Search Engine Optimisation Guide May 2009

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1 Search Engine Optimisation Guide May

2 The Basics SEO is the active practice of optimising a web site by improving internal and external aspects in order to increase the traffic the site receives from search engines. To help improve your rankings follow these three steps: 1 Create keyword list The first step is to go through your web site and create keywords and descriptions for every page. (See page 6 for help) 2 Fill out the SEO form Once completed, fill in the Hemscott SEO Form for each page of your site (See page 11 for download) 3 Update your website Send your completed form to Hemscott. We will update your site with your set of keywords and descriptions. As standard we also: Build standards compliant accessible web sites. Create (XML) site map allowing search engines to crawl your site easily And for more advanced optimisation: 4 Content optimisation Content optimisation is a key criteria for SEO. This is something that you should think about before putting together the copy for your IR centre or corporate web site. (See page 8 for details) 5 Pay per click advertising Pay per Click (PPC) is an advertising model where businesses pay an agreed upon amount each time their advertisement is "clicked", and not each time their ad is displayed. ** (See page 9 for help) ** This is a very specialised and potentially time consuming process. We recommend contacting an SEO Agency for expert advice and support

3 What is Search Engine Optimisation? Search engines are one of the primary ways that Internet users find web sites. That is why a web site with good search engine listings may see a dramatic increase in traffic. Everyone wants those good listings. Unfortunately, many web sites perform poorly in search engine rankings or may not be listed at all because they fail to consider how search engines work. In particular, it is important to prepare a web site through search engine optimisation (SEO). SEO means ensuring that your web pages are accessible to search engines and are focused in ways that help improve the chances they will be found. SEO is the active practice of optimising a web site by improving internal and external aspects in order to increase the traffic the site receives from search engines. What will Hemscott do for you? Hemscott, as a matter of course, build web sites with SEO in mind. We do this by developing the site from the ground up with HTML code that is concise, well structured, standards compliant, and accessible. This allows search engines to correctly identify not only the content of a page, but also the proper hierarchy of elements within the content. Hemscott will also create an XML site map which enables Search Engine spiders to find out what pages are present and which have recently changed, enabling them to crawl your site successfully. There are a few other elements that can be added to further help your online presence such as title tags, Meta keyword and Meta description tags. If you would like Hemscott to make these additions to your site you will need to supply these along with your web site content to allow us to insert the relevant code during development. Following the three steps given at the front of this document will put your site on the ladder to successful search results and high quality traffic

4 How do Search Engines work? Basics (using Google as an example) Google uses what they call Googlebot, an automated spider that crawls the web. It does this by requesting a web page, scanning it for hyperlinks which then in turn provide it with new pages to scan. This produces a huge set of pages that it searches and lists in order of the words it finds (and combinations thereof). For example if you search for Computer Equipment the search engine will access its index and look for pages containing the word Computer, pages containing the word Equipment and also pages containing both Computer and Equipment returning the results that we typically see from a search engine. Ranking There are numerous ways that search engines rank a web page. The aim is to provide the search engine user with the most relevant and accurate results possible. The ranking methods are largely kept secret by search engine providers to avoid unscrupulous web developers from creating false content or sites in order to generate a high ranking result. Below is a list of what are currently considered to be the highest priority factors in deciding how a page is ranked by Google (and will also apply to other search engines). Page content Title tag Inbound / Outbound / Internal links (see Google PageRank for more information) Headings within content Meta keywords Meta description - 4 -

5 Results Search engine results are usually split up into two different types - organic and paid for (sponsored) search results. It is important to note that organic search results are the only results that can be affected by the search engine that is applied to your web site and pages. Below you will see an example of a typical Search Engine Results Page (SERP) that shows you the difference in position for both of these result types. Fig 1. A Google search for computer equipment Colour Key Paid for search results Organic search results - 5 -

