SEO Fact, Fiction, Myth & Legend

SEO Fact, Fiction, Myth & Legend.

Presented by

Kristine SchachingerKristine@TheVetters.com SitesWithoutWalls.com & The Vetters

@schachin

What is SEO?SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

(or SEM - SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING)

We rank stuff?Right?

Well ummm.. Yes, but no.

But first..What is Ranking?

INDEXINGVS

RANKING

Indexing is…“The term "indexing" is used to describe the process that search engine's carry out to firstly find your site, then secondly "digest" the content of your site. This is the way that search engines gather information about your site in order to "score" each page using their ranking algorithm.”

~ http://www.eflaunt.com/seo-glossary/indexing.htm

Ranking is…“Different to a search engine listing because a listing means the site appears anywhere on the list. Ranking relates to exactly where on the list it appears. Closer to the top means it has a higher ranking. A critical consideration in having your website found on the internet. ...”

~ http://www.buddydesigns.com/web-terms-internet-terminology.html

And where do we do this?

Right now it means optimizing your site primarily for…

Powered by searchesIn February, 69.0 percent of searches carried organic search results from Google,

while 27.0 percent of searches were powered by Bing.

http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Press_Releases/2014/3/comScore_Releases_February_2014_U.S._Search_Engine_Rankings

So..What is SEO?

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION(or SEM - SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING)

You might hear what we do called..SEO (or SEM)

OR

- Inbound Marketing (and/or)

- Online Marketing (and/or)

- Digital Marketing (and/or)

- Website Marketing (and/or)

Or less relevant, but still used- Marketing (and/or)

- Multi-Media Marketing (and/or)

- Web Marketing (and/or)

Also called..- Voodoo (and/or)

- Magic (and/or)

- Bovine Feces (and/or)

and/or check back next week..(it will probably change again ;))

Is this because we are

http://searchengineland.com/seotable

More because SEO Is All THIS and more...

AND!Not just these factors, but

geolocalizationpersonalization

device typeetc.

all affect positioning…positioning affects

traffic coming into your site

AND!Traffic = Money

or at least the right traffic.

So SEO how do we define it?

SEO = Search Experience Optimizationhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZStQhWx8YPc

Until we settle on something - the way this guy does.

Meet Matt Cutts. Head of WebSpam at Google.

So what is Search Experience Optimization?

SEO is which part of these things? Where does SEO come into the decision making process…

• Hosting?• Site Set-Up? • Platform Choice? • CMS Tool Selection? (Content Management System) • Site Design?• Site Code? • Site Architecture? • Content Choices? • Content Writing?• Content Implementation?• Authorship? • Blogging? • Social Media Choices? • Social Media Activity? • Advertising? • Changes to the Website Post Launch?

So what is Search Experience Optimization?

ALL OF IT!

SEO is which part of these things? Where does SEO come into the decision making process…

What else?

SEO is which part of these things? Where does SEO come into the decision making process…

• Press Releases• White Papers• Newspaper Mentions• Articles• Interviews• Industry Publications• Partnership Mentions• Anywhere your Strategic Players, Domain or Company Name

appears.• Including Google Places, Yelp, anywhere you list your company.

• These are called “citations” • Important NOTE – make sure all these are exactly the same

These are all link building opportunities.

So while your website is still a thought…

So while your website is still a thought…

Your SEO Plan should not be…

Myths. Facts and Tips.

Myth 1. Links Are Dead.Link Building vs Link Buying

What are Links?Links are a vote for your site’s relevance and popularity

online.When a site links to you Google sees it as a “vote” for

your site.

There are links Google thinks are “good” and ones they think are “bad”

Good LinksNatural links – links you received because someone liked your site and decided to place a link on their site (or web property) to you.

Bad LinksEverything else – anything that is not “natural”

Realistically – natural links only get you so far, so what is a site to do?

What are Links?The REAL WORLD.

There are links Google thinks are “good” and ones they think are “bad”Realistic “good” and “bad” links.

Bad Links• Link Buying• Guest Blogging on Irrelevant Sites• Article Directories• Unmoderated Directories• Forums• Etc

Good Links• Moderated Directories• Journal Publications• Articles in Reputable Ezines• etc

What are Links?The REAL WORLD. There are links Google thinks are “good” and ones they think are

“bad”What else goes into making a link profile “good”

• Link Types• Link Strength• Link Acquisition Rate• Number of Links from A Site• Anchor Text of the Link• IP Diversity• Class Diversity

What Happens to Sites That Use Bad Links or Have Bad Link Profiles?

