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SEO 101: TIPS AND TRICKS FOR SEARCH Dennis Goedegebuure, Natural Search Marketing Specialist
AGENDA What is SEO? Search Trends How Search Engines Work Ranking Factors Free Tools
WHAT IS SEO? Free traffic More visitors More downloads More transactions More successful  S earch  E ngine  O ptimization
WHAT IS SEO? (CONT’D)
WHAT IS SEO? (CONT’D) All major search engines have documentation  Webmaster Guidelines Bing: help.live.com/help.aspx?mkt= en-us&project=wl_webmasters  Google: www.google.com/support/webmasters Yahoo: help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/search/basics/basics-18.html
AGENDA What is SEO? Search Trends How Search Engines Work Ranking Factors Free Tools
UNIVERSAL SEARCH Search engines are blending different results  Less real estate for text results on first page
SNIPLETS PRESENTATION Enhance your site presentation through structured metadata Yahoo Search Monkey Google Rich Sniplets Y! Search Monkey: developer.yahoo.com/searchmonkey/  Google Rich Sniplets: microformats.org/wiki/google-search
AGENDA What is SEO? Search Trends How Search Engines Work Ranking Factors Free Tools
SITE CRAWLING Search engine robots crawl the web to discover new content. Crawlers  follow extractable links . Sitemaps can help pages get discovered. XML sitemap HTML sitemap
SITE INDEXING Search engines download and store HTML content. Only  extractable  content  is indexed.
SITE RANKING Search engines rank websites according to relevance factors. Important ranking factors: Keyword in anchor tag to the page Links to the page and site Page title H1 tag Quality of the content
AGENDA What is SEO? Search Trends How Search Engines Work Ranking Factors Free Tools
Ranking Factors Links URL structure Meta content Page content and elements Sitemap $lumps  = array (  ‘L’  =>  ‘Links’ , ‘ U’  =>  ‘URL’ , ‘ M’  =>  ‘Meta Tags’ , ‘ P’  =>  ‘Page content’ , ‘ S’  =>  ‘Sitemaps’ ) ;
Discovery LINKS Relevance CORRECT :   Find great deals on  computers ! INCORRECT:   Find  great deals on computers!  mysite.com
LINKS (CONT’D) Quality  of links to a page Quantity  of links to a page Keyword  used in the anchor tag External links: majority to home page Internal links: through site structure About page rank: www.google.com/corporate/tech.html
URL STRUCTURE Keyword rich domain Considerations for URL Avoid big number of parameters Keywords in URL
URL STRUCTURE Avoid canonical URL problems www.mysite.com/index.php www.mysite.com/ mysite.com/index.php mysite.com/ Canonical tag is a band aid to solve this problem: <head> <link rel=“canonical” href=“http://www.mysite.com” /> </head>
META TAGS Meta tags are HTML elements used to provide structured metadata about a web page <head> <title>eBay Daily Deal: Great items, deep discounts, and free shipping</title> <meta name=“description” content=“Attention dealhunters: Save money on eBay with the Daily Deal. Check back every day for great items, deep discounts, and free shipping.”> <meta name=“keywords” content=“deal, deals”> </head>
TITLE TAG FORMULAS  Keep SERP listings consistent across site Reinforces branding Informational Action Words:  Learn, Discover, Find, Read, See Transactional Action Words:  Buy, Try, Get, Download Informative Page Tag: [Primary Keyword] – [Action Words] [Secondary Keyword or Keyword Variation] [Brand or Company Name] Product Page Tag: [Product Name] – [Action Words] [Secondary Keywords or Keyword Variation] [Brand or Company Name] Example: Nintendo Wii – Buy Wii Game Console on eBay
META TAGS Does the result inspire a click?