6 Site Content Keywords Keywords are the words people type into a search box when they are looking for something online. The search engine uses the keywords to decide which web pages to deliver in the results pages. That is why keywords are crucial to your online marketing use them in your web site copy and you can rank well on Google, Yahoo, MSN or any other search engine. Ignore them and your pages will rarely be found. There are a few online tools that can help you put a list of keywords together. For suggestions of keywords try: If you would like to see what the density (how often the same words appear) of the words that you have on your pages are you can use: * Please note that these tools are on independent web sites and are not connected to Hemscott or Morningstar in any way. Title Tags The title tag specifies the title of your web page and is displayed in the search results as the most prominent piece of information available to searchers. The title is used by the major search engines as one of the most important pieces of information available in order to help them determine the topic of your page, and thus to determine the ranking of your page in their search results. Title Tags Should be in title case (each word capitalised) Create unique titles on each page Each title must make sense on its own It should be descriptive - 6 -

7 Meta Tags Though Meta keyword and description tags are not a major factor search engines consider when ranking sites, they should not be left off the page. Both the Meta keywords tag and the Meta description tag contribute to your search engine ranking. Please note that the Meta keywords and description are what is called hidden content and are not visible to users of your web site. A Meta keywords tag should be a brief and concise list of the most important themes of your page. The Meta description tag should be a brief and concise summary of your page's content. Meta Keywords Keep to unique words or phrases per page Separate them using a comma Do not repeat words or phrases Put word or phrases in priority order Meta Description Make your description relevant to the content of the page. Again, it is intended to provide a brief summary of the contents of the page

8 Advanced SEO Content Optimisation Content optimisation is a key criteria in SEO. This is something that you should think about before putting together the copy for your IR centre or corporate web site. The aim is to structure content using the words that your audience is using to search the web to find you. This will mean using the keywords you have created for your pages and site throughout the content thereby making it keyword rich. This will improve your chances of featuring higher in the rankings of Google in relation to a given search query. This is true for both the visible content (page content, title tags) and also the hidden content (Meta keywords and Meta description) of your pages. For example, if you are in the business of Power Sector Consultancy and your audience is searching around using phrases like Nuclear Consultancy then you need to align the language you use to describe yourself with these terms. At the same time, you need to be aligning yourself with a set of keywords in a win-able arena amongst competitors: some keywords will have no competition, others will have a lot. Although optimising your content is a specialist service which Hemscott does not provide, there are several companies which do specialise in this field. We recommend that you contact them directly. Content Optimisation Keyword rich content Structured content Audience friendly terms - 8 -

9 Pay Per Click Pay per Click (PPC) is an advertising model where businesses pay an agreed upon amount each time their advertisement is "clicked", and not each time their ad is displayed. Advertisers typically set-up PPC on a PPC network and define how much they are willing to spend for each click-through that they receive. Advertisers select keywords, keyword phrases, keyword groups, or categories in which they want their advertisements to appear. Advertisers willing to spend the most money for a relevant advertisement will generally be listed first. Google's PPC ranking system assesses CPC (cost per click) using a number of factors including ad relevance, click through rate, and daily budget. PPC Search Engines There are hundreds of PPC search engines but here are some of the major ones: Google Adwords Yahoo Media Microsoft adcentre This is a very specialised and potentially time consuming process. We recommend contacting an SEO Agency for expert advice and support. Web Site Analytics and SEO As part of your site development Hemscott will also add Google Analytics to allow you to keep track of visitors to your site. As well as telling you how many visitors you have had, in time you will be able to answer a few, more SEO specific questions; Search traffic how much traffic are search engines sending to your site, growth rates and conversions Keywords which terms are bringing the most traffic Content performance which content items are performing the best and generating search traffic growth - 9 -

10 SEO Form 1. Download the Hemscott SEO Form in MS Word format 2. Fill in as much detail as possible for each page of your IR centre or corporate website 3. your completed form(s) to your Account Manager: Michael Oyarzun Katie Brown SEO Guide by Dominic Shaughnessy Project Manager Hemscott May