SEO and Monetizing The Content. Digital 2011 March 30 th Thinking on a different level

SEO and Monetizing The Content Digital 2011 March 30 th 2011

Getting Found and Making the Most of It 1. Researching target Audience (Keywords) 2. On-Page Optimisation (Content) 3. Titles and Meta Tags 4. Internal Linking 5. External Linking 6. The Money Pages 7. Examples 05/04/2011

Keyword Research Why is Keyword Research Important? > Keyword selection is at the heart of any search strategy > It is the first step in the process of evaluating the potential size of a website audience and target market > Keyword research identifies the Relevant phrases consumers are actually using to meet their needs > Enables you to ensure that your website s content reflects these words and phrases, thereby improving it s visibility within search engines > Provides an insight into Seasonality & Trending of keywords within specified geographic regions giving an invaluable insight into the size, popularity and importance of the market sector > Keywords discovered may not all be suitable but should be used as an indicator of the range of search terms used in your sector as well as the overall popularity of specific search terms 05/04/2011

Keyword Research Tools Here are some of the most common Google tools that are available freely for anyone to use in order to collect vital information about the diversity and popularity of keywords. The main tools are:- >Google Keywords Tool Provides keyword variations with search diversities http://adwords.google.com/select/keywordtoolexternal >Google Insights Tool Provides information on trending and popularity of keywords over a period of time http://www.google.com/insights/search/

Google Adwords Keyword Tool Start with the most generic version of the Keyword i.e. data protection, public records, email etc Using the website address is not essential but will help in Google returning more specific keywords Initially more keyword suggestions can be obtained by selecting the all keyword ideas Selecting the option ideas containing my search terms will provide more qualified results

Google webmaster tools

Google Insights Represents data in a graphical manner Provides a direct indication of trending and search popularity for a set of keywords over a set period (Data available since 2004) Allows up-to five keywords to be analysed at a time Information can be filtered using the following criteria:- World Wide Regions Interest over Time Industry Type Search Type It does not show absolute search volume statistics but is based on an index figure normalised on a scale of 0 to 100 and is relative to the total number of searches done on Google over time

On Page Optimisation A few things to keep in mind > Concentrate on creating multiple content-rich pages with highly focused keywords phrases > Important Keywords should be visible within the first 10-20 visible words on the page but > Avoid keyword stuffing which can lead to Over Optimisation Penalty in which case Google can consider your site as spam > Avoid using keywords that have no relation to the content or the theme of the pages. > Place body content before all other coding on the site. (More Details on Next Slide) > Make use of Headings <h1> <h2>.. tags by suitably optimising them with relevant keywords > Use Alt tag attribute to label images and associate proper file names separated by hyphens (-) and not underscore(_)

Content & Code > Placement of Content within the Code matters > Example from the ICO website shows the main page content appearing on line 286 > Ideally it should be placed much higher right at the start of the <body> tag > Search Engine spiders have to trawl through all this code before they come across the actual contextual data which matters most in indexing 05/04/2011

Titles & Meta Tags > Page titles combined with Meta Descriptions are both in essence an advertising slot your site on Google and could lead to better conversions if they are optimised for the matching search query > Every Page Title and Description should be optimised uniquely in order to achieve higher rankings in search results

On-Site Optimisation: Step-by-Step STEP 1 Identify Keywords STEP 2 Optimise content / Create pages with these keywords STEP 3 Optimise the Page Titles & Descriptions for each page uniquely with these keywords STEP 4 Place links between internal pages to create themed hubs STEP 5 Ensure that the content is prioritised as high up the code as possible 05/04/2011

Key Page Elements > Keyword research - Identifying the main words you can realistically target > Meta data Title, Description The page title and a brief description of the page > Heading 1 Tag <H1> - To support the core theme of the page > Heading 2 Tag <H2> - The subheadings (co supported by the description) > Body text Thematically focussed in a language your audience engages with > Hyperlink Text Sways semantic understanding of the page your linking to > Alt tag A description of the image > URL Bing likes keyword based URL s.. Also good for images and video

External Links > Are the most important factor in building authority for a site which should only be acquired from other Trustworthy Domains > Links should be sourced from websites that are about the subject matter and related to the theme > Important internal pages should be given key significance when building links > Contextual links surrounded by well written content are most valuable in SEO > Anchor text for links should always have a keyword focus. They get the highest priority from Google when attributing authority

Building External Links STEP 1 Identify Keywords for Anchor Text Define a link building campaign to target key areas. Based on KPI's and Position reports try and target those areas which a site is not doing well on. Link Research should be done to identify competitors doing well for generic keywords on search engines for the chosen area (campaign). STEP 2 05/04/2011 Copyright 2010 Locate the competitor websites Examine Competitor Backlinks using tools with high SERP s for these like Yahoo Site Explorer and Open Site keywords Explorer or professional tools STEP 3 Generate a list of relevant websites by manually examining the websites based on Trust Rank factors such as theme, domain age, backlinks etc. Identify the websites back linking to the competitor sites STEP 4 STEP 5 Review the relevance of these sites; group them according to theme Acquire a contextual links wherever possible thematically to the most appropriate sections of the site