PAGE CONTENT & ELEMENTS Build pages for two user agents: Users Crawlers Content in HTML Prevent usage of flash or other rich media
PAGE CONTENT & ELEMENTS (CONT’D) Use semantic HTML <h1>My Article Title</h1> <p>Scientist reported Wednesday…</p> <span class=“heading1”>My Article Title</span> <p>Scientist reported Wednesday…</p>
SITEMAPS Submit a XML sitemap to all major search engines for easy discovery of your pages. Add sitemap location to Robots.txt file. XML Sitemap <?xml version=&quot;1.0&quot; encoding=&quot;UTF-8&quot; ?>  - <sitemapindex xmlns=&quot;http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9&quot;> - <sitemap> <loc>http://listing-index.ebay.com/sitemap_google_auction_intl_AU_2009060315_672001_1001.xml.gz</loc>  </sitemap> </sitemapindex>
SITEMAPS (CONT’D) HTML sitemap Build an HTML sitemap with all links on your site For users and for search engines No more than 50 links
AGENDA What is SEO? Search Trends How Search Engines Work Ranking Factors Free Tools
Free Tools Search engine web tools Google webmaster Tools: www.google.com/webmasters/ Yahoo Site Explorer: siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com Bing Webmaster Center: www.bing.com/webmaster
FREE TOOLS (CONT’D) Free Firefox plug-in toolbar Web developer toolbar Web developer toolbar: chrispederick.com/work/web-developer
Free Tools (CONT’D) Keyword research tools Google Search Insights: www.google.com/insights/search/
FREE TOOLS (CONT’D) Keyword research tools
FREE TOOLS (CONT’D) Microsoft excel ad intelligence plug-in Microsoft Ad Intelligence: advertising.microsoft.com/search-advertising/advertising-intelligence
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS Natural search is “free” traffic. Natural search does not require rocket science. Good rankings start with good site architecture. Natural search can make YOU more successful.
MORE INFORMATION Webmaster guidelines Bing: help.live.com/help.aspx?mkt=en-us&project=wl_webmasters  Google:  www.google.com/support/webmasters Yahoo: help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/search/basics/basics-18.html Free tools Web developer toolbar: chrispederick.com/work/web-developer  Google Search Insights:  www.google.com/insights/search Microsoft Ad Intelligence:  http://advertising.microsoft.com/search-advertising/advertising-intelligence   Search engine webmaster tools Google webmaster Tools:  www.google.com/webmasters/ Yahoo Site Explorer: siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com Bing Webmaster Center: www.bing.com/webmaster
LEARN AND SHARE www.x.com Twitter:  @paypalx www.facebook.com/paypalx Innovate 09 hashtag:  #ppxi09 LEARN AND SHARE www.x.com Twitter: @paypalx www.facebook.com/paypalx Innovate 09 hashtag: # ppxi09 Proprietary

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SEO 101: Tips and Tricks for Search

  • 1. SEO 101: TIPS AND TRICKS FOR SEARCH Dennis Goedegebuure, Natural Search Marketing Specialist
  • 2. AGENDA What is SEO? Search Trends How Search Engines Work Ranking Factors Free Tools
  • 3. WHAT IS SEO? Free traffic More visitors More downloads More transactions More successful S earch E ngine O ptimization
  • 4. WHAT IS SEO? (CONT’D)
  • 5. WHAT IS SEO? (CONT’D) All major search engines have documentation Webmaster Guidelines Bing: help.live.com/help.aspx?mkt= en-us&project=wl_webmasters Google: www.google.com/support/webmasters Yahoo: help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/search/basics/basics-18.html
  • 6. AGENDA What is SEO? Search Trends How Search Engines Work Ranking Factors Free Tools
  • 7. UNIVERSAL SEARCH Search engines are blending different results Less real estate for text results on first page
  • 8. SNIPLETS PRESENTATION Enhance your site presentation through structured metadata Yahoo Search Monkey Google Rich Sniplets Y! Search Monkey: developer.yahoo.com/searchmonkey/ Google Rich Sniplets: microformats.org/wiki/google-search
  • 9. AGENDA What is SEO? Search Trends How Search Engines Work Ranking Factors Free Tools
  • 10. SITE CRAWLING Search engine robots crawl the web to discover new content. Crawlers follow extractable links . Sitemaps can help pages get discovered. XML sitemap HTML sitemap
  • 11. SITE INDEXING Search engines download and store HTML content. Only extractable content is indexed.
