The Four Three! Pillars of a Strategic SEO Program. Organic Search/SEO REI:

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1 Making the Most of Organic Search: The Four Three! Pillars of a Strategic SEO Program Jonathon Colman Organic Search/SEO REI:

2 Why should you care about SEO? Drives at least 75% of clicks on search engine results pages Nearly 7 out of 10 searchers only click on organic results Top three organic lis ngs seen by 100% of all searchers Just 50% for top paid lis ng Only 8% of searchers click past the third page of organic results Searchers equate high organic ranking with brand trust, reputa on, and relevancy

3 SEO Pillar #1: Audience 3

4 Different searchers have different needs Over 6,000 searches are performed each second in the US, but: Not everyone knows you exist Not everyone knows what they re looking for Not everyone is ready to buy And: Some searchers are already familiar with you Some searchers do know exactly what they re looking for Some searchers are ready to buy right now

5 This page is intended for use by people who are interested in starting to ride their bike and need help learning how to begin. To attract that audience, this page should be optimized for specific words attached to cycling and learning like getting started. 5

6 This page is intended for use by people who are ready to research the purchase of a commuter bike or to buy one right now. To attract that audience, this page should be optimized for the product and category terms. 6

7 Key takeaways Focus on mee ng your visitors needs Op mize content for different types of inbound traffic Help your visitors advance through the funnel Not everyone s ready to buy, but be ready for those who are Advanced ps: Offer engagement opportuni es to top- of- funnel visitors Videos, downloads, quizzes, checklists, etc. Use web analy cs to track where visitors drop out of your content flow Always Be Tes ng: conduct tes ng of landing pages to learn what drives conversion, s ckiness, and return visits

8 SEO Pillar #2: On- Site Content 8

9 What s the anatomy of a web page? Different for humans and for search engines Humans have a full visual experience of web content Search engines have a different user experience

10 The homepage for the Seattle Sounders is visually compelling and engaging 10

11 but a search engine can only see the text, links, and code driving the page without bells and whistles. The takeaway for the Sounders is to make their pages as accessible and as relevant as possible for humans and for search engines.

12 What can t search engines see? Most Flash, JavaScript, AJAX, or other client- side programming But they re ge ng be er at it Content in images, audio, and video Progress is being made here as well Password- protected content Content hidden behind a login or a form field Most dynamic widgets and applica ons Any other content you purposefully block (i.e., robots.txt) Off- line content (duh)

13 This is an REI.com product page for a popular backpacking stove. How is it optimized for relevancy?

14 Original, detailed, and descriptive product information written in language that our customers use.

15 Detailed specifications and the names of product attributes add additional value.

16 User-generated reviews leverage the passion of your customers while adding transparency

17 and relevancy for additional keywords that customers actually use while searching the web. All of the content on your pages plays a role in driving relevancy, which can lead to higher rankings and more traffic.

18 Key takeaways Op mize content experience for humans Op mize content access for search engines Op mize content relevancy to drive visibility and engagement Advanced ps: Use keyword research tools to understand customer demand for terms Use Flash text replacement techniques to add beauty without sacrifice Don t fragment relevancy by spli ng content into too many pages Socialize your content crea on to drive transparency, bring customers into your brand, and build addi onal SEO value

19 Exercise Real- Life SEO 19

20 Scenario: This is a product users like. REI ranks well for its name. And it drives traffic.

21 When customers click on the search result, they get a Product Unavailable page.

22 Guess what? We have a newer version of this product in stock! But it s located at a different URL that does not rank well in search.

23 What would YOU do? Answer this ques on: How would you improve findability and drive traffic to the new version of the jacket? Photo Flickr user Colin_K, flickr.com/photos/colinkinner

24 SEO Pillar #3: Site Structure 24

25 Ques ons and answers So you have great content now what? How do you get search engines to find and crawl through your site? How do you priori ze some pages above others? How do you op mize pathways through your site for users and search engines? The answer: links

26 Links are signs of trust For a search engine, links from one site to another are like a vote of confidence and trust. If a page on Site A links to a page on Site B, the page on Site B can be said to be a trusted resource of value to visitors of Site A. Page on Site A Page on Site B Link I trust you!

27 Discovery and discoverability Search engines index the en re Web by following link a er link to page a er page of content. Search engines can t find brand new pages because there aren t any links poin ng at them. Links Strongly interlinked site with many inbound links New pages without links are isolated from search engines

28 Trust aggregates into authority As search engines index the Web, they count one- way, inbound links to each page online. Pages with more links can be said to be more authorita ve because more individual sites trust their content resources. Page on Site A Page on Site B Five inbound links Ten inbound links = more authority

29 Your homepage has more authority than any other page on your site use it to link to deeper content to focus search engine attention!

30 Key takeaways Links are the means by which search engines crawl the web New content can t be discovered unless you link to it Naviga on help users and search engines find content Use your naviga on to focus search engine authority Advanced ps: Provide an XML sitemap to help ensure that all your content gets crawled Build faceted naviga on/sor ng to benefit user experience Use Google Webmaster Tools to help iden fy duplicate content Use the canonical <link> element to signal duplicate content to search engines

31 What Have We Learned? In Conclusion 31

32 Conclusion: What have we learned? Your key takeaways: Do what s best for the visitor and focus on user experience But keep in mind that search engines are content consumers, too Strive to be unique and specific; avoid ambiguity and generality Use your naviga on and links to your advantage Solicit links, men ons from your audience and from external sites Advanced ps: Talk to each other: meet, listen, network, publish, speak, share Never be afraid of failing always be afraid of not learning

33 60 resources for growing your SEO knowledge Industry news & blogs - Search Engine Land - Search Engine Watch - Google Webmaster Central - Yahoo Search Marke ng blog - Bing Webmaster Center blog - Ma Cu s - SEOmoz - SEOBook - Search Engine Journal - TopRank - WebmasterWorld - Sphinn - ClickZ Books - SEO For Dummies - SEO: An Hour a Day - The Art of SEO - Web Analy cs: An Hour a Day - Search Engine Visibility - Anything by Peter Morville Tools, tools, tools - Google Webmaster Tools - Bing Webmaster Center - Yahoo Site Explorer - Google AdWords Keyword Tool - SEOBook Keyword Tool - Google Insights for Search - Search- based Keyword Tool - Google rich snippets tes ng tool - SEOmoz tools - Open Site Explorer - Majes c- SEO tools - Raven SEO tools - SEO- Browser - Xenu Link Sleuth - Firebug and YSlow Conferences - Online Marke ng Summit (OMS) - Search Marke ng Expo (SMX) - Search Engine Strategies (SES) - Pubcon Tac cal approaches - In- house SEO guide - Search ranking factors (2010) - Local search - Adobe Flash & SEO - AJAX & SEO - Flash text replacement - Site speed - SEO for video - XML sitemaps - Robots.txt - Rich snippets/microformats - Developer s SEO cheatsheet - Link- building ps (Ma Cu s) - HTML <meta> tagging - CSS and SEO - Analy cs - Social media and SEO - Social media op miza on - Worst prac ces for SEO Hey! You probably know of many other great resources. Help us out by sharing them with others so that we can all learn together.

34 Many thanks! Let s con nue learning together. Please contact me with ques ons or comments: Twi Homepage: about.me/jcolman 34