Search Engine Optimization

Abhilash Patel RankLab Interactive, Recovery Brands, LLC Linkedin.com/in/abhilashpatel @mistabhilash

Part I: Search Engine Optimization

Overview: Introduction, Definitions and Authority Search Landscape: Players & Traffic How search engines work Rankings & SERPs

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Introduction
o

Search Engines: The best results win. Better Results = Traffic = Revenue
Thanks, Google!

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Definitions

Search Engine Optimization & Marketing

A diverse set of actions you can take to increase the amount of traffic that comes to your website from search engines.

SEO:
The process of enhancing and marketing a website to increase its ranking in the natural search results. Often includes traffic acquisition from additional sources as well.

Search Engine Marketing

Paying for placement within the search results: Pay per click (PPC) advertising AdSense Targeted site-based ads

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Surprise! Search is huge, Google is winning

Search Engines: Primary source of pre-consumer purchases US Adults conduct an average of 107 search queries per month Stats: More than 17.8 billion explicit core searches were conducted in January ~11 Billion Google Searches Each month

*comScore | SEO for MBAs Abhilash Patel

How Search Engines Work: Spiders

Magic? No. Instant? No. Little data robots (Spiders) crawl the web and fetch webpages. They follow links! Spiders do their best, but are not perfect Spiders cannot read images or flash, but they do have a pretty wide vocabulary. They are hungry for food (content), and come back when they feel like it

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Search Engines: Index & Content

Engines build an index based on Spider data When users type in a query, the search engine matches the query against its own index. Why did Yahoo give up on search?

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Rankings!

How do search engines rank webpages? Link Analysis Ranks The Matches to reflect Relevance Best known link analysis algorithm = PageRank

a link analysis algorithm, named after Larry Page[1] and used by the Google Internet search engine, that assigns a numerical weighting to each element of a hyperlinked set of documents, such as the World Wide Web, with the purpose of "measuring" its relative importance within the set. The algorithm may be applied to any collection of entities with reciprocal quotations and references. The numerical weight that it assigns to any given element E is referred to as the PageRank of E and denoted by PR(E). (Wikipedia Abhilash Patel | SEO for MBAs Definition)

SERPS are changing constantly

SERP: Search Engine Results Page Constantly changing Local
Restaurants/Time-based

Personalized
Google+ Bookmarks,

History

Commercial
Purchasing
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Keyphrases

Mobile

/ Tablet

People do not wait.

How many people go to page 23? How many people switch engines if they dont find the desired result? How many people use operators with queries?

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Ranking Matters.

89.7% of all click-through traffic goes to the first 10 results (typically the first page) Next 10 results receive only 4.3% of the clicks Ranking on the first Importance of first page rankings:

page matters:

Position 1 = 57% of clicks

Position 2 = 13% of clicks

Position 3 = 9% of clicks Position 4 = 4% of clicks Position 5 = 5% of clicks Position 6 = 3% of clicks Position 7 = 1% of clicks Position 8 = 3% of clicks Position 9 = 2% of clicks Position 10 = 3% of clicks

SEOBook.com

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Source: Enquiro

Part II: Search Engine Optimization

Ranking Factors SEO Steps Spam & What to avoid PPC & Reputation Management Conversion Optimization

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SEO: Rankings and Factors

Authority & Trust Age, Links, Velocity Content Quality Relevance to a searchers query Usage / Social Signals Popularity & Trending Content readability / Usability / Design Prominence of Advertising +500 other signals
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*SEOmoz.org, 2011

Is SEO Rocket Science? Yes! (Just Kidding)

SEO Steps 1. Keyphrase Research 2. Organization / Architecture 3. SEO Friendly Design 4. Quality Content 5. Links

Remember: Engines want the BEST results. Does your site matter for your targeted topic?

AUTHORITY = Trustworthiness + Expertise

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Step 1: Pick your keyphrases!

