How to choose an agency & survive the zombie apocalypse
How to use SEO & Social media to get more traffic - Ladies In Blogging Presentation
1. How to use SEO &
Social media to get
more traffic
@MostlyAboutChoc
@JudithLewis
2. Who Am I Obligatory Slide
• Got on the Internet in 1986 at my school lab
• Working online with search since 1996
• Paid & Natural Search – all aspects plus social
• Worked in-house within e-Commerce, Publishing & High Tech
• Have worked with Google (SEO for product
sites), Orange, COI, NatWest/RBS, National
Gallery, CIPD, Fidelity, GalaCoral, NBC Universal, Readers
Digest, Bayer, Virgin Trains, Family Search, Amadeus, AMD, AmEx
& more
• Chosen as a founding Modern Muse, contributed to a book on
promoting websites among others, 2x judge of the UK Search
Awards, one of the SEO Chicks, write for HuffPost
...and blog at MostlyAboutChocolate(.com)
@MostlyAboutChoc
@JudithLewis
3. Organic/Natural search
Spider is let loose on the And then creates a copy of that web page in
Spider indexes web pages
web, following links from site its database (index)
to site
A user carries out a query in
the search engine
(Algorithm based)
Results displayed from
index Algorithm to determine
relevancy
@MostlyAboutChoc
@JudithLewis
4. Elements of Ranking – 200
factors including:
• Title Tags • Advanced Linking
• Meta Description • Authority
• ALT Tags • Age of domain
• URL/Page Title • H1, H2, H3 (and
• Keywords in the accompanying CSS)
content • Image Optimisation
• Internal Links (images • On Page Text
vs. keyword rich text)
• URL • Internal Links
Structure/Categories • Links to External Sites
@MostlyAboutChoc
@JudithLewis
5. SEO Trends & Techniques
• Traditional techniques still best
– Keyword research & mapping
– Optimised on and off-page assets
– Lower importance on title tag
– Myth of optimal density
• Site architecture
– Site load time more important
• Increasing importance of social footprint
• Bad link penalty
• Fresh & unique content boost
• Continued importance of links
– Link profile changes
– Focus on natural
– Brand links = brand boost
@MostlyAboutChoc
@JudithLewis
6. Keyword Research
• Check that the words are what everyone uses and not just
internal/personal jargon
• Check you are using a more frequently searched term for roughly
the same meaning – “social media” vs “social networking”
• Go for a longer tail – 3 - 5 words convert better
• Each page needs an individual focus
• Write naturally but with awareness of target terms
• Too: https://adwords.google.co.uk/select/KeywordToolExternal
@MostlyAboutChoc
@JudithLewis
7. Search Results
Title Tag
Meta
Description
URL of page
Site links
@MostlyAboutChoc
@JudithLewis
8. 2nd page for “Raaka
Chocolate”. Better title:
“Raaka Chocolate:
Seasonal Shopping for
Raw Chocolate”
Or
“Raaka Chocolate: Why
oh why do people like to
eat unroasted moth
eggs?”
@MostlyAboutChoc
@JudithLewis
15. How Links Work
• Every link has a value
• The bigger the circle, the more
value/authority the page has
• The arrows are links
• The more links leading out from a
page, the less value they pass on
• Blogroll links are not good
@MostlyAboutChoc
@JudithLewis
16. How PageRank Works... Sort of
(the math is wrong in this example but is used for simplicity)
@MostlyAboutChoc
@JudithLewis
17. PAID LINKS
• Any link not editorially given technically should be
no-followed
• If an up-front request is made as part of the
approach, that means the link is no longer editorial
• If you get something in exchange for a link, it is paid
for - but no-follow and disclosure are TWO
DIFFERENT THINGS
• Google & the ASA are DIFFERENT – Google says you
need to no-follow links that are paid, the ASA says
you have to disclose payment if you are swaying
consumer opinion
@MostlyAboutChoc
@JudithLewis
23. Rules for Blog Success
• No such thing as minimum keyword density
• No such thing as minimum or optimal word count
• No such thing as optimal styling (i.e. bold, italics, etc)
• No such thing as optimal inbound link count
• No such thing as the ‘right way’
• No such thing as the ‘only way’
• 450 – 600+ updates to the algorithm per year – there
will never be an absolutely ‘right’ way
• DO NOT CHASE THE ALGORITHM – You’ll always be
miles behind and waste energy & effort doing so
@MostlyAboutChoc
@JudithLewis
25. You Can Stalk Me Online...
Twitter: @JudithLewis
@MostlyAboutChoc
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/judithlewis
Google+: https://plus.google.com/117564004595435401158/
Work: http://www.BYND.com
Personal: http://www.decabbit.com
Blog: http://MostlyAboutChocolate.com
Other Blog: http://www.SEO-Chicks.com
...and the list goes on
@MostlyAboutChoc
@JudithLewis