New to SEO? Need to polish up your knowledge? The Beginner Guide to HOW TO BUILD A SEARCH ENGINE FRIENDLY SITE
http://www.hint1.com/technology/web-marketing/how-to-build-a-search-engine-friendly-site-part-01
2. TOC
SEO Methodology
Analysis and Consultancy phase
Objective setting
Selecting keywords
Competitive benchmarking
Website AnalysisWebsite Analysis
Implementation phase
SEO friendly site-architecture
How to write content to drive traffic
Link Building activity
How to create a sitemap
Submissions
Reporting and Analysis
6. SEO PROCESS
Objective Setting
Understand the client’s
business needs
Identifies his pain areas
and how SEO can help
provide solutions to itprovide solutions to it
Identify the Search Engines
& Directories for indexing
Google, MSN and Yahoo
(80% contributor to traffic)
& open directory listing is
mandatory
Depending on client,
geography and category
special search engines and
directories can be
suggested
8. SELECTING KEYWORDS
Keyword Selection is the most important activity for proper optimization of
the website
The first step is to simply sit down and write down keywords. Write
everything that occurs to the mind and not discard any idea
Brainstorming sessions can also help to add to the initial list
Consult internal search logs (the logs on the server) to track where visitorsConsult internal search logs (the logs on the server) to track where visitors
came from and if possible, extract more keyword combinations.
Consult tools which will provide suggestions and also most searched for
keywords in the category
Typo errors are a typical mistake and need to be kept in mind while selecting
keywords – include spelling mistakes in list
Refine with inputs from client and arrive at an optimal number of keywords
which will be ideal for the site to be optimized
9. KEYWORD RESEARCH TOOL
FREE
Overture InventoryOverture InventoryOverture InventoryOverture Inventory - currently a Yahoo! Search Marketing product -
generates a list of related searches that includes the relevant term
and also shows how many times the term was searched for during the
last month
Google's Keyword ToolGoogle's Keyword ToolGoogle's Keyword ToolGoogle's Keyword Tool - generates potential keywords for ad
campaigns and reports their Google statistics, including search
performance and seasonal trendsperformance and seasonal trends
Google SuggestGoogle SuggestGoogle SuggestGoogle Suggest - suggestions offered by Google as we type
words or phrases in it
SEO Book Keyword Suggestion ToolSEO Book Keyword Suggestion ToolSEO Book Keyword Suggestion ToolSEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool - shows top keyword
phrases from Overture; links to other keyword research tools and links
at various vertical databases, blog searches and tagging systems to
show the top results from other information sources
Digital Point Keyword Research ToolDigital Point Keyword Research ToolDigital Point Keyword Research ToolDigital Point Keyword Research Tool - shows the results of query from
both Word tracker and Overture for determining which phrases are
searched for most often
Good KeywordsGood KeywordsGood KeywordsGood Keywords - a free Windows software for finding the perfect set
of keywords for your web pages
10. KEYWORD RESEARCH TOOL
PaidPaidPaidPaid
Word trackerWord trackerWord trackerWord tracker - free trial also available - discover the best keywords to target for
website
Keyword DiscoveryKeyword DiscoveryKeyword DiscoveryKeyword Discovery - free trial also available - find the best keywords for the website
in question
Keyword IntelligenceKeyword IntelligenceKeyword IntelligenceKeyword Intelligence - drive high quality customers to website using the top search
terms used successfully by millions of people across all major search enginesterms used successfully by millions of people across all major search engines
including Google, Yahoo! and MSN
13. COMPETITIVE BENCHMARKING
This is a very important
step for the whole process
We analyze competition for
the following:the following:
SERP positions
Search engine friendliness
of website
On various parameters such
as PR, Link popularity, in-
depth on-page optimization
elements
15. WEBSITE ANALYSIS
Analyze the client website for
various features like content,
technology used, links etc
Analyze the gap that the sites
has versus an ideal Search
engine optimized site
Solutions will be provided on aSolutions will be provided on a
case-to-case basis depending
on the site being dynamic, CMS
driven, Flash driven etc
Implementing of On page
optimization for the website will
accordingly differ based on the
technology of the website
17. ON-PAGE OPTIMIZATION
Title
A relevant 2 to 3 word title tag which will have the targeted
keywords
Meta Tags
The Meta keywords tag is defunct, but the meta description
tag can be used to facilitate clicks to site as this is displayed
in the SERP
Heading and Bold TagsBold TagsBold TagsBold Tags
Showcasing important keywords in Heading (H1 to H6) tags
or bold tags adds to the relevancy of the keywordor bold tags adds to the relevancy of the keyword
Anchor Text
Anchor text is the visible text for hyperlinks on the page,
using keywords for the hyperlink would improve the
relevancy
Alt text
Since search engines only understand HTML, all non-text
items need to have Alternate text to make it search engine
friendly
Page Size Limit
Unending long pages are not considered search engine
friendly as search engines read through the first 500 – 600
words of the page, the rest does not get indexed
18. ON-PAGE OPTIMIZATION
Number of links on a page
The more the no of links to a page the better, it helps
to increase the link popularity. To make it more useful
and search engine friendly it is suggested that links
are created from the relevant keywords as the link text
Site Maps
This is a very important aspect of making a site search
engine friendly. This provides the search engine
access to all pages in site. It is recommended that the
sitemap be made available on the home page and all
inner pages to provide more navigability and accessinner pages to provide more navigability and access
Coding Standards
Following some coding standards set by the W3C
consortium: such as including titles and relevant tags
for all pages. Besides to make the sites search engine
friendly keeping non-HTML codes at minimal by calling
JavaScript and Style sheets from .js and .css files
respectively are some coding standards
SEO Header and Footer
Search Engine friendly tags inserted in the header and
footer section of the e-com sites. - Optimization that
targets the meta tags and bottom navigation of a
website for keywords or phrases.
