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Learn effective SEO techniques to increase organic traffic to your website. Discover on-page optimization strategies and link building techniques.
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SEO Workshop Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco Todd Friesen April, 2007
The Golden Triangle Pay Per Click ($$$) Natural (Free)
Golden Triangle Statistics • 85% click on “natural” (unpaid) results • 72% of searchers click on the first link of interest • 25.5% read all listings first, then decide • Position 7-10 in natural listings = top 4 PPC slots on the right hand side of the page
On Page SEO Techniques • Title Tags – HTML element that displays the title of a web page in your web browser and in the search results. • Meta Description – HTML element that summarizes the content of your web page and enforces your marketing message.
On Page SEO Techniques • Body Content – must be readable and contain your key phrases. • ALT Tags – HTML element describes images in the page. Alt tags boost relevancy as well as provide a new avenue of traffic from image searches.
On Page SEO Techniques • Heading Tags – an HTML element that provides structure and tells search engines which parts of your page are most important. • Internal Linking – proper linking leads to better indexing. Using your keywords in your internal links helps boost relevancy.
Things To Avoid • Dropdown boxes for navigation • Java or JavaScript navigation • Flash-based or overly graphical website • Splash pages • Too many parameters in the URL • Nonstandard characters in the URL • Session IDs or user IDs in the URL • Site spread across multiple domains • Title tags same on all pages • Error page returning a 200 status code • Incorrect redirects
#1 Thing To Avoid AJAX
Google PageRank and TrustRank • Early PageRank • PageRank was the primary factor used to determine organic rankings. • Each web page (not site) has its own PageRank score • PageRank scores were recalculated every 30 days. • New PageRank scores were immediately available in Google’s toolbar. • PageRank Today • PageRank is no longer the primary factor used to determine rankings • PageRank is no longer recalculated on a 30 day cycle • Toolbar PageRank data is now 3 to 4 months old • PageRank is used to determine crawl frequency, crawl depth, and database selection. (Main Index or Supplemental Index)
Google PageRank and TrustRank • Trust Rank • TrustRank uses a human selected set of trusted domains. • TrustRank is passed down from the initial set of human reviewed sites. • The closer your site is (in terms of linkage) to sites in the human reviewed set, the more TrustRank you will have. • TrustRank is domain specific, not page specific. • Sites with high TrustRank combined with high PageRank is money in the bank.
Link Based Algorithms • All major search engines use linking data in their ranking algorithms • Factors analyzed include popularity of the linking page, context of the linking page, and the context of the anchor text used in the links.
Linking Strategies • Competitive Intelligence – Analyze the backlinks of your competitors. Try to get links from the same sites • Submit to Quality General Directories • Submit to Verticals/Topical Guides • Search Ad Networks – AdBrite, Adwords, Blog Ads, etc. • Use Blogs and RSS – Google loves blogs • Create Podcasts/Screencasts – Bloggers love posting them • Buy Text Links – But be careful. Google doesn’t like it
Linking Strategies To Avoid • Participating in “link farms” or FFA (“Free For All”) sites • Splogging, comment spamming, guestbook spamming • Linking to “bad neighborhoods” • Hiding links • Hoarding all your PageRank • Unnatural link structures
Search Engine Link Commands • To a page: • Google’s and MSN Search’s link: query operator • To your site • Yahoo’s linkdomain: query operator • Subtract your site from the results (MSN & Yahoo only) • E.g. link:www.yoursite.com -site:yoursite.com • NOTE: Google displays only a sampling of backlinks
Free Link Research Tools • Yahoo’s Site Explorer - siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com • Netconcepts’ Link Checker - www.netconcepts.com/linkcheck • WeBuildPages’ Neat-o Tool - www.webuildpages.com/neat-o/ • SEO For Firefox - tools.seobook.com/firefox/seo-for-firefox.html • TouchGraph GoogleBrowser - www.touchgraph.com/TGGoogleBrowser.html • Tattler - www.webguerrilla.com/down-loads/tattler.zip
Linking Strategies To Use Carefully • Types of links that are likely to get discounted: • Reciprocal links • Affiliated sites (on the same IP range or hostname) • Footer links (at the bottom of the page) • Site-wide links • Links contained on a page called links.htm / links.asp • Remember: the more links on the linking page, the less PageRank you’ll get
Linking Summary • Best links are: • Topically relevant • One way (not reciprocated) • Not in footer and not site-wide • Earned by merit, rather than bought, bartered or stolen • Not crowded with many other links on the page • On a high PageRank/TrustRank, high Alexa-ranked, .edu/.gov/.mil authority site
www.rangeonlinemedia.com www.webguerrilla.com www.oilman.ca www.webmasterradio.fm todd@rangeonlinemedia.com greg@webguerrilla.com