Penaltieshmmm…

What are they?

PenaltiesWhat a Cliff Reaction Typically Looks Like…

Easier to detect. Can be other things, but more likely than not a penalty.

To be sure it is a penalty, must be tied to an update release date.

PenaltiesWhat a Slope Reaction Typically Looks Like…

Harder to detect. Can be other things, but more likely than not a penalty.

To be sure it is a penalty, must be tied to an update release date and Have other indicators present. Best to have an expert audit your site.

Google has two types of penalties.Manual and Algorithmic.

Under these types there are more subtypes.https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/2604824?hl=en

Google Penalties. Manual Penalties.These penalties are when a Google reviewer has seen your site and manually devalues your site. The devaluation can be at the

• Keyword• Page• URL• Or Domain Level

Google Manual Penalties. Manual Penalties.The penalty can be site wide or partial.

Google Manual Penalties. Manual Penalties.The penalty can be site wide or partial.

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/2604824?hl=en

Google Manual Penalties. Manual Penalties.Recovery. What makes these difficult to recover from is a Google reviewer decides if the work you have done and the reconsideration request you have submitted is enough work to remove your penalty.

If not the reviewer may leave the penalty on the site.

Google Penalties. Algorithmic Penalties.These penalties are when a Google Algorithm has visited your site and algorithmically devalues your site. The devaluation can be at the

• Keyword• Page• URL• Or Domain Level

Google Algorithmic Penalties. Algorithmic Penalties.Recovery.

These are mathematical. Google prefers these, since they are neutral and penalize any site.

The benefit is the algorithm decides if you met the requirements of the algorithm the algorithm will reinstate your site when it returns.

The detriment is you can wait a long time for the algorithm to return.

Until it does there is NO RECOVERY.

PenaltiesAlgorithmic Updates.

What are they?

Algorithmic release updates you can use to help detect site penalty issues.

These releases are updates aimed at a certain webspam issue. SEOMoz or now Moz has the best update calendar.

http://moz.com/google-algorithm-change

Google has two main algorithmic penalties.Penguin and Panda.

These are NOT the only two.These are just the main two.

Most likely to affect your site.

Penguin Timeline…

Penguin is the over-optimization and unnatural links penalty.

Panda Timeline…

Panda is now part of the main algorithm and no longer has release dates.

Panda is the thin or poor quality content update.

PenaltiesMore than one?

Yes! You can be hit by more than one at the same time. Never assume.

PenaltiesHow do they work?

You look like this guy…

Google Hits You With A Nose Dive!

TIP! ACT FAST! Do not wait. Quick action can save your site.

You Were Very Bad!

You bought spammy links. You did not fix your penalty. Ouch! Hit again!

Tip! Unless you abandon your site. ALWAYS FIX YOUR PENALTIES.

It is like swimming with leg weights on.

Google assumes you are using “black hat” techniques and gives you a penalty.

Often you get hit with the“Penguin” Algorithmic Penalty.

However, the penalty can be manual or one of many algorithmic kinds.

What happened? You Were Very Bad – In Google’s Eyes..

What happened? You Received a Penalty.

They slapped you with a warning or maybe as severe as loss of your homepage.

What do you do?This is a simplification.

You should get the advice of a professional whenever dealing with penalty issues.

1st you will need to audit your links and attempt

large scale link removal.

TIP! You must remove links as well as do your disavow.

Next you will disavow all the links you could not remove.

TIP! You may submit a disavow even without a penalty.In cases where you have received bad links or maybe you bought

services from a bad SEO and want to be pre-emptive.

Since this is an algorithmic penalty, you would have to wait for the next Penguin Update.

Note this was a 6 month wait.

If this was a manual update, you would submit a reconsideration request.

Reconsideration Submission looks like this

TIP #1! Make sure when submitting your request, any documents are added to Google Documents and set to Public.

Google will not read attachments and cannot read documents with privacy restrictions.

TIP #2! Make sure to be as detailed as possible. Google wants to know 1) what you did 2) how you will prevent it from happening again

3) that are sorry you did it. Ok we are not sure about this one, but it seems to help

SEO More Myths and Facts.Seo Myths• Links are Dead• Content ONLY Approach• If you build it, they will come

Content and SEO

Giving users information that they need/want on your site in order to make your site an online resource that users will want to engage with and link to over other sites in your industry or vertical.

And optimizing that content to be found in the search engine.

Content is one of the most important aspects of SEO.BUT Content is not the only SEO.

Content and SEO is about….

Content and SEOContent is one of the most important aspects of SEO.

BUT Content is not the only SEO. Content and SEO is about….

