09

Search
Engine
Optimisation
(SEO)

What’s inside: Understand how search engine optimisation has grown to be an

important marketing tactic. Gain insight into the factors that affect the position of your
website in search results pages and how you can go about improving this.
 Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) › Introduction Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) › Key terms and concepts

9.1 Introduction 9.2 Key terms and concepts

With millions of people performing billions of searches each day to find content on
the Internet (Sullivan, 2013), it makes sense that marketers want their products Term Definition
to be findable online. Search engines, the channels through which these searches
The ‘alt’ attribute for the IMG HTML tag. It is used in
happen, use closely guarded algorithms to determine the results displayed.
HTML to attribute a text field to an image on a web page,
Determining what factors these algorithms take into account has led to a growing normally with a descriptive function, telling a search
practice known as search engine optimisation. Alt text
engine or user what an image is about and displaying
the text in instances where the image is unable to load.
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the practice of optimising a website to Also called Alt Tag.
achieve the highest possible ranking on the search engine results pages (SERPs).
Anchor text The visible, clickable text in a link.
Someone who practices SEO professionally is also known as an SEO (search
engine optimiser). App store optimisation The process of optimising mobile and web applications
(ASO) for the specific web stores in which they are distributed.

note Google says it uses more than 200 different factors in its algorithm to determine All the links on other pages that will take the user to
relevance and ranking (Avellanosa, 2012). None of the major search engines a specific web page. Each link to that specific page is
Other types of websites
that rely on search, like disclose the elements they use to rank pages, but there are many SEO practitioners Backlink known as an inbound/backlink. The number of backlinks
YouTube and Facebook, who spend time analysing patent applications to try to determine what these are. influences your ranking, so the more backlinks the
will have their own better – get linking!
algorithms. Facebook’s
News Feed Algorithm, SEO can be split into two distinct camps: white hat SEO and black hat SEO (with, of The canonical version is the definitive version. In SEO, it
for example, uses Canonical
course, some grey hat wearers in between). Black hat SEO refers to trying to game refers to a definitive URL.
around 100 000 factors
to rank and sort content the search engines. These SEOs use dubious means to achieve high rankings, and
The easy-to-read name used to identify an IP address of
that appears in a user’s their websites are occasionally blacklisted by the search engines. White hat SEO, Domain name a server that distinguishes it from other systems on the
news feed.
on the other hand, refers to working within the parameters set by search engines World Wide Web: our domain name is quirk.biz.
to optimise a website for better user experience. Search engines want to send
A technology used to show video and animation on a
users to the website that is best suited to their needs, so white hat SEO should Flash website. It can be bandwidth heavy and unfriendly to
ensure that users can find what they are looking for. search engine spiders.

Heading tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) are standard elements

In this chapter, you will learn: used to define headings and subheadings on a web
page. The number indicates the importance, so H1 tags
Heading tags
• How search engines work and how they deliver results are viewed by the spiders as being more important
than H3 tags. Using target key phrases in your H tags is
• How to plan, research and implement an effective keyword strategy essential for effective SEO.
across text and other content The first page of any website. The home page gives
Home page users a glimpse into what your site is about – very much
• Techniques for link building, an essential aspect of SEO
like the index in a book, or a magazine.

• How specialised search – such as mobile, social and local search – can Hypertext Markup Certain HTML tags are used to structure the information
affect your rankings, and how to optimise for these Language (HTML) and features within a web page.

A link in an electronic document that allows you, once

Hyperlink you click on it, to follow the link to the relevant web
page.

The Internet Protocol (IP) address is an exclusive

Internet Protocol (IP)
number that is used to represent every single computer
address
in a network.

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Keyword frequency
The number of times a keyword or key phrase appears 9.3 Understanding SEO
on a website.

Two or more words that are combined to form a search Search engines need to help users find what they’re looking for. To make sure they
Key phrase query - often referred to as keywords. It is usually better list the best results first, they look for signals of:
to optimise for a phrase rather than a single word.

Where the keywords or phrases targeted by SEO rank in • Popularity

Keyword rankings the search engine results – if your targeted terms do not
• Authority
appear on the first three pages, start worrying.

The page a user reaches when clicking on a paid or • Relevance

organic search engine listing. The pages that have the • Trust
Landing page
most success are those that match up as closely as
possible with the user’s search query. • Importance
A URL embedded on a web page. If you click on the link
Link SEO, also called organic or natural optimisation, involves optimising websites
you will be taken to that page.
to achieve high rankings on search engines for certain selected key phrases.
A technique for creating content that is specifically
Link bait Generally, techniques used for optimising on one search engine will also help
designed to attract links from other web pages.
efforts across others.
Tags that tell search engine spiders what exactly a web
page is about. It’s important that your meta tags are
Meta tags
optimised for the targeted key phrases. Meta tags are How search engines work, according to Google:
made up of meta titles, descriptions and keywords.

