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Search Engines & Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

This document provides an overview of search engines and search engine optimization (SEO). It defines what a search engine is, lists popular examples like Google and Yahoo, and explains how search engines work by crawling websites, indexing content, and ranking results. The document stresses the importance of SEO, describing how most internet traffic is from search engines. It outlines the basic steps of an SEO strategy, such as keyword research and optimizing on-page ranking factors. Tips are provided for both organic SEO and pay-per-click advertising.

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59 views16 pages

Search Engines & Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

This document provides an overview of search engines and search engine optimization (SEO). It defines what a search engine is, lists popular examples like Google and Yahoo, and explains how search engines work by crawling websites, indexing content, and ranking results. The document stresses the importance of SEO, describing how most internet traffic is from search engines. It outlines the basic steps of an SEO strategy, such as keyword research and optimizing on-page ranking factors. Tips are provided for both organic SEO and pay-per-click advertising.

Uploaded by

sushilkin
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Search Engines

&
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Presentation by
Saeed El-Darahali
7th World Congress on the
Management of e-Business
Agenda

• What is a Search Engine?


• Examples of popular Search Engines
• Search Engines statistics
• Why is Search Engine marketing important?
• What is a SEO Algorithm?
• Steps to developing a good SEO strategy
• Ranking factors
• Basic tips for optimization
What is a Search Engine?

• Definition: An internet-based tool that searches an index of documents for a


particular term, phrase or text specified by the user. Commonly used to refer to
large web-based search engines that search through billions of pages on the
internet.

• Different than a Directory

• Common Characteristics:
• Spider, Indexer, Database, Algorithm
• Find matching documents and display them according to relevance
• Frequent updates to documents searched and ranking algorithm
• Strive to produce “better”, more relevant results than competitors
Examples popular Search Engines
How Do Search Engines Work?

• Spider “crawls” the web to find new documents (web pages, other documents)
typically by following hyperlinks from websites already in their database

• Search engines indexes the content (text, code) in these documents by adding it
to their databases and then periodically updates this content

• Search engines search their own databases when a user enters in a search to
find related documents (not searching web pages in real-time)

• Search engines rank the resulting documents using an algorithm (mathematical


formula) by assigning various weights and ranking factors
Search Engines statistics

1. Google – 41.6%
2. Yahoo – 31.5%
3. MSN – 27.4%
4. AOL – 13.6%
5. Ask Jeeves – 7.0%

% bases on usage
Why is Search Engine Marketing important?

• 85% of all traffic on the internet is referred to by search engines

• 90% of all users don’t look past the first 30 results (most only view top
10)

• Search engine traffic is low and websites aren’t indexed because they
are generally poorly optimized

• Cost-effective advertising

• Clear and measurable ROI

• Operates under this assumption:


More (relevant) traffic + Good Conversions Rate = More Sales/Leads
What is Search Engine Optimization?

• SEO = Search Engine Optimization

– Refers to the process of “optimizing” both the on-page and off-page ranking
factors in order to achieve high search engine rankings for targeted search
terms.

– Refers to the “industry” that has been created regarding using keyword
searching a a means of increasing relevant traffic to a website
What is a SEO Algorithm?

• Top Secret! Only select employees of a search engines company


know for certain

• Reverse engineering, research and experiments gives SEOs (search


engine optimization professionals) a “pretty good” idea of the major
factors and approximate weight assignments

• The SEO algorithm is constantly changed, tweaked & updated

• Websites and documents being searched are also constantly changing

• Varies by Search Engine – some give more weight to on-page factors,


some to link popularity
Steps to developing a good SEO strategy:

• Research desirable keywords and search phrases


(WordTracker, Overture, Google AdWords)

• Identify search phrases to target (should be relevant to business/market,


obtainable and profitable)

• “Clean” and optimize a website’s HTML code for appropriate keyword density,
title tag optimization, internal linking structure, headings and subheadings, etc.

• Help in writing copy to appeal to both search engines and actual website visitors

• Study competitors (competing websites) and search engines

• Implement a quality link building campaign

• Add Quality content

• Constant monitoring of rankings for targeted search terms


Ranking factors

• On-Page Factors (Code & Content)


• Title tags <title> #3
• Header tags <h1> #5
• ALT image tags #4
• Content, Content, Content (Body text) <body> #1
• Hyperlink text #6
• Keyword frequency & density #2

• Off-Page Factors
• Link Popularity (“votes” for your site) – adds credibility #2
• Anchor text #1
What a Search Engine Sees

• View > Source (HTML code)


Pay Per Click

• PPC ads appear as “sponsored listings”


• Companies bid on price they are willing to pay “per click”
• Typically have very good tracking tools and statistics
• Ability to control ad text
• Can set budgets and spending limits
• Google AdWords and Overture are the two leaders
PPC vs. “Organic” SEO

Pay-Per-Click “Organic” SEO

• results in 1-2 days • results take 2 weeks to 4 months


• easier for a novice or one little knowledge of • requires ongoing learning and experience to
SEO achieve results
• ability to turn on and off at any moment • very difficult to control flow of traffic
• generally more costly per visitor and per • generally more cost-effective, does not
conversion penalize for more traffic
• fewer impressions and exposure • SERPs are more popular than sponsored
• easier to compete in highly competitive ads
market space (but it will cost you) • very difficult to compete in highly competitive
• Ability to generate exposure on related sites market space
(AdSense) • ability to generate exposure on related
• ability to target “local” markets websites and directories
• better for short-term and high-margin • more difficult to target local markets
campaigns • better for long-term and lower margin
campaigns
Basic Tips & Optimization Techniques

• Research keywords related to your business


• Identify competitors, utilize benchmarking techniques and identify level of
competition
• Utilize descriptive title tags for each page
• Ensure that your text is HTML-text and not image text
• Use text links when ever possible
• Use appropriate keywords in your content and internal hyperlinks (don’t overdo!)
• Obtain inbound links from related websites
• Monitor your search engine rankings and more importantly your website traffic
statistics and sales/leads produced
• Educate yourself about search engine marketing
QUESTIONS

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