The Five SEO Qualities of Content• Content Quality • Content written well• Over 600 words (most pages)• On topic• In depth coverage of topic

• Content Research• Content Words• Content Engagement• Content Freshness

http://searchengineland.com/guide/seo/content-search-engine-ranking

Content and SEOContent is one of the most important aspects of SEO.

BUT Content is not the only SEO. Content and SEO is about….

The Five SEO Qualities of Content• Content Quality • Content Research• Keywords• How would people find your content• Making sure to include variations

• Content Words• Content Engagement• Content Freshness

http://searchengineland.com/guide/seo/content-search-engine-ranking

Content and SEOContent is one of the most important aspects of SEO.

BUT Content is not the only SEO. Content and SEO is about….

The Five SEO Qualities of Content• Content Quality • Content Research• Content Words• Including these in your content• Add these after you have written your content• Make sure to include in your meta tags

• Content Engagement• Content Freshness

http://searchengineland.com/guide/seo/content-search-engine-ranking

Content and SEOContent is one of the most important aspects of SEO.

BUT Content is not the only SEO. Content and SEO is about….

The Five SEO Qualities of Content• Content Quality• Content Research• Content Words• Content Engagement• Content should engage your user• Is your content sticky?• Do people link to your content?• Do people share your content?

• Content Freshness

http://searchengineland.com/guide/seo/content-search-engine-ranking

Content and SEOContent is one of the most important aspects of SEO.

BUT Content is not the only SEO. Content and SEO is about….

The Five SEO Qualities of Content• Content Quality• Content Research• Content Words• Content Engagement• Content Freshness• MYTH NEEDED on all sites (based on site type)• However, there is Query Deserved Freshness (QDF)• Meaning a term may have a need for

freshness, if you provide this you get a boost in positioning.

http://searchengineland.com/guide/seo/content-search-engine-ranking

SEO More Myths and Facts.Seo Myths• Myth1. Links are Dead• Myth 2. Content ONLY Approach• Myth 3. Technical? THAT Has No Effect On SEO.

What is Technical SEO?Technical SEO is related to your site’s• Hosting• Domains and Subdomains• Redirects (Type and Use)• Codebase• Text to Code Ratios• Crawlability • Response Codes• Page Speed• Mobile Implementation• Etc.

What is Technical SEO?Technical SEO is related to your site’s• Hosting/Server Set-Up/Admin

• Are you using Shared, Dedicated, Cloud, Grid, Virtual Dedicated?

• Are you Caching your site pages? • Are you using compression? • What about CDNs (Content Delivery Networks)?

• Domains and Subdomains• Redirects (Type and Use)• Codebase• Text to Code Ratios• Crawlability • Response Codes• Page Speed• Mobile Implementation• Etc.

What is Technical SEO?Technical SEO is related to your site’s• Hosting/Server Set-Up/Admin• Domains and Subdomains

• Are you using subdomains? What reason? What is their health?

• Is your domain redirecting properly? • Most common error.

• www. And non www + index or default pages all work• This is a duplicate content issue for your site.

• Redirects (Type and Use)• Codebase• Text to Code Ratios• Crawlability • Response Codes• Page Speed• Mobile Implementation• Etc.

What is Technical SEO?Technical SEO is related to your site’s• Hosting/Server Set-Up/Admin• Domains and Subdomains• Redirects (Type and Use)

• Are you using proper redirects? • 301 vs 302

• 301 is a permanent redirect for page moves, removal or URL changes. ALMOST ALWAYS USE THIS. Carries your link values.

• 302 is a temporary change.• Codebase• Text to Code Ratios• Crawlability • Response Codes• Page Speed• Mobile Implementation• Etc.

What is Technical SEO?Technical SEO is related to your site’s• Hosting/Server Set-Up/Admin• Domains and Subdomains• Redirects (Type and Use)• Codebase

• Are you using proper coding techniques?• Is your HTML clean of inline CSS and javascript?• Do you pass the W3C validator?

• NOTE Google does not require passing W3C validation, but by passing W3C validation you meet many of Google’s algorithmic points.

• Text to Code Ratios• Crawlability • Response Codes• Page Speed• Mobile Implementation• Etc.

What is Technical SEO?Technical SEO is related to your site’s• Hosting/Server Set-Up/Admin• Domains and Subdomains• Redirects (Type and Use)• Codebase• Text to Code Ratios

• How clean is your code? • Do you have very little text to a lot of code?

• Crawlability • Response Codes• Page Speed• Mobile Implementation• Etc.

