SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO) WHAT I S S E O ? SEO is a - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

(SEO)

WHAT I S S E O ?

• SEO is a methodology of strategies, techniques and tactics

used to improve search engine ranking

• The goal is to increase the amount of visitors to a website

if your placement is in a high-ranking position on the search results page

• Search engines including Google,

Bing,Yahoo and other

search engines.

SE R P

Search Engine Results Page

Displays webpages, images, news and videos

KE Y WO R D S

• Words or phrases in your content users type in their

searches

• This area is heavily researched to determine what

keywords to optimize

• Examples:
• Regular keyword: Forestry or Forestry Degree
• Long tail keyword: Master of Science Degree in Forestry

• On Page SEO
• Off Page SEO
• T

echnical SEO

TYP E S O F S E O

TEC HN I C A L S EO

• Most of these items are handled by the

Web Communications team:

• Template: page speed,
• ptimized code
• Robots.txt file
• Sitemaps
• Redirects
• Apache rewrites
• Broken Links/Update links- these are things you can check

OF F PA G E S E O

• Domain

Authority

• Backlinks – don’t fall for the

scams

• Social Media – doesn’t count towards

the algorithm but…

Example of Backlink Request:

My name is Angela and I am the Director of Communications for Accredited Online Schools. I would like to congratulate you on Southern Illinois University-Carbondale making the list - you're one of 2016's Best Online Colleges in Illinois. As one of the Best Online Schools I know now is a busy time for you. Students are getting ready to graduate, Spring session is in full swing, and the paperwork seems to never end. With that being said, I am here to offer you our Rankings Guide, where Southern Illinois University-Carbondale is listed as one of the best in Illinois. Y

• ur ranking can be found

here: Accredited Schools Best Online Colleges in Illinois 2016 Our intent is to create visibility for you without giving you any added work during this busy season and to let prospective students know that you are one of the best they can find. Will you be able to add this ranking to your website? I am happy to send along a ranking badge or personalized press release for you as well, to make it more noticeable. Thank you for all you do – I look forward to speaking with you.

ON PAG E S E O – TI TL E TAG S

• Title Tags
• No duplicates
• It’s pixel based but no more than 70 characters
• Use keywords in your title, but don’t do keyword stuffing
• Your title tag is automatically generated for you on the new template

ON PA G E S E O

• Title Tags
• Meta Descriptions
• Heading Tags
• URL Structure
• Broken Link Resolution
• Remove Duplicate Content
• CONTENT!

ON PAG E S E O – ME TA DES C R IP T IO N S

• Meta Descriptions
• Displays on the SERP results area
• No more than 156 characters
• Again, use keywords, but don’t do keyword stuffing
• Don’t use the same meta description on more then one page – it should be

page specific

ON PAG E S E O – HE A D I N G TAG S

• Heading Tags
• The H1 tag is already used so don’t use one
• Always use your headings in order

(like an outline for a paper)

• Don’t repeat keywords in each heading

ON PAG E S E O – UR L ST RUCT UR E

• Don’t to:
• URL Structure
• No spaces, no capital letters, use

http://rso.siu.edu/?page

hyphens

_id=44

• Name your pages logically
• Name your files and images
• Do this instead:

logically too

http://rso.siu.edu/tutori

• Structure your pages in an organized

al

manner

ON PAGE SEO – BROKEN LINKS/REDIRECTS

• Broken Link Resolution
• Remove temporary redirects
• Fix broken links right away
• Remove Duplicate Content – use external links when

needed

ON PAGE SEO – CONTENT

• CONTENT!
• Content is King but don’t just add content to fill it up
• Avoid thin content with no added value
• Your content should feel natural and organic
• Use headings to break up your content
• Use images and video to support your content where appropriate
• Engagement and Freshness help
• Place keywords within your content in an organic manner

TIP: If you want to be ranked for certain search terms, those terms need to be on the page

SUM M A RY

• SEO is ALWAYS changing
• Nothing is black and white
• It is not an instant fix, more of a work in progress

GOOGL E AN ALYTI CS

About the new templates

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GOOGLE A NALYTICS

“Google Analytics helps you analyze visitor traffic and paint a complete picture of your audience and their needs.”