19. OFF-PAGE OPTIMIZATION
To increase the link popularity / make the
site popular we need to carry out one/many
of the following off-page functions
Directory Submission
Submitting to Directories, which are human edited
and hence increase relevance of the links from
them to the website questions
Forum and Blogs
Writing about the site and its features / productsWriting about the site and its features / products
and services on discussion forums and blogs also
improves links to the site
Signatures
Another standard practice is to include the website
URL in the mail, blog comment or any signature
Press Releases
Press releases both online should include the URL
of the website which will help improve the link
popularity of the site
Link Building
Specific link building activities such as link
exchanges with pages that have higher PR and
affiliate programs carried out with prominent sites
20. OFF-PAGE OPTIMIZATION
Some other activities that can be carried out are:
Blog Reviews and Promotion
Participate in blog reviews and promotions which
will include links to the website
Social Bookmarking
Provide for links on social bookmarking sites,
enabling site for such bookmarking helps increase
no of tags to siteno of tags to site
Article Submission
Submissions of articles to relevant categories of
directories and special interest directories
Viral Marketing
A viral marketing campaign consists of a message
which needs to be sent out to multiple people, the
message will carry links to the website in question
RSS Feeds
RSS is a family of Web feed formats used to publish
frequently updated content such as blog entries,
news headlines, and podcasts in a standardized
format
22. SEO CONTENT
Writing SEO contents - writing reliable data and using a classic structure of
text are the key.
When you write SEO content, no matter what topic it contains, try to avoid
using false ideas and search for reliable sources.using false ideas and search for reliable sources.
Use a classic structure, don't write a cumbersome text instead start with an
introduction, continue with deep structure (the main content) and finish with
summary of the article. Appropriate heading and paragraphing will further
add to the structure of the page
26. LINK POPULARITY
Link popularity is a measure of the quantity and quality of other web sites that link to a specific
site on the World Wide Web. It is an example of the move by search engines towards off-the-
page-criteria to determine quality content. In theory, off-the-page-criteria adds the aspect of
impartiality to search engine rankings. Link popularity plays an important role in the visibility of
a web site in the top positions of the search results. Some search engines require a minimum
number of links to a website to include it in their else they are dropped
Search engines such as Google use a special link analysis system to rank web pages such as:Search engines such as Google use a special link analysis system to rank web pages such as:
Citations from other WWW authors help to define a site's reputation.
Important sites that attract many links due to richer content than content-poor sites
Quality of link - an inbound link from a major directory carries more weight than an inbound link from an
obscure personal home page
27. IMPORTANCE OF LINK POPULARITY
Because good link popularity can dramatically increase traffic to a web site
Well placed links are an excellent source of consistent and targeted traffic
As per latest developments, they can influence additional search engine traffic
to site
Most of the major search engines now factor Link Popularity into their
relevancy algorithmsrelevancy algorithms
As a result, increasing the number of quality, relevant sites which link to
your site can actually improve your search engine rankings
There is still no one "secret trick" to getting good rankings, but boosting your
site's popularity may give it the edge it needs
28. LINK POPULARITY TOOLS
There are few tools (free) available to measure the links of the website.
Marketleap Visibility IndexMarketleap Visibility IndexMarketleap Visibility IndexMarketleap Visibility Index
http://www.marketleap.com/publinkpop/
Enter URL, along with up to three comparison URLs, will display at a glance how the site
measures up in terms of sheer numbers of links to some major sites on the web. Free, easy to
understand and use. It also displays report on the link count listings from the major search
engines that are queried.engines that are queried.
LinkPopularityLinkPopularityLinkPopularityLinkPopularity
http://www.linkpopularity.com/
Free and simple service that helps generate link lists from three major search engines. Results
can also be emailed each month.
