Search Engine Optimization. Software Engineering October 5, 2011 Frank Takes LIACS, Leiden University

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1 Search Engine Optimization Software Engineering October 5, 2011 Frank Takes LIACS, Leiden University

2 Overview Search Engines Search Engine Optimization Google PageRank Social Media Search Engine Marketing Tools Take-Aways

3 Search Engines Content (text, images, video, locations,...) Biggest referrer on the internet Organic and paid results Browser integration Desktop & Mobile Spiders Google, Yahoo, Bing

4 Search Engines July

7 Ranking Higher is better Ranking is roughly based on: A. Content B. Incoming links C. User/Local preferences D. Rewards E. Punishments Exact formula unknown seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo

8 Eye tracking studies performed at Cornell University by Laura A. Granka, Thorsten Joachims and Geri Cay.

9 Online Marketing marketing Paid advertisement Social media marketing Viral marketing Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

10 Search Engine Optimization "Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the "natural" or un-paid ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results." Wikipedia White hat vs. Black hat On-page vs. Off-page SEO is an investment

engines via the "natural" or un-paid ("organic" or "algorithmic") search

11 Search Engine Optimization SEO Cycle: 1. Measure (access logs, error logs, Analytics, keywords, queries, indexes, competitors,...) 2. Analyze & Evaluate 3. Set goals (higher ranking, be found on certain keywords, increase Google PageRank,...) 4. Improve & Maintain 5. Submission & Recrawl 6. Goto 1.

12 Search Engine Optimization Technical Optimization HTTP/File level HTML Content Optimization HTML Textual Link Optimization Google PageRank Internal & External links

13 Technical Optimization Catchy domain name: Simple URL: HTTP (error) codes 200 = OK, 301 = moved permanently, 404 = not found Separate content (HTML, XML, RSS,...) from layout/code (CSS, Javascript,...) Remove stylesheet and see how the page looks Write valid (X)HTML

com/simple-page-name HTTP (error) codes 200 = OK, 301 = moved permanently, 404 =

14 HTML <head> tags Meta-information about your page for browsers and crawlers <html lang="en">... </html> <title>contact MyCompany</title> Should be unique, short and with the site name last Provide alternate versions of your document: <link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="/english" /> Various <meta> tags: <meta name="tag-name" content="tag-content" />

.. </html> <title>contact MyCompany</title> Should be unique, short and with the site

15 HTML <meta> tags charset: ä or ä or ä UTF-8, ISO-8891, Unicode, etc. keywords: generic or niche? relevant to business relevant to searchers description: ~160 characters for exact display in search engines robots: page crawling and link following (also: robots.txt file)

relevant to business relevant to searchers description: ~160

16 HTML <head> tags

17 HTML <head> tags <title>leiden University</title> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/> <meta name="keywords" content= "leiden, masters, university, study, studeren, studie, student, studenten,..." /> <meta name="description" content="leiden University offers outstanding international students an intellectually exciting learning environment with high academic standards. Rather than concentrating on knowledge transfer, the focus is on debate and critical thinking whereby students' abilities to think independently is greatly stimulated." />

.." /> <meta name="description" content="leiden University offers outstanding international students an intellectually exciting learning

18 Keywords Top 10 keywords in 2010 in the Netherlands

19 HTML <body> optimizations No inline style-tags or style-attributes! Use id and class attributes & CSS Make use of <h1>, <h2>,... <h6> and <p> Use <strong> and <em> (preferably over <b> and <i>, and avoid <u> completely) Use alternate texts for images <img src="us.jpg" alt="group photo" /> Rich links <a href="/edu" hreflang="nl">...</a> <a href="page2" rel="next">...</a>

.. <h6> and <p> Use <strong> and <em> (preferably over <b> and <i>, and avoid <u>

20 rel attribute alternate: designates substitute With lang attribute: a translated version stylesheet: external style sheet start: refers to the first document in a collection next: refers to the next document in an ordered sequence of documents prev: refers to the previous document in an ordered sequence of documents contents/toc: refers to a document serving as a table of contents.

