SEO Search Engine Optimization Understanding how businesses make their way to the first page of search results and how you can get there too!
Shawn Audlin Founder of TheThriftyMarketer.com Marketing Online (since 2004) SEO Expert (Local Search Market) Online Marketing Consultant (since 2007) Video Branding Specialist My Focus: Shawn, his wife Mindy & his daughter Jenna Create targeted products and services that help small business owners and entrepreneurs leverage technology to build their authority, generate leads, and increase profitability.
Recap of Week 3 Profiles Did you complete your profiles? Do you have any questions? Are you ready to move forward?
In this section we ll cover What Search Engine Optimization (S.E.O.) is and the impact it could have for your business. The difference between head keywords and long tail keywords. How prospective customers find you online. How to determine what keywords people are searching for to find your products/services. Laying down your digital footprint, so your keywords lead people back to your website. Present local search examples to help bring it all together. Provide some FREE resources to help you. Action plan to research keywords and start building backlinks to your website
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) The process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a webpage. When a webpage climbs their way to the 1 st page of search results, research has proven that the business will receive more visitors, more leads, and more sales. Connecting You with Your Prospects
Some Numbers According to numerous studies, here s where people click #1 ranked Site gets 42% of the clicks, #2 ranked site gets 12% of the clicks, #3 ranked site gets 8.5% of the clicks #4 to #10 position get less and less. If you are not in the top 10 sites (1 st page), Only about 3% of web searchers will even click beyond the 1st page
There are Two Parts of SEO Onsite Optimization: This is everything on your actual website including, keywords, Meta information including Title, description, Alt tags, H tags, keyword density, and anchor text. You also want to have a sitemap which is a search engine friendly way to index the pages on your site. Offsite Optimization: Everything that is done off your site to direct people to your website. This includes link building, press releases, article marketing, video marketing, social bookmarking, RSS feeds, and MUCH more. In previous sessions you learned about Creating Content and Onsite Optimization we ll continue talking about onsite, but will be focusing more on keywords and Off-Site Strategies.
How do you know what people searching for? Let s Look at an example: If in moving business = Mover Too generic competing with every moving company in country! Dallas Mover location specific Keywords! So how do you find this out Google Tells You!
FREE TOOL #1 Google Adword Keyword Tool https://adwords.google.com/select/keywordtoolexternal This free tool lets you research keywords people search for on a monthly basis.
Google s Adword Keyword Tool
Let s Look at Head Keywords Keyword: Dallas Mover Adding s = Over 180% more searches! Adding ing = Over 220% more searches! The secret = Finding out how people search online to find your product, service, or type of business More people everyday are searching for products and services locally!
Some Local Search Volume Plumbing Fort Worth 4400 per month Dentist Fort Worth 8100 per month Insurance Fort Worth 5400 per month Fort Worth Electrician 1300 per month Massage Fort Worth 6600 per month for just One keyword phrase prospects are searching for
Google s Adword Keyword Tool Phase 1: Head Keywords 1) Go to Google Adword Keyword Tool 2) Next Type in Broad (Head) keywords related to your business; (plumbers, toilet repair, plumbing companies, etc.) 3) Next click Search button ---Copy down words that fit well to your business and services. * Shortcut is start using the next free resource first
FREE TOOL #2 SpyFu.com http://spyfu.com Learn all kinds of useful information by typing in Keywords or competitors websites & watch it kick out information saving you time and work.
Discover a lot of great information You can see what keywords competitors are using How much people are spending on Pay-per-click Trends in search volume And more The next step is to look for Long Tail Keywords
Long Tail Keywords These are longer, more specific keyword phrases (or questions) that are less common, but now make up a large portion of online search queries. EX. Head Term Plumbing (very broad, lots of competition) Long Tail - Emergency Plumbing Repair Companies Grapevine (Very specific, highly targeted market) What Are Good Long Tail Keywords To Target? Go back to the pains your target market is experiencing and research keywords accordingly. Someone who is searching the long tail in the example above needs help NOW!
