Exploring the best practices for SEO today, touching on content, technical SEO, social media and winding up with a ton of useful links to tools and services.

2. what does duane do at bing
Bing Webmaster Tools
Speaks at shows, runs forums and
blog, provides guidance on new WM
www.bing.com/toolbox/webmasters
tools
Does he have a clue?
14+ years as an inhouse SEO; ran seo at
MSN; has helped Disney, GAP, Walmart +
http://www.linkedin.com/in/dforrester
@duaneforrester
And this helps me how?
Blogging since 2001; owns 150 domains;
makes money online
http://twitter.com/DuaneForrester

4. Man’s History of Marketing
Billboards
Throwing rocks
Smoke signals
Trading goods
Mercantile shops
Mail order catalogues
Image credit: www.conducthq.com
Radio
Television
Social
Email
SEO
PPC

5. •
•
Keyword stuffing
all the rage
SE submissions
help rankings
•
•
SEO software works
very well for #1
placements
cloaking makes its
appearance
•
•
•
Google and MSN Search launch
Word spreads that links help rankings
DMOZ launches and starts directory
movement
•
Dawn of modern search
engines w/Altavista
Death of SE submissions
•
•
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First paid link
network appears
•
•
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Google Toolbar shows PR –
drives link requests
Google fights spam
with Florida update;
hurts legit sites
Blogging takes off
Text Link Ads creates
network link buying
•
•
First SEO conference
held: SE Strategies
•
Google notes the
“sandbox”
Link Farms appear
1994
1995
1997
1998
1999
2000
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
•
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XML sitemaps
jointly supported
by all engines
Nofollow tags appear;
PR sculpting follows
G Jagger/BigDaddy
updates seek link spam
•
•
•
Google’s “Brand”
update uses “trust
signals” to restack
SERP around
brands
•
Universal search appears
Text Link Ads banned by Google
Wikipedia shows the future –
domain authority through
content depth
•
•
•
Canonical tag
appears
Caffeine rolls out
allowing faster
indexing – “real
time” search is here
Tweets integrated
showing future of
social influencing
search
•
•
•
•
•
Google launches G+
G launches +1, tells
sites they rank
better displaying it
Bing partners with
Facebook to
integrate social
signals into SERPs
rich snippets
starting to be used
by sites
•
•
•
•
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Social
signals
Mobile
Gestures
Voice
Bing expands
social inclusion
with FB, Twitter &
4Square
Rich Snippets
impacting SERPs
Data credit: gossip.greenlightdigital.com/blog/the-history-and-evolution-of-seo/
?

6. Orange
• Paid ads – you pay per click for traffic
• Auction-based system
• Higher bid; higher placement
Green
•
•
•
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Organic results
SEO works here
Trusted results
Clicks are free
Red
M
o
r
e
O
r
g
a
n
i
c
•
•
•
Shopping results
Combination of organically sourced and
paid inclusion results
Not as wide a net as organic, but more
focused than paid ads

8. •Increase relevancy
•Increase exposure
•Increase visits
•Increase page views
•Increase revenue
•Better UX
•Low cost
•Investment in future
•Users starting here

9. 1. SEO isn’t an overnight success story or a one-time effort. Like wealth-building, investing in SEO takes time
and continued effort to earn full benefits.
2. Research targeted keywords, create a targeted list per page, and use them in multiple places (in key meta
tags, folder & file names, etc.).
3. The <title> tag is one of the most important tags for SEO – put most valuable keywords at start, write
unique titles for each page.
4. Add page-relevant, descriptive alt text to content images with copyrights at the end – search bots can’t
“see” image contents like humans.
5. Write one keyword-rich <h1> tag per page to serve as the page’s headline.
6. Write compelling <meta> descriptions for SERP snippets – this is what converts SERP impressions.
7. Every page should offer crawlable text for bots to create more keyword relevance.
8. Submit a validated Sitemap.xml file to search engines via their webmaster tools.
9. Canonicalize your URLs to eliminate duplicate content and diluted page rank in the index.
10. Never put content to be crawled inside images, JavaScript, Silverlight, or Flash – bots can’t read it.
11. Don’t expect to get high rank for a newly-published page. Search engine “trust” takes time to build.
12. Use social media to build a community that supports and amplifies your content/products.

10. • Build social followers & fans
organically
• Wall posts/tweets with links are
perceived as more credible and
useful
• Get the basics of SEO covered, then
focus on content
• Its worth repeating:
unique, compelling content still
works

11. • The engines really respond
to unique, useful content
• Your visitors respond to
this as well
• It’s a wise investment of
your time
• Don’t take shortcuts – limit
syndicated content
image credit: http://mashable.com/2011/01/10/social-content-strategy/

12. • The Internet is B.I.G. Slice and
dice to find your niche.
• Plenty of niche areas to
explore/exploit – start your
fight where you can dominate
• Choose your voice wisely;
don’t be afraid to express an
informed opinion
• Watch what users respond to,
then amplify along those lines

13. • Know exactly what users
are searching for
• Data can help you uncover
new niches or refine your
focus
• Helps keep you focused on
creating compelling
content
• Got writers block? Check
your keyword research for
inspiration

14. • Start with your Home
page, categories, products, etc…
• Then…when you have numbers…
• Every area of your site has a value
- $, PV, Emails, etc.
• Determine what the value is
• Sort your site by value to see
what really matters
• Organize work around high-value
areas first

15. • SEO is not just content
• SEO can be affected by
technical elements
• You need both
• Content can win, but
technical SEO helps
•
Clean domain
•
Clean, keyword rich URLs
•
Page Load times
•
Layout of pages – content v. ads
•
Tech hiding elements – javascript nav.

