SEO 101:

The basics of search engine optimization

What is search engine optimization (SEO)?

Search engine optimization or (SEO), is the process of making your website more visible in search engines; more specifically, the major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing.

Why does SEO matter, and how can it help a business?

The Why and How:

Online visibility - As users turn to search engines more and more to find businesses and their services, it is becoming increasingly important for a business to be found online. Not only from an online visibility and conversion standpoint, but for online reputation management purposes as well.

Online leads and sales - SEO can help increase online leads and conversions by optimizing a website for targeted, conversion-oriented website traffic that is most likely to buy from you.

Making business decisions - Engaging in SEO can help you better understand your customers shopping habits from data, and use that data to make business decisions, both online and offline.

How do search engines work?

Search engines have four basic functions:

Crawl websites - Like an explorer on a search

Build an index – Similar to a library catalog

Perform calculations – Like a mathematician

Serve relevant results – Serve the best results

Think of a search engine as one BIG filing cabinet

Search engine spiders crawl the web, collecting information from each website, and stores that information when it is requested by a search engine user.

Search engines serve results that it believes are the most relevant to a search query, and it serves those results in a ranking order of perceived importance.

SEO continues to evolve as people change their search

and shopping habits

A report done by Nielsen in 2007, says that 74% of respondents use search engines to find a local business.

80% reported researching a product or service online before making a purchase, and then making their purchase offline from a local business.

-Statistics from SeoMoz

Some quick numbers on local business searches

A brief timeline of search engine changes/updates

What are the main components of creating an

SEO campaign?

Keyword research• Keyword research involves researching and identifying words that

people would use to find your services or products.

On-page optimization• On page optimization includes adjusting title tags, meta tags, URL’s,

and navigation structure to reflect your target keywords and overall SEO strategy.

Off-page optimization• Activities such as link building, directory submissions, social

media optimization

Analysis and Reporting• Analyze and interpret data to maximize results

A well designed website with flat architecture and well designed navigation performs better in the search engines, and is better for the user.

The basics of search engine friendly design

Your website visitor should only have to go 3 clicks from the homepage to find what they’re looking for.

Homepage

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2

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What did you say?

Breaking down the SEO geek speak

Keyword(s) Ranking Title Tags/Meta Tags Link Building Directory Submissions Conversions Bounce rate

Common SEO terms

Keyword ResearchKeyword research and its importance

Keywords research involves choosing the right keywords that someone might use to find a business and are the foundation of every search marketing strategy.

Since keywords are what the strategy is based on, it makes it one of the most important initial steps to creating a successful campaign.

Keywords are usually categorized as “short-tail” or “long-tail.” Short tails keywords tend to be broad and have a lot of search traffic, whereas long tail keywords are more phrase-like, resulting in less searches, but are more targeted and tend to be more profitable.

Title Tag / Meta Description

Title Tag

Meta Descriptio

n

Search Engine Rankings

How does a search engine rank a website?

Search engines determine relevancy based on several factors that help it to determine what to present to a searcher.

Some things a search engine evaluates when deciding how to rank the results:

How many links does this website have? How good is the website’s content? Are any of the keywords searched in the website

pages? How slow/fast is the speed of this website?

Search engines rank websites based on relevancy, in order to create a better user

experience

The first ranking position in the search results receives 42.25% of all click through traffic

The second position receives 11.94%, the third 8.47%, the fourth 6.05%, and all others are under 5%

The first ten results receive 89.71% of all click through traffic, and the second page drops to 4.37%, the third page – 2.42%, and the fifth – 1.07%. All other pages receive less than 1%.

-Statistics from SeoMoz

According to search data leaked by AOL in 2007..

What is link building and how do links work?

Link Building 101

Links count as a “vote” to search engines.

The more links a website has, the more authority the website has in the eyes of the search engine.

Links have a significant influence in a website’s ability to rank high.

The best links to have are industry related, and from high quality websites relevant to your business.

Your website

Measuring Conversions in an SEO campaign

• Filling out a “Contact Us” form• Filling out a “Request for Quote”• “Subscribe to our Newsletter”• Making a purchase on a website

Some examples of conversions:

Analyzing and Measuring Results

Setting up goals and measuring results are two critical components of a SEO campaign in order to define, measure, evaluate, and improve your strategy for ongoing success.

Questions?