Search Engine Optimization Beyond META Tags

1. Search Engine OptimizationBeyond META Tags Brian Smith Web Developer bsmith2@uamail.albany.edu Flunky

2. Objectives • Move beyond META tags • SEO in Higher Education • Define terms • Establish “The Factors” • Keyword Research Techniques • Discuss Google • Keepin’ it real - practical • Resources

3. The Rise of Search • Search is the 2nd most popular online activity, after email. • Percentage of net users who search on a typical day grew 70% from 2002 to 2008 Pew Internet and Americal Life Project

4. The Rise of Search

5. SEO = Search Engine Optimization Definition Using targeted keywords and phrases so a website’s pages will rank high on SERPs. SERP = Search Engine Results Page Note that SEO also stands for Search Engine Optimizer

6. SEM = Search Engine Marketing Definition All endeavors that utilize search engines to promote a web site, increase its traffic and/or stickiness, and ultimately augment return on investment. SEM methods includeSEO, paid placement, pay-per-click and paid inclusion campaigns.

8. SPAM "Dear google.com,I visited your website and noticed that you are not listed in most of the major search engines and directories..."

9. It’s not a quick fixSEO is a best practice • Web developers • Writers • Editors in various departments • Application developers • Administration • Vendors

10. ConversionsWhat is a higher ed conversion? • Getting a sale = convert a prospective into a confirmed • Get students involved in activities • Building school pride • Provide audience for experts • Allow faculty and research to publicize their findings, discoveries which could lead to more students, grants, funding, collaboration, tenure • Job postings

11. Fountain Day

13. UGH!

15. Organic vs. Pay Per Click “PPC”

16. Pay Per Click Definition Advertisers submit bids to search-engine companies for words. They pay each time the “sponsored link” is clicked.

17. PPC Related Terms Definitions CPC – Cost-per-clickThe cost to advertisers per click by a user. CTR – Click through rateThe number of users who clicked on an ad divided by the number of times the ad was delivered (impressions). Usually seen as a percentage.

18. Pay Per Click Competition Universities and CollegesEspecially the online Universities with a national/international presence such as Phoenix, Capella, Walden etc… Advertising Agencies & Online Directory CompaniesUse PPC to draw Web searches to sites they use to find prospective students, or "leads." ExamplesPetersons, OffToCollege.com, CollegeBoard.com, etc…

20. PPC WeekendMBA BiologyMajor

22. PPC Growing in Cost • Prices for popular keywords… • "associate's degree" • "master's degree” • "business program" • …on Yahoo have each about doubled in the past two years.

24. Negative Key Word“Online”

25. PPC Growing in Competition • "It's both more expensive and less • effective because more people are doing it." • Margee Ensign • Dean of the School of International Studies • University of the Pacific

26. PPC Bidding Techniques • Start a campaign at the end of the day or the end of the month • “It’s often possible to find popular keywords available for lower prices at those times because other groups have already spent their budgets.” • Greg Jarboe • Co-founder • SEO-PR Inc

27. PPC Bidding Techniques Bid on less popular words/phrases You’ll get less clicks, so it will cost you less. Those who actually click will more likely lead to a conversion = Quality Traffic

28. SERPs - Organic Listings

29. The Golden TriangleEye Tools Research Pay Per Click $$$ Organic = Free

30. Focus on Organic Listings Conversion Rates Organic Listings 4.2% Paid Listings 3.6% Organic clicked 5x more than PPC From “Marketing Sherpa” - Search Marketing Benchmark Survey 2005 Metrics

31. Search Result Page Average Participant 6.5 seconds to clickRead 4 to 5 listings. Title Tags Compelling and Attractive TITLES increase click-through!

32. Golden Triangle Statistics 85% click on organic 72% click the first link of interest 25% read all listings first, then click

33. Golden Triangle Statistics Organic Search Results Viewed

34. Web Search Market ShareAugust 2008 MSN Google 71% Yahoo 18% MSN 5% Ask 3% Other 3% Yahoo Google

35. PageRank • One of the methods Google uses to determine a page’s relevance or importance. • Each web page - not site - has a PageRank score • Developed by the founders of Google, Sergey Brin and Larry Page • It’s an algorithm which helps rank web pages based on the probability that a random person surfing the Internet will find a given page.

36. PageRank • PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. • Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. • Votes cast by "important" pages weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important."

37. PageRank View a page’s PageRank with Google Toolbar

38. PageRank Most Higher Ed Rank 5-8 MIT, Harvard, Stanford = 9 Maria College = 5

39. PageRank

40. Google PageRank Page Rank Today • No longer the primary ranking factor • PageRank is no longer recalculated on a 30 day cycle • Used to determine crawl frequency, crawl depth, and database selection.

41. Authority & ReputationLinks are Key Link Popularity / Authority Links = “Votes” Links from many pages signify an important page Links from important pages carry more ‘weight’ Important pages rank higher Link Reputation Links from related pages enforce the theme Links from related words pass on that theme Strongly themed pages rank well for related queries

42. Links - Best Practices Bad • http://mysite.com • http://www.mysite.com/index.html • http://mysite.com/index.html Good • http://www.mysite.com/ • Use redirects and make all internal links point to your domain using the “http://www.mysite.com/” • Always include trailing “/” on folders.

43. Link Best Practices Search engines treat… http://measuring-up.com/ and http://www.measuring-up.com/ …as two different sites.

44. Link Text 4.4 Anchor Text of Inbound Link 3.1 Text Surrounding the Link Avoid “click here” SEO: Link nouns not verbs View the course catalog. View the course catalog.

45. How can I create a Google-friendly site? Google Webmaster Help Center • http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/ • http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=40349 Google on SEO • http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35291

46. “Department of Biology”

47. Reciprocal linking RSS news feeds Linkbait = good topical content Digg, YouTube, Facebook Forums Off-The-Page SEOAKA Link Building Off page optimizations consist entirely of link building strategies.

48. The Factors

49. SEOmoz.org