  • 12. SITE RANKING Search engines rank websites according to relevance factors. Important ranking factors: Keyword in anchor tag to the page Links to the page and site Page title H1 tag Quality of the content
  • 13. AGENDA What is SEO? Search Trends How Search Engines Work Ranking Factors Free Tools
  • 14. Ranking Factors Links URL structure Meta content Page content and elements Sitemap $lumps = array ( ‘L’ => ‘Links’ , ‘ U’ => ‘URL’ , ‘ M’ => ‘Meta Tags’ , ‘ P’ => ‘Page content’ , ‘ S’ => ‘Sitemaps’ ) ;
  • 15. Discovery LINKS Relevance CORRECT :   Find great deals on computers ! INCORRECT:   Find great deals on computers! mysite.com
  • 16. LINKS (CONT’D) Quality of links to a page Quantity of links to a page Keyword used in the anchor tag External links: majority to home page Internal links: through site structure About page rank: www.google.com/corporate/tech.html
  • 17. URL STRUCTURE Keyword rich domain Considerations for URL Avoid big number of parameters Keywords in URL
  • 18. URL STRUCTURE Avoid canonical URL problems www.mysite.com/index.php www.mysite.com/ mysite.com/index.php mysite.com/ Canonical tag is a band aid to solve this problem: <head> <link rel=“canonical” href=“http://www.mysite.com” /> </head>
  • 19. META TAGS Meta tags are HTML elements used to provide structured metadata about a web page <head> <title>eBay Daily Deal: Great items, deep discounts, and free shipping</title> <meta name=“description” content=“Attention dealhunters: Save money on eBay with the Daily Deal. Check back every day for great items, deep discounts, and free shipping.”> <meta name=“keywords” content=“deal, deals”> </head>
  • 20. TITLE TAG FORMULAS Keep SERP listings consistent across site Reinforces branding Informational Action Words: Learn, Discover, Find, Read, See Transactional Action Words: Buy, Try, Get, Download Informative Page Tag: [Primary Keyword] – [Action Words] [Secondary Keyword or Keyword Variation] [Brand or Company Name] Product Page Tag: [Product Name] – [Action Words] [Secondary Keywords or Keyword Variation] [Brand or Company Name] Example: Nintendo Wii – Buy Wii Game Console on eBay
  • 21. META TAGS Does the result inspire a click?
  • 22. PAGE CONTENT & ELEMENTS Build pages for two user agents: Users Crawlers Content in HTML Prevent usage of flash or other rich media
  • 23. PAGE CONTENT & ELEMENTS (CONT’D) Use semantic HTML <h1>My Article Title</h1> <p>Scientist reported Wednesday…</p> <span class=“heading1”>My Article Title</span> <p>Scientist reported Wednesday…</p>
  • 24. SITEMAPS Submit a XML sitemap to all major search engines for easy discovery of your pages. Add sitemap location to Robots.txt file. XML Sitemap <?xml version=&quot;1.0&quot; encoding=&quot;UTF-8&quot; ?> - <sitemapindex xmlns=&quot;http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9&quot;> - <sitemap> <loc>http://listing-index.ebay.com/sitemap_google_auction_intl_AU_2009060315_672001_1001.xml.gz</loc> </sitemap> </sitemapindex>
  • 25. SITEMAPS (CONT’D) HTML sitemap Build an HTML sitemap with all links on your site For users and for search engines No more than 50 links
  • 26. AGENDA What is SEO? Search Trends How Search Engines Work Ranking Factors Free Tools
  • 27. Free Tools Search engine web tools Google webmaster Tools: www.google.com/webmasters/ Yahoo Site Explorer: siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com Bing Webmaster Center: www.bing.com/webmaster
  • 28. FREE TOOLS (CONT’D) Free Firefox plug-in toolbar Web developer toolbar Web developer toolbar: chrispederick.com/work/web-developer
  • 29. Free Tools (CONT’D) Keyword research tools Google Search Insights: www.google.com/insights/search/
  • 30. FREE TOOLS (CONT’D) Keyword research tools
  • 31. FREE TOOLS (CONT’D) Microsoft excel ad intelligence plug-in Microsoft Ad Intelligence: advertising.microsoft.com/search-advertising/advertising-intelligence
  • 32. CONCLUDING THOUGHTS Natural search is “free” traffic. Natural search does not require rocket science. Good rankings start with good site architecture. Natural search can make YOU more successful.
  • 33. MORE INFORMATION Webmaster guidelines Bing: help.live.com/help.aspx?mkt=en-us&project=wl_webmasters Google: www.google.com/support/webmasters Yahoo: help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/search/basics/basics-18.html Free tools Web developer toolbar: chrispederick.com/work/web-developer Google Search Insights: www.google.com/insights/search Microsoft Ad Intelligence: http://advertising.microsoft.com/search-advertising/advertising-intelligence Search engine webmaster tools Google webmaster Tools: www.google.com/webmasters/ Yahoo Site Explorer: siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com Bing Webmaster Center: www.bing.com/webmaster
  • 34. LEARN AND SHARE www.x.com Twitter:  @paypalx www.facebook.com/paypalx Innovate 09 hashtag:  #ppxi09 LEARN AND SHARE www.x.com Twitter: @paypalx www.facebook.com/paypalx Innovate 09 hashtag: # ppxi09 Proprietary