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SEO & large websitesSven De Meyere

10h20 – 10h40

SEO & large websitesAbout me...

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5

Over there...

SEO & large websitesIntroduction...

‣ Been there, done that

‣ Lot’s of misconceptions

‣ Large is the new ‘normal’

Why this topic?

‣ Key factors & quickwins

‣ Optimize the workflow

‣ Which tools to use

‣ How to measure

‣ 8 rock solid takeways

Topics

SEO & large websitesKey factors & quickwins...

Site architecture & internal linking

Image source: https://seogadget.co.uk/solving-site-architecture-issues/

Site architecture & internal linking

Image source: https://seogadget.co.uk/solving-site-architecture-issues/

Site architecture & internal linking

Image source: https://seogadget.co.uk/solving-site-architecture-issues/

‣ Horizontal & vertical linking

‣ Navigation

‣ Breadcrumbs

‣ Footer links

‣ Header logo

‣ Impact increases with number of pages

Site architecture & internal linking

‣ Standard XML sitemaps = band-aid solution

‣ Site architecture > Sitemaps

‣ Index sitemaps

‣ Image sitemaps

‣ Video sitemaps

‣ News sitemaps

Smart use of XML sitemaps

Smart use of XML sitemaps

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><sitemapindex xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"> <sitemap> <loc>http://www.example.com/sitemap1.xml.gz</loc> <lastmod>2004-10-01T18:23:17+00:00</lastmod></sitemap>

<sitemap> <loc>http://www.example.com/sitemap2.xml.gz</loc> <lastmod>2005-01-01</lastmod> </sitemap>

</sitemapindex>

Index XML sitemaps

Microformats

Resource to check: http://schema.org

‣ Improvement in CTR

‣ Small (development) cost

‣ Template -> scalable impact

‣ Semantic data markup

Microformats

Resource to check: http://schema.org

Microformats

Resource to check: http://schema.org

‣ Crawl rate & indexation

‣ Server costs

‣ User experience

‣ Amazon research: 0,1s loading time = -1% sales

Site speed

SEO & large websitesLet’s get to work...

If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there..

Get the basics right

Get the basics right

Image source: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/whiteboard-friday-the-seo-fundamentals-pyramid

‣ Use the power of templates

‣ <title> template

‣ Meta description template

‣ <h1> template

First you automate...

<title>$productname - Buy now, only $price! | $brandname</title>

<meta name="description" content="Looking for $productname? Available in our

webshop at $price. Fast delivery and money back guarantee.">

<h1>$productname</h1>

First you automate...

‣ Top organic landing pages

‣ Top converting pages

Then you analyze...

‣ Manual re-optimization of key pages

‣ More specific <title>’s (longtails?)

‣ More specific meta descriptions (advantage?)

Then you digg for gold...

‣ Everyone can help (PR / HR / Marcom / ...)

‣ People like to be involved

‣ Provide training

‣ Share data

Get everyone on board

‣ Get inhouse people to write content / blogposts

‣ Track author through custom vars in GA‣ _setCustomVar(1, Author, Sven De Meyere)

‣ Declare winner each month:‣ Most organic visits / leads / sales / revenue

Some competition, maybe?

SEO & large websitesThe large website SEO toolkit

Large website SEO toolsetOn-site & off-site monitoring

• Google Webmaster Tools

• Bing Webmaster Tools (seriously!)

• SeoMoz campaigns

Rankings

• Webceo

Link analysis

• MajesticSEO

• Open Site Explorer

Use the available API’s• SeoMoz link metrics

• MajesticSEO

• Webceo online

And build your own tools

SEO & large websitesMeasuring your failure success...

Different sets of metrics• Business metrics

• SEO metrics

• Link metrics

Business metrics• Organic (non) branded revenue!!!

• ROI

SEO metrics• (non) Branded keyword rankings

• # organic (non) branded conversions

• # organic (non) branded visits

• # unique organic landing pages

• Top X organic (non) branded landing pages

• # unique organic keywords

• Top X organic (non) branded keywords

Link metrics• On domain level

• Domain authority

• # external links

• # referring root domains

• % follow vs nofollowed links

• % anchor text VS branded links

• On page level

• Page authority

• # external links

• # external referring root domains

• % follow vs nofollowed links

• % anchor text VS branded links

• # internal links

Benchmark your progress

• Short term

• Compare with previous month

• Careful: trends & seasonality?

• Long term

• Compare with same month last year

• Careful: changes on-site or in Analytics config?

SEO & large websites8 rock solid takeaways...

8 key takeaways...

1. Horizontal & vertical internal linking

2. Use index XML sitemaps to discover weak spots

3. Microformats: boost your organic CTR

4. First things first: get the basics right

5. Automate when possible, adjust when necessary

6. Get everyone on board

7. API’s: use them!

8. Larger websites -> different metrics for success

Thank you.

And now, coffee please...!

sven@wijs.betwitter.com/demeyeresven