Google’s secret algorithm for ranking web pages in “PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its
PageRank
search engine results pages. vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page’s value. In essence, note
When a user clicks on a link from one site to another, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page A good place to keep
the site the user has left is the referrer. Most browsers B. But Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links, a page track of Google search
algorithm updates is this
Referrer log the referrer’s URL in referrer strings. This receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages handy resource from
information is vital in determining which queries are Moz: moz.com/google-
that are themselves ‘important’ weigh more heavily and help to make other
being used to find specific sites. algorithm-change.
pages ‘important’.”
A file written and stored in the root directory of a
Robots.txt website that restricts the search engine spiders from
indexing certain pages of the website. SEO can be divided into two main strategies:
Programs that travel the web, following links and
Search engine spiders 1. On-page optimisation is achieved by making changes to the HTML
building up the indexes of search engines.
code, content and structure of a website, making it more accessible for
Universal Resource A web address that is unique to every page on the
search engines, and by extension, easier for users to find.
Locator (URL) Internet.

A measure of how easy it is for a user to complete a 2. Off-page optimisation is generally focused on building links to the
Usability desired task. Sites with excellent usability fare far better website, and covers activities like social media and digital PR.
than those that are difficult to use.

A guide that search engines use to help them index a SEO is an extremely effective way of generating new business to a site. It is a
XML sitemap website, which indicates how many pages there are, how continuous process and a way of thinking about how search engines see your
often they are updated and how important they are. website, and how users use search engines to find your website. It’s search
psychology.

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Search engine optimisation is a fairly technical practice but it can easily be broken The chapter on web development and design delves more deeply into building a note
down into five main areas: search engine friendly website. Read more about this
in the Web Development
• A search engine friendly website structure and Design chapter.

• A well-researched list of key phrases

9.5 SEO and key phrases
• Content optimised to target those key phrases How do you start building your key phrase list? It requires a little thought and a fair note

• Link popularity amount of research and insight, using tools that are readily available to help you Keyword or key phrase?
These are usually
grow and refine your list of keywords. used interchangeably
• User insights
to refer to single or
Key phrases are the very foundation of search. When a user enters a query on multiple words used for

9.4 Search engine friendly website structure a search engine, he or she uses the words he or she thinks are relevant to the
optimising websites.

search. The search engine then returns those pages it believes are most relevant
to the words the searcher used – and, increasingly, the implied meaning of the
Search engines encounter two kinds of obstacles:
search.
• Technical challenges that prevent the search engine spider from
Search engines have built a sophisticated understanding of semantics and the way
accessing content.
in which we use language. So, if a user searches for ‘car rental’, the search engine
• A competitive marketing environment where everyone wants to rank will look for pages that are relevant to ‘car rental’ as well as, possibly, ‘car hire’,
highly. ‘vehicle hire’, and so forth. Search engines have also built up knowledge around
To ensure that search engines can access your content, you must remove technical common misspellings, synonyms and related searches.
note
barriers. Those who want to achieve the best results must follow best practices.
Read more about this
in the Web Development These best practices are outlined in the chapter on Web Development and Design.
and Design chapter.
The key is to make sure that there are direct HTML links to each page you want the
search engines to index. The most important pages should be accessible directly
from the home page of your website.

note The information architecture, or how content is planned and laid out, has
important usability and SEO implications. Users want to find what they are looking
Read more about this
in the User Experience for quickly and easily, while website owners want search engine spiders to be able
Design chapter. to access and index all applicable pages. In fact, Google has released an update
that penalises sites with poor user experience (such as no content above the fold,
or a high bounce rate) (Cutts, 2012).

There are times when user experience and SEO can be at odds with each other, but
usually if you focus on building usable, accessible websites, you have made them Figure 1. Google delivers search results for logical synonyms.
search engine friendly as well.
Because of this, it is crucial that you implement keywords that are likely to be used
Another technical challenge to search engines is Flash. For the most part, search by their target audience. Websites need to appear when their potential customers
engines struggle to crawl and index Flash sites. There are some workarounds, but are searching for them. A large part of keyword research is understanding search
the best approach from an SEO perspective is to avoid building sites or delivering psychology. When we build our key phrase lists, we are tapping into the mental
key content in Flash. Instead, use HTML5, which provides similar interactivity and process of searchers and putting together the right mix of keywords to target.
visuals while remaining easily crawlable.

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note There are four things to consider when choosing a keyword: Both are terms used by someone wanting to book a hotel in Cape Town, but it is
likely that someone looking for a luxury hotel is intending to spend more. That
If you’re researching
keywords using the
Search volume means that that particular lead has a higher value, particularly if you have a hotel-
Google AdWords How many searchers are using that phrase to find what they want? For example, booking website that offers a range of accommodation.
Keyword Planner, note
that it reports only on there is an estimated monthly search volume of over 338 million for the keyword
paid search volume, not ‘hotel’, but an estimated 6 600 searches per month for a key phrase such as ‘Cape
on total volume.
Town Waterfront hotel’. 9.5.1 Step-by-step key phrase research

Step 1: Brainstorm
Think about the words you would use to describe your business, and about the
questions or needs of your customers that it fulfils. How would someone ask for
what you are offering? Consider synonyms and misspellings as well.

