Search Engine Optimisation: ensuring website exposure to the right people Mo Kanneh SEO Lead NHS Choices 1
About Me 15 years digital marketing experience NHS Choices Europe s biggest health website, >40m visits per month Have worked on SEO with the following businesses 2
What is Search Engine Optimisation? It is the process of getting traffic from the Free Organic Natural listings on search engines. 3
What is Search Engine Optimisation? All the major search engines shows Web pages Video Local listings 4
What is Search Engine Optimisation? Good SEO is ensuring your website has the ingredients that the search engines need for their algorithms to work effectively: 5
What is Search Engine Optimisation? Good SEO is ensuring your website has the ingredients that the search engines need for their algorithms to work effectively: Words matter Titles matter Links matter Reputation 6
Myth 1 - I must submit my site to Google 7
Myth 1 - I must submit my site to Google False Google will still find your site without it being submitted. 8
Myth 2 - SEO is all about ranking 9
Myth 2 - SEO is all about ranking False There is a strong correlation between CTR and placement, but it s not the supreme goal it used to be. 10
Myth 3 - SEO is something I can hand over to IT 11
Myth 3 - SEO is something I can hand over to IT Kind of false Think carefully before handing over SEO to IT or your web designer 12
Myth 3 - SEO is something I can hand over to IT If you do, create remarkable content, before IT make the site crawlable, add sitemaps 13
Myth 4 More links are better than more content 14
Myth 4 More links are better than more content False Following the Penguin updates this is untrue. Invest in quality content over an agency that focusses on adding quantities of links. 15
Myth 5 Meta descriptions have a huge impact on search rankings 16
Myth 5 Meta descriptions have a huge impact on search rankings False Meta descriptions have absolutely no bearing on search rankings 17
Myth 5 Meta descriptions have a huge impact on search rankings Meta descriptions are still very important for clickthrough. Keywords are bolded. 18
Myth 6 Social media and SEO aren t related at all 19
Myth 6 Social media and SEO aren t related at all False Social Search is real! Content is prioritised by how it is connected to you. 20
Myth 6 Social media and SEO aren t related at all False Social Search is real! 21
Myth 7 There s an ideal keyword density for pages 22
Myth 7 There s an ideal keyword density for pages False This myth doesn t seem to go away! There is no magic number for keyword density. Keyword Density 23
Myth 7 There s an ideal keyword density for pages Keywords should always be page titles, Headers and ideally URL. Keyword Density 24
Myth 8 My homepage needs a lot of content 25
Myth 8 My homepage needs a lot of content Kind of false 26
Myth 8 My homepage needs a lot of content Kind of false Your home page content should be: Long enough to clarify who you are What you do Where you are Value proposition What visitors should do next 27
Myth 9 The more pages I have, the better 28
Myth 9 The more pages I have, the better False Quality content on a properly-built site with quality inbound links trumps everything. 29
Myth 10 SEO is not a usability issue 30
Myth 10 SEO is not a usability issue False - Try to make your website personalised and relevant, but also make sure the site is intuitive and easy to browse. 31
Conclusion SEO is an overall experience for the user: From the SERP listing Quality and relevancy of site content Site Usability 32
Thank you. Question? 33