Compute Your Own Web Traffic RankCompute Your Own Web Traffic RankCompute Your Own Web Traffic RankCompute Your Own Web Traffic Rank
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/relativeranking.html
This isn't really about measuring link popularity, but it is an interesting method of determining
the overall popularity of your site.
29. LINK BUILDING ACTIVITY
Link exchange
The process of exchange textual links between sites to improve the link popularity is
called link exchange. Activities for a Link building program are as follows:
IdentifyIdentifyIdentifyIdentify – When the potential websites which can be approached for reciprocal links
are identified
InteractInteractInteractInteract ¬– Once the potential websites have been identified, they have to be
contacted by mailers requesting for one-way or two-way links to the site. They havecontacted by mailers requesting for one-way or two-way links to the site. They have
be followed up with mailers or calls till approvals are received
ImplementImplementImplementImplement – Incases where two-way links are agreed upon site changes to
accommodate the links have to be carried out, which is ideally done in phases.
Simultaneously there is a need to monitor the implementation of links on the
respective websites that have agreed for the link program
MonitorMonitorMonitorMonitor – On a regular basis the progress on total number of inward links added to
the website and see that the links all function rightly. Obsolete or change of link
positions will be monitored and rectified (if necessary)
30. SITEMAP
A site map is a separate HTML page that acts as a directory of the pages on
the website.
Each page listed in the site map is hyperlinked.
Use keywords in the link anchor textUse keywords in the link anchor text
Since search engines seem to place more weight on text contained in a
bulleted or numbered list, put the links in lists.
Site map is not only good for getting search engine spiders to follow the
page links and easily crawl the entire site, it's a useful tool for the visitors
because it helps them find the content page they are looking for
31. TYPES OF SITEMAPS
Yahoo sitemaps
Simple text file sitemaps. Yahoo now also accepts RSS and ROR
sitemaps, but the original format was a text-only file using one URL per
line. The typical naming for this file, as suggested by Yahoo, is urllist.txt
which pretty much describes what it is and what it does for them.
Google sitemaps
Built as an XML file using special tags that describe your web content toBuilt as an XML file using special tags that describe your web content to
Google. Webmasters can use this service to tell Google which pages are
updated regularly and which pages are most important to the
webmaster. Google can then use this information to decide which URLs
get visited if they aren't going to be able to visit all of them that day.
OPML site maps
Can be read in an OPML reader called an outliner. They are also
supported by some blog software as the blogroll.
32. TYPES OF SITEMAPS
HTML site maps
The most reliable format and are spider-ed by every search engines'
crawler. They will also be the most likely for a human to use when they
visit your site. One common pitfall of the HTML sitemap is to list all links
on a single page no matter how long
ROR sitemaps
They combine the detail of Google site maps and the simplicity of RSSThey combine the detail of Google site maps and the simplicity of RSS
sitemaps. It is based on RSS and XML, but goes beyond the typical RSS
or XML feed. The ROR format allows you to describe items such as your
web pages in greater detail to more search engines than ever before.
RSS sitemaps
These are handled by Google and Yahoo among many others. Their
website submission forms both tell you that an RSS file is acceptable,
but did you know that RSS goes beyond the search engines?. Most RSS
readers will report your newest pages at the top if the RSS feed is built
correctly
33. REPRESENTATION OF SITEMAPS
Outline - A list of your sites pages in classic outline format. Each page is
listed along with the "deeper" pages that are linked off that page. This is the
default type of Site Map.
Table - A series of tables of your sites primary pages and the "deeper" links
off them. Each table starts with the title of the primary page, then has a bar,
then has a list of pages linked off the primary page. Only pages with subthen has a list of pages linked off the primary page. Only pages with sub
links have tables generated for them.
List - A simple list of the pages in your site, arranged in depth order. Bars
visually separate pages of different depth.
37. SUBMISSIONS
Manual submission of website to identified list
of search engines / directories
Submission of home page
Submission of sitemap pageSubmission of sitemap page
Submission of tailor made sitemap pages for some
major search engines such as:
Sitemap in XML format for Google
Sitemap in ROR or RSS format for Yahoo
39. SERP REPORT FORMAT
SearchSearchSearchSearch
Engine 1Engine 1Engine 1Engine 1
SearchSearchSearchSearch
Engine 2Engine 2Engine 2Engine 2
SearchSearchSearchSearch
Engine 3Engine 3Engine 3Engine 3
SearchSearchSearchSearch
Engine 4Engine 4Engine 4Engine 4
SearchSearchSearchSearch
Engine 5Engine 5Engine 5Engine 5
Keyword1 XX XX XX XX XX
Keyword2 XX XX XX XX XX
Keyword3 XX XX XX XX XX
Keyword4 XX XX XX XX XXKeyword4 XX XX XX XX XX
Keyword5 XX XX XX XX XX
Keyword6 XX XX XX XX XX
Keyword7 XX XX XX XX XX
Keyword8 XX XX XX XX XX
Keyword9 XX XX XX XX XX
Keyword10 XX XX XX XX XX
XX – denotes positions within top 50
41. MEASURABILITY
SEO campaigns can be measured on two accounts:
Top positions
The appearance of the clients websites within top 10 Search results on a Search engine for the
agreed list of keywords. This is not a very stable measure because positions keep varying on
search engines due to the continuous change of the indexes and routine changes in search
engine algorithms and hence guarantees cannot be made.
