INTRODUCTION TO SEO

Jenny Schluter, Global OnlineNovember 2009

• Natural search is our fastest growing and #1 online traffic driver• Fostering an “SEO” culture can ensure that all those who create,

maintain or influence online content will contribute

From Omniture

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THE IMPORTANCE OF SEARCH

Source: comScore Digital Shelf Study (Survey), Feb 2007 – Apr 2007, Total U.S. Market

50% of searchers are “Brand Advocates”

sharing recommendations with friends and family

versus 38% of non-searchers

50% of these write about their purchases online, 90% writing something

positive

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SEARCHERS ENGAGE WITH YOUR BRAND

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WHAT DOES SEO MEAN?

Google Search Engine Results Page (SERP)

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a phrase that is applied to many different areas of search engine marketing.

For our purpose, we will focus on optimizing Web pages so they are easily recognized to be highly ranked by the major search engines. This is referred to as Natural Search or Organic Search as opposed to the paid advertising placement called Paid Search

• People tend to scan online content, not read it—especially search engine results.

• Top rankings for your targeted keywords/phrases is crucial. This is because searchers:

1. Predominantly focus on the first 3 search results of the first page1

2. Rarely view the second page

3. Almost never browse past the third.

The Sweet Spot: the SERP “Golden Triangle”

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1 Over 40% of users will try a new search rather than go to the second page of search results (http://www.accuracast.com/search-daily-news/seo-7471/first-page-listings-on-google-even-more-important/).

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HOW PEOPLE SEARCH

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• Web l News l Images l Video Content l Blogs l PDFs

Images

News

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THE POWER OF DIVERSE CONTENT

1 To discover how a search engine “reads” a page, refer to the Tools section.

Crawler

•Search engines use automatic programs (“spiders”) to crawl the Web, reading each page’s source code much like a book, from top to bottom, left to right.1

Index

•Feeding off text they index and process over 200 parameters through their unique proprietary “black box” algorithms. Additional factors are used, like how frequently the site is updated and the site’s popularity gauged from inbound links.

Query

Processor

•The resulting index is used to serve up search engine results to searcher queries.

• The same principles apply to most internal website search engines although the indexing method is different.

• In most markets, we focus on optimizing for Google as it has the most advanced algorithm.

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HOW SEARCH ENGINES WORK

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KEY SEO ELEMENTS TO OPTIMIZE

The most important search elements that we can influence are:

Site StructureThe “ticket to entry” providing

the foundation

• URLs• Spider accessibility

to content and links

ContentMatches searched keywords

to content

• Primary subject matter

• Keyword usage• Titles• Emphasized text• Filenames of images

and multimedia

LinksEnabler to achieve

high ranking

• Interlinking between company owned sites

• External inbound• Hyperlinked anchor

text used

CONTENT

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Browser TitleURL

Content

Anchor Text Links

Multimedia & Image

Filenames, Alt Tags

Page Title

Customer-facing Onsite Dell Content Hidden HTML Source CodePulled into Results

Meta Keywords

Meta Description

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SEARCH ELEMENTS ON PAGES AND IN SOURCE CODE

Each of the above should: Include 1-3 targeted keywords/phrases

Use popular customer language

Be unique to each page

Be easily readable

Write focused content distinct to each page

Localize content: Translation ≠ Localization

Avoid unnecessary repetition

Key Search Elements:1. Browser Titles2. Page Titles3. Meta Descriptions4. Body Content5. Anchor Text Links6. Filenames (e.g. images, video, Flash, PDFs)7. Alt Tags8. URLs

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COMMON BEST PRACTICES FOR SEARCH ELEMENTS

SERP

Listing (or Browser) TitleMeta Description

160 characters displayed

HTML Source Code

• Results that grab the most attention:

1. Match the searched keywords

2. Are well written and easily skimmed

3. Include descriptions with compelling soft calls to action.

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TITLES & DESCRIPTIONS ARE SEEN FIRST SERP

• A Web page’s main content1 is obviously a key factor in search engine ranking algorithms.

• When writing for the Web, it is important that the content is written for the site’s user first and foremost, with the search engine spiders as a secondary priority.