16. •
Crawlability
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
•
Xml sitemaps
Navigational structure
Rich media cautions
Graceful degradation
URL structure
Robots.txt
Internal Links
URL structure and keyword usage
Clean URLs – no extraneous parameters
(sessions, tracking, etc.)
HTML & XML sitemaps
Content hierarchy
Rel-canonical usage to manage duplication issues
Rich media – don’t bury links in Javascript/flash
/silverlight/AJAX
Responsive design for managing mobile & web
–
Head copy
–
–
–
•
–
Titles – unique, relevant, 60 characters or so long
Descriptions – unique, relevant, grammatically
correct, 160 or fewer characters
Body Copy
•
•
•
•
H1, H2 and other H tag usage
ALT tag importance & usage
Keyword usage within the content/text
Anchor text – using target keywords to support other
internal pages
Links
–
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On-Page
•
•
Content
–
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Site Structure
–
–
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•
•
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•
Build based on keyword research
Down-level experience enhances discoverability
Keep out of rich media and images
Produce new content frequently
Make it unique – don’t reuse content from other
sources
Content management – using 301s to reclaim value
from retiring content/pages
Rel canonical to help engines understand which page
should be indexed and have value attributed to it
404 error page management to help cleanse old pages
from search engine indexes
Plan for incoming & outgoing link generation
Internal & external link management
Content selection – planning where to link to
Link promotion via social spaces – direct traffic & seo
value
Managing anchor text properly
URL structure can help insert keywords where they are
needed
Social
–
–
–
–
–
–
Be an authority
Build your community
Interact often
Share useful content
Be consistent and useful
Grow facebook, twitter, pinterest, etc.

17. • Skip m. domains
• m. domains produce unwanted
duplication
• Responsive design is your friend
• HTML5 can help

18. Authority Building Short List
Know the topic inside out
Engage your community
Share useful content freely
Be consistent and useful
Market your strengths
Be a go-to resource
Learn to spot trends in data

19. Authority – engine-style
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21. Where does SEO fit in?
Content
Social
User Experience
Link Building
SEO

22. Search – you’re trying to solve…
When optimizing your site for search, you invest in these major areas
QUALITY
TRUST
POPULARITY
TIMELINESS
Content
Links
Appearance
Authority
Usefulness
Resource
Traffic
Repeat Visits
Links
Current
Fresh
Relevant

23. Search – we're trying to solve…
ComScore and Microsoft Internal Analysis 2010

24. A Changing Web of Your Objects
Schema.org can help
Mark up your content

25. • Signal of topical authority
• Real-time – engines want fresh
content, fast
• Integrated social signals influence click
actions of searchers
• Social signals remain only a few of
thousands of signals for organic
ranking
How users click on your results can impact rankings and when we show cues like your
Facebook friends with results, click rates can be impacted.

26. • Different sources must be handled
differently
• Organic traffic is building trust
• Paid traffic is ready to open their wallets
• Email traffic is ready to buy…now
• Ensure your conversion path is short
and sweet
• Off the shelf carts can usually be tweaked
to gain improvements in conversions.

32. Plan … or #FAIL
Core Strategies Op. Strategies
Tactics

33. Oh, and here’s a streamlining trick for ya!
AUTOMATED
Trusted RSS feeds
MANUAL
Copy &
Paste
AUTOMATED

34. www.bing.com/webmaster
www.hootsuite.com
tapbots.com/software/tweetbot/
www.echofon.com/
statigr.am/
inst.me/
www.curalate.com/
www.evernote.com
www.ifttt.com
http://elastic.io/about.html
https://zapier.com/
www.trackur.com
www.sprinklr.com/
www.visibletechnologies.com/
www.socialmention.com
mehdoh.com/

35. 6 seconds to start a relationship
http://socialmediatoday.com/julieblakley/1516266/7-brands-gettingcreative-vine

36. 18 Social Media Management
Tools
Alexa.com
Board Reader
Sysomos
Facebook Insights
Follower Wonk
Google Insights
How Sociable
Ice Rocket trends
Buffer
•
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Klout
Peerindex
Kred
Mention Map
Social Mention
Statigram
Twitter
Counter
Tweetreach
Visual.ly

37. Q&A
Special Offer
20% off any monthly
SEO package.
Scott Sanfilippo
Co-Founder, Solid Cactus
scotts@solidcactus.com
Duane Forrester
Senior Product Manager,
Bing Webmaster Program
@duaneforrester
Call now!
855-886-3030
*with Years
12 four month contract Million
$20.5
Experience
In Sales
500%
Average ROA
3+ Years
Client Tenure