Bear in mind that people may not ask for your services in the same way as you
describe them. You may sell ‘herbal infusions’, whereas most people would ask for
‘herbal teas’, and some might even request a ‘tisane’.

Even common words are often misspelt, and you may need to consider common
Figure 2. The AdWords Keyword Planner shows the volume of global and local misspellings – for example, ‘jewelry’ or ‘morgage’.
monthly searches.

Competition
How many other websites out there are targeting that same phrase? For example,
Google finds over 2 800 000 000 results for ‘hotel’, but only 3 210 000 for ‘Cape
Town Waterfront Hotel’.

note
Propensity to convert
Misspellings are
What is the likelihood that the searcher using that key phrase is going to convert important, but consider
what these tell you
on your site? A conversion is a desired action taken by the visitor to your website. about the traffic you are
getting – analyse this
Related to propensity to convert is the relevance of the selected term to what you traffic to ensure that
you’re getting quality
are offering. If you are selling rooms at a hotel at the V&A Waterfront, which of visitors.
the two terms (‘hotel’ or ‘Cape Town Waterfront hotel’) do you think will lead to a
higher rate of conversions? Figure 3. Google returns relevant results even for common misspellings.

Value per lead Step 2: Gather data

What is the average value per prospect attracted by the keyword? Depending on
Two ways in which to gather accurate key phrase data are to survey customers and
the nature of your website, the average value per lead varies. Using the hotel
to look at your website referral logs.
example again, consider these two terms:
Look to see what terms customers are already using to find you, and add those to
‘luxury Cape Town hotel’ and ‘budget Cape Town hotel’
your list. If they are already sending you some traffic, it is worth seeing if you can
increase that traffic.

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Step 3: Use keyword research tools 9.5.2 Optimising content for key phrases
There are several tools available for keyword discovery, and some of them are free. Once keywords and phrases are selected, we need to ensure the site contains
Some tools will scan your website and suggest keywords based on your current content to target them. You must ensure that the content is properly structured
content. Most will let you enter keywords, and will then return suggestions based and that it sends signals of relevance. Content is the most important part of your
on past research data, along with: website: create relevant, targeted content aimed at your selected key phrases.

• Similar keywords As you know from the content strategy chapter, content already has several roles note
to play on your site: Read more about this in
• Common keywords used with that keyword the Content Marketing
Strategy chapter.
• Common misspellings • It must provide information to visitors.
note
• Frequency of the keywords in search queries • It must engage with them.
Try it now: Pick one of
the tools listed at the • Industry-related keywords • It must persuade them to do what you want.
end of the chapter and
try a little of your own • Keywords that are sending traffic to your competitors
keyword research. Can Now it must also send signals of relevance to search engines. You need to use the
you discover any useful • How many sites are targeting your keywords keywords on the content page in a way that search engines will pick up, and users
keywords that your
favourite brand should will understand.
be using? See Tools of the Trade for some tools that you can use.
Each web page should be optimised for two to three key phrases: the primary key
Bearing in mind the factors that make a good keyword, you need to aim for the right phrase, the secondary and the tertiary. A page can be optimised for up to five key
mix of keywords. Low-volume terms with low levels of competition may be a good phrases, but it is better to have more niche pages than fewer unfocused pages.
way to get traffic in the short term, but don’t be scared off by bigger competition
in the high-value, high-volume areas. It may take longer to get there, but once you Here are some guidelines:
do, the revenue can make it all worthwhile.
1. Title tag: use the key phrase in the title and as close to the beginning as
It is a good idea to create a spreadsheet of the list of keywords, along with additional possible.
information about each one. 2. H1 header tag: use the key phrase in the header tag, and as much as
possible in the other H tags.
Keyword or Search Competition Propensity to Value of Lead
phrase volume Convert 3. Body content: use the key phrase at least three times, more if there
is a lot of content and it makes sense to. You should aim for about 350
Hotel 3,870 90% 2% $18
words of content. But don’t overdo it! That could look like spam to the
Luxury hotels 345 80% 35% $35 search engines.

4. Bold: use <strong> tags around the keyword at least once.

Figure 4. Keep a spreadsheet of targeted keywords for reference.
5. URL: try to use the key phrase in your page URL.
This will help you to choose the right keywords to target. These lists should be
created for the whole website, and can then be broken down for each page you 6. Meta description: use it at least once in the meta description of the
want to optimise. page, which should entice users to clickthrough to your site from the
SERP.