• Try to write the content so that users and search engines can quickly and easily identify the main topic and keywords of the page.

MAIN BODY PAGE CONTENT

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1 Excludes text in navigation, headers and footers.

Main Content

Excludes text in navigation, headers and footers.

Well written content should: 

Be optimized for page’s 1-3 targeted keywords/phrases.

Include the exact keyword or phrase within the first sentence or two of content and thereafter use multiple times within the page content.

Use emphasized text to highlight keywords.

Bolding, italicizing, using bulleted lists or changing the style of the keyword where it makes sense.

Be focused on one topic per page.

This will facilitate the keyword selection process and make it easier to write the title and description of the page. It will also help the search engines to more clearly identify and rank that specific page for its target keywords.

Be well written. Content should be written for the site’s user first and foremost, with the search engine spiders as a secondary priority as copy that flows naturally will be easily indexed by search engines.

Use synonyms and words related to the main topic or keyword.

This captures the “long-tail of search” where the site content can be relevance matched to a greater spectrum of different but related searched keywords.

Be unique to each page.

Use popular customer language.

Avoid only using internal jargon.

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MAIN BODY PAGE CONTENT BEST PRACTICES

1) Descriptive Filenames

2) Descriptive Alt Attributes 3) Content Surrounding Images

dell-inspiron-laptops.jpg

• Search engines use 3 factors to indirectly determine what an image is about because they cannot “see”

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IMAGES MAKE A IMPACT

USE THE RIGHT KEYWORDS

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Discover keyword ideas and gauge popularity with Google Adwords Keyword Tool https

://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Example 1: Search volume for keywords related to wifi in Australia (EN)

Determine popularity of keywords, even by region with Google’s Trends

www.google.com/trends

Example 2: Popularity of wi-fi, wifi, wireless in Australia (EN)

See the Tools section for more details.

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FIND POPULAR TERMS

Use tools to discover or validate local high volume search terms:

LINK BUILDING

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• Links are “word of mouth” on the Internet.

• A link is a “vote”, telling search engines that this is an important page.

• These votes are known as “link juice” that flow from linked page to linked page.

• Tracking the relationship of the Web’s interlinked pages is a key component of Google’s “secret sauce”.

• This is scored as “PageRank” which values the quantity of inbound links to a site and their trustworthiness.

The Flow of “Link Juice”

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THE IMPORTANCE LINKS

Passing the “Link Juice”

very authoritative

somewhat authoritative

low influence

Link Juice

“PageRank” authority derives from a page’s:1. Popularity2. Subject matter3. Update frequencyTypes of Websites:4. Educational Institutions &

Organizations5. Industry Topical6. News7. Ratings & Reviews8. Partners9. Social Media10. Blogs11. Other Company Domains

local site

• Sites linking may pass on their link juice, boosting rankings.

• Quality over quantity: a link from an “authoritative” trustworthy site may be worth a lot more than many links from lesser sites.

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INBOUND LINKS BOOST RANKING

• Contextual links lead to supporting information.• Search engine algorithms take into account the text surrounding the links.

Contextual Links Guidelines:

Use the most relevant keyword rich anchor text that supports the page it links to, not the page that it is on

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PLACEMENT OF CONTEXTUAL LINKS

• The Anchor Text (or link label) is the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink like:

• Hyperlinked text is regarded by search engines as more important than normal content.

• It usually gives both the users and search engines relevant descriptive or contextual information about the content of the link's destination.

Example: Inbound Anchor Text Links for “Inspiron Laptops”

Search engine: “Must be a page about Inspiron Laptops”

Inspiron Laptops

Inspiron Laptops

Inspiron Laptops

Contextual Links Guidelines:Use specific keyword phrases particular to the linked page as the anchor text, not the page it is on

When working with links from third-party partner sites, consider varying the anchor link text

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LINK BUILDING: USE DESCRIPTIVE ANCHOR TEXT

• Ensure search engines can access links and destination URLs otherwise provide an alternative navigation path such as basic HTML text-based links.

• If the link opens in a pop-up, and you want the pop-up indexed, confirm that the content is recognized by a Web spider (e.g. avoid unreadable Javascript pop-ups that lack proper navigational elements like tool bars and back-buttons).

