the site
o Link to popular posts
o Webmaster tools widget creates a search box and
shows alternatives
o Show a specific landing page
• Or redirect to homepage
Keywords
Consider keywords when developing content
• How people search
• Analytics
• Keywords tool
• Customer centric
• Long tail
Google’s Keyword Tool
Content
Content
• Blogs
• Social Media
• Enewsletters
What makes good content?
• Engaging
• Unique
• Serves a purpose
• Lists
• Negative
• Use keywords
• References your site
• Images
• Videos
Share it
3
6
Anchor text
What’s anchor text?
•Visible, clickable text in a hyperlink
•Helps determine the subject matter of
the item linked-to
Anchor Text
Click here to learn more
VS
Learn more about Charleston nonprofits
Anchor Text
Read our article
VS
Read our tips for customer service
Mobile Matters
Check your mobile traffic
www.howtogomo.com
Think Local
GetListed.org
Now what?
• Setup:
o Google analytics
o Google webmaster tools
• Read:
o Google’s SEO Guide
• Check:
o Source code
o Keywords
o Sitemaps
I’m easy to find
The Day Job
• [email protected] o 793-6036
The Evening Job
• [email protected] o 410-9320
o Blog with helpful tips
Online
• Twitter: TinaArnoldi
• LinkedIn: TinaArnoldi
• Slideshare: TinaArnoldi
• YouTube: TinaArnoldi
The Fun Stuff
• Pinterest: TinaArnoldi
• UniqueAndHandmade.com