What is Technical SEO?Technical SEO is related to your site’s• Hosting/Server Set-Up/Admin• Domains and Subdomains• Redirects (Type and Use)• Codebase• Text to Code Ratios• Crawlability • Response Codes

• Are your pages sending a 200 “ok” response code?• If not why not?

• If your page is removed are you returning a good

404 page?• (Page Not Found) with navigation for users?

• Page Speed• Mobile Implementation• Etc.

What is Technical SEO?Technical SEO is related to your site’s• Hosting/Server Set-Up/Admin• Domains and Subdomains• Redirects (Type and Use)• Codebase• Text to Code Ratios• Crawlability • Response Codes• Page Speed

• How fast are your pages downloading?• Is your “Google Page Insights” score over

90?• Have you tested your desktop and mobile

speeds? • Mobile Implementation• Etc.

What is Technical SEO?Technical SEO is related to your site’s• Hosting/Server Set-Up/Admin• Domains and Subdomains• Redirects (Type and Use)• Codebase• Text to Code Ratios• Crawlability • Response Codes• Page Speed• Mobile Implementation

• Are you still using M. (STOP!) • Are you using reponsive? • What is your page speed?

• VERY IMPORTANT IN MOBILE. • Etc.

SEO More Myths and Facts.Seo Myths• Myth1. Links are Dead• Myth 2. Content ONLY Approach• Myth 3. Technical? THAT Has No Effect On SEO. • Myth 4. SEO can be cheap.

SEO Services.

• Last year there were no fewer than 17 major algorithmic updates.• Including “Hummingbird” a COMPLETE overhaul of how Google

interprets query strings – From ‘string to things’. • On average there were no fewer than 50 smaller updates every month. • Google added the

• Advertising penalty• Display penalty• Added Page Speed into the Mobile Algorithm• Moved Panda to the main Algorithm• Added Hummingbird• Penalized Guest Blogging and Article Directories• Well the list goes on.

Few industries require the continual updating of skills and knowledge as does SEO.You get what you pay for.

SEO is an INVESTMENT, not a cost.

Bonus. Some Things About Authorship.

Google WANTS!!To get … Rid of Spam Content Provide More Relevant Information

How can they do this? Know who you are Have authenticated authors Verify who you are through identity factors Authenticate your author profile online Assert your author / post credibility

Authorship & Author Rank it’s not a just tag

it’s about your IDENTITY

Google and Identity

Google and Identity1st Stop Your Profile Pic

Your Google+ Profile picture must meet Identity StandardsIe Be able to be facially recognized

Authorship

Brownout

March/April 2013

Identity MattersYour Identity = Credibility

Back to Patents. We can find more information on what might be part of the rel=author tag if we look at how Google might be forming algorithmic assessment of…

CREDIBILITY VERIFICATION

TWO KEY IDENTITY COMPONENTSthat also make up agent or author rank

PATENTAuthentication of a

Contributor of Online Content

Ranking Author in Response to Search Query.

“Credibility Factor”

Ranking Author at Publication.

“Authentication Score”

Verification of Author

• The verified information about the author can be information as to the author's membership in an organization.

• The verified information about the author can include the number of other publications of the author that are relevant to the author's online content item.

• The verified information about the author can include the number of citations to the author's online content item that are made in other publications of one or more different authors.

• The verified information about the author can include feedback received about the author or the author's online content item from one or more organizations.

Credibility of Author

• The credibility factor can be further based on information about the organization. .

• The credibility factor can be further based on the relevancy of the author's employment to the author's online content item.

• The credibility factor can be further based on the relevancy of the field of the author's education or training to the author's online content item..

• The credibility factor can be further based on the relevancy of the one or more organizations to the author's online content item and the feedback received.

Credibility of Author

• The credibility factor can be further based on information about the organization. .

• The credibility factor can be further based on the relevancy of the author's employment to the author's online content item.

• The credibility factor can be further based on the relevancy of the field of the author's education or training to the author's online content item..

• The credibility factor can be further based on the relevancy of the one or more organizations to the author's online content item and the feedback received.

What’s Next

Topic Experts Coming Soon…Or did they already go?

The Google Knol (unit of knowledge)

Google WANTS!!To get … Rid of Spam Content Provide More Relevant Information

How can they do this? Know who you are Have authenticated authors Verify who you are through identity factors Authenticate your author profile online Assert your author / post credibility

After UpdateMy Author Stats

SEO Fact, Fiction, Myth & Legend.

Presented by

Kristine SchachingerKristine@TheVetters.com SitesWithoutWalls.com & The Vetters

@schachin