7. Link anchor text: try to ensure that the keyword is used in the anchor
text of the pages linking to you.

8. Domain name: if possible, use the key phrase in your domain name.

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Optimising media
Images, video and other digital assets should also be optimised with the relevant
note
keywords. Search engines cannot decipher multimedia content as well as text, so
Read more about this
in the Video Marketing they rely on the way that media is described to determine what it is about. Screen
chapter. readers also read out these descriptions, which can help visually impaired users
make sense of a website. In addition, media such as images and video are often
also shown on the SERPs. Proper optimisation can give a brand more ownership of
the SERP real estate, and can also be used effectively to target competitive terms.

Just as rich media can help emphasise the content on a page to a visitor, they can
also help search engines to rank pages, provided they are labelled correctly.

Here are some ways to optimise images with key phrases for SEO:

• Use descriptive, keyword-filled filenames.

• Use specific alt tags and title attributes.

• Add meta information to the image. Make sure this information is

relevant.

• Use descriptive captions, and keep relevant copy close to the

corresponding media. For example, an image caption and neighbouring
Figure 5. An example of a page targeting the phrase ‘handmade bags’.
text will help to describe content of the image.
The best way to ensure results is to focus on writing quality content while sticking note
• Make sure that the header tags and images are relevant to each other.
to a few guidelines on tags and URLs. Remember, you want search engines to As search engines
become ever more
rank you highly for your content, but you also want to ensure that the content is a
Also think about what other digital assets you have, and whether these can be sophisticated and
pleasure to read. user focused, creating
optimised in line with your key phrase strategy. For example, consider app store
entertaining and
optimisation (ASO) – the process of optimising your mobile and web apps for the readable copy will be
Regularly adding fresh, valuable content will also encourage the search engines to
specific web stores they are distributed in. much more important
crawl your site more frequently. than simply including
keywords in your text.
Here are some ways in which you can optimise your apps:
Use your website and its pages to establish and reinforce themes. Information can
always be arranged in some kind of hierarchical structure. Just as a single page
• Give your app a catchy name that also includes your most important
can have a heading and then get broken down into sub-headings, a large website
keyword or phrase.
can have main themes that get broken down into sub-themes. Search engines will
• Include a distinctive, recognisable and clear icon. see these themes and recognise your website as one with rich content.
• Spell out the features and benefits clearly, including key phrases where
possible.
9.6 Link popularity
• In your app store listing, add links to your major social media platforms
and your website – and don’t forget to link the other way too!
Links are a vital part of how the Internet works. The purpose of a link is to allow a
• Include as much meta data as you can, including tags, categories and user to go from one web page to another. Search engines, doing their best to mimic
descriptions (this will depend on the app store in question) (Bulygin, the behaviour of humans, also follow links.
2013).

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Besides allowing search engine spiders to find websites, links are a way of <a href=“http://www.targeturl.com/targetpage.htm” rel=“nofollow”>Anchor Text</a>
validating relevance and indicating importance. When one page links to another,
it is as if that page is voting or vouching for the destination page. Generally, the • rel=“nofollow” can be included in links when you don’t want to vouch for
more votes a website receives, the more trusted it becomes, the more important it the target URL. Search engines do not count nofollow links for ranking
is deemed, and the better it will rank on search engines. purposes. This was introduced by Google to try to combat comment
spam.
Links help send signals of trust. Signals of trust can come only from a third-party
source. Few people will trust someone who says, “Don’t worry, you can trust me!”
unless someone else, who is already trusted, says, “Don’t worry, I know him well.
9.6.2 Not all links are created equal
You can trust him.” It is the same with links and search engines. Trusted sites can
transfer trust to unknown sites via links. Of course, not all links are equal. While link volume is the number of links coming
to a specific page of your site, link authority looks at the value of the links. Some
Links help to validate relevance. Text links, by their very nature, contain text sites are more trusted than others. So, if they are more trusted, then links from
(thank you, Captain Obvious). The text that makes up the link can help validate those sites are worth more. Likewise, some sites are more relevant than others to
relevance. A link such as ‘Cape Town hotel’ sends the message that, “You can specific terms. The more relevant a site, the more value is transferred by the link.
trust that the destination site is relevant to the term ‘Cape Town hotel’.” If the Well-known and established news sites, government sites (.gov) and university
destination web page has already used content to send a signal of relevance, the domains (.ac) are examples of sites from which links can carry more weighting.
link simply validates that signal. Links form websites that have a higher PageRank also carry more link weight.

Discussion
Why are government
9.6.1 The parts of a link and university websites
considered to have more
authority? What sorts of
Here is the HTML code for a link: websites would they be
Figure 6. Links from universities and government bodies carry more weight. likely to link to?

