SEO Demystified

Introduction
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has rapidly improved over the last few years, as technology became increasingly
sophisticated. Millions of online searches take place daily, so businesses are always looking for ways to drive their website
to the top of search results.
SEO is the practice of optimizing a website so that it achieves higher rankings in organic results rendered by search
engines such as Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. Search marketing is one of the fastest and most effective marketing programs
in the market today. It is the silver bullet for many businesses looking to grow and increase revenue. Knowing how to
harness the power of SEO is essential to unlocking its vast potential to generate leads and conversions for your business.
SEO Demystified:
5 Golden Rules for Success
SEO DEMYSTIFIED: 5 GOLDEN RULES FOR SUCCESS
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Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Why Search Marketing Works 3
An Ongoing Process 3
5 Golden Rules for Successful SEO 4
Conclusion 9
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Why Search Marketing Works
A website can be immensely powerful. It can provide useful information
about a product, service or subject in an interactive and enriching way-
yet the traffic can be low. One of the most effective ways to increase
site traffic is reaching a high ranking on search engine return pages, or
SERPs.
What makes search engines unique is that most of the traffic is not only
free, but targeted to the right audience, which allows response rates to
increase for businesses. For example, if you’re a business, you’d already
have pre-qualified customers looking for a product or service who are
most likely interested
to become buyers.
They are more likely
susceptible to your
business since they
were the ones that
initiated the search.
Research shows most
visitors won’t go
beyond the first page
of results. If you’re
ranked number one on the first page, you
are 10 times more likely to get a click than
someone who is ranked number ten.
An Ongoing Process
Many people assume that once they rank well on the search engine
result page, the job is done. But it takes a lot more work to stay on top.
As the web constantly evolves, competitors will force you to continue to
implement new strategies and keep improving your marketing efforts.
Just as you try to raise your site to the top of search rankings, your
competitors are doing the same. It’s important to continue to develop
your marketing tactics as it is a never-ending process.
SEO
Pay-per-click/search
Behavioral targeting
Video advertisements
Viral marketing
Site or page sponsorship
Email and e-newsletter
Pay-per-impression ads on digital publications
Ad networks
Exceeded expectations
Met expectations
Did not meet expectations
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Source: 2009 Forbes Ad
Effectiveness Survey
9% 42% 49%
14% 49% 37%
12% 53% 35%
15% 56% 30%
21% 49% 30%
23% 48% 29%
20% 57% 23%
23% 55% 22%
35% 51% 14%
SEO DEMYSTIFIED: 5 GOLDEN RULES FOR SUCCESS
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SEO includes keyword research, website design, coding, content
optimization, integration, planning, and so on. The most important thing
to know about producing an effective and enriching SEO campaign
is that the process is organic and gradual. You want it to be a diverse
group you’re ranking from, and the gradual buildup will allow your
rankings to look like a natural evolution. Not all links are created equal,
so you want to create one that will have a lot of domain authority and
make sure Google sees it as relevant. Getting links to your website is
imperative, but it would be useless if they showed up all at once. Quality
links that are relevant to your site can withstand the test of time, and
Google acknowledges this.
The 5 Golden Rules for Successful SEO
1. Keyword List
Strategically select and expand your high-impact keyword list.
2. Site Content
Incorporate keywords appropriately into the content of your website.
3. Meta Content
Integrate keywords into the source code of your pages.
4. Site Architecture & URLs
Structure your site and URL to be search engine friendly.
5. Links
(Inbound and Internal) to increase site traffic.
Rule #1: Strategically Select & Expand Your
Keyword List
Keywords and phrases
strategically placed and
crafted into your website
can significantly boost your
ratings in search engine
results. Your site might be
ranked #1 in Google for
certain words, but that’d be
irrelevant if no one is actually
searching for those terms. Because of
that, keyword selection is a delicate
process that balances customer search
psychology, keyword search frequency,
SEO DEMYSTIFIED: 5 GOLDEN RULES FOR SUCCESS
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the level of competition for keywords, and relevancy of the words for
your business. Below are some tips on how to strategically select your
keywords:
º Utilize Keyword Expansion - Expanding keywords means adding
new keywords to your current keyword list. This should be used
at the beginning of an SEO project to pick optimal keywords, and
continuously throughout the process, because a stagnant keyword
list is as dangerous as stagnant business.
