Digital Marketing

Introduction to SEO
SEO: Process
SEO is an ongoing dynamic process with goals, actions, review and iteration

O
N
1. Goals 2. On-Page

PA
• Understand the Benefits of Optimization

G
SEO

E
• Keywords
• Choose & Set Goals • Content
• Meta-tags
• Site supports
• Site structure

4. Analysis & Iteration 3. Off-Page Optimization

• Analysis Tools • Link Building
• Performance Baseline • Link Format
• Review and Iteration • Content Marketing
• Social Linking
Concepts: Definitions
There are two key aspects to any Search Engine: Search Engine
Optimization (SEO)

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of

refining your website so that it will be indexed and
ranked by search engines, as well as leveraging your
links from other sites.
SEO Fundamentals
There are two fundamentals of any SEO project

• On-page optimization: refining the website so that it will

be indexed and ranked by search engines

• Off-page optimization: building your page rank by

developing quality inbound links from relevant websites
Mechanics
Understand how search engines work

1. A Search Engine Spider crawls the web

2. Builds an index of the words it finds and their location
3. When a user searches, they are searching that index
4. The Search Engine presents the most relevant results
of the search from the index
Searching
What factors does Google take into account on each search?

• Search term(s) used

• Location of person searching
• Location used in search completed
• Are they logged in?
• What is their search history?
• Are they using a mobile device?

Returning the web listing that is most relevant based on

these factors
Ranking Factors
What ranking factors does Google use?

• Domain
• Site & page quality
• Freshness
• Is it safe?
• User context: history, location etc.
• On-page SEO
• Off-page SEO
Concepts: On-site/ Off-site
The two main aspects of SEO implementation: ‘on-site’ optimization, and ‘off-site’
optimization

The main features that form part The main features that form part
of on-site optimization: of off-site optimization:
Site content and structure Internal linking
Headings (h1-h6) External/ Inbound linking

URLs Link building

Alt tags Content Marketing

Meta tags

Sitemaps

Code analysis & structure

Key factors of on-page SEO
SEO is a mix of technical skills and marketing

• Developer
Coding, canonical redirects, browser • You
Keyword Research
compatibility • Page Structure and optimize page names
• XML sitemap generation (you can • Optimized user-friendly copy headings &
submit) body
• URLs rewritten • Write optimized user-friendly meta-data
• Code mark-up (Schema) • Internal links – link to relevant pages
• Hosting • Bold/ highlighted text
• General development & responsive • XML site-map submission and monitor
design errors
• H1-h4 heading – format in CSS • Create and implement content marketing
• Amending code issues flagged in plan
GWMT • Create link building plan and drive social
• Add blog to website, e.g. signals
domain.ie/blog • Analyze and refine on-page SEO
• GWMT tools
SERP Listing
Key elements of search engine listing
Meta html
page title
Page URL

Page description
(meta) and/or page
content

Sitelinks
Keyword Stuffing:
Adding keyword terms over and over again in content, Meta
tags, This can adversely affect pages because, if caught,
search engines will penalize a keyword stuffed site or
completely remove it from the index. As a general rule, we
recommend not repeating a keyword more than once in the
Title tag, twice in the Description tag and not more than four
times in the Meta Keywords tag .
Benefits
Benefits of Search Engine Optimization

• Benefits of high listing position in organic search for business:

• Increased Click-through
• Increased engagement
• Increased conversions

• Benefits of high listing position in organic search for your

reputation:
• Increased visibility
• Enhanced reputation
• Credibility and status
• Market leadership
• Competitive advantage
SEO KPIs
Typical Key Performance Indicators for SEO are:

• Organic traffic source reports:

• Visitor numbers
• Page views
• Click-Through-Rates

• Engagement with content:

• Downloads
• Conversions
• Sales
• Website engagement etc.
SEO: Process
SEO is an ongoing dynamic process with goals, actions, review and iteration

1. Goals 2. On-Page
• Understand the Benefits of Optimization
SEO • Keywords
• Choose & Set Goals • Content
• Meta tags
• Site supports
• Site structure

4. Analysis & Iteration 3. Off-Page Optimization

• Analysis Tools • Link Building
• Performance Baseline • Link Format
• Review and Iteration • Content Marketing
• Social Linking
On-page: Keywords
Understanding keywords in on-page optimization

• Keyword: a significant word or phrase relevant

to the content of your website
• Search term: the commonly used keywords
users type into a search engine to find you
On-page: Keyword Research
Understanding keyword research in on-page optimization

