1. 1. SEO Basics Introduction to Search Engine OptimizationGuest Lecture Copyright - Louis Slabbert Twitter.com/LouisinLondon
2. 2. About Me
3. 3. What is SEO Adjustments (to your website) which make it easier for search engines to crawl, index and understand your content." My Addition: So that your content can be found and understood by humans and systems Source: http://www.google.com/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf
4. 4. Why Do SEO Design != Marketing Just by creating a Website doesn't mean you or your clients business will get more customersWithout SEO and Marketing a website is equivalent to having Business cards designed but keeping them locked in your cupboard Design + SEO + Marketing = New Business and Loyalty
5. 5. What are your Goals with SEO? Determine what your market wants Rank High in Search Engines Drive more traffic to your website Increase conversions (get more people who WANT to buy from you)
6. 6. Different ways to rank in Search Engines
7. 7. Pay Per Click Advertising
8. 8. Google Local, Google Maps ,Shopping
9. 9. Organic Search Results We will focus on Organic Results today
10. 10. Hundreds of factors determine the SEO of a website. Different Search Engines have different guidelines. Guidelines change We'll focus on the factors that you can change on your website during your practical sessions Source: http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors (2009)
11. 11. Main types of SEO "ON-Page" SEO"OFF-Page" SEOCreating and Optimizing content of your website correctly to enable Search Engines to crawl and index your site correctly.Strategies for SEO that are done off the pages of a websiteWebsite Structure, Filenames and Design (CSS animation instead of Flash)for target keywords related to the page contentto maximize its performance in the search enginesSome aspects of Off-page SEO are content creation, and others are considered Online MarketingBoth On-page SEO and Off-page SEO and Social Interaction is required for a Successful website
12. 12. On-Page SEO factors Title ( Keywords in Title Tags) Domain name (Keywords in Domain name) URL (Keyword in URL) Description (Keyword in META Description) Headers (Keyword in Header Tags) CA (Google Cache Age) Content, Image ALT tags, Anchor Text on website
13. 13. On-Page SEO in Practice
14. 14. Bad ON Page SEO Bad Titles - "Welcome to our website" or "New Page 1"
15. 15. Good On Page SEO Title Tags AirPrint Printer List Heading Tags (h1,h2,h3) About AirPrint Emphasis on words Image ALT Text: Link / Anchor Text Airpint in Windows
16. 16. More Bad On-Page SEO no index.html/php (welcome.html etc) no ALT text for images No usage of H1, bold, underline tags copied / plagiarized text (DONT DO IT) No internal links to other pages Broken links to pages that dont exist strange characters file names Slow website (non optimised imaged / page loading slowly due to badly written code) Links to bad websites (link exchanges / link farms)
17. 17. "Off-page" SEO factors (Promotion) Amount of Backlinks to the site Amount of Backlinks to the page Anchor Text used for the backlinks (click here vs list of Airprint Printers) Video's linking to the website Online Directories linking to the website Social Media and networks linking to your website 2012 update: now links from Bad networks can negatively affect your rankingen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Off-page_optimization Yahoo Site Explorer
18. 18. Off Page SEO for Designers Anchor Text Links should contain your/your clients preferred keyword / search term Dentist in Islington For Static Websites: Submission to Search Engineswww.google.co.uk/addurl/?continue=/addurl Create a sitemap: http://www.xml-sitemaps.comSocial factors: Make it easy for people to Share your website
19. 19. Where do you Start? Always start with Keyword ResearchWhy Should you Do keyword research? Imagine being able to find out whether people are looking for what you have to offer, before you spend days or months creating a website for something that no one ever looks for? Where can you do Keyword research? Google Synonym Tool https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal Google Search Keywords - generated keywords will come from the Google http://www.google.com/sktool/#Advanced Tools: Market Samurai: http://www.internetmarketingmagic.org/marketsamurai
20. 20. Basic keyword research
21. 21. Long Tail Keywords Search Phrases Longer than 4 or 5 keywords Lower search volume Less competition Better chance of ranking well in Search engines Often contain "How to" , "Where can I"Advice: Yahoo Answers -> Find a question being asked many times. Spy on the competition by analysing what is working for them. (advanced tools like Market Samurai required)
22. 22. More in depth Niche Research Google Keyword Tools Google Insights / Trends google.com/insightsGoogle Alerts alerts.google.comForums - Google "Your Niche + Forum" Magazines Commercial Competition Analysis Tool (Free Trial) Market Samurai - Great for Testing and Analysing Competition http://www.marketsamurai.com/a/accessgranted
23. 23. What's next: Off Page SEO Article Marketing Building Links / Networking Video Marketing Online Directories Blogging or guest blogging Social Media - Facebook / Twitter etc RSS Newsfeed submission Online Press releasesDepending on Niche: Classified sites Paid Advertising (with lower cost due to On-Page SEO) - Louis Slabbert http://www.LondonMarketingLab.com
24. 24. Summary Planning your website with the customer in mind is crucial Properly formatted HTML with keyword rich articles and Search Engine Optimized images, links and content is required Being actively Social online is a necessity in some niches and beneficial in most When SEO is done correctly it benefits: a) the website owner with more visitors and customer b) the general public with finding information or services faster SEO can bring customers to your website, and Design can convert them into customers or participantsFollow me on Twitter for IT, Design and Marketing Updates http://twitter.com/LouisinLondon