º Know Customer Terminology - It’s always good to know how
people talk about your products or features, because many words
that you might use internally at your company or in the industry
might be foreign to your potential
customers. To make the most of your
keywords, use words that your targeted
customers are most likely to use in their
queries.
º Conduct Competitive
Analysis - Knowing your
competitors is crucial,
and there is software that
helps you compare your
keywords with those of
your competitors. Scope
out competitor sites to see
what words you missed,
where you overlap, and where you can improve.
º Analyze Paid Search Performance - If budget allows, running
a search analyses can generate a treasure chest of information,
uncovering real data from real searches and visits to your site.
Armed with this information, you can fine tune your keyword list,
and perhaps even discover words customers are using that you
didn’t think about.
º Analyze Keyword Leverage - It’s much easier to use keywords
that you already have some ranking on then to start from scratch.
Adjustments in location and frequency of good keywords can
catapult a site from the bottom of page one to the top of SERP,
which can lead to a three to four times increase in traffic.
SEO DEMYSTIFIED: 5 GOLDEN RULES FOR SUCCESS
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Rule #2: Incorporate Keywords into Your Site
Content
Once keywords are
selected, they need to be
targeted in the site content.
Site content is important
because not only do search
crawlers read it to index
your site, but it is what
comes in direct contact with
site visitors. For visitors, site
content must be informative, engaging,
and convincing. For search engines,
different aspects of site content must
send signals of relevance.
º Target Keywords for Each Page - Each webpage should be
optimized for only two or three keywords unique to that page.
Though more can be included, fewer and focused is better. While
your homepage should be optimized for broader terms (such as
“vacation”), different subpages of the site should be targeted
for “longer-tail”, more specific keywords or key phrases (such as
“tropical vacation”).
º Adjust Keyword Density - One common misconception is that if
the keyword shows up at a high density on the webpage, search
engines will deem it more relevant. This will only result in annoying
your visitors and will not help your rankings. Aim for using the
keyword 4 to 5 times per 350 to 500 words. Remember that you
want to optimize your site for search engines, but you also want it to
flow naturally.
º Update Content - Regularly updating site content will encourage
search crawlers to return to your site frequently.
Rule #3: Integrate Keywords into Your Meta
Content
Meta content is the code behind your web pages. It’s one of the things
search crawlers read to index your site, and the information is used
to generate the description of your site on the search results page on
Google. There are two important components of Meta content:
º Meta title - This is the most
influential portion of the meta
content and is the code that
crawlers look at first, because it
notifies crawlers what the site is
about. Only 50 to 70 characters
can fit here, so use the space
wisely. State your company
name, or use high impact
keywords. Make sure that each
page carries a unique Meta
title.
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º Meta description - This is a brief statement that tells what the
page is about. Google uses it to form the description of the site on
the search results page. Incorporate your keyword into the Meta
description so it will entice users to click on the link when it shows
up in search results.
Rule #4: Make Site Architecture and URLs Search
Engine Friendly
Site architecture and URL structure are critical components of SEO.
Create a user-friendly site for search crawlers to index. The following
are some important components to understand about optimal site
architecture and URLs.
º What are Search Spiders - Though the phrase “search spiders”
might spark images of futuristic, robotic spiders exploring the web,
they actually only have the capabilities of first-generation browsers.
There’s nothing particularly fancy about search spiders; they are
merely automated programs that read text on a page, click through
links, and index them. To appease the crawlers, ensure that your site
is readable and simple to navigate.
º Search engine friendly design - It’s important to note that certain
languages such as Javascript, Ajax, and Flash are not readable by
search crawlers. While it’s perfectly acceptable to incorporate
Flash components, use it sparingly, and by all means, do not build
completely on a Flash platform.
º Site readability -
Because site readability
for a search crawler can
be completely different
than for a person, you
should check what
crawlers are able to
recognize and index.
Viewing a cached version
of the page from the
Google toolbar can tell you exactly
what a search crawler can see, and if
the page is completely black, it means
that Google can’t read anything on
the page and the content will not help
your SEO. Another simple way to
check readability is to try to highlight everything on the page; the
material that is able to be highlighted will most likely be recognized
by search crawlers.
