SEO As an Enduring Art Form
by Jessie Stricchiola, Rand Fishkin, Stephan Spencer, Eric Enge
The Art of SEO
- The Art of SEO
- Dedication
- Foreword
- Preface
- 1. The Search Engines: Reflecting Consciousness and Connecting Commerce
- The Mission of Search Engines
- The Market Share of Search Engines
- The Human Goals of Searching
- Determining Searcher Intent: A Challenge for Both Marketers and Search Engines
- How People Search
- How Search Engines Drive Commerce on the Web
- Eye Tracking: How Users Scan Results Pages
- Click Tracking: How Users Click on Results, Natural Versus Paid
- Conclusion
- 2. Search Engine Basics
- Understanding Search Engine Results
- Algorithm-Based Ranking Systems: Crawling, Indexing, and Ranking
- Determining Searcher Intent and Delivering Relevant, Fresh Content
- Analyzing Ranking Factors
- Using Advanced Search Techniques
- Vertical Search Engines
- Country-Specific Search Engines
- Conclusion
- 3. Determining Your SEO Objectives and Defining Your Site’s Audience
- Setting SEO Goals and Objectives
- Developing an SEO Plan Prior to Site Development
- Understanding Your Audience and Finding Your Niche
- SEO for Raw Traffic
- SEO for E-Commerce Sales
- SEO for Mindshare/Branding
- SEO for Lead Generation and Direct Marketing
- SEO for Reputation Management
- SEO for Ideological Influence
- Conclusion
- 4. First Stages of SEO
- The Major Elements of Planning
- Identifying the Site Development Process and Players
- Defining Your Site’s Information Architecture
- Auditing an Existing Site to Identify SEO Problems
- Elements of an Audit
- Usability
- Accessibility/spiderability
- Search engine health check
- Keyword health checks
- Duplicate content checks
- URL check
- Title tag review
- Content review
- Meta tag review
- Sitemaps file and robots.txt file verification
- Redirect checks
- Internal linking checks
- Avoidance of unnecessary subdomains
- Geolocation
- External linking
- Page load time
- Image alt tags
- Code quality
- The Importance of Keyword Reviews
- Keyword Cannibalization
- Example: Fixing an Internal Linking Problem
- Server and Hosting Issues
- Elements of an Audit
- Identifying Current Server Statistics Software and Gaining Access
- Determining Top Competitors
- Assessing Historical Progress
- Benchmarking Current Indexing Status
- Benchmarking Current Rankings
- Benchmarking Current Traffic Sources and Volume
- Leveraging Business Assets for SEO
- Combining Business Assets and Historical Data to Conduct SEO/Website SWOT Analysis
- Conclusion
- 5. Keyword Research
- The Theory Behind Keyword Research
- Traditional Approaches: Domain Expertise, Site Content Analysis
- Keyword Research Tools
- Determining Keyword Value/Potential ROI
- Leveraging the Long Tail of Keyword Demand
- Trending, Seasonality, and Seasonal Fluctuations in Keyword Demand
- Conclusion
- 6. Developing an SEO-Friendly Website
- Making Your Site Accessible to Search Engines
- Creating an Optimal Information Architecture
- Root Domains, Subdomains, and Microsites
- Optimization of Domain Names/URLs
- Keyword Targeting
- Title Tags
- Meta Description Tags
- Heading (H1, H2, H3) Tags
- Document Text
- Image Filenames and Alt Attributes
- Boldface Text
- Avoiding Keyword Cannibalization
- Keyword Targeting in CMSs and Automatically Generated Content
- SEO Copywriting: Encouraging Effective Keyword Targeting by Content Creators
- Long Tail Keyword Targeting
- Content Optimization
- Duplicate Content Issues
- Controlling Content with Cookies and Session IDs
- Content Delivery and Search Spider Control
- Cloaking and Segmenting Content Delivery
- When to Show Different Content to Engines and Visitors
- How to Display Different Content to Search Engines Versus Visitors
- The robots.txt file
- The Rel="NoFollow” attribute
- The meta robots tag
- The canonical tag
- Blocking and cloaking by IP address range
- Blocking and cloaking by user agent
- Using iframes
- Hiding text in images
- Hiding text in Java applets
- Forcing form submission
- Using login/password protection
- Removing URLs from a search engine’s index
- Redirects
- Content Management System (CMS) Issues
- Optimizing Flash
- Best Practices for Multilanguage/Country Targeting
- Conclusion
- 7. Creating Link-Worthy Content and Link Marketing
- How Links Influence Search Engine Rankings
- Further Refining How Search Engines Judge Links
- The Psychology of Linking
- Types of Link Building
- Choosing the Right Link-Building Strategy
- More Approaches to Content-Based Link Acquisition
- Incentive-Based Link Marketing
