S E OSearch Engine Optimization

WHAT?

Practice of improving a website’s position on Search Engines.

WHY?

So that more users reach your website

Over 80% of Internet users use search engines

Over 75% of users never visit the 2nd page

THE

BIGGESTLESSON...

Good SEO helps

Users

and

Search Engines

SEO BASICS

Search Engines will block EVERYTHING, except text

No images

No multimedia

No Flash

No animation

No dynamic content from database, ajax, etc

WHAT HAPPENS

WHEN YOU IGNORE THE

BASIC?

CONTENTis

KING

Text

Make content indexable

Include as much text as possible (nav, headings)

Adding images? Don’t forget the ALT text

Links? Make sure you include TITLE

Adding a video? Include a transcript

Avoid Flash! Use HTML5

Make links crawlable

Search Engines need to see links so they can jump from page to page - they need a pathway

Include Sitemap + submit Sitemap

Page Title

Page title should be an accurate & concise description of the page’s content

Length matters: Only the first 65 – 75 characters are seen

Place important keywords at the front

More than just SEO – proper titles increase clicks

Meta Tags

Provide additional information about the website

USED to be one of the fundamental ways for Search Engines to identify the page

Still extremely relevant for the user

Meta Description

160 characters long

If missing, search engines will generate one automatically

Headings

URLs

Friendly URLs are your friend – Use them!

www.example.com/blog?id=78445 - vs -

www.example.com/blog/seo-guide-for-newbies

What to avoid

_ + ? %20

URLs

Under 100 characters

Dashes ( - ) are awesome

No more than 3 sub directorieshello.com/second/third

Keywords in URLs help – use them strategicallyHint: Location! Location! Location!

Keywords

Fundamental to effective rankings for specific words

Ideal usage:

Once prominently near the top (H1/H2/Intro)2-4 times in different variations within contentAt least once via the ALT tag inside an imageOnce in the meta descriptionOnce in the URL

Keywords

Keywords

Look at Adword Ads to createkick-ass Titles & Descriptions

Pro Tip!

Outbound & Inbound Links

Is your website a “hub” of information?

Relevant and quality (outbound) links help you get noticed much faster

Perfect cycle: when other websites link back to you

PRO TIPS!

Image search is amazing

Video search is even better

Posting a video to YouTube? Don’t forget the description!

Need outbound links? Create a BEST OF series

Guest posts are super-helpful

PRO TIPS!

Google Keyword Planner, Webmaster Tools, Analytics, Adword tester – use them as much as possible for ideas

Need more keyword ideas? Use Wikipedia!

Some pages not getting ranked well? Add internal links from pages with authority

PRO TIPS!

Google+Google Places

Both will skyrocket your SEO efforts

LAST BUT NOT THE

LEAST

PRO TIPS!

Create RELEVANT content that users want

Half of your SEO efforts get taken care ofauto-magically :)

End.