Developing an SEO Plan Prior to Site Development
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
It is widely understood in the industry that search engine optimization should be built in, as early as possible, to the entire site development strategy, from choosing a content management system (CMS) and planning site architecture to on-page content development. As you will see in Chapter 6, SEO practitioners have significant input in both of these areas. Of course, many businesses learn about the need for SEO only after they have built the site, in which case the time to start is now.
SEO plans have many moving parts, and SEO decisions can have a significant impact on other departments such as development, other marketing groups, and sales. Getting that input as soon as possible will bring the best results for a business at the least possible cost (imagine that you develop your site and learn you need to replace the CMS—that would be very, very painful!).
Here are some examples of business issues that can impact SEO:
- Revenue/business model
It makes a difference to the SEO practitioner if the purpose of the site is to sell products, sell advertising, or obtain leads. We will discuss this more in the later sections of this chapter.
- Target customers
Who are you trying to reach? This could be an age group, a gender group, or as specific as people looking to buy a house within a 25-mile radius of Orlando.
- Competitor strategies
The competitive landscape is another big factor in your SEO plan. Competition may be strongly entrenched in one portion of the market online, and it may make sense to focus on a different segment. Or you may be the big dog in your market but you have specific competitors you want to fend off.
- Branding goals
There may be terms that are critical for you to own for branding reasons.
- Budget for content development
An important part of link building (which we will discuss in detail in Chapter 7) is the quality of your content, as well as your capacity to commit to the ongoing development of quality on-page site content.
- How your potential customers search for products like yours
Understanding what customers do when they are searching for products or services like yours is one of the most basic functions of SEO (we will discuss it in detail in Chapter 5). This involves mapping the actual search queries your target customers use when they go to a search engine to solve their current problem.
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