SlideShare a Scribd company logo

UK University Website Visibility - responding to the quirks of the crawler

•Download as PPTX, PDF•
•
IWMW
IWMW

Slides for a talk on "UK University Website Visibility - responding to the quirks of the crawler" given by Melius Weideman at UKOLN's IWMW 2011 event. See http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/iwmw2011/talks/weideman/

Related slideshows

Google’s guidelines on mobile seo
Google’s guidelines on mobile seoGoogle’s guidelines on mobile seo
Google’s guidelines on mobile seo
 
Real estate digital marketing master class for real estate agents
Real estate digital marketing master class for real estate agentsReal estate digital marketing master class for real estate agents
Real estate digital marketing master class for real estate agents
 
Top KPIs for SEO Campaigns
Top KPIs for SEO CampaignsTop KPIs for SEO Campaigns
Top KPIs for SEO Campaigns
 
1 of 44
UK University Website Visibility - responding to the quirks of the crawlerMelius WeidemanCPUT, Cape Town, South Africa
2
ContentPhilosophies & assumptions
Website visibility
Visibility model
Inlinks
Body keywords3Measurements
DESCRIPTION metatag
TITLE tag
Header tags
Final score
Anchor text
Academic rankings?
Correlation?
Summary.
Philosophy 1Website Design should be done for 2x Audiences: Crawlers (Visibility) & Humans (Usability)On SPEC - on BUDGET - on TIMEThese are the measures of success for a civil engineering project …Is this true for holistic website design?NO!! - the user will decide on the success of a website – USABILITY and VISIBILITY!4.
Philosophy 2The Internet is about Users, Websites and Search Engines, and their interaction5.
Philosophy 3Website success depends on synergy between eight entitiesManagementowns & has expectations ofThe Uservisits to satisfy information needMarketingmarketsdesigns and maintainsstores and presentsWeb Designeroptimizes for search enginescrawls and regurgitatesdesigns images forGraphic DesignerHosting CompanySEO SpecialistSearch Engine6.
Philosophy 4Websites need SEO and PPC for proper exposureSEOPPC Long time to market
Virtually immediate
Cannot switch ON/OFF
Full control
Draws disinterested clicks
Pulls in targeted audience
High level of acceptance
Distrust
Cheap in the long run
Expenses never stop
Campaigns complex to manage
Once done, low complexityIf you can afford to, split your budget across both7.
Assumptions 1Population (150??) & Sample (38) - Russell and 1994
Easily accessible (read: free) testing programs
URL Guessing, etc
Easily accessible tools to be used for repeats.8
Assumptions 2The Runners are:.9
Website Visibility 1Highest Ranking Paid ResultHow do the SEs Present Search Results?Top-listed Paid ResultsSide-listed Paid ResultsHighest Ranking Natural ResultNatural (Organic) Results10.
Website Visibility 2WHAT?It is a feature of a given webpage
This feature is defined by the degree of ease with which a search engine crawler can find the webpage
Once found, it is further defined by the degree of success the crawler has in indexing the page
A webpage with high visibility can be easily found and has been designed in such a way that a crawler will find a large amount of relevant, easy to index information on the page11.
Website Visibility 3WHY? High SE rankings not negotiable for websites with commercial intent
Most websites must be visible to SE crawlers
91% of users do not read past SERP #3
Thus - extreme competition for top ranking positions in SERPsIt is necessary for any webpage whose owner wants it to be found on the Internet – try to impress the SE CRAWLER12.

