search engine optimisation
DESCRIPTION
A presentation by Andrew Armitage from Armitage Online Limited on search engine optimisation. Originally presented at Cumbria Rural Enterprise Agency (CREA) in Kendal on 25th March 2010.TRANSCRIPT
a presentation on
search engine optimisation
a little bit about me
Andrew Armitage
principal at
Armitage Online Limited
my role is
creative & technical
creative website design
we‘ll help you find new customers
we‘ll keep an eye on your site while you’re not looking!
happiest out of work with my
wife & flat coat retriever
let‘s start with a
definition
what is
search engine optimisation?
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process of
improving the volume or
quality of traffic to a web site from search enginesvia "natural" or un-paid
("organic" or "algorithmic") search results as opposed tosearch engine marketing (SEM) which deals with paid inclusion.
Wikipedia
(or higher)
Typically, the earliera site appears in the search results list, the more visitorsit will receive from the search engine.
Wikipedia
what does this mean for
your website?
what does this mean for
your business?
most popular UK website
most popular UK search engine
most popular UK entertainment website
you tube (google)
however
there are other search engines!
What is it about Google?
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
google.co.uk google.com Bing Yahoo!
Top search engines for the industry 'All Categories', ranked by Volume of Searches for the 4 weeks ending 13/03/2010
Source: hitwise.co.uk
what do
search engines do?
what are
organic listings?
what are
sponsored listings?
why you should know
what search engines are doing
• UK shoppers spent £5.46bn in December 2009
• £88.93 for every person in the UK• IMRG Cap Gemini e-retail sales index annual
growth in 2009 averaged 14%• 2010 demand expected to continue to rise
as websites improve, ranges widen and consumers habitually look for the best buys online
what is it that
makes search engines happy!
search engines say
content is king
search engines love
structure and order
speed
is important
search engines
respect their elders
help search engines with
meaningful anchor text
be seen in
more than one place
plenty of
inbound links
keep your site
up to date and fresh
make sure you
stand out
how can I
improve my ranking?
a good place to start
your home page
viewing your
website’s dna
View page source
<title>
<meta>
<h1>
<h2>
...
<h6>
<p>
<h1>Most important</h1>
<h2>Sub-heading</h2>
<h3>Minor heading</h3>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><title>Untitled Document</title></head>
<body><p><strong>Welcome to Joe Bloggs Landscaping</strong></p>
<p>Joe Bloggs Landscaping designs gradens for residential and commercial properties. We're an experienced firm established over 14 years ago and work with time served tradesmen.</p>
<p>We cover towns across the South Lakes and would be happy to give you a free quote and show you examples of our work.</p>
<p><strong>Patio Design</strong></p>
<p>Joe Bloggs Landscaping can also design your ideal patio for your garden. Click <a href="#">here</a> to email us.</p>
<p><strong>Contact Us</strong></p>
<p>Contact us today for a free quote. We'll come and visit your home and show you some examples of our work and put together a no obligation quote. Call us on 01234 567890 or click <a href="#">here</a> to send us an email from our contact form.</p>
</body></html>
• add a page title
• add some meta tags
• add some structure with headings
• improve the anchor text
• add keywords into the copy
• set the context – you want to sell still!
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><title>Landscape Design Kendal | Patio Design Kendal | Garden Design Kendal</title><meta name="description" content="Joe Bloggs Landscaping is a garden design and landscaping company in Kendal specialising in Patio Design" /><meta name="keywords" content="landscape, design, patio, kendal, cumbria, grange over sands, carnforth, windermere" /></head>
<body><h1>Landscape Designer in Kendal</h1><p>Joe Bloggs Landscaping is a well established landscape design company based in Kendal, Cumbria. Our garden design and <a href="#">patio installation</a> services are available to both residential and commercial customers throughout the South Lakes.</p> <p>Joe Bloggs Landscaping are delighted to offer free estimates for garden landscaping and design. We'll glady visit your property within the Kendal and South Lakes area to give you some ideas of how we can improve your current garden design to maximise use of space.</p><h2>Patio Design Kendal</h2><p>Joe Bloggs Landscaping are specialist patio designers and <a href="#">patio installers in Kendal</a>. Enjoy your garden this summer with a carefully planned patio design, allowing you to enjoy summer BBQs with family and friends. Our portfolio of work includes a variety of patio designs in Grange over Sands, Carnforth and Windermere. Whatever your requirements, Joe BloggsLandscaping has a garden design solution for you!</p><h3>Contact Joe Bloggs Landscaping</h3><p>Contact Joe Bloggs Landscaping today for a FREE garden design estimate. Call us on 01234 567890 or fill in our <a href="#">contact form</a> to find out more information. You can also visit our portfolio of <a href="#">landscaping designs</a> to give you an idea of the quality of our work.</p> <p>If you're looking for a landscape designer in Kendal, or a patio designer in Grange-over-Sands, Windermere or Carnforth, get in touch with Joe Bloggs Landscaping Designs today!</p></body></html>
so what are my keywords
and how do I find them?
look at
google analytics
look at
your competition
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
how do I know when a
search engine visits my site?
what about
linking to other sites
linking is a bit of a
conundrum
links should be
targeted & relevant
what about
reciprocal links?
what about
online directories?
how do I know who’s
linking to my site?
• link: search option in Google
• Backlinkwatch.com
• Yahoo site explorer
it’s
not all about your site!
get found on
google local
http://www.google.co.uk/local/add
approaches to SEO
articles & pr
how will Google
find my website?
give a little help with an
xml sitemap
<url><loc>http://www.site-scape.co.uk/</loc><lastmod>2010-01-04T16:38:52+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>yearly</changefreq><priority>1.00</priority></url>−<url><loc>http://www.site-scape.co.uk/services/</loc><lastmod>2010-01-04T16:38:52+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>yearly</changefreq><priority>0.80</priority></url>−<url><loc>http://www.site-scape.co.uk/planthire.php</loc><lastmod>2010-01-04T16:38:52+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>yearly</changefreq><priority>0.80</priority></url>−<url><loc>http://www.site-scape.co.uk/healthandsafety.php</loc><lastmod>2010-01-04T16:38:52+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>yearly</changefreq><priority>0.80</priority></url>−<url><loc>http://www.site-scape.co.uk/contact.php</loc><lastmod>2010-01-04T16:38:52+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>yearly</changefreq><priority>0.80</priority></url>−<url>
create your own
xml sitemap
http://www.xml-sitemaps.com
webmaster tools
http://www.google.com/webmasters
how can I
measure success?
what about
social media?
http://www.armitageonline.co.uk/social-media/social-media-is-it-all-talk/
some helpful
resources on the web
web address
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2008/11/googles-seo-starter-guide.html
web address
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/
web address
http://www.youtube.com/user/GoogleWebmasterHelp
conversion room blog
http://conversionroom.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/SEngineLand
from us
http://www.armitageonline.co.uk/blog/
Andrew Armitagewww.armitageonline.co.uktwitter.com/armitageonlinetwitter.com/aarmitage
t 015395 61956
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nirak/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/myklroventine/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/criminalintent/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nesster/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cynergy/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mortimer/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thatguyfromcchs08/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bensutherland/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/runnerone/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattimattila/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spunter/
Thanks to the following photographers who’s work features in this presentation.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/geirarne/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/darrenhester/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnthescone/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/djou/
Thanks to the following photographers who’s work features in this presentation.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/roach-family/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tompagenet/
Various sources on Flickr