SEO BASICS. March 20, 2015

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1 SEO BASICS March 20, 2015

2 1. Historical SEO 2. SEO Live Site Reviews 4. Current Landscape 5. The Future of SEO 6. Resources 7. Q&A AGENDA 2 SEO Basics Augusta Arts

3 HISTORICAL SEO Search Engine Optimization

4 In the beginning Lycos c AltaVista c SEO Basics Augusta Arts

5 Web Search Pre-Google Race to crawl the web Focus on quantity of results Engines relied on websites to describe themselves Keyword use and occurrence was key 5 SEO Basics Augusta Arts

6 Along Came Google 6 SEO Basics Augusta Arts

7 Introducing PageRank The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine by Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page Created a new scalable system architecture to crawl the web Focused on speed and performance Counted links as Votes in the PageRank algorithm 7 SEO Basics Augusta Arts

8 Directories Reigned King DMOZ c Yahoo! Directory c SEO Basics Augusta Arts

9 9 SEO Basics Augusta Arts

10 Major Algorithm Updates Boston Started the Google Dance and monthly updates Florida Cracked down on old spam tactics Austin On-page factors, invisible text, meta-tag stuffing Personalized Search User-based personalized results Jagger Targeted low quality links, link farms and paid links Vince Emphasis on brands and reputation Caffeine Infrastructure change for real-time indexing Panda Focused on quality, content farms, thin content Penguin Targeted spam factors, keyword stuffing, paid links Hummingbird New core algorithm, focused on entities Pigeon Created a closer tie between local and core search HTTPS Secure sites earn a minor ranking boost 10 SEO Basics Augusta Arts

11 SEO 101 Search Engine Optimization

12 Site Structure & URLs Organize your site with a clear hierarchy and structure Use linguistic URLs to help users understand what each page is about ATV has clear URLs and a userfriendly hierarchy. ex. /membership/day-passes ex. /about/mission 12 SEO Basics Augusta Arts

13 Unique, Accurate Page Titles A title tag tells both users and search engines what the topic of a particular page is. Create a unique title for each page on your site. The title for your homepage can list the name of your website/business and could include other bits of important information like the physical location of the business or maybe a few of its main focuses or offering. 13 SEO Basics Augusta Arts

14 Include a Meta Description A page's description meta tag gives Google and other search engines a summary of what the page is about A page's description meta tag might be a sentence or two or a short paragraph. Make sure your meta description isn t too short, long, or duplicated too many times 14 SEO Basics Augusta Arts

15 Links & Anchor Text How you describe other pages on your site affects their relevance Anchor text sends signals about the contents of the destination page Be careful of spam signals! 15 SEO Basics Augusta Arts

16 Google Bomb 16 SEO Basics Augusta Arts

17 Optimize Images Use a short and descriptive file name for each image Write an ALT tag to describe its contents in a succinct phrase Optimize image file size to load as quickly as possible 17 SEO Basics Augusta Arts

18 Utilize Page Headings Use heading tags to emphasize important text There are six sizes of heading tags, beginning with <h1>, the most important, and ending with <h6>, the least important Only use a single <h1> heading on each page Ensure headings follow a clear hierarchy and are nested appropriately 18 SEO Basics Augusta Arts

19 Create High-Quality Content Useful and informative: Relevant content based on your service offering and questions your customers may have More valuable and useful than other sites: Make sure your content provides more value or a different perspective than the numerous articles on the web on the same topic Credible: Show your site s credibility by using original research, citations, links, reviews, testimonials and authoritative authors High quality: Your site s content should be unique, specific and high quality. It should not be mass-produced or outsourced on a large number of other sites. Engaging: Bring color and life to your site by adding images of your products, your team, or yourself. 19 SEO Basics Augusta Arts

20 LIVE SITE REVIEW Search Engine Optimization

21 CURRENT LANDSCAPE Search Engine Optimization

22 Content is King 22 SEO Basics Augusta Arts

23 Structured Data is Queen Structured data helps search engines understand the different entities in a page Google and Bing have both recommended Schema.org as the standard for markup Schema.org isn t just for recipes! ü Reviews ü People ü Products ü Businesses ü Events ü Music ü Movies ü and more! 23 SEO Basics Augusta Arts

24 The Time for Mobile is Now Over 50% search queries will be from mobile devices by the end of the year The Google My Business listing for Augusta Arts is the only result above the fold on mobile. Starting April 21, Google will be expanding their use of mobilefriendliness as a ranking signal worldwide. 24 SEO Basics Augusta Arts

25 Getting Smarter About Social Search engines are getting smarter about social media Bing partners directly with Facebook and Twitter Google has invested heavily in Google+ Social signals could be the new links 25 SEO Basics Augusta Arts

26 Search engines are likely to... place an increased focus on detecting and diminishing the value of paid links and online partnerships... get better at understanding which sites are authorities in specific industries and reward authority sites with ranking improvements... continue to expand authority signals beyond links and mentions... use structured data to further enhance search results and bring relevant information to users as quickly as possible... go further to protect user privacy and protect users from hacked sites and malware... continue to look for signals of businesses that have exceptional products or services and user experience on their site 26 SEO Basics Augusta Arts

27 RESOURCES Search Engine Optimization

28 Google Webmaster Advice Webmaster Academy SEO Starter Guide 28 h"ps://support.google.com/webmasters/ answer/ ?hl=en SEO Basics Augusta Arts h"p://sta<c.googleusercontent.com/media/ engine- op<miza<on- starter- guide.pdf

29 Beginners Guide from Moz 29 SEO Basics Augusta Arts h"p://moz.com/beginners- guide- to- seo

30 Sign up for Webmaster Tools Google Webmaster Tools Bing Webmaster Tools 30 SEO Basics Augusta Arts

31 Webmaster Central Blog h"p://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/ 31 SEO Basics Augusta Arts

32 The Moz Blog 32 SEO Basics Augusta Arts h"p://moz.com/blog

33 Search Engine Land 33 SEO Basics Augusta Arts h"p://searchengineland.com/library/channel/seo

34 Google Keyword Planner Keyword Search Search Volumes & Trends 34 SEO Basics Augusta Arts h"ps://adwords.google.com/keywordplanner

35 Our Industry Update 35 SEO Basics Augusta Arts h"p://eepurl.com/z9scn

36 THANK YOU

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