Find out which keyphrases matter Sources for intelligence:

AdWords Keyphrase tools Competitor sites

Build to Grow! A page a day

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Killer Tip: Quantify Value & Cost

https://adwords.google.com/o/TrafficEstimator
Urban Clothing: $1.54 100 visits: $154 Conversion Rate: 1.5% Cost/Customer: $2.31 Avg. Sale: $20 Margin 15% = $3.00 Profit = $0.69/sale 322 sales/mo = Auto Insurance: $222 ~$40k/day for ~775 clicks Even at 4% = 31 sales = ~$1300/sale

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Step 2: Website Architecture

One of the most under-utilized secrets to building relevancy and rankings Make sure your pages are organized to present a cohesive theme If you are redundant, misleading, confused, or redundant, you wont rank. Example IA: Coffee Bean | Country | Drink Roast | Region| Store

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Step 3: Is Your Design SEO Friendly?

A Search engine needs to be able to get to your webpages. From Google: Clear hierarchy and text links. Sitemap Reasonable number of links on a page Check for broken links and correct HTML Keep Parameters short and few (as possible)

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Step 4: Is your content any good?

What makes quality content? Original Relevant Robust Trusted Useful Engaging Is one of these sites an imposter?
Quality Signals: Time on site Bounce Rate Bookmarks Sharing Engagement / ClickThroughs What content sources do you trust? Why?

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Step 5: Links! Links! (Did I say Links?)

The anatomy of links a few indicators: Diversity: many different types of sources? Or just networks? Velocity: Were links built over time? Or overnight? Relevancy: Are relevant sites linking to you within your topic? Validity: Are the linking sites legitimate or spammy? Age: Have the links aged or are they all brand new? Editorial: Are the links contextual, or all in paid placement locations?
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Link Building is an Art

Basic Link Building Methods: 1. Paid Networks 2. Directory Submissions 3. Press Releases 4. Social Media Profiles 5. Viral Content 6. Widgets / Badges 7. Editorial

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Putting an SEO Campaign Together

Properly executed SEO requires continuous improvement and dedicated effort in order to outperform competitors. Search engine success is not about being the best on the web about all things. You just have to be better and smarter than your competitors!

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What NOT to do. Bad SEO = Spam

Google publishes Quality Guidelines. Read them.

No Cloaking / Doorway pages Keyphrase Stuffing loading pages with keywords No Link schemes designed to increase ranking or PR No Link buying No Hidden text or links No Fun times or parties

Violations can result in penalties or filters. Penalties are a crushing blow to rankings and can ruin your day (unless its for a competitor). If you get penalized, you will have to make Abhilash Patel | SEO for MBAs a reconsideration request amends and file

Part III: SEM & Case Studies

PPC Reputation Management & Repair How to Hire a Team Case Studies Future of Search Q&A

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PPC is Expensive!
Benefits Immediate Traffic Quantifiable ROI and Spend You control your own performance Ability to test markets Rapid Proof-of-Concept testing Dynamic conversion testing Drawbacks Expensive No long-term benefit Often requires skilled management
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Reputation Management Vs. Repair

Dos

Register your name across the board Make sure you have strong profiles Use a service like KnowEm.com for business names Fill relevant results with brand-positive content
Do not respond to negative posts Do not assume it will go away! Do not pay a get rid of it quick service

Do Nots

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Just hire a team what do you ask?

Go through a referral Ignore Top SEO lists Talk to one or multiple current clients Ask for their methods Ensure reporting for all deliverables Ask for case studies/contacts Quality campaigns: $3k-$20k/mo

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-to-choose-the-right-seo-vendor
http://searchengineland.com/how-to-write-a-killer-rfp-request-for-proposal-for-hiringan-seo-firm-13417

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Case Studies & Examples

Grasshopper: Virtual Phone Systems ($30 keyphrase)

Built a well-architected site How did they become an authority? Found a niche: Entrepreneurship Created amazing content

CAA Speakers

Were getting killed by affiliates Rebuilt and re-architected the site for relevancy and content Created a badge campaign for celebrity websites Abhilash Got great rankings and reclaimed direct business Patel | SEO for MBAs

Future of Search?

Increased importance of Social Signals (likes, +1s, etc.) Distributed Traffic & Web Presence:

Search Will Still Drive Conversions Engagement becomes more important

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When campaigns go according to plan

Reduced PPC Costs Increased Organic Traffic Increased Overall Traffic

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Questions?
Thanks!
Abhilash@ranklab.com Linkedin.com/in/abhilashpatel @mistabhilash

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