º Depth of directories - Search engines have difficulty reaching
deeper pages in the website, so the site should be relatively flat,
aiming for important pages no more than one or two “clicks” away
from your homepage. Just as a human visitor might get lost and
frustrated after too many clicks away from the homepage, a robot
might give up as well.
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º URL Structure - Use dynamic pages that include keywords in the
URLs to optimize your lower level pages. Dynamic pages are more
search engine friendly because crawlers don’t want to explore a
web site with too many characters in the URL, so they limit the
number of characters they’ll crawl. Additionally, keywords in shorter
URLs also make for a better user experience, and a site visitor will
more likely to remember short and clear URLs.
Rule #5: Build Quality Links to Increase Traffic
Linking is one of the most misunderstood concepts in Search Engine
Optimization, but is very significant to your business. If you don’t have a
good linking program in place, your site won’t rank well. Here are some
facts you should know:
º Reseorch shows mosr visirors won'r qo 6eyond poqe one.
º ¦l you're ron|ed num6er one on rhe lrsr poqe ol seorch enqine
sites, you’re 10 times more likely to get a click than someone who is
ranked number ten (42% vs. 3% click-through-rate, respectively).
º ¦n6ound lin|inq is rhe mosr cosr-ellecrive woy ro improve ron|inqs
(we’ll get into definitions later).
º The rop 3 posirions on rhe 1sr poqe ore normolly considered "o6ove
the fold.”
º Òrqonic seorches, overoll, srill qer mo|oriry ol clic|s comporedroFoidseorches
º The imporronce ol ron|inq hiqh will rronslore ro more revenue, ond
business growth.
There are two types of links:
º Internal links between pages - These are links within your website
to other parts of the site. This is called content silo-ing, and it’s
purpose is to make it evident to search crawlers that your entire site
is full of interlinked and relevant content. In the best case scenario,
visitors should be able to access every page of the website from
every other page. For example, if your homepage mentions
“tropical vacation” in the site content, be sure to link the phrase to
the relevant page.
º Inbound links - An inbound link is a link from an external website
that leads to your site, and each link is a vote on how important and
relevant your site is for that keyword. Only one-way links matter
and only links from validated link partners will help your SEO (you
can verify that a site is validated by using Google’s webmaster
tools).
Additionally, the most valuable links are ones from websites that are
highly ranked themselves. Remember that this ranking strategy is
inspired by the practice of academic citations; the more references for an
academic paper from other trusted sources, the more likely this paper will
be a respected and important paper on the topic. Furthermore, it’s more
favorable to have links from a variety of sources. The number of inbound
links necessary to improve site rankings depends on the number of links
your competitors have and how high they rank.
SEO DEMYSTIFIED: 5 GOLDEN RULES FOR SUCCESS
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There are multiple ways that you can gain inbound links, such as
submitting your site to highly-regarded directories, blogs, press release
syndication sites, and ezines.
Conclusion
Given the ever-changing landscape of society and marketing, it’s no
wonder that SEO has become the revolutionary marketing tool of
choice for many businesses. Knowing how to harness the power of SEO
can propel you to the top of Google and other search engines, resulting
in a dramatic increase in traffic and conversions. SEO is a process that
takes rigorous implementation and ongoing maintenance to stay on top
of the ever-changing technology and fierce competition. After reading
this eBook, there are a few key takeaways you should understand, such
as:
º How seorch mor|erinq oprimizorion con |umpsrorr your we6sire ond
business to reach a better overall return on investment (ROI).
º Why ir's imporronr ro moinroin your SEÒ procrices.
º The 5 qolden rules lor successlul SEÒ.
Every site benefits from linking; e.g. if you don’t have the budget for a
full SEO campaign but need to boost search engine rankings, if your
site is optimized but not ranking well, and/or if your site needs to be
optimized but faces technical limitations. Be sure to proceed with
caution, and build a timeline for implementing this process! If you have
any questions, or need evaluation and analysis, Webmarketing123 can
assist you. Contact Mark Powers at (800) 619-1570 or
[email protected]
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