Follow @johncarcutt

John CarcuttDirector of SEO & Social Media

presented by

Search Engine Optimization

Follow @johncarcutt

Advance DigitalOne of the largest local media companies in the US

Follow @johncarcutt

Advance PublicationsThe parent company of Advance Digital and CondeNast

Follow @johncarcutt

Advance PublicationsThe parent company of Advance Digital and CondeNast

Follow @johncarcutt

Who is this guy?Why should I take the time to listen to him?

John CarcuttDirector of SEO & Social MediaAdvance DigitalFollow on Twitter @johncarcutt

• 12 Years in SEO and Online Marketing• SEO Teacher and Speaker, University of Miami, National & Local Level• Published on most major online search publications and news sites.• Co-Host of SEO101 on Webmaster Radio (weekly radio show)

• Worked with thousands of local and national companies on SEO• Has worked both as an in-house SEO and built SEO divisions for

national advertising agencies.

Follow @johncarcutt

Follow @johncarcutt

“to look into thoroughly in an effort to find or discover something” Merriam-Websters

Follow @johncarcutt

92% of online adults use Search Engines to find information on the Web

Follow @johncarcutt

Currently, there are more than 3 Billion

searches/day on Google

Follow @johncarcutt

Why is SEO important?Over 44 Billion Pages Indexed

Graph via www.worldwidewebsize.com

Follow @johncarcutt

Source: Dec 2010, Optify Study

Page 1 Page 2

Follow @johncarcutt

Follow @johncarcutt

Follow @johncarcutt

Follow @johncarcutt

Who Wants to be #1 ?

Follow @johncarcutt

The result that is Best for the User

The best answer to the question.

The most relevant, trusted and authoritative content.

Follow @johncarcutt

Follow @johncarcutt

Your content is your answer totheir question.

Follow @johncarcutt

• Be Unique• Be Educational• Be a Resource• Be Specific

Follow @johncarcutt

Follow @johncarcutt

What are we actuallytalking about here?

Follow @johncarcutt

Spamming the Search Engines

Just About Getting Better Rankings

A Quick Fix, SEO Takes Time

Follow @johncarcutt

Putting You in Front of Qualified Customers

Building Search Equity for Your Business

Protecting That Search Equity

An Ongoing Process

Follow @johncarcutt

Authority Relevancy Trust

Follow @johncarcutt

The SEO FactorsThe pieces and part which make a difference.

AuthorityRelevancy

Trust

Follow @johncarcutt

Authority Relevancy

Follow @johncarcutt

#1#1#87#87

Follow @johncarcutt

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

-80%

40%

-50%50%

-20%

90%

Optimization @ Optimization @ Optimization @

- 40% 0% 70%

Site optimization is influenced by both

Positive Factors

Negative Factorsand

The range of optimization is therefore

-100% 100%

Factors are both variable & cumulative

5 8-

107 -8 4+ + + + +

Total Optimization = 6

Trust

Follow @johncarcutt

The SEO Factors!The pieces and part which make a difference.

Follow @johncarcutt

Relevancy: The Search Engines want to return the most relevant results for every search query.

We have to demonstrate the relevance of our pages for appropriate search queries.

You are the Search Result!

Keywords and ContentWhat you say and how you say it makes a difference.

Follow @johncarcutt

Keywords and ContentWhat you say and how you say it makes a difference.

Keyword Research is the most important step towards relevancy and one of the foundations of any good SEO Campaign.

Keyword research lets you find out exactly how your potential customers are searching for your business, your products and your services online.

Don’t Guess! You can get free information on how many people are searching for which words and how hard it will likely be to rank for those keywords.

Keyword Research

Follow @johncarcutt

Keywords and ContentWhat you say and how you say it makes a difference.

HeadLong Tail

Traffic

Shoes 830,000 Monthly SearchesTennis Shoes 33,100 Monthly SearchesNike Tennis Shoes 8,100 Monthly SearchesNike Men’s Air Max Court Ballistec 320 Monthly Searches

Popularity

Follow @johncarcutt

Keywords and ContentWhat you say and how you say it makes a difference.

Create Content on your site using the Keywords?

• Build new pages or sections of content.

• Start a blog.

• Change existing pages to better reflect keywords?

• Publish a newsletter on site.

• Add dedicated location pages.

