2. 2
Search Engine Basics
Crawling the web: Search engines run
automated programs, called “robots" or
"spiders", that use the hyperlink structure
of the web to "crawl" the pages and
documents that make up the World Wide
Web.
3. 3
Search Engine Basics
Indexing documents: Once a page has
been crawled, its contents can be
"indexed" - stored in a giant database of
documents that makes up a search
engine's "index".
5. 5
Why Optimize?
Web Search as a navigational tool
o On average, 45% of visitor traffic
through Utah.edu use the search
engine to navigate.
o 72% of searchers stop with the top ten
search results, and 90% stop with the
top 30.
7. 7
Key Concepts
Conversion
Web site user doing what you intended them
to do
• Sales
• Course registration
• Forms & downloads
• Page views
Conversion paths and funnels
9. 9
Optimization
Meta-data
<html>
<head>
<title>The University of Utah</title>
<meta name="description" content="Founded on
February 28, 1850, The University of Utah offers 75
undergraduate degree programs, more than 50 teaching
majors and minors, and 96 graduate majors.">
<meta name="keywords" content="University of Utah,
UU, Utes, Utah, Salt Lake City, university, universities,
colleges, higher education, academic, research,
admissions">
10. 10
Optimization
Meta-data
o HTML Page Title
Number one optimization factor
Included in results display
Unique title for each landing page
12. 12
Optimization
Popularity
o Inbound links
o Remote anchor links & text
o Googlebombing
When a web page places high in search
engine results due to frequent anchor
links using rude or insulting keywords.
14. 14
Black Hat SEO
Black Hat SEO:
Unscrupulous or deceptive optimization
practices intended to spam users or
compete unfairly
o Invisible text
o Keyword stuffing
o Duplicate pages
o Domain cloaking: serving different content to
search engine robots than to human visitors
o Link farms
17. 17
Summary
Accessible pages
Think landing pages
Unique HTML page title for every
landing page
Content relevant keywords
Avoid Black Hat SEO
18. 18
Resources
University Webmaster
o www.utah.edu/uwebresources
o webmaster@utah.edu
o 581-6113
www.seamoz.org
www.searchenginewatch.com
“The ABC of SEO” David George