Introduction to Search Engine Optimization

The plan today

• Basics• Where SEO fits in the Digital marketing maze• What’s the best way to learn SEO• Why should you work on SEO from day One of

your website design• How do search engines work • Ranking Parameters• So many parameters, which to choose !!• What separates the men from the boys

Basics

Organic Vs. Paid

Pay Per Click (PPC)

Organic Results (SEO)

Where does SEO fit in the Digital marketing maze ?

Top rank = Internet Gold

Many aspire, few reach it

SEO is the art and science of getting as close to the Internet pot of gold as possible

What is the best way to learn SEO ?

• Choose a site. ANY site. And not a top ranking one. One that you have server access to.

» Blog, HTML site, CMS backed site, E-commerce site

• And start SEO’ing it NOW.

• Google SEO guide + Written Notes during sessions + StudyMate = Competence

Why should you bother to do SEO? From Day One..

1) Trust

Users tend to trust 'organic' results more than 'paid' results

Paid versus Organic tussle (Traffic)

2) Durability

A well built site will rank well for a long time. Payoff will be long-term.

3) Traffic

And 'free' traffic at that!

Paid versus organic tussle (Spend)

4) A good, user-friendly, useful site

Unexpected side-effect of good SEO practices

Let’s open some code

Click to add subtitle

How Search Engines Work

How does the search engine do it?Find the best sites for anything from 'florist vile parle' to

‘hotels new york’

Is Google clairvoyant? Or all-knowing?Or simply magic?

Magic? Not quite.

1) Crawler/ Spider

Instead of building webs, these kind navigate them

Visiting every webpage on the way, Gather the contents of each web page it visits

2) Indexing

•‘Reading’ each webpage received • Determine what the page is speaking about • Organize the contents of the pages in a way that allows efficient retrieval

3) RankingRead the user’s query, apply formulas that decide which Web pages best

answer that query.

Formula? What formula?

What would you do?

Ranking Parameters

DOMAIN / SERVER RELATED

• Relevance of Domain/URL– Proof : the interest in the keyword rich domains– Domain for a lot cannot be helped, but URL can definitely be

helped ! ( Even in the case of CMS backed sites).

• Age /Trust of Domain– Age of domain and renewal date.– Distance of the domain from trusted sites– Confidence improving data : FAQ, Contact-us, Address.

Domains corresponding to the highly searched terms are also

the most expensive

Domain monetization business

How to get in the internet hall of fame

META TAG RELATED

• Head and Body.• Meta Tags (Title, Keyword, Description)

– http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=79812

– http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/static.py?page=ugc.cs&url=http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/09/google-does-not-use-keywords-meta-tag.html&signed_url=http://www.google.com/url?q=http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/09/google-does-not-use-keywords-meta-tag.html&usg=AFQjCNE0EKqBAK79vt7UM7-D-xS-Ry-50A

CONTENT RELATED

• Information Architecture – A well themed site is always preferred. Get the silos right.– Linking back to category and sub-category if applicable– Links back to homepage– One of the important links between usability and SEO

• Site Map – http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=156184

• Keyword Density• Unique well-crafted content• H1,H2 tags.

– Has got nothing to do with appearance

• Alt Tags– Imp from the usability aspects

• Anchor Text– Why you should not be lazy while naming links.

• Freshness of Page– Reason why forums do so well.

The value of high-quality original content : Ask Demand Media..!

TECHNICAL FACTORS

• Page Loading Time• Site DownTime• User experience factors

(Ajax,Jscipt,Rollovers,presence of Frames)

SOCIAL SIGNALS

OFF-Page related

• Off-page is how Google started !• It’s a sum of various factors like

• Number of inbound links to the domain • Number of inbound links to particular page• Anchor Text• Quality of links• Social Media outreach and Frequency

The days of pure link-building guys are numbered

http://searchengineland.com/new-york-times-exposes-j-c-penney-link-scheme-that-causes-plummeting-rankings-in-google-64529

Which ones should I focus on ? How should I prioritize ?

http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors

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SEO Recipe

On Page FactorsPage TitleKeywords in ContentHeading TagsTechnical Structure & Code

Keyword ResearchHow do people search?Competition level2-4 word phrases

Link BuildingInternal ExternalAnchor Text

Improved RankingsBetter VisibilityIncreased TrafficMore Leads/Sales

What separates the men from the boys..

Rules are being rewritten regularly..

Whether it’s the way SERP’s look

Or the social aspects of search gaining importance

Or how Google, Bing, Miva, Wolfram Alpha are competing with each other

Or how search algorithms are changing

The pros have a bigger universe while doing SEO

Its not just about GoogleYahoo, Bing, Ask are all major players too.

(1)Its not just web pages : Its about news results, Blogs, Images, Videos, Tweets

News results, images, tweets

2) Video, PPT, Image Searches are also increasing

YouTube is India's second largest search engine. If you have videos wouldn't you want to be found there?

Easy access to a global audience ?

3) Local SearchIndia has players ranging from Guruji.com to JustDial. Google Local is a big presence. Also local listers like Burrp and AskLaila.