<a href=“http://www.targeturl.com/targetpage.htm”>Anchor Text</a>

Search algorithms also consider relationships between linked sites. By analysing
various things, the search engines try to determine if the links are natural links,
• <a href> and </a> are HTML tags that show where the link starts and
or if they are manipulative, artificial links created solely for ranking purposes.
ends.
Manipulated links are worth very little compared to natural links and may even
• http://www.targeturl.com/targetpage.htm is the page that the link leads lead to a drop in search engine rankings.
to. You should make sure that you are linking to a relevant page in your
site, and not just to the home page. The search engine algorithm will also determine the relevancy of the referring
website to the site being linked to. The more relevant the sites are to each other,
• Anchor Text is the visible text that forms the link. This is the text that
the better.
should contain the key phrase you are targeting.
Also consider that linking to valuable, relevant external resources can help to
The link sends a signal that the target URL is important for the subject used in the improve the visibility of your own site.
anchor text.

There is a lot more information that can be included in this anatomy, such as 9.6.3 How does a website get more links?
instructions telling the search engine not to follow the link, or instructions to the
browser on whether the link should open in a new window or not. With links playing such a vital role in search engine rankings and traffic for a
website, everyone wants more of them. There are certainly dubious means of
generating links, most of which can actually result in being penalised by the search
engines. However, here are some ways for ethical and honest website owners and
marketers (and that’s what you are) to go about increasing links to their websites.

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Create excellent, valuable content that others want to read

If people find your site useful, they are more likely to link to it. It is not necessary
(or possible) to try to write content that will appeal to the whole of the Internet
population. Focus on being the best in the industry you are in, and in providing
value to the members of that community. Make sure that valuable content is
themed around your key phrases.

Figure 8. The BBC website has several interactive elements, such as this BMI
calculator.

Create games
Creating a game that people want to play is a great way to generate links. Make
sure that the theme of the game is based on the key phrases for your website, so
that when others talk about and link to the game, they are using your key phrases.
Figure 7. Ensure that you create remarkable, valuable content that people want to
link to.
Capitalise on software and widgets
Widgets, browser extensions and other software that users love to use all help note
Infographics are visual and graphic representations of data, and are a popular type
to generate links for a website. Quirk has released a Mozilla Firefox extension Be creative! The best
of content that is useful to users, and can encourage lots of traffic and inbound link-building strategies
called SearchStatus that is exceptionally useful to the SEO community. Each time
links. are those that provide
someone mentions this SEO tool, they link to Quirk. People also like to include value and automate the
fun widgets in their forum signatures – create a widget, make sure that the link is linking process as much
as possible. The easier it
Create tools and documents that others want to use included, and let people spread these around the web for you. is for someone to share
your link, the more
Interview experts in your field, and host those interviews on your website. Create
likely they are to do it.
useful PDF guides for your industry that people can download from your site. Think
outside the box for quirky, relevant items that people will link to. Calculators are
popular tools, and we don’t just mean the ones that add two and two together. If
you have a website selling diet books, for example, create a tool which helps users
to calculate their body mass index (BMI) and target weight. Importantly, be unique!

Figure 9. A forum user has included a widget in their signature, linking to an

external website.

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9.6.4 Competitor analysis So, what does this mean for SEO? When it comes to a website, it must:

• Be valuable enough to attract both visitors and links naturally

You can find out who is linking to your competitors, and which non-competing sites
are ranking highly for your key phrases. Use this information to identify sites to • Retain visitors and make sure they return to the website
target for link requests. • Convert visitors

Using Google search, the following search operators can be used to find these
note
links and websites: 9.7.1 Social and search
Try it now: Type in the
URL of a brand you like
along with one of the • Link:url.com
Social information is playing an ever-increasing role in search. Social content,
search operators above.
How many sites are • Link:http://www.url.com/page.html such as Twitter messages or YouTube videos, can appear in the SERPs, and there
linking to them? is a growing indication of social influence on search rankings.
• Link:url.com –site:url.com

There are several social factors to consider when it comes to social and search.
With all link-building tactics, make sure that you use your key phrases when
communicating. You will be telling people how to link to you, and ensuring that
search engines notice your authority.

9.7 User insights

Search engines want their results to be highly relevant to web users, to make
sure that web users keep returning to the search engine for future searches. And
the best way to establish what is relevant to users? By looking at how they use Figure 10. A Google search for Coca-Cola turns up several social media profiles.
websites, of course!
1. Use social media properties to dominate brand SERPs.
User data is the most effective way of judging the true relevance and value of a When someone searches for your brand name, you can use your social media
website. For example, if users arrive on a website and leave immediately, chances properties to ‘own’ more of the results on that page, reducing the likelihood
are it wasn’t relevant to their query in the first place. However, if a user repeatedly that a user will end up on a competitor’s website instead. Use your brand
visits a website and spends a long time there, it is probably extremely relevant. name when naming Twitter and Flickr profiles, and Facebook and YouTube
When it comes to search engines, relevant, valuable sites are promoted, and pages.
irrelevant sites are demoted.
2. Social links are used as signals of relevance.
Links from social sites such as Twitter include “rel=nofollow”. However, there
How do search engines access this data? is a strong indication that these links are in fact followed by search engines,
Search engines use cookies to maintain a history of a user’s search activity. This and are used to determine relevance. If you focus on creating great content
will include keywords used, and websites visited from the search engine. Search on your site and making sure that it is easy to share socially, you should see a
engines gather data on the clickthrough rate of results, and on bounce rates. result in your SEO efforts.

