Introduction to Search Engine Optimisation

1. Introduction to Search Engine Optimisation Web Design and Programming WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING

2. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING

3. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING Introduction • To improve the volume and quality of traffic from search engines. • Through “natural” search results for targeted keywords • An early placing can mean 1000's more clicks • Can target different kinds of search • Image search • Local search • Industry specific vertical “search” • Condsiders how algorithms work, what people search for, and what makes up the site being optimised.

4. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING Introduction • White hat SEO – Long term success • A site's coding, presentation and structure • Addressing problems and bugs that prevent indexing • Adding unique, engaging and dynamic content • Ensuring content is accessible • Engaging and appealing design • Black hat SEO or Spamdexing – Quick fix • Keyword stuffing • Link farms • Search engines look for these methods and ban those using them • SEO shouldn't be the last consideration

5. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING SEARCH ENGINE The old days USER

6. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING History • SEO first emearged in the mid 90's • Simply involved submitting your site and a spider would be sent out • Indexer extracted information such as keywords and where they are, weighting, and links • Early search algorithms used meta-tag keywords and descriptions, or index file submission • Others counted keywords based on appearances • All these methods rely on webmaster supplied content and could not be counted on for accuracy or relevance • Relevance of results is critical and many failed • Search engines responded with more complex algorithms, difficult to manipulate

7. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING Enter Google • Larry Page and Sergey Brin develop "backrub" • A mathematical algorithm to rate the prominence of web pages • PageRank is a function of the quantity and strength of inbound links • The chance of any page being randomly surfed to • In 1998 Page and Brin formed Google • Link farms can manipulate results • Today google considered 200 variables for PageRank • All the top engines keep their algorithms secret • CEOs Rand Fishkin, Barry Schwartz, Aaron Wall and Jill Whalen, all study SEO and publish their thoughts

8. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING A lot of money is at stake

9. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING SEOs and Search Engines • A LOT of money is at stake for both sides • For search engines to provide accurate and relevant results • And for SEOs to get their sites a high ranking • In 2005 AIRWeb, Adversarial Information Retrieval on the Web,[13] was created • Discuss and minimize the effects of aggressive web content providers • SEOs can have their clients sites banned • The search engines now reach out to the SEOs • With paid results they have a vested interest • Google Sitemaps and Yahoo! Site Explorer

10. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING Getting indexed • The top 3, Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft use web crawlers to find pages • Pages linked to a search engine indexed page will be crawled automatically • You can notify the search engine of your site, some believe you should let google find you • Yahoo has a pay service that guarantees fast indexing but this has drawn criticism • Distance of a page from the root is among many factors that may effect listing

11. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING Moving up - Content That is awesome content

12. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING Moving up - Content • Content is the reason people come to your site • Should be clear, easy to find, & address a need • Spiders don't see images, only code/text • Target your audience with content and keywords that is relevant and specific to them • Dont say book if you are selling used art textbooks • The following tools can help with keywords • www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/ • inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/ • adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal • Get an indication of what people search for

13. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING Moving up - Content • Once you decide upon keywords, integrate them into your content • Use them in the page title • Use them in your headers • Integrate them frequently, but naturally into your content, dont be too heavy handed with the repetition • Aim for between 200-250 words of relevant, search friendly content per page • Unless it is an essay, try not to have a scroll • Break up content into headers, sub headers and bullet points

14. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING Moving up – Images & Alt Tags • The real content of your site is always going to be in the text • Images will make it pretty, but excessive use can hinder users and spiders alike • Load intensive graphics will slow down spiders • Images should be 15kb or less, a gallery image or one off background no more than 50kb • Provide text backup for content that can't be indexed by search engines • Use alt=”image description” in your <img /> tags

15. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING Moving up – Navigation

16. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING Moving up – Navigation • Include a clear navigation on every page • Users know where they are and where they are going • Links should be painfully clear, not mysterious • Of utmost importance is that all links work • Nothing is more frustrating for a user than error 404 • Spiders use the nav to search your site for indexable content • Try to keep a tidy site architecture/heirachy • Spiders have trouble with messy structure • People will become confused and leave • Consider a HTML text based navigation • They can look cool and are easier to index

17. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING Moving up – More on keywords

18. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING Moving up – More on keywords • Find the most searched and relevant keywords • Use your user profiles • What would they be looking for • What other keyword might they look for • Quality visitors beat quantity any time • Avoid Black Hat search techniques. They are only going give you a short term boost and will ultimately hurt your ranking or get you banned • Recommended keyword density is 4-8% • So 500 words should have between 20 and 40 uses of your chosen keywords each

19. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING Moving up – Site Title • Search engines put a lot of weight in title text • <title> tag is located between <head> tags • Should be a different relevant title for each page • Having the same title for each page is a waste of a valuable SEO asset • Search engine users scan the titles of the results they get and will ignore irrelevant ones • When a page is bookmarked, it uses the title • Use your best keyword once

20. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING Moving up – Meta tags • Also found in the header section • <meta name=”keyword” content=”HTML, CSS” /> • <meta name=”description” content=”blah blah” /> • Can influence how a search engine views your site and will show up in the results, hopefully • Description should be a short blurb, with keywords phrases to entice the user • Be clear, to the point, and highlight anything special • Handle the keywords section with care • Don't pack it with different spellings and reworkings • Don't use irrelevant keywords • Don't repeat a keyword in a variant more than twice

21. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING Moving up – Proofread your weebsite Bad proofreading cost lives

22. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING Moving up – Proofread your website • A lot of sites go live without this basic effort. • They think because it is web it can be fixed later • Always run the content through word processor • Read your copy, leave it, and read it again • Try and get someone else to scan for errors • A poorly edited site can have to best content in the world but will look unprofessional and clumsy • People searching for your content wont find it if it is spelt badly, or phrased in an unnatural way

23. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING Moving up – More Guidlines • Test for compatability • Explorer 7, Explorer 6 and maybe Explorer 5.5 • Mozilla Firefox 1.5 and 2.0 • Safari 2.0 and 3.0 for Mac • Maybe Opera for Mac • Overall appeal of your site • Ask users if you can • Or friends and colleagues, even your boss or teacher • Quick loading • Keep images as small as possible • Separate multimedia content, don't make it integral to the content

24. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING Moving up – More Guidlines • Keep logos and branding on every page and use alt tags on your logos • Use flash for animation and interactivity, not for content as it wont be indexed by search engines • Don't use frames, they wont be indexed • Most users dislike automatically playing sound, always have a mute button • Popups have a lot of problems with modern browsers, use them for things like T&Cs • Many good SEO techniques are just good techniques in general

25. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING Web accessibility = Good SEO • Web accessibility makes content accessible to as many users as possible • Think of a search engine as a deaf users with javascript and images turned off • Provide alt and longdesc attributes • Use a simple text copy of any image based nav • Search engines place importance on the text in links • Make sure it works without scripts • Search engines don't execute them • To be really sure, try viewing your website in a text only browser like Lynx

26. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING SEO in marketing terms • Eye tracking studies show how we visually browse a site • Search results are scanned left to right, and top to bottom for a relevant result • Placement near the top does guarantee more traffic but not more sales • Some sites may not benefit as much as others for SEO depending on their goals • SEO will just be a part of a successful internet marketing campaign • Viral marketing, banners, emails, and traffic analysis

27. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING SEO in marketing terms • SEO can generate a return on investment • Search engines are not paid for organic search and their algorithms change • There aren't guarantees of continued referrals • Lack of guarantee can mean big shifts in traffic for sites that rely on search engine referrals • Many companies wish to liberate themselves from dependence on search traffic • Ironically search marketers receive a very small share of their traffic from search engines

28. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING SEO in marketing terms • In February 2006, there were 5.3 billion searches performed (up from 3.8 in 2005) • 48.5% to Google, 22.5% to Yahoo, 10.7% MSN • March 2007 saw Google with 64.13% in the USA • In some countries, Google usage even higher with Germany getting 85% in 2006 • Russia has the opposite with local engine Yandex getting 50% of the paid advertising revenue and Google only 9% • In China Baidu leads market share, google gains

29. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING What does Google recommend • Beware of compainies that send you an email out of the blue, even Google gets them • No one gets special treatment from Google • Beware secretive methods • You should never have to link to an SEO • Ask around about a company anywhere you can • Know where your money is being spent • Make sure you are protected legally • Beware guarantees of a high ranking on obscure keywords

30. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING So in the end

31. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING So in the end • It is a secretive business • Both by those who do the SEO • And the search engines themselves • No one wants their techniques/algorithms in the open market • Learn what you can, and just try it yourself • You will need patience and persistence to develop your own techniques • You can't expect results right away, and must be prepared to try a variety of different methods • Ultimately I think you would have to have a real passion for it

32. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING So in the end • Thankfully, most White Hat SEO methods and practices are also web accessibility practices • They both emphasize content as the most important part of a website • The both require that the content be accessible in a variety of circumstances • Both require a text substitute for any images, flash or inaccessible media • Hence the emphasis of this class on standards

33. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING So in the end • If your content is helpful and addresses a need, people will be looking for it. s

34. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING Google fun • Google Bombs • Influencing the ranking of a given page to the top • Consistent anchor text in links from various sites • Similar to the Black Hat SEO technique known as spamdexing • First know Google Bomb • Significant number of people put links on their websites with the anchor text “More evil than satan himself” • These links all pointed to Microsoft.com • Top result in google for “More evil than satan himself” was www.microsoft.com • First verifiable bomb by Hugedisk Men's Magazine • Linked “dumb motherf#%ker to a pro George Bush site

35. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING Google fun • Google Bombs • These same techniques effect more than just Google • In September 2006, a search for “miserable failure” brought up the biography of George W Bush as number 1 on Google, Yahoo and MSN. No. 2 on Ask • Another fun variation is “french military victories” which leads to a site that appears to be google • Asks “Did you mean french military defeats?” • As of Feb 2007, only 10% of GoogleBombs work • Initially prefering not to manually alter their results • In the end they changed their algorithms to lessen the effect of Google Bombing techniques

36. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING Google fun • Google Whack • A google search query consisting of two words that returns only 1 result • Both words must be real dictionary terms • Examples were Francophile Namesakes, dork turnspit, unconstructive superegos, bibliophilic sandwiched and dripstone ingles • Due to internet attention, most don't work anymore • Some people get addicted to looking them up • Google Whackblatt • A sinlge word that returns 1 result • Silly words like controversify, or quodlification • Usually, maybe even always, a made up word

37. WEB DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING