SEO For Blogs

Stuff to help you rank well when it matters

Who Am I?• Got on the Internet in 1986 at my school lab• Working online with search since 1996• Social Media, Paid & Natural Search with a

smattering of Affiliates• in-house: e-Commerce, Publishing & High Tech• Moved to digital media agency & worked with

Bayer, Readers Digest, NBC Universal, COI• Wrote chapters on SEO & Social Media

analytics for B2B Marketing guides plus chapter on SEO for IAB

• One of the SEO Chicks!

What is SEO?“SEO is the active practice of optimizing a

web site by improving internal and external aspects in order to increase the traffic the site receives from search engines.”

- SEOmoz

What is SEO?

• Natural Visibility including

• Words• Images• Video• Links

Top Factors You Need To Consider

• Keyword Research• Tags• Image Optimisation• On Page Text• Site Architecture and Internal Links• Links• SEO Tools

Elements of Ranking• Title Tags • Meta Description Tags • Meta Keyword Tags • H1, H2, H3 • Keywords in the content • URL Structure• Linking• Authority• Age of domain

Header tags

Navigation

Image ALT tags

Main page content

On Page

Header tags

H1

H2

H3

Keyword Research• Check that the words are what everyone uses

and not just internal/personal jargon• Check you are using a more frequently

searched term for roughly the same meaning – “social media” vs “social networking”

• Go for a longer tail – 2 or more words• Each page needs an individual focus• Check Google for competition and news articles• Use as many keyword tools as possible

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal?defaultView=2

Natural search – SEO factors

Around 200 factors contribute to the ranking of a webpage or a website.

These 200 factors can be broadly categorised as:

ContentContentTechnical/ArchitectureTechnical/Architecture PopularityPopularity

SEO• On Page Text SEO• Permalinks• Optimize your Titles for SEO• Optimize your Descriptions• Keyword rich internal links

On Page Text• Stick to a single focus• Don’t use all keywords for whole site on

all pages - focus• Semantic relevancy is key

Keyword density

5 – 10 occurrences of thekeyword or phrase per 100Words.

What you should avoid is the following…

Optimal Keyword Density

• No magic number• Anchor text counts less towards density• Total number of words matters• 20% density gets you banned from Bing – no

reinclusion request yet• 5 – 7% or as high as 10% ideal• Does not include meta data• Check competitors• Keyword Density Checkers:www.webconfs.com/keyword-density-checker.phpwww.ranks.nl/tools/spider.htmltools.seobook.com/general/keyword-density/

URLs

• Optimise• Used for relevancy• Make it for people AND search engines

URLs - Permalinks

Title Tag• Customise it• Ensure keywords at start• Don’t stuff keywords• Unique• Don’t let blog name go first

Descriptions• Compelling call to action• Don’t auto-generate – write it• Don’t let this happen to you (if it matters)

ENGAGE!• Respond to comments• Follower top commenters on Twitter• Post responses to other blogs• Encourage RSS feed signup and list

subscription

Analytics

Use Popularity to Elevate

Keyword Rich Internal Links

• Logical Groupings – macro to micro• Keep visitors longer• Reinforce keyword relevance

External Link Building

• Find Sites That Link To Competitors: “link:url.here” – Google, “linkdomain:url.here” – Yahoo Site Explorer & Bing

• Find Sites By Keyword Search: “allintitle:keyword(s)” “allinanchor:keyword(s)” “allinurl:keyword(s)” “allintext:keyword(s)”

• Find Sites That Already Link To You: “link:your.url.here” – Google, “linkdomain:your.url.here” – Yahoo Site

• Remember – Anchor text is important toget right

Link:desired-target-domain.com

Linkbait

• Written purely to encourage links• Blog responses• Twitter – retweets• Digg• Use Technorati

Linkbait

Yoast.com – Use The Plugins!

Blogs

http://www.seo-scoop.com/2008/07/01/the-ultimate-hacker-prevention-guide/

Thank You!

judith.lewis@seshet.co.ukwww.seshet.co.uktwitter.com/seshet

www.SEO-Chicks.comtwitter.com/SEOChicks

twitter.com/JudithLewis