Basic Search Engine Optimization techniques & tips

Tips
Gaurav Kakkar (HCL Technologies)
@gauravkakkar82
Search Engine Optimization

Importance of SEO
1
2
3
4
5
Defining SEO Objectives
Keyword Research
SEO in Action
Site Audit

What is SEO
Source: Getlocalsearchmarketing.
As per Wikipedia: Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine's "natural" or un-paid ("organic") search results.
SEO falls under Search Engine Marketing

Google Penalty Hits eBay’s Bottom Line, May Cost Up To $200 Million In Revenue

Source: Dejanseo.com
SERP CTR heatmap

Strategic Goals:
Expand Reach
Beating Competition
Customer Interaction
Increasing Brand Value
Other Goals:
Visibility (Branding)
Website Traffic
Determining Your SEO Objectives

Objective’s Percentage wise breakup

Navigational query
Ifthepersonperformthesearchtoreachtospecificpage,destinationorwebsitethenitistreatedasNavigationalquery.Forexample,ifoneislookingtoreachtoBloombergwebsite
Informational query
Webisfullofinformation.Ifthesearchisperformedinordertogettheanswertoaspecificquery,thenitisinformationalquery.Thereisnospecificsourcewhichtheuserswantstolandsto.Forexample“CloudComputing”
Transactional query
If the search is performed with the intent to ultimately to take an action like buying the laptop, then is istransactional query.
Understanding Search Engine Traffic and Visitor Intent

Developing an SEO Plan Prior to Site Development
Business Factors that Affect the SEO Plan
1.Revenue/business model
2.Target customers
3.Competitor strategies
4.Branding goals
5.Budget for content development
6.How your potential customers search for products like yours

Importance of SEO
1
2
3
4
5
Defining SEO Objectives
SEO in Action
Keyword Research
Site Audit

1.WordTracker
2.GoogleAdwords
3.Microsoft’s adCenter Keyword Generation Tool
4.KeywordDiscovery
5.Google Trends
6.Quintura
Tools for Keywords Research

Understanding the Long Tail of the Keyword
Long Tail Keyword
Source: The Art of SEO book

Step 1: Keyword research
Step 2: Site architecture
Step 3: Keyword mapping
Step 4: Site review
4 -Simple Steps ( Keyword Strategy)

Keywordcannibalizationhappenswhencertainpageswithinyoursitecompeteagainsteachotherforcertainkeywords.
When this happens, one lose out on a number of rank-boosting features:
1.Internal anchor text
2.External links
3.Content quality
4.Conversion rate
Keyword Cannibalization

Avoiding Keyword Cannibalization

http://www.socialmediatoday.com/blog
The canonical tag

Define the Site’s Information Architecture which depends on
Technology decisions :
1.Dynamic URLs
2.Session IDs or user IDs in the URL
3.Superfluous flags in the URL
4.Links or content based in JavaScript, Java, or Flash
5.Content behind forms (including pull-down lists)
6.Temporary (302) redirects
Structural decisions :
1.Internal linking
2.Navigational structures
3.Home page Linkage
4.Top-level categories
5.Use anchor text
6.Use breadcrumb navigation
7.Minimize link depth
First Stages of SEO

Site’s Information Architecture

1.Subdomain
2.Redirects
3.URLs
Creating an Optimal Information Architecture

Designing site architecture

Structured Architecture

Deep Architecture

Flat Architecture

1.Ithelpsvisitorsquicklyfindthecontenttheywant.
2.Helpsearchenginesunderstandwhatcontentthewebmasterthinksisimportant
3.A breadcrumb is a row of internal links at the top or bottom of the page that allows visitors to quickly navigate back to a previous section or the root page
4.Ensure more convenience for users by
using ‘breadcrumb lists’.
Make your site easier to navigate

Optimization of Domain Names/URLs (1/2)

Optimization of Domain Names/URLs (2/2)

Picking the Right URLs (1/2)

Picking the Right URLs (2/2)

Improve the structure of your URLs
1.Helpsthesitebetterorganized
2.Lead to better crawling of your documents by search engines.
3.Create easier, "friendlier" URLs for those that want to link to your content.
4.Simple-to-understand URLs will convey content information easily
Source: : Google SEO guide