More Related Content

UK University Website Visibility - responding to the quirks of the crawler

  • 1. UK University Website Visibility - responding to the quirks of the crawlerMelius WeidemanCPUT, Cape Town, South Africa
  • 2. 2
  • 16. Philosophy 1Website Design should be done for 2x Audiences: Crawlers (Visibility) & Humans (Usability)On SPEC - on BUDGET - on TIMEThese are the measures of success for a civil engineering project …Is this true for holistic website design?NO!! - the user will decide on the success of a website – USABILITY and VISIBILITY!4.
  • 17. Philosophy 2The Internet is about Users, Websites and Search Engines, and their interaction5.
  • 18. Philosophy 3Website success depends on synergy between eight entitiesManagementowns & has expectations ofThe Uservisits to satisfy information needMarketingmarketsdesigns and maintainsstores and presentsWeb Designeroptimizes for search enginescrawls and regurgitatesdesigns images forGraphic DesignerHosting CompanySEO SpecialistSearch Engine6.
  • 19. Philosophy 4Websites need SEO and PPC for proper exposureSEOPPC Long time to market
  • 24. Pulls in targeted audience
  • 25. High level of acceptance
  • 27. Cheap in the long run
  • 30. Once done, low complexityIf you can afford to, split your budget across both7.
  • 31. Assumptions 1Population (150??) & Sample (38) - Russell and 1994
  • 32. Easily accessible (read: free) testing programs
  • 34. Easily accessible tools to be used for repeats.8
  • 35. Assumptions 2The Runners are:.9
  • 36. Website Visibility 1Highest Ranking Paid ResultHow do the SEs Present Search Results?Top-listed Paid ResultsSide-listed Paid ResultsHighest Ranking Natural ResultNatural (Organic) Results10.
  • 37. Website Visibility 2WHAT?It is a feature of a given webpage
  • 38. This feature is defined by the degree of ease with which a search engine crawler can find the webpage
  • 39. Once found, it is further defined by the degree of success the crawler has in indexing the page
  • 40. A webpage with high visibility can be easily found and has been designed in such a way that a crawler will find a large amount of relevant, easy to index information on the page11.
  • 41. Website Visibility 3WHY? High SE rankings not negotiable for websites with commercial intent
  • 42. Most websites must be visible to SE crawlers
  • 43. 91% of users do not read past SERP #3
  • 44. Thus - extreme competition for top ranking positions in SERPsIt is necessary for any webpage whose owner wants it to be found on the Internet – try to impress the SE CRAWLER12.
  • 45. Website Visibility 4More WHY …Because users are lazy!13.
  • 46. Website Visibility 5Even more WHY …Where do they click on the SERP?.1414
  • 47. Website Visibility 6The Role playersDid you know?One out of 7 Google searches are done on a mobile, and 30% of them are for restaurants!65.515.914.1+95.5%15.
  • 49. 17Visibility Model 2Elements of Visibility - Positive.
  • 50. Elements of Visibility - Negative18Visibility Model 3.
  • 51. MeasurementsBacklinks - simple counting and ranking, but the other 5 ...Position …Weight …Rank & Class …Score …38Class 1 Uni P37 Class 2 Uni Q36 -35 Class 3 Uni R, S343332 Class 4 Uni T, U V35.533.19
  • 53. Inlinks 2Class definitionRank = ClassNo class definitions necessary – simply rank according to number of backlinks.21
  • 55. Body Keywords 1Examples.23
  • 56. Body Keywords 2Class definitionsClass 1: First keyword/phrase is the full uni name in separate keywordsClass 2: First keyword/phrase is not the full uni name in separate keywords, second keyword/phrase is the full uni name in separate keywordsClass 3: First and second keyword/phrase combined is the full uni name in separate keywordsClass 4: None of Class 1, 2 or 3, but parts of name appear in 1st 5 keywords/phrases, other keywords/phrases are descriptive of a uniClass 5: Uni name not used in 1st 5 keywords/phrases, but other related terms are present.24
  • 57. Body Keywords 3Results.25
  • 58. Anchor textProblem …No method available in defined tools to measure, so, omitted for this project.26
  • 59. DESCRIPTION metatag 1Reminder.27
  • 60. DESCRIPTION metatag 2Examples.28
  • 61. DESCRIPTION metatag 3Class definitionsClass 1: Multiple sentence, keyword rich, well written, strong uni relatedClass 2: Multiple sentence, uni related, some relevant keywordsClass 3: Single sentence, uni related, some relevant keywordsClass 4: Short phrase, few relevant keywordsClass 5: No relevant keywordsClass 6: No metatag.29
  • 62. DESCRIPTION metatag 4Results.30
  • 63. TITLE tag 1Reminder.31
  • 64. TITLE tag 2Reminder.32
  • 65. TITLE tag 3Examples.33
  • 66. TITLE tag 4Class definitionsClass 1: Starts with full uni name, plus other highly relevant keywordsClass 2: Full uni name mixed with other relevant termsClass 3: Only full uni nameClass 4: Uni full name first, plus no-value terms (Welcome, Homepage)Class 5: Starts with no-value words.34
  • 67. TITLE tag 5Results.35
  • 68. HEADER tags 1Examples.36
  • 69. HEADER tags 2Class definitionsClass 1: One H1, very descriptive, some H2 and H3Class 2: One H1, descriptive, some other HsClass 3: One H1, some H2 and/or H3Class 4: One H1Class 5: No H1, some H2 and H3Class 6: Multiple H1 OR no Hs OR Hs present but no-value content.37
  • 70. HEADER tags 3Results.38
  • 73. Correlation?Identical rank28Varies by up to 226Varies by 20 +8111338.41
  • 74. 42Summary If I have to choose only 1 slide, what should I REALLY remember? You HAVE to rank at least somewhere on Google/Yahoo!/Bing p1 for at least ONE key phrase!
  • 75. USABILITY and VISIBILITY are the most important design factors
  • 76. Both have to be earned through elbow grease – neither will just happen
  • 77. Do not expect your garden-variety web designer to have an interest in either
  • 78. Apply SEO & PPC judiciously - SEO if finances are limited, PPC if quick ranking is needed, both for sensible exposure
  • 79. LOOK and LEARN from your competitor’s websites
  • 80. Get the easy-to-do basics right first - TITLE, metatags, H1’s, anchor text and manual submission
  • 81. Now move on to the two big ones - canvass those inlinks and have body text rewritten by an expert to be very descriptive and keyword-rich
  • 82. Ride the Tour de France – the TOP TWO universities in the final scoring NEVER featured in the top 5 in any one of the individual measurements ….Visibility is not necessary for ALL websites, but Usability is!www.book-visibility.com42
  • 83. ?.43
  • 84. 44