@ashnallawalla – www.trainsem.com
SEO for CEOs(Getting the most from your SEO)
by Ash NallawallaCEO,
TrainSEM.com/Twemps.com
@ashnallawalla – www.trainsem.com
Bio• SEO consultant and trainer – TrainSEM.com
– Clients include SEO agencies and businesses.
• Social networking outsourcer – Twemps.com– We engage on behalf of clients.
• Local Search forum moderator, webmasterworld.com
• Past SEO agency manager (2000+ clients)• Past in-house SEO: YellowPages.com.au,
WhitePages .com.au, CitySearch.com.au, WhereIs.com.au, etc
• Email: [email protected]• Personal blog: www.netmagellan.com
@ashnallawalla – www.trainsem.com
Should this happen to a new site?
• Blog reaction:
http://authoritylabs.com/blog/omg-target-really/
@ashnallawalla – www.trainsem.com
When customers hate the new site
http://www.change.org/petitions/singapore-airlinesbrplease-give-us-back-the-old-website
@ashnallawalla – www.trainsem.com
When customers can’t open your site
• It’s bad enough to be down, but worse when your error message is indexed.
@ashnallawalla – www.trainsem.com
Involve your SEO agency…
• What is wrong with this Google search result for “target”?
• Ask your SEO.
@ashnallawalla – www.trainsem.com
It’s all about the customer, right?
• Gift registries broken? (sitelink)• Never mind SEO, but why annoy
customers?
@ashnallawalla – www.trainsem.com
And why annoy Google?
• This is a bit technical — server headers.
• Say, this was a link onsome page.
• Ask your SEO why this isbad for Google.
@ashnallawalla – www.trainsem.com
What can go wrong with a new site?
• Poor information architecture• Web platform not search engine
friendly• Poor usability• Poor accessibility• Inadequate server• Poor search engine optimisation (SEO)• etc
@ashnallawalla – www.trainsem.com
Poor specification
• A website spec might address security, interoperability, functionality, etc.
• But it might suck at search engine visibility and need to be propped up with paid advertising indefinitely.
• Most high-end ecommerce platforms are not search friendly out of the box.
• Get your SEO included in the specification team.
@ashnallawalla – www.trainsem.com
Visits = Customers
• If a prospect can’t find your pages in Google Search, they won’t come.– If they do come but can’t use the site,
they won’t buy or return.
• For every website decision, ask, “will this increase our web conversions, or not?”
• Include your SEO in usability and accessibility discussions.
@ashnallawalla – www.trainsem.com
Avoid lawsuits
• One of the sites mentioned earlier was sued in 2006 for a lack of accessibility (Alt tags missing in images)
• Their new site had some missing Alt tags.
• Ask your SEO why legislation such as the ADA (in U.S.) or DDA (in Australia), etc cannot be ignored.
@ashnallawalla – www.trainsem.com
Perfection is difficult
• There are tools to check accessibility, e.g. http://validator.w3.org/ or http://atutor.ca/achecker/
ada.gov
@ashnallawalla – www.trainsem.com
Which tail wags the corporate dog?
• A major ecommerce platform decision usually dictates the website portal and infrastructure around it.
• A single vendor or integrator is chosen because it makes life easy for the IT and Finance people.
• Don’t fall for it! They are not accountable for revenues.
• Get the CMO and CIO to agree before making a platform decision. Include your impartial SEO in these meetings.
@ashnallawalla – www.trainsem.com
Keep your SEO informed
• Invite to important meetings that affect the website, e.g.:– Discussions of new functionality– Vendors who come to pitch their
offerings– When drafting Request for Quotations– When evaluating RFQs– During Business Acceptance Testing
(BAT)
@ashnallawalla – www.trainsem.com
Finally — Promote your SEO
• If you have an in-house SEO, elevate that position as high as you can in the marketing hierarchy.
• If you have an SEO agency arrangement, include them in internal senior level meetings (preferably ones they can attend in person).
@ashnallawalla – www.trainsem.com
Download this preso
• If you are reading this as a PDF on the conference CD, you won’t see the brief notes. Grab the PPT from: http://www.trainsem.com/pubcon/
• Contact: USA: +1 (310) 424-9296 (rings in AU) or AUS: +61 (3) 9600 3993
• [email protected]• Thank you