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Kirtland Website + How to get a QUALITY visit Search Engine Optimization (SEO ). How Searchers Search. Steps that comprise most search processes: Experience the need for an answer to a question. Formulate that need in a string of words and phrases, also known as “the query.”
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Kirtland Website +How to get a QUALITY visitSearch Engine Optimization (SEO)
How Searchers Search Steps that comprise most search processes: • Experience the need for an answer to a question. • Formulate that need in a string of words and phrases, also known as “the query.” • Enter the query into a search engine (Google, Yahoo, Bing). • Browse through the results for a match. • Click on a result. • Scan for a solution, or a link to that solution. • If unsatisfied, return to the search results and browse for another link or... • Perform a new search with refinements to the query.
How Searchers Search Three types of search queries users generally perform: • "Do" Transactional Queries - Action queries such as buy a plane ticket or listen to a song. • "Know" Informational Queries - When a user seeks information, such as the name of the band or the best restaurant in New York City. • "Go" Navigation Queries - Search queries that seek a particular online destination, such as Facebook or the homepage of the NFL. The search engines' primary responsibility is to serve relevant results to their users.
The Big Question The BIG question we have to answer: When visitors type a query into a search box and land on OUR site, will they be satisfied with what they find?
How Search Engines Work Crawl and index using our website links to find our pages. Then they store pieces to be recalled later. Provide answers • Search engines are answer machines. • When a person looks for something online, it requires the search engines to do two things: • return only those results that are relevant or useful to the searcher’s query • rank those results in order of perceived usefulness Relevanceis the primary process that SEO is meant to influence.
What is SEO? SEO is the practice of improving the visibility of a website or web page in search engines via “natural” or un-paid (organic) search results in order to increase the number of QUALITY visitsthe site receives from search engines. SEO includes: • The words and phrases we use on our pages • Site structured in a way that search engines understand
What is SEO? SEO is about making our site better for people… • So they stay longer, spending time engaged with our content and take action • If it’s better for people, it’s better for search engines
How do we get a QUALITY visit? • Starts with a great design • Professional • Instill trust • Easy navigation • High click through rate (CTR) • Low bounce rate • Entice a visitor to take action
How do we get a QUALITY visit? Quality Page Content • “Content is King!” • We must have content (or products) that people are interested in or they won’t come to the website regardless of how well we optimize • True regardless of what product you’re trying to sell • Keyword rich URL construction • Frequent Updates: NOW MOST VALUABLE
How do we get a QUALITY visit? Keyword optimization • It all begins with words typed into a search box • Keyword selection • Don’t focus on one keyword • Don’t be too general or too specific – find a balance • Research, research, research… • Optimizing for the right keywords can make or break a website • It's NOT ABOUT getting a high volume of visitors; It’s ALL ABOUT getting the RIGHT kind of visitors
How do we get a QUALITY visit? How a page in our site shows up in search • Title Metatag • No more than 70 characters • Place important keywords at the front • Branding • Readability and emotional impact • Description Metatag Title Metatag Description Metatag
On-site/On-page Optimization • Calls to action on each page • Compelling page content, well written • Brochure request form • Strategically placed keywords and key phrases • Contact form • Embedded alt & title tags in each photo with keywords and key phrases
Primary Goal of SEO Generate QUALITYtraffic • Quality measured in: • Time spent on site and on page • Number of pages visited • Bounce rate - the percentage of single-page visits (i.e. visits in which the person left your site from the entrance page) • Results in a “conversion” Analysis of visits and visitor behavior • We no longer call them “hits” • A “visit” is a group of interactions that take place on our website within a given time frame
Website Visits Visits & Visitors 30 Day Comparison October 13 – November 12 + 36.25% + 36.13% + 27.29%
Website Visits Pages 30 Day Comparison January 14 – February 13 -11.05% +21.19% Pages/Visit (Average Page Depth) is the average number of pages viewed during a visit to our site. Repeated views of a single page are counted. Pageviewsis the total number of pages viewed. Repeated views of a single page are counted.
Website Visits Average Time on Page & Bounce Rate 30 Day Comparison January 14 – February 13 -3.42% +50.32% 00:04:11 00:02:47 A bounce is a visits in which the person left our site from the entrance page. Avg. Time on Page is the average amount of time visitors spent viewing a specified page or set of pages.
Website Visits 30 Day Comparison January 14 – February 13 +147.73%
Website Visits Traffic Sources 30 Day Comparison January 14 – February 13 +0.24% +15.62% +37.84% +41.73% +109.46%
Brochure Requests 90 Day Comparison August 6 – November 6 +47.11%
Brochure Requests Top 10 Programs Requested August 6 – November 6, 2012
A Constantly Shifting Landscape • Major events that have impacted the history of search: • Mid-1990's: manual submission, the meta keywords tag and keyword stuffing on pages. • 2004: link bombing, buying hordes of links from automated blog comment spam injectors and the construction of inter-linking farms of websites. • 2011: social interaction and engagement on a website. • The future is uncertain, but in the world of search, change is a constant. • Search marketing is a fluid, dynamic field. • The formula for measuring SEO is constantly changing.