refers to the next document in an ordered sequence of documents prev: refers to the previous

21 HTML 5 SEO-friendly tags <nav> <header> <footer> <section> <article> <figcaption> Better semantics <audio> and <video> instead of <object>

22 Content Good content is... Relevant Original Fresh Structured Keyword-rich Correct Sharable Local Endorsed

23 Don'ts Hidden text or tiny text Keyword stacking or stuffing Overuse non-related keywords Duplicate pages Duplicate content "Click here" links Content in Flash Website with Frames

24 Search Engine Optimization Technical Optimization HTTP/File level HTML Content Optimization HTML Textual Link Optimization Internal / External Inbound / Outbound

25 Link Optimization More incoming links = higher ranking Internal & External links Ignoring certain links: <a href=" rel="nofollow"> Ranking algorithms: Hyperlink-Induced Topic Search HITS (Kleinberg, 1999) PageRank (Page, 1999)

26 Google PageRank

27 Google PageRank 4 webpages A, B, C and D (N = 4) Initially: PR(A) = PR(B) = PR(C) = PR(D) = 1/N L(A) is the outdegree of page A Now if B, C and D each link to A, the simple PageRank PR(A) of a page A is equal to:

28 Google PageRank A B A B C D C D

29 Google PageRank PageRank as suggested by Larry Page in 1999 N = number of pages, p i and p j are pages M(p i ) is the set of pages linking to p i L(p j ) is the outdegree of p j d = 0.85, 85% chance to follow a link, 15% chance to jump to a random page (random surfer) t = 0 t = t + 1

30 External Link Optimization Gain incoming links from high-ranked and relevant websites: Regular websites Portals, indexes Social media Have relevant text in and around the links to your website Track your backlinks:

31 PageRank Hunters I received the following regarding one of my PageRank 4 websites:

32 PageRank Hunters

33 Internal Link Optimization Main navigation on landing page Keep old pages alive (age counts!) Use redirects with proper HTML response codes Use ref="nofollow" where needed Cross-linking within your website No splash page(s) (XML) Sitemap seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo

34 Hier gebleven

35 Social Media "Social Media is use of web-based (and mobile) technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue." Wikipedia Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, blogs, Relevant for SEO: Gain links from social media platforms Make it easy to share content Make it easy to have users contribute content Manage and measure your online reputation Viral Marketing

36 Social Media

37 Search Engine Marketing Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Paid results Target specific devices, languages, countries, regions, or even cities. Google Adwords Extensive measurement options Advertise on search engine and on websites "Bidding" to get your ad shown

38 SEO vs. SEM Search Engine Optimization More permanent Long-term investment that with long-term benefits Initial setup investment is higher. Requires more patience Requires more know-how Creates an online presence Makes you the authority on a topic Search Engine Marketing No permanence A cost rather than an investment Lower initial cost threshold Fast Results Requires very little background knowledge Does nothing to brand you as the authority Highly Targeted Traffic Billy Howard - DeepSci.com/RENPrez

39 Google Tools Analytics: extensive website statistics Trends: what are people searching for? Insights for Search: helps find keywords Webmaster Tools: track your website's keywords, sitemap, links, errors, crawling statistics, etc. Page Speed: how quickly does your page load? Places: add your business to Google Maps etc. Adwords: search engine marketing

40 Conclusions SEO = Technique + Content + Links. Technical optimization is more than defining keywords in a meta-tag. Content has to be relevant, fresh, original, structured and keyword-rich. SEO is a sustainable way of doing online marketing. Keep Google happy.

41 The End

42 References A. Langville and C. Meyer, PageRank and Beyond, Princeton University Press, L. Page, S. Brin, R. Motwani, and T. Winograd, The PageRank Citation Ranking: Bringing Order to the Web, Technical Report, Stanford Digital Library Technologies Project, J.M. Kleinberg, Authoritative Sources in a Hyperlinked Environment, Journal of the ACM 46(5): , (this file)

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