- How Search Engines Fight Link Spam
- Social Networking for Links
- Conclusion
- 8. Optimizing for Vertical Search
- The Opportunities in Vertical Search
- Optimizing for Local Search
- Optimizing for Image Search
- Optimizing for Product Search
- Optimizing for News, Blog, and Feed Search
- Others: Mobile, Video/Multimedia Search
- Conclusion
- 9. Tracking Results and Measuring Success
- Why Measuring Success Is Essential to the SEO Process
- Measuring Search Traffic
- Tying SEO to Conversion and ROI
- Competitive and Diagnostic Search Metrics
- Search Engine and Competitive Metrics
- Site Indexing Data
- Link Building, Link Tracking, and Link-Based Metrics (Including Anchor Text Analysis)
- Rankings
- Crawl Errors
- Tracking the Blogosphere
- Tracking Your Blog(s)
- Search Engine Robot Traffic Analysis
- Web Traffic Comparison
- Temporal Link Growth Measurements
- Key Performance Indicators for Long Tail SEO
- Conclusion
- 10. Domain Changes, Post-SEO Redesigns, and Troubleshooting
- The Basics of Moving Content
- Maintaining Search Engine Visibility During and After a Site Redesign
- Maintaining Search Engine Visibility During and After Domain Name Changes
- Changing Servers
- Hidden Content
- Spam Filtering and Penalties
- Content Theft
- Changing SEO Vendors or Staff Members
- Conclusion
- 11. Honing the Craft: SEO Research and Study
- SEO Research and Analysis
- Competitive Analysis
- Using Search-Engine-Supplied SEO Tools
- The SEO Industry on the Web
- Participation in Conferences and Organizations
- Conclusion
- 12. Build an In-House SEO Team, Outsource It, or Both?
- The Dynamics and Challenges of Using In-House Talent Versus Outsourcing
- Solutions for Small Organizations
- Working with Limited Resources/Budget
- Solutions for Large Organizations
- Hiring SEO Talent
- The Case for Working with an Outside Expert
- Selecting an SEO Firm/Consultant
- Getting the Process Started
- Preparing a Request for Proposal (RFP)
- Step 1: Nominate a “point person” for the engagement
- Step 2: Define “needs” and “wants” using a decision matrix
- Step 3: Define your success metrics
- Step 4: Prepare to disclose all known influencing factors
- Step 5: Provide an estimated timeline and budget for project completion
- A sample RFP document outline
- Communicating with Candidate SEO Firms
- Making the Decision
- Mixing Outsourced SEO with In-House SEO Teams
- Building a Culture of SEO into Your Organization
- Conclusion
- 13. An Evolving Art Form: The Future of SEO
- Index
- About the Authors
- Colophon
- Copyright
Today, SEO can be fairly easily categorized as having four major objectives:
Make pages accessible to search engine crawlers.
Find the keywords that searchers employ (understand your target audience) and make your site speak their language.
Build content that users will find useful, valuable, and worthy of sharing. Ensure that they’ll have a good experience on your site to improve the likelihood that you’ll earn links and references.
Earn editorial links from good sources by building inviting, link-worthy content and applying classic marketing techniques to the online world.
Note, though, that the tactics an SEO practitioner might use to get links from editorial sources have been subject to rapid evolution, and will continue to be. In addition, mastery of social media environments is also likely to be an expertise that most SEO professionals will be required to have.
One thing that you can be sure about in the world of search is change, as forces from all over the Web are impacting search in a dramatic way.
To be an artist, the SEO practitioner needs to see the landscape of possibilities for her website, and pick the best possible path to success. This currently includes social media optimization expertise, local search expertise, video optimization expertise, an understanding of what is coming in mobile, and more. That’s a far cry from the backroom geek of the late 1990s.
No one can predict what the future will bring and what will be needed to successfully market businesses and other organizations on the Web in two years, let alone 5 or 10. However, you can be certain that websites are here to stay for a long time, and that websites are never finished and need continuous optimization just like any other direct marketing channel. SEO expertise will be needed for a long time—and no existing person is better suited to map the changing environment and lead companies to success in this new, ever-evolving landscape than today’s SEO practitioner.
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