Site speed, that is, the performance of your website, is a contributing factor to 3. Personalised results are influenced by your online social network.
ranking in Google. Google confirmed in April 2010 at this was one of over 200 If you are logged in to a social network while searching (Facebook for Bing, or
ranking signals (Singhal, 2010). your Gmail account for Google), you could see results from or influenced by
your social circle. In Bing, for instance, results can include indications of what
your friends have previously liked or shared via Facebook. On Google, you may
be more likely to see your friend’s blog for relevant searches.

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4. Optimise for social search engines. Where there are differences in approach for mobile SEO, these are largely because:

note While Google is the biggest search engine worldwide, YouTube is the second
• Search engines have the ability to deliver precise location-based results
biggest. Even within social properties, users still use search to find the content
Read more about this in to mobile users.
the Social Media Strategy they are looking for. Content that is housed on these properties should be
note
chapter. optimised for the relevant social search engine as well. • Usability is critical in sites for mobile devices.
Why is usability so
• Search engines have less data to work with (compared to traditional important for mobile
SEO?
web) in terms of site history, traffic, and inbound links.

The fundamentals of mobile SEO are not so different to those of desktop SEO.

1. A usable, crawlable site is very important.

Build mobile versions of your website that cater for mobile users: simple
navigation and content stripped down to only what is required.

2. Content is important, and should be formatted for mobile usage.

Text and images should be optimised for the mobile experience – so no large
file sizes! The meta data still matters: titles and descriptions are what users
see in the SERPs.

3. Links are important.

You should link to your mobile site from your desktop site and vice versa.
Submit your mobile site to relevant mobile directories.

4. Submit a mobile XML sitemap.

Figure 11. A YouTube search for ‘Chrysler’ turns up official branded videos in the Mobile-specific sitemaps use the same protocols as standard XML sitemaps,
top positions. with the addition of a mobile tag.

5. Use the word ‘mobile’ on the mobile website, or use mobile

9.7.2 Mobile search top-level domains.
Make it explicit to search engines that this is the mobile version of your
As web-enabled mobile devices continue to grow in the market, and become website, and they are more likely to prioritise it as such.
easier to use, mobile search remains a key growth area. Mobile searches tend to
be different from desktop searches. They are more navigational in nature (users
tend to know where they want to end up), and users are often looking for concise, 9.7.3 Local search
actionable answers.
Local search refers to search behaviour and results where location matters. Either
Mobile search input can also be different from desktop search. As well as typing results returned are local in nature, or results returned can be map based.
in search keywords, mobile users can search by voice, or by using images or
scanning barcodes. With blended SERPs, map-based results can be returned together with other types
note
of results, depending on the type of search. As search engines become ever more
As with mobile web development, mobile SEO is a little different from desktop sophisticated, location can be inferred and influence the type of results.
Read more about this SEO, although the fundamental principles remain the same. Build usable and
in the Web Development
and Design chapter. accessible sites with great content, and you’ve already come a long way.

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Figure 12. A Google search for ‘pizza in Florence’ turns up a range of location-based
results, displayed on a map.

For example, a user may search for ‘plumber london’, and the search will know
note
to return results for London plumbers. These may even be returned on a map.
However, a user in London may search just for ‘plumber’. The search can infer Have a look for a
location that’s related to
from the user’s IP address that the user is in London, and still return results for your business and see
London plumbers (since someone searching for this term is likely to be looking for whether a Google+ page
Figure 13. A Google search for a specific business reveals its Google+ Local page has been automatically
a nearby service). set up by Google for it.
in the SERP.
For search engines to return location-relevant results, they need to know the
location of things being searched for. This is often determined from sites that
include the name and address of a business. Note that this site may not be yours.
9.8 What not to do
Location results are often determined from various review sites, and the results
can include some of those reviews.
Black hat SEO refers to practices that attempt to game the search engines. If a
Search engines also allow businesses to ‘claim’ their locations. A business can search engine uncovers a website using unethical practices to achieve search
verify itself through a process with the search engine, and ensure that location engine rankings, it is likely to remove that website from its index.
information is correct. Google+ Local is a good example of this – the business can
Google publishes guidelines for webmasters, available through Google’s
claim a listing, add their details, and even receive reviews.
Webmaster Central (www.google.com/webmasters). As well as outlining best
practice principles, Google has supplied the following list of don’ts:

• Avoid hidden text or hidden links.

• Don’t use cloaking or sneaky redirects.

• Don’t send automated queries to Google.