Well Optimised Sites Answering these questions can help us greatly in the overall understanding of how well a site has been optimised > Site Infrastructure Does the site include content-rich keyword focused pages? Are keywords visible in the first portions of the content? Does the site use Heading <h> tags in? Does the site include a comprehensive site map? > Meta Tags (Titles and Descriptions) Does the site use titles? Do titles create a call to action? Are title tags unique to each page of the website? Do title tags meet the character limit to avoid truncation in SERP s? Is the primary keyword phrase used near the beginning of the title tag? Does the title tag match the content in the first paragraph of visible text? 05/04/2011

Well Optimised Sites > Site Programming and Coding Does the site avoid using Flash or Image based Text? Does the site avoid using JavaScript for navigation? Is the CSS and JavaScript in external files? Are the pages created with body content text before all other coding? Does the site utilise proper Alt Tags for images? Do the URLs and image names include proper keyword usage? > Navigation/Linking Does the site provide navigational links? Are there text links to important content pages from the site map or the home page? Is there thematic linking of internal pages of the website? If there are additional domains or sub domains, does the site link to them?

Well Optimised Sites > External Links Does the site get links from quality sources? Is the site getting links using keyword focused Anchor text? Are there Links coming to the website from unique Root domains? Does the site avoid getting links from Spam Sites or Link Farms? Is the site engaging in any form of unethical link acquisition using link brokers/sellers? These are a few points which help us identify how well has the site been optimised for search engines both internally and externally.

What is Content? > Good Content is unique, it relates to the audience in a suitable tone of voice > All Your Digital Assets are content > Words, Images, Video, Maps, Blogs, User Reviews, Feeds, PDF s, Polls, Sounds, Tweets, Social Media, Press Releases, Offline Advertising > Your Enterprise must understand that all content is related and works cohesively > The Enterprise needs to know how it makes its money and where are the money pages on the site > What is the purpose of each piece of content? > How does this content attribute to search positions or conversions?

Optimising the Money Pages > Monetize Get more revenue out of each page, placement of ads, buttons, calls to action and lead capture > Capture Leads Encouraged to subscribe or register or engage, (to continue and extend your reach after they leave the website) > Improve Relevancy Updated content, more user focused, increased conversions, more citations and links, relevance is important when it comes to increasing revenues or capturing leads > Gaining better search positions Back to on and off site SEO techniques

Finding The Money Pages > Analytics is the answer > Top page views, lowest bounce rates, time on page, largest amount of attribution > Measure your thank you pages and your on click events > Have a good idea of the paths that take users to these pages > Prioritize the pages you want to measure and optimize further > Here are some examples

WhatCar? Key Page Elements > Wide range of search terms covered with good SEO, from the generic to the long tail > The Header Relevant Branded Advertising and sensible navigation to the content clusters > The Body deep site links to car leasing, buying the car, finance options, video, full car review, credit deals and car comparisons, more CPM adverts > Lower Body Target Price, Users Car Reviews, More Tools, More CPM based Ads > Footer Links to the latest reviews, Similar Car Reviews, Google Ads, Run of Site Footer Links, Magazine Subscription Offer

WhatCar?

Guardian Key Page Elements > Video and Text Content Search Results > The Home Page - Links to clusters of relevant results, CPM Ads, Guardian Offers > The Content Page (Top Half) Banner Ads, Video Pre Roll Advertising, Social Media Distribution > The Content Page (Side Bar) Loads of links to the money pages, Links to the Guardian Shop, Link to the Book Shop > The Content Page (Lower Body) Google Ads, CPM Ad, Sponsored Page, Internal Book Search > The Content Page (Footer) Jobs, Sponsored Jobs, Jobs Search, Links to today's Money Pages

The Guardian

EConsultancy > An authoritative voice of digital marketing in the UK through having great regular content > News, Reports, Opinions, Training and Events, Advertising Vacancies > Brand awareness is through reputation in B2B community > Revenues generated through Subscription packages, Reports, Training and Events, Advertising Vacancies + CPM Ads > Distribution is generated through reputation and tweeters that like to be seen as in the know > Agencies also get involved in the conversation threads

EConsultancy

Trip Advisor > Get the users to write the content for you, everyone wants to feel important > Make it self sustainable, constantly generating content > A search friendly website, it s built to win without having to mine for links > Sell hotels, holidays, car rental and restaurant bookings off the back of the consistent search visibility > Social Media integration into Facebook > Revenues from CPM based Advertising and B2B deals with booking agents > Like every good website, it keeps the users on the site

Trip Advisor

Yakaz > Gets all its content through aggregation and re-representing others peoples content > Does it in a way that is search friendly, making the page unique > 10 s of thousands pages made on the fly by a very small team > Generates a huge profit from Ad Sense Revenues

Yakaz

Some Stats from IAB > 4 Billion was spent on online advertising in the UK last year (a quarter of all Ad spend) > Consumer Goods Advertisers made up 13% of this spend > Display Ads increased by 200% due to Social Media platforms > Video Ads and Pre Roll Advertising increased by 200% ( 154 million) > Paid Search spend increased by 8% to 2346 million > Hard hit sectors like Housing, Recruitment and Automotive grew 9.7% YOY > Mobile Advertising Spend increased by 116% ( 83 million)

Thankyou Any Questions? > Grant Whiteside > Ambergreen Internet Marketing > Technical Director > gwhiteside@ambergreen.co.uk > www.ambergreen.co.uk