Don’ts
Avoid:
1.Using lengthy URLs with unnecessary parameters and session IDs
2.using excessive keywords like"baseballcards-baseball-cards- baseballcards.htm"copyingand pasting the entire content of the document into the description meta tag
3.Have deep nesting of subdirectories like".../dir1/dir2/dir3/dir4/dir5/page.html"
4.Use directory names that have no relation to the content in them
5.Use odd capitalization of URLs

7.Don’temploydescriptionsuniversally
Meta Description Tags

Meta Tags

Avoid:
1.Writing a description meta tag that has no relation to the content on the page
2.Using generic descriptions like "This is a web page" or "Page about baseball cards"
3.Filling the description with only keywords
4.Copying and pasting the entire content of the document into the description meta tag
5.Using a single description meta tag across all of your site's pages or a large group of pages
Don’ts

Heading (H1, H2, H3) Tags & Document Text
DocumentText:

Use heading tags to emphasize important text . Heading tags (not to be confused with the <head> HTML tag or HTTP headers) are used to present structure on the page to users. There are six sizes of heading tags, beginning with <h1>, the most important, and ending with <h6>, the least important (1).
Use heading tags appropriately

Avoid:
1.Placing text in heading tags that wouldn't be helpful in defining the structure of the page
2.Using heading tags where other tags like <em> and <strong> may be appropriate
3.Erratically moving from one heading tag size to another
4.Excessively using heading tags throughout the page
5.Putting all of the page's text into a heading tag
6.Using heading tags only for styling text and not presenting structure
Don’ts

Title Tag

Create unique, accurate page titles

Avoid:
1.using extremely lengthy titles that are unhelpful to users
2.stuffing unneeded keywords in your title tags
3.using a single title tag across all of your site's pages or a large group of pages
4.choosing a title that has no relation to the content on the page
5.using default or vague titles like "Untitled" or "New Page 1"
Don’ts

Image Filenames and alt Attributes
BoldfaceText

Optimize the use of images

Use brief, but descriptive filenames and alt text
Avoid:
1.Using generic filenames like "image1.jpg", "pic.gif", "1.jpg" when possible—some sites with thousands of images might consider automating the naming of images
2.Writing extremely lengthy filenames
3.Stuffing keywords into alt text or copying and pasting entire sentences
4.Writing excessively long alt text that would be considered spammy
5.using only image links for your site's navigation

Anchor text is the clickable text that users will see as a result of a link, and is placed within the anchor tag <a href="..."></a>.
Links on page maybe internal—pointing to other pages on your site—or external— leading to content on other sites.
Write better anchor text

Avoid:
1.Using the page's URL as the anchor text in most cases
2.Writing long anchor text, such as a lengthy sentence or short paragraph of text
3.Using excessively keyword-filled or lengthy anchor text just for search engines
4.Creating unnecessary links that don't help with the user's navigation of the site
Don’ts

Syntax of the robots.txt file

Example of a robots.txt file

Make effective use of robots.txt

http://www.google.com
The rel="NoFollow” attribute

Be aware of rel="nofollow" for links

About using “Nofollow" for individual contents, whole pages

Aredirectisusedtoindicatewhencontenthasmovedfromonelocationtoanother.
GoodandBadRedirects:
•“301 moved permanently ”This status code tells the browser (or search engine crawler) that the resource has been permanently moved to another location, and there is no intent to ever bring it back.
•“302 moved temporarily” This status code tells the browser (or search engine crawler) that the resource has been temporarily moved to another location, and that the move should not be treated as permanent.
Redirect

1.Accessibility / Spiderability
2.Search engine health check
3.Keyword health checks
4.Duplicate content checks
5.URL check
6.Title tag review
7.Content review
8.Meta tag review
9.Sitemaps file and robots.txt file verification
10.Redirect checks
11.Internal linking checks
12.Avoidance of unnecessary subdomains
13.Geolocation
14.Image alt tags
15.Code quality
16.External linking
Site Audit

Thanks!
Contact at@gauravkakkar82

Basic Search Engine Optimization techniques & tips

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