• Keyword research means finding the search phrases your customers

commonly use.
• There are two forms of keyword research: online and offline.
• Keyword research tools allow you to perform filtered keyword research
according to the following criteria:
• custom date ranges
• query volume
• historical trends
• city/ country/ global
• levels of data
• related phrases
On-page: Keyword Research
Google Autocomplete
On-page: Keyword Research
Google AdWords Keyword Planner
On-page: Keyword Research
Google AdWords Keyword Planner
On-page: Keyword Research
Google Trends
On-page: Long-tail Keyword
Research
Ubersuggest.org

Long tail keywords: Low

volume search queries but
worth ranking for. More
qualified traffic and lower
competition.
 On-page: Title Tags
• Title-tag is part of
HTML and is one of the
most important tags
for SEO.
• Every webpage should
have a unique title-tag
to reflect the unique
content of that page.
• The content of the
title-tag appears in the
browser title bar or
tab.
• The title-tag is the
primary search link in
most organic search
results.
• An optimal title-tag
should be less than
512 in pixel width,
which is approximately
65 characters or less.
On-page: Description tags
• Description meta tag is a description of what the page
contains, and how it works as a sales pitch on the
search engine results page.
• Keep to around 160 characters.
 Supports: Webmaster Tools
• Webmaster Tools
provide reports on:
• indexation
• ranking
• penalization
• search terms
• errors
• location targeting
• canonicalization etc.

• Submit your site

map to Google with
Google Search
Console.
Supports: Search Console Reports
Crawl Errors

The Crawl Errors

page provides
details about the
URLs that Google
could not
successfully crawl
or that returned an
HTTP error code
Supports: Search Console Reports
HTML Improvements

Flags issues with

duplication of
content and meta
tags, missing
meta tags and
long/ short meta
tags
 Supports: Webmaster Tools

• Webmaster Tools
allow website
owners to see how
search engines
interact with their
site.

• Common Webmaster
Tools: Google Search
Console, Bing
Webmaster Tools.
Supports: Site Map
Understanding the importance of a HTML sitemap for SEO

• A sitemap is a page on
your website that
provides a map of the
website structure in the
form of text links to all
other pages.
• The function of a
sitemap is to help
users and search
engines to find your
pages.
• The site map should
link to every page on
your site and every
page should link to it.
Supports: XML Site Map
Understanding the importance of a XML sitemap for SEO

• A sitemap xml:
facilitates crawling,
indexing, ranking.
• Distinguish
between site maps
for humans and
search engines
(sitemap.xml).
• A robot.txt file
limits the search
engine accessibility
to a website.
Supports: XML Site Map
Understanding the importance of a XML sitemap for SEO

• A sitemap xml:
facilitates
Supports: Robot.txt files

• Website owners use

the /robots.txt file to
give instructions about
their site to web robots
e.g. Google

• The robot.txt can

exclude and limit
search engines
accessibility to
website/ pages
Off-Page Optimization: Definition

• Off-page optimization is primarily concerned with

improving your website ranking.

• Things you can do to improve your website ranking:

1. Link Building
2. Link Format
3. Content Marketing
4. Social Linking
SEO Process
Off-Page: Ranking

Ranking is the position of the website in search

results based on the number, relevance and the
quality of all websites that link to your page.
OFF-SITE OPTIMIZATION INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING MAJOR
COMPONENTS:
Directory Submission
Social Bookmarking
Article Submission
Forum and Blog Posting
Blog Creation
Image Submission
Video Submission
Social Networking
Classified Ads
Social Networking
Web 2.0
Why We submit in directories?
•To get your website indexed
•One way links
•The targeting of keywords and phrases
•Traffic (not such an advantage with most directories)
•Most directories are free to submit to
Off-Page: Inbound Links
Understanding the importance of inbound linking

• A link (hyperlink) is a reference to another website or page, that users can follow in order
to navigate the web.

• Two elements to a link:

- link text: the text that appears on the page
- link URL: the destination that clicking the link will take you to

• An inbound link is a link from another website to your website.

• An internal link is a link from one page on your website to another page on your website.
Off-Page: Inbound Links
Understanding the importance of inbound linking

Page on Site A Page on Site B Page on Site A Page on Site A

Link Link

Inbound Link – e.g. Wikipedia Internal Link – e.g. Digital

pointing a link to Digital Marketing Institute homepage
Marketing Institute website pointing a link to the Professional
Diploma home page
Inbound Links
Off-Page: Inbound Links
Understanding the importance of inbound linking

• Inbound links are

important as the
major determining
factor in rankings. Page on Site A Page on Site A
Page on Site A Page on Site A
Page on Site A Page on Site B
• Build authority Link
Trust

and credibility.
• There are one-way
inbound links, and
two-way
reciprocal links.