• Don’t load pages with irrelevant keywords.

• Don’t create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with substantially

duplicated content.

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 Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) › What not to do Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) › Benefits and challenges

• Don’t create pages that include malicious behaviours such as phishing Trellian’s Keyword Discovery Tool
or installing viruses, trojans, or other malware. www.keyworddiscovery.com

• Avoid ‘doorway’ pages created just for search engines or other ‘cookie Wordtracker
note cutter’ approaches, such as affiliate programmes with little or no www.wordtracker.com
original content. If your site participates in an affiliate programme,
Read more about this in
the Affiliate Marketing make sure that your site adds value. Provide unique and relevant Wordtracker Keyword Questions
chapter. content that gives users a reason to visit your site first. freekeywords.wordtracker.com/keyword-questions/

• Avoid link farms and focus on attracting quality, valuable links. Microsoft Advertising Intelligence
advertise.bingads.microsoft.com/en-us/bing-ads-intelligence
The bottom line: design websites for users first and foremost, and don’t try to trick
SEO PowerSuite Rank Tracker (the trial version has limited functionality)
the search engines. It will only be a matter of time before they uncover the black
link-assistant.com
hat techniques.
Online forums
Webmaster World (www.webmasterworld.com) is frequented by SEOs and
9.9 Tools of the trade webmasters aiming to stay current with latest trends and search engine updates.

There are a number of tools available to assist with SEO. Some are made available Google Merchant Center
by search engines, and some are developed by agencies and individuals who www.google.com/merchants
specialise in SEO. Most are available for free. The Google Merchant Center allows you to mark up any products you sell through
eCommerce, ensuring that they also rank for relevant search results.
Google Webmaster Tools
SearchStatus
www.google.com/webmasters
SearchStatus (www.quirk.biz/searchstatus) allows you to see a given website’s
Google provides guidelines to webmasters, and tools to help ensure your website
Alexa and PageRank rankings.
is being indexed.

Open Site Explorer

www.opensiteexplorer.org 9.10 Benefits and challenges
Moz provides a useful tool called Open Site Explorer, which can help you
determine the value of links from particular sites. Optimising a website for search engines should entail optimising the website for
users. Done properly, it should result in a better user experience, while ensuring
Tools from SEOBook
that search engines index and rank the website well.
tools.seobook.com
SEOBook provides a number of tools that assist any SEO. For example, Rank However, it can be tempting to focus on the technicalities of SEO while forgetting
Checker is a Firefox extension that allows you to save a number of keywords and that both robots and humans need to read the same website. One should not be
to perform regular searches on them, giving you the ranking of your chosen URL sacrificed for the other.
for each keyword in the search engines selected. They also have tools to help
with keyword discovery. Search engines update their algorithms regularly. Each update is an attempt note
to improve search results, but can result in loss of rankings for some websites, The SEO community
is constantly sharing
depending on the update. A contingency plan, such as a prepared search
Keyword discovery tools insights about search
advertising campaign, needs to be in place to cope with a sudden drop in rankings. algorithms - whenever a
There are a number of tools available, some free and some paid for, to assist with new one is released, do
keyword discovery. Some include: some research into the
As with any digital marketing practice, SEO should not be the only focus of digital best ways to avoid being
Google AdWords Keyword Planner marketing efforts. It works best when part of a holistic online marketing strategy. penalised.

adwords.google.com/keywordplanner

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 Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) › Case study: Viewpoints.com and the Panda update Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) › Case study: Viewpoints.com and the Panda update

9.11 Case study: Viewpoints.com and the Panda update

• Viewpoints.com removed over 300 non-product-related categories (totalling 90 000
9.11.1 One-liner reviews) to focus on their core offering of product reviews.

Viewpoints.com recovers from a Google SEO update that halved its traffic and reinvents its • They focused strongly on optimising for mobile and social channels, echoing Google’s own
business. search focus.

• To improve site credibility, they eliminated over 15 unnecessary features from product
9.11.2 The problem pages, enforced user logins for reviewers, and completely redesigned the pages to be
more usable.
Viewpoints.com is an online portal for consumer reviews and product rankings. Launched in
2007, the website became very popular and, by 2011, was doubling its traffic year on year and had
attracted over 2.7 million unique users. The site housed over 600 000 original product reviews that
had been personally written by its 250 000 members, and the site was always run with good SEO
practices taken into account.

In 2011, Google announced that it would be launching a new algorithm update called Panda – the
aim was to penalise websites that were merely content and link farms and that did not provide
any value to searchers. As mentioned in the notes, search engines are constantly tweaking their
algorithms to stay a step ahead of SEO spammers and exploits, and the Panda update was another
attempt to ensure Google was serving the most relevant and useful results.