You are looking for the Golden Keywords Head (broad) Plumbing Head with Geo-Qualifier Plumbing Keller Narrow With Geo-Qualifier Plumbing Repair Keller TX Your Final Keyword Phrase Plumbing Repair Contractors Keller TX
Long Tail Keywords Now when conducting long tail keyword research you ll often find that the long tail keyword phrase will have little or no search volume. So most people will simply ignore these, but that is a HUGE mistake! Let s look at the plumbing example again
Long Tail Keywords
Long Tail Keywords None of these companies are targeting this specific long tail keyword phrase, but are coming up because Google and other search engines tries to best match the search queries with the most relevant Title and Description. More on Title and Description soon
Google s Adword Keyword Tool Phase 2: Long Tail Keywords 1) Go to back to the Google Adword Keyword Tool 2) Next Type in keywords you want to look at more closely for your business but add some additional terms to use as qualifiers; (These could be geographic, zip code, service specific, pains, solution, etc.) 3) Next click Search button --- Copy these down and look for variations of words, make words plural, abbreviate, use misspellings, etc. You now should have a solid list of keywords to begin the next step
So now you have your keywords Now What? Now you ll need to take your keywords and integrate them into our site. We want to include these in your content/copy on your site, your headings, your navigation tabs, and your META tags. Let me show you what I mean
What is META? (No it s not a new Government watch group) META Info: This is a combination of what visitors see and what search engines see (which isn t always the same thing). Title Tag This is what you see at the very top of a Browser, and at the top Of the search result for Your company. Description Tag This is what visitors and Search engines see that describes your Business and services.
Let s Look At A Website Using your keywords within your website, helps prospects find you. But don t stop there. Use keywords, in blog posts, articles, social media, videos Wherever you can. Laying down a digital footprint makes it easier for your target market to find you think Hansel and Gretel with the breadcrumbs!
Now Let s Talk About OFF-Site Optimization So now you know the importance of keywords, finding the right ones and why and where to use them on your website. Now we want to start building a path that leads back to your website. These are called Backlinks. And no matter what changes Google or the other search engines make, these are a critical part to having prospects find you. Let s look at an example of how this works
Example of Link Building Make sure you balance the content with the number of hyperlinks. Sometimes you ll see junk sites that just have a bunch of links all over but provide no real value to someone visiting the page
FREE TOOL #3 Google.com Using Google you can type in search strings to find blogs, forums, video sites, and more that you can leave comments or make posts at. SOME GREAT SEARCH STRINGS TO USE: Your Keyword Phrase +inurl:blog site:.com Your Keyword Phrase +inurl:forum site:.com Your Keyword Phrase +inurl:youtube.com
How to find Blogs & Forums to post at: Search through the results to find sites that allow comments on their blogs. This shows that other people are successfully using this strategy and to go ahead and add your comment and link to your website. Build your list of websites that you could comment on (or outsource this) to create a speadsheet of sites you can revisit frequently. Comment on these blogs. Be informed, and stay on topic. Don t do spam comments. Post an insightful comment and add some value to the post. Complement the author if it s sincere. Whatever you do, don t leave comments like; Really nice post, I will bookmark to visit again This screams spam comment and you will probably get banned. When you make a comment, put in your information, then put in your HTML link. It may even make sense to use your keywords as your username. An example of how to insert a hyperlink is below. EX: <a href= http://www.yoursite.com >Your Keywords</a>
A Blog Example
A Forum Example
It s like High School all over again Link Building is somewhat a popularity contest. If you think back to high school, who was typically the class president was it the Smartest student in your class or the most popular? The more links you build back to your site, the more the search engines believe that you are an authority in your market and the higher you show up in the search rankings. Only 10 websites get to show up on the first page. But now you have a better understanding of how you can get there!
Let s review what we learned What Search Engine Optimization is and looked at the difference between on-site optimization and off-site optimization. What Head and Long Tail Keywords are, and the importance of determining what people are searching for, so you rank for the RIGHT keywords. How to research keywords to determine what search terms will be easier to rank for, instead of going after just highly competitive keywords. What META Tags are and how they help you in search results. Discovered how to build links to your site so you can start leaving a digital footprint online leading back to your website. And we talked about some free resources to help you get started today!
Homework: Get with your Study Buddy at least once this week. Complete Your Keyword Research Worksheet, and start off by talking with friends, family, and others about the kind of words they would type to find your product or services. Use your Backlinking Worksheet to start searching for Blog and Forum sites that you can start building backlinks to your website.