Follow @johncarcutt

Local Search RelevancyMake sure the engines know where you are.

Your NAP is the Key !!!

It is imperative that your NAP remain consistent everywhere it appears online. This is the primary means of identification used by the search engines for local businesses

Follow @johncarcutt

Make Your Location Absolutely Clear

• Place your full street address and local phone number on all pages of your website in text form.

• Have your contact information on every page of your website.

To Rank for Multiple Locations:• Where you do have an office or store and/or Where you do business, but do not

have a physical location• Create a separate page for each location.

• Make it a unique, useful, well-optimized landing page about that location.• Make sure each location has its own local phone number

Identify Yourself on Your Website

Local Search RelevancyMake sure the engines know where you are.

Follow @johncarcutt

• The focus of this page should be your name/brand, location and phone number.

• Place links here to your Google Maps (Place Page), Bing Local and Yahoo Local pages, using good link text.

• A great page to put driving directions.

“Contact Us” or “About Us” pages

Local Search RelevancyMake sure the engines know where you are.

Follow @johncarcutt

• Claimed listings do better in Local Search

• Claim Google at minimum

Claim your Local Search Listings

Local Search RelevancyMake sure the engines know where you are.

• Ensure NAP consistency across all claimed listings.

• Add images, coupons or any other data types.

Local

Follow @johncarcutt

Follow @johncarcutt

Follow @johncarcutt

The SEO FactorsThe pieces and part which make a difference.

Follow @johncarcutt

Anatomy of a Search Result!Organic and local search results combined.

Organic Link Building

Follow @johncarcutt

Your Website Link Profile

Inbound Link BuildingVotes from other sites help your rankings.

Overall Link Profile• Diversity• Natural Patterns

Link Strength• Link Relevancy• Site Authority• Link Anchor Text

Links are not about quantity, but quality.

Follow @johncarcutt

Inbound Link BuildingVotes from other sites help your rankings.

Historical Cumulative View of the Link Profile Activity

Historical Non-Cumulative View of the Link Profile Activity

Follow @johncarcutt

Inbound Link BuildingVotes from other sites help your rankings.

Historical Cumulative View of the Link Profile Activity

Historical Non-Cumulative View of the Link Profile Activity

Follow @johncarcutt

Your Website Link Profile

Inbound Link BuildingVotes from other sites help your rankings.

Get Links from Local Directories– al.com Business Listings– Convention & Visitor’s Bureau– Chamber of Commerce

– Local city guides

Social Media Profiles– LinkedIn / Flickr

– Facebook / Twitter

Get links from authoritative sites– Government agencies “.gov”

– Schools, Colleges, Universities, … “.edu”

– Local/ regional online news, newspapers and magazines

Get Links from Vertical Directories– Trade associations

Where do these links come from?

Follow @johncarcutt

Inbound Link BuildingVotes from other sites help your rankings.

The right incoming links can help with location trust.

• Use existing relationships to get local links-schools, clubs, charities, teams.

• Mine your competitors’ links.• Get links from sites that rank for what you want to

rank for. • Get links from local authority sites.

Follow @johncarcutt

The SEO FactorsThe pieces and part which make a difference.

Follow @johncarcutt

Other Attributes & ToolsHow everything is put together matters.

Other Factors Which Can Impact Search?

• The Content Management System you use for your web site. (MLS?)

• Your domain name configuration.

• Robots.txt file and Sitemap.xml file

• Special technologies such as Flash or Ajax

• Considerations for Site Redesign

Follow @johncarcutt

Other Attributes & ToolsHow everything is put together matters.

Must Have Tools for Success?

• Google Webmaster Toolswww.google.com/webmasters/tools/

• Bing Webmaster Centralwww.bing.com/toolbox/webmaster/

• Google Analyticswww.google.com/analytics/

Follow @johncarcutt

Takeaways from TodayDon’t walk away empty handed.

1. Understand people use search a lot

2. You are the search result

3. Become and “ART” lover

4. Do good keyword research

5. Create content around those keywords

6. Claim your Local Listings

7. Ensure NAP consistency

8. Build inbound links to your site

9. Utilize Webmaster Tools and Analytics

Follow @johncarcutt

They say there is no secret.They are wrong!

Follow @johncarcutt

Follow @johncarcutt

Follow @johncarcutt

Thank You!I hope you found this useful.