Despite their good SEO practices, Viewpoints.com unexpectedly lost around 50% of their organic
search traffic from one day to the next – because of the new rules of the Panda update. The
company was then faced with the following challenges. They had to:

1. Understand what it was about their site that was harming rankings

2. Develop short- and long-term strategies to tackle these issues

3. Revamp the website user experience in line with the algorithm update

9.11.3 The solution

Viewpoints.com realised that it would take more than just a few little tweaks to fix their rankings
– this would require a radical rethink of their entire approach to the website. They took on a multi-
pronged approach and made some massive changes.

• In three months, they implemented quick fixes such as removing 40% of the ads on the
site, improving the site speed threefold, and deleting over 80 000 low-quality reviews.

• To combat apparently thin content pages, they amalgamated short reviews onto single
Figure 14. The old Viewpoints.com product review page.
pages, eliminating over 600 000 unique pages from the site. Users were also given a
minimum review length to cut down on one-line reviews.

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 Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) › Case study: Viewpoints.com and the Panda update Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) › Case study questions

For example, search advertising campaigns can provide valuable keyword research, which can
then be fed into the SEO strategy. Social media marketing can generate an enormous amount of
links to a website. Digital PR aims to generate links too, and these can be optimised for search
engines.

User research and web analytics can generate insights into how users find the website, which
can inform SEO strategy – and effective SEO techniques can provide insights into user behaviour.

9.13 Summary
The average website receives a significant proportion of its traffic from search engines, highlighting
the importance of SEO.

There are two types of search results:

• Organic or natural results

• Paid results

SEO aims to improve a website’s ranking in the organic results. Search engine optimisation is a
fairly technical practice but it can easily be broken down into five main areas:

1. A search engine friendly website structure

2. A well-researched list of key phrases

3. Content optimised to target those key phrases

Figure 15. The new Viewpoints.com product review page. 4. Link popularity

5. User insights
9.11.4 The results
Growing trends in SEO include the influence of social content on search results, mobile SEO and
local search.
Viewpoints.com did manage to recapture the vast majority of their earlier traffic. But more
importantly, their business was improved as a result. They also challenged some fundamental
issues with their website – which resulted in a more useable, user-friendly and contemporary site
that delivered exactly what it promised (Moog, 2012).
9.14 Case study questions

9.12 The bigger picture 1. Why do search engines constantly update their algorithms?

2. What were the key mistakes that Viewpoints.com was making?

Search engine optimisation can be influenced and enhanced by most other digital marketing 3. Why were their solutions so effective?
campaigns, and they should all be approached with this in mind.
4. Do you think search engine algorithm updates can help businesses become better at what
SEO and content marketing go hand in hand, since SEO relies on fresh, relevant and popular they do?
content, and content marketing can be informed by SEO key phrases and insights.

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 Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) › Chapter questions Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) › References

9.15 Chapter questions Google , n.d. webmasters. [Online]

Available at: http://www.google.com/webmasters/
[Accessed 4 April 2013].
1. Why do links send signals of trust to search engines?
Moog, M., 2012. One Year Later: How Google Panda Changed Our Business. [Online]
2. Why is it better to have more niche pages of content than fewer pages that cover a lot of Available at: http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/03/how-google-panda-changed-our-business/
content? [Accessed 4 March 2013].
3. How can analysing the links to a competitor’s website help aid your own link building
Singhal, A., 2010. Using site speed in web search ranking. [Online]
strategy?
Available at: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2010/04/using-site-speed-in-web-
4. Why is it important for search engines to keep updating their algorithms? search-ranking.html
5. If meta data are no longer used for ranking purposes, why do they still have an important [Accessed 4 April 2013].
role in SEO?
Sullivan, D., 2013. Google Still World’s Most Popular Search Engine By Far, But Share Of Unique
Searchers Dips Slightly. [Online]
Available at: http://searchengineland.com/google-worlds-most-popular-search-engine-148089
9.16 Further reading [Accessed 4 April 2013].

www.moz.com – Moz provides regular articles, guides and blog posts covering all things SEO. As
well as sharing insights from their own SEO efforts, there are also vibrant forums where you can
learn from others.

www.seobook.com – Aaron Wall’s SEOBook.com provides training and tools for SEO, as well as
regular articles and posts.

www.webmasterworld.com – a forum for webmasters, from beginners to those who’ve been

around. A great resource for a budding SEO.

9.17 References
Avellanosa, N., 2012. Half of 200 Signals in Google’s Ranking Algorithm Revealed. [Online]
Available at: http://blogirature.com/2012/07/01/half-of-200-signals-in-googles-ranking-
algorithm-revealed/
[Accessed 4 April 2013].

Bulygin, D., 2013. App Store Optimization Infographic – How To Promote Your App. [Online]
Available at: http://trendblog.net/app-store-optimization-infographic-how-to-promote-your-app/
[Accessed 4 April 2013].

Cutts, M., 2012. Page layout algorithum improvement. [Online]

Available at: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2012/01/page-layout-algorithm-
improvement.html
[Accessed 4 April 2013].

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