Historically, search engine optimization (SEO) has been predicated on a mysterious, black box model for page rankings. However, as Google and other search engines have provided transparency into the rules used to order and return search results, that is no longer the case. Google is urging website owners to “make pages primarily for users, not search engines” and is regularly updating its algorithms to penalize sites that try to ‘game’ SEO. So, what does SEO mean now? Join One North’s Managing Director of Technology, Ryan Horner, as he shares a simple and straightforward explanation from industry experts on how search engines really work and what factors contribute to search engine rankings. Discover how your firm can develop a strategy that will maximize your visibility, in a clear and transparent way. To view a recording of the webinar, visit http://bit.ly/1blN4Kx.

1. 9 July 2013
Transparency in SEO:
A Look Inside the Black Box
Webinar

3. Agenda
How do Search Engines Work?
What Has Changed?
Big Picture View of Page Rank Factors
Tools

4. How Do Search Engines Work?

5. How Do Search Engines Work?
http://www.google.com/insidesearch/howsearchworks/thestory/index.html

6. What Has Changed?

7. Relevant Results Are Essential
*Search from April, 2009

8. Google is Being Transparent
• SEO is about creating a great website with great content
that users want to visit and share.
– “…focus on creating high quality sites that create a good user
experience.” -Matt Cutts, head of Google WebSpam team
• From Google’s perspective:
– Sites that deserve to be on top should be on top.
– You earn the top spot by being what Google users would
consider the best result for a keyword.

9. Big Picture View of SEO

10. The Big Picture

11. Factors Work Together

12. On-the-Page SEO

13. Off-the-Page SEO

14. On-the-Page: Architecture
Goal: Is it easy to access
your website?
Source:
http://selnd.com/seotable
• Can search engines easily ‘crawl’
pages on the site?
• Does the site manage duplicate
content issues well?
• Does the site load quickly?
• Are URLs short & do they contain
meaningful keywords?
• Does your site work well for mobile
visitors, on smartphones and tablets?
• Do you show search engines
different pages than humans?

15. On-the-Page: HTML
Source:
http://selnd.com/seotable
• Do HTML title tags contain
keywords relevant to page topics?
• Do meta description tags describe
what pages are about?
• Do headlines & subheads use
header tags w/ relevant keywords?
• Do pages use structured data to
enhance listings?
• Do you excessively use words you
want pages to be found for?
• Do colors or design ‘hide’ words
you want pages to be found for?
Goal: Are you making it
clear what your pages
are about?

16. On-the-Page: Content
Source:
http://selnd.com/seotable
Goal: Are you providing
unique value to visitors?
• Are pages well written & have
substantial quality content?
• Have you researched the keywords
people may use to find your content?
• Do pages use words & phrases you
hope they’ll be found for?
• Do visitors spend time reading or
‘bounce’ away quickly?
• Are pages fresh & about ‘hot’
topics?
• Is content ‘thin’ or ‘shallow’ &
lacking substance?
• Is your content ad-heavy, especially
‘above the fold?’

17. Off-the-Page: Links
Source:
http://selnd.com/seotable
Goal: Do other quality
sites link to you?
• Are links from trusted, quality or
respected websites?
• Do links pointing at pages use words
you hope they’ll be found for?
• Do links point at your web pages?
• Have you purchased links in
hopes of better rankings?
• Have you created many links by
spamming blogs, forums or other places?

18. Off-the-Page: Trust
Source:
http://selnd.com/seotable
Goal: Are you
trustworthy?
• Do links, shares & other factors
make your site a trusted authority?
• Has your site or its domain been around
a long time, operating in the same way?
• Does your site use means to verify
its identity & that of authors?
• Has your site been flagged for
hosting pirated content?

19. Off-the-Page: Social/Personal
Source:
http://selnd.com/seotable
Goal: Do people share
you on social networks
and visit often?
• Do those respected on social
networks share your content?
• Do many share your content on
social networks?
• What country is someone located in?
• What city or local area is someone
located in?
• Has someone regularly visited your
site or socially favored it?
• Have your friends socially favored
the site?

20. The Big Picture

21. Tools

22. Tools
• SEOMoz Site Explorer
– http://moz.com
• Microsoft SEO Analysis Tool
– http://www.microsoft.com/web/seo
• Google Webmaster Tools
– www.google.com/webmasters/tools
• Google Analytics
– www.google.com/analytics

23. Tools – SEOMoz

24. Tools – Microsoft SEO Analysis Tool

25. Tools – Google Webmaster Tools
• Search Appearance
– mark up your pages
– potentially influence how your pages appear
• Search Traffic
– how people find your site
– who links to your site
• Google Index
– Page count
– Keyword matches
– URL Removal
• Crawl
– Crawl Errors
– What Google sees

26. Tools – Google Analytics
• Browser and Device Usage
– Make sure you are serving all your users
• How users get to your site
– Inbound links, search engine keywords
• Social Media Usage
– Facebook, google+, Delicious, etc.
• Page Speed
– With Recommendations

27. An Ongoing Process
Maintain Big
Picture SEO View
Prioritize Efforts
Have Great
Content
Have a Great
User Experience
Get Inbound
Links
Get Visibility
Through Tools

28. Thank you!
Questions?