Example of inaccessible Links: Javascript masthead not visible to search engines

Top Javascript Masthead links not readable

Footer navigation is visible to search engines with good

anchor text

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LINK BUILDING: ENSURE SEARCH ENGINES CAN CRAWL LINKS

BEHIND THE SCENES

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HAVE THE SIMPLE AND LOCAL URLS

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USE REDIRECTS WISELY

Redirects:

301 “moved permanently” 302 “temporary redirect”

Tells search engines:

1) Redirect to a new URL 2) Index that new URL permanently

1) Redirect to a new URL.

Link Juice: The link juice of Page A passes through to Page B. A drops out of search results. B presumably replaces A in rankings.

The link juice of A does not get redirected to B.

When to Use: 1. When redirecting an EOL page/product 2. Consolidating URLs to point to one URL

1. Temporary URLs (e.g. promo pages)

Link Juice

Link Juice

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USE PAGE TAGS TO YOUR ADVANTAGE

Meta Data included at top of page

– SEO meta tags

– Noindex

– Nofollow Use all H tags

– H1 is #1!

– H2, H3 also very important Navigation

– No script tagging for all Javascript navigation

– Include detailed link names in no script

Avoid Javascript where possible

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NO FOLLOW TAGS

Robots Meta Tags tell search engines which content they should NOT index.

noindex,nofollowPage will not be indexed (noindex) and all links on page become not followed (nofollow).

Global Default Level: <xsp:string ID="meta_robots">noindex,nofollow</xsp:string>

Page Level: <meta:robot value="noindex,nofollow" />

noodp,noydirStops description and title tag overwrite by DMOZ (noodp); stops description and title tag overwrite by Yahoo Directory (noydir)

<meta:robot value="noodp, noydir" />

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ROBOTS META TAGS

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FLASH & AJAX

Search Engines cannot easily recognize Flash & Ajax

These applications are difficult for the search engines to index. Pretend the site was built in 1993

How to ensure the content is recognized:

– Balance the pages that have Flash/Ajax images with HTML content & links

– Have an HTML version (with active links available at the time of page launch)

– When possible, ensure Flash/Ajax has Anchor Text links and Alt Text

– Ensure that the flash movies accept the new flash parameters

<xdb:image class="products:flash" name="xpsnb_m1730"><xdb:imgloc>/images/global/siab/swf/index</xdb:imgloc><xdb:flashseotitle>XPS m1730</xdb:flashseotitle><xdb:flashseodescription>Customize your new &lt;a href="http://www.dell.com" &gt;XPS m1730&lt;/a&gt;</xdb:flashseodescription><xdb:flashseodisplay>false</xdb:flashseodisplay><xdb:imgtype>swf</xdb:imgtype><xdb:altimg>global:products:xpsnb:flash:xpsnb_m1730_alternate</xdb:altimg><xdb:version>8</xdb:version><xdb:width>725</xdb:width><xdb:height>200</xdb:height><xdb:expandheight>380</xdb:expandheight><xdb:link /><xdb:param0>basePath|images/global/products/flash/xpsnb_m1730/</xdb:param0>

</xdb:image> 

This is an example on how to set alternate content for Flash pieces inside xdb (image reference) files.

Flashseotitle: a title written to an H2 tag.

Flashseodescription: any additional content about the flash file including links using

&lt; and &gt; for writing html tags.

Flashseodisplay: allows you to view this content while writing it (true|false).

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ALTERNATE CONTENT FOR FLASH PIECES

BACKUP: TOOLS, CHEATSHEETS &

CHECKLIST

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Browser/Page TitleURLMeta DescriptionContentImages/MultimediaInternal Links & Anchor TextExternal Inbound Links

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KEY SEARCH ELEMENTS

Googlebot External Inbound Links

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NATURAL SEARCH CHECKLIST BROWSER & PAGE TITLES:

Headline for the page Limit to 70 char. 1-3 targeted keywords/phrases Clear, concise, popular customer language Unique Displayed as search engine clickable link

DESCRIPTION: Describes content and benefits of page Minimum 50 char. 1-3 targeted keywords/phrases within first