Traffic
The web analytical files have the referral information which provides information on the source of
the website traffic. This can give in depth information as to how many people came from whichthe website traffic. This can give in depth information as to how many people came from which
website and also the name of the websites. Similarly it can also tell you the search engines from
which traffic has come to your site. The web analytical files also provide a list of words/phrases
which people used to land on your website. We can do a direct match of this to the keywords we
have targeted and the traffic been driven to the websites due to it.
When we do Search Engine optimization we should keep in mind that a search for
singulars and plurals of a search word or phrase and also different tenses of the
phrase will all return different results. Hence in the optimization phase while we
agree on certain set of keywords we make provisions for the other variations. Hence
we can take credit for traffic driven to the site using these variations.
43. Q & A
1. Set the steps in logically order
1. Objective setting
2. Reporting and Analysis
3. How to write content to drive traffic
4. Website Analysis4. Website Analysis
5. SEO friendly site-architecture
6. Competitive benchmarking
7. Link Building activity
8. How to create a sitemap
9. Selecting keywords
10. Submissions
44. Q & A
1. Paid keyword selection tools
2. Free keyword selection tools
3. Link popularity tool
4. On-page Optimization
A. Outline, table and list
B. Marketleap, linkpopularity
C. Word tracker, keyword
intelligence
D. Citation of other sites to the
site in question
Match the following
4. On-page Optimization
5. Off-page optimization
6. link popularity
7. Link building activity
8. Types of sitemaps
9. Representation of Sitemaps
site in question
E. XML, RSS, ROS, TXT and HTML
F. Title, meta tags, content,
sitemap
G. Link building, viral marketing,
blogs
H. Overture keywords, Good
keywords
I. Identify – Interact – Implement
– Monitor
45. TRAINING EVALUATION
Does the presentation meet the training objective?
Relevance of the course content
Presentation flow structure
Clarity on the information contentClarity on the information content
Usage of Diagram
Rating on a scale of 1 to 5
1–Very poor, 2–poor, 3–average, 4–Good, 5–Excellent
46. SEO PROCESS
Analysis and consultancy phaseAnalysis and consultancy phaseAnalysis and consultancy phaseAnalysis and consultancy phase
Understand the client business
Analyze the client website for various features like content, technology used, links etc
Analyze competitions websites for their SEO friendliness
Inputs from client regarding current website traffic
Analyze the gap that the sites has versus an ideal Search engine optimized site
Solutions will provided on a case-to-case basis depending on the site being dynamic, CMS driven,
Flash driven etc.
Implementing of On page optimization for the website will accordingly differ based on the technologyImplementing of On page optimization for the website will accordingly differ based on the technology
of the website.
Identify the Search Engines & Directories for indexing
Google, MSN and Yahoo (80% contributor to traffic) & open directory listing is mandatory
Depending on client, geography and category special search engines and directories can be suggested
Identify the keywords for which we undertake Search Engine Optimization
Suggested list will be shared with client of which additions / deletions will be made
Based on client inputs the final list will be drawn up
Develop Link Building strategies
Identify the categories and directories where listing can be done to increase link popularity
47. SEO PROCESS
Implementation phaseImplementation phaseImplementation phaseImplementation phase
Website Optimization
Changes suggested as a part of the analysis phase are carried out for the website
Submission
Manual submissions are done to Directories and Search Engines
Submissions to some search engines (e.g.: Yahoo) and directories are at cost and they have to be borne by
the client and are susceptible to change anytime
Submissions are generally started after all the changes for the website are carried out
SERP checks
Positions (within 50) for the keywords across the search engines are provided
Search engines and directories typically take 4 – 6 weeks from submission to index the
Positions (within 50) for the keywords across the search engines are provided
Search engines and directories typically take 4 – 6 weeks from submission to index the
WebPages so reporting starts in the 3rd month
Analysis and Action points
Starting the 3rd month we will review our efforts and identify changes to strategies if required
Web analytical files of the client will be analyzed to substantiate our efforts in terms of rise in
traffic to site as a result of our SEO
At the end of this phase the client can opt for a maintenance phase which can be
renewed on a monthly basis or for a period of 3 months