160 char. Should be not exceed 200 char. for English,

300 for translated text Clear, concise, popular customer language Unique Compelling Can include soft call-to-action

URL NAME: Include 1-3 targeted keywords/phrases Unique

CONTENT: Focused internal jargon-free, popular customer

language Sprinkle with 1-3 targeted keywords/phrases Target 5% keyword density Can emphasize keywords (bold, headers, link label

anchor text) Can include multimedia

LINKS: Clear popular customer language Hyperlink 1-2 keywords descriptive of linked page Link to within Main Navigation/Purchase Path Avoid excessively repeating the same link

IMAGES: Descriptive and concise popular customer language

in image filenames Dash or underscore separators for keywords Relevant to the surrounding content If image is a link, must support linked page

IMAGE ALT TAGS: Concise accurate description of images If image is a link, descriptive keywords relevant to

linked page

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tools.seobook.com/general/keyword-density

www.searchengineoptimization.jp/tools/keyword_density_analyzer.html

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CALCULATING KEYWORD DENSITY

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KEYWORD DISCOVERY: GAUGING POPULARITY

• Beyond getting suggestions for more keywords, can gauge popularity by search volume.

• Can filter by country and language (1).

• Tip: Use “Exact” as Match Type (4):

• Exact match:match the exact phrase.

• Broad match:similar phrases and relevant variations.

• Phrase match:the exact phrase exclusively.

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Google Adwords Keyword Tool to Gauge Keyword PopularityExample 3: For UK English, determine exact match popularity for: electronics,

peripherals, accessories using “exact” match type (minimizes searches for fashion accessories)

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https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

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KEYWORD DISCOVERY: POPULARITY BY TIME, LOCATION & LANGUAGE• Track multiple keyword usage volume through time by location and language.

• Based upon “broad match” of terms (e.g. WiFi card, WiFi hotspots).

Regional and language popularity trending through time

Example 4: Popularity of wi-fi, wifi, wireless

China’s Baidu search volumeExample 5: Popularity of 笔记本电脑 , 笔记本 , PC

www.google.com/trends

• Other search engines offer similar tools

index.baidu.com

www.seo-browser.com

Full Multimedia Version Text Version Read by Search Engines

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VIEW HOW SEARCH ENGINES SEE PAGES: SEO-BROWSER.COM• See a page the way a search engine sees it: blind of content embedded in

multimedia (images, Flash, Javascript, video) but able to read “Alt” tags describing content and multimedia filenames.

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TOOL TO CHECK REDIRECT TYPE

Check URLs here: http://www.seoconsultants.com/tools/headers.asp

http://www.seo-browser.com/

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VIEW HOW GOOGLE SEES PAGES: CACHED TEXT• See a page the way a search engine sees it: blind of content embedded

in multimedia (images, Flash, Javascript, video) but able to read “Alt” tags describing content and multimedia filenames.

Google SERP

Google Cached Version

Google Cached Version (Text-only)

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HOW TO VIEW PAGES WITHOUT IMAGES DISPLAYED• In Internet Explorer:

• Menu = Tools Internet Option

• Deselect “Show pictures”

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HOW TO VIEW HTML SOURCE CODE

• In Internet Explorer:

• Menu = View Source

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SEARCH ENGINES SEO COMMANDS GUIDE Search engines utilize their own set of commands which can be of great

assistance for better understanding a site’s SEO levels. Below is a summary of key search commands and search assistance features.

Command Type Syntax Engine

Title Search: returns all sites using <term> in the title tag allintitle:<term> Google

URL Search: returns all sites using <term> in the URLallinurl:<term> Google

url:<term> Yahoo

Indexed Pages: returns number of pages <URL> has indexed with the engines

site:<complete URL> Google

<complete URL> Yahoo

site:<complete URL> Baidu

Back-linked Pages: returns number of pages linking to <URL>

link:<complete URL> Google

links:<complete URL> Yahoo

link:<complete URL> Baidu

Search for a keyword of a Website indexed <term> site:<complete URL. Baidu

Note: Replace <term> and <complete URL > with search criteria, do not include the arrows < and >.