DOES DOES NOT

• Track website traffic
• Track individual users
• Provide approximate data
• Provide exact data (even

though it’s pretty close)

• Allow us to find out what
• Determine which pages are

pages are viewed the most most important

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GO O GLE A N A LY T I C S

• Web Communications tracks website traffic on about 30% of

campus websites since November 2014

• We plan to track all sites by the end of 2016
• We will share our data with you
• Email lizhunter@siu.edu with your

@gmail.com email address

• Google Analytics is ver

y complex

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S O M U C H DATA

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RESOURCES

Google Analytics Support

• http://support.google.com/analytics

Google Analytics Academy

• http://analyticsacademy.withgoogle.com/

Google Analytics Solutions Gallery

• https://www.google.com/analytics/gallery/
• Dashboards, custom reports, and segments

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WHY ?

• T
• help

meet your website goals

• Keep people

engaged

• Deliver information

quickly

• Drive action
• Evaluation of visitor interactions on your site
• Compare data to previous periods of time to measure

success or areas for improvement

• Learn about visitors to your site

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EVALUATE VISITOR INTERACTIONS

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EVA LUATE VISITOR INTERACTIONS: SESSIONS

• T
• tal

number

• f

Sessions within the date range.

• The period time a user is actively engaged with your

website, app, etc.

• Includes all usage data (Screen Views, Events, Ecommerce,

etc.)

• Location: Audience Overview

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EVA LUATE VISITOR INTERACTIONS: USERS

• Users that have had at least one session within the selected

date range.

• Includes both new and returning users.

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EVA L UAT E V IS ITO R IN T ER AC T IO N S : PAG E V I E W S

• Pageviews is the total number of pages viewed.
• Repeated views of a single page are counted.

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EVA L UAT E V IS ITO R IN T ER AC T IO N S : PAG E S / S E S S I O N

• Pages per Session is the average number of pages viewed

during a session.

• Repeated views of a single page are counted.

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EVA L UAT E V IS ITO R IN T ER AC T IO N S : AVG . S E S S I O N D U R AT I ON

• The average length of a Session, in minutes/seconds
• In the case of a “bounce” visit that has only one page viewed,

the Sessions count is 1 but the Session Duration is 0

• Higher bounce rate will have a negative impact on average

session duration

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EVA LUATE VISITOR INTERACTIONS: BOUNCE RATE

• Bounce Rate is the percentage of single-page visits (i.e. visits in which

the person left your site from the entrance page without interacting with the page).

• Bounce does not mean they did not read the page
• Bounce can happen if a user clicks a link to another website, clicks the

back button to leave your site, closes an open window or tab, types a new URL, or the session times out

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EVA L UAT E V IS ITO R IN T ER AC T IO N S : PAG E V I E W S & U N I Q U E PAG E V I E W S

• Pa

gev i ew s is the total number of times a page is viewed over time.

• Repeated views of a single page are counted.
• Un

ique Pa gev i ew s is the number of sessions during which the specified page was viewed at least once.

• For a single page, GA displays the percentage of the total pageviews for

the entire site

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EVA L UAT E V IS ITO R IN T ER AC T IO N S : AVG . T I M E O N PAG E

• The average amount of time users spent

viewing a specified page or screen, or set of pages or screens.

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EVA L UAT E V IS ITO R IN T ER AC T IO N S : EN T R A N C ES & EX IT S

• Entrances is the number of times visitors entered your site through

a specified page or set of pages.

• %Exit indicates how often users exit your website from that page or

set of pages when they view the page(s).

• Unlike bounce rate, which is recorded if the page is the ONLY page in the

session, an exit records the LAST page in the session (meaning the user has viewed at least 2 pages)

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EVA L UAT E V IS ITO R IN T ER AC T IO N S : MO R E A B O U T B O U NC E R AT E

• Bounce Rate on an individual page is much more significant than

Bounce Rate on the whole site.

• Good Bounce Rate depends on the type of page
• Improve Bounce Rate
• Providing relevant content
• Having a clear menu and actionable items
• Have external links open in a new window

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COMPARE DATA OVER TIME AND MEASURE SUCCESS

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COMPARE AND MEA SURE: PERIODS OF TIME

Month Semester Previous Year Comparison

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Keep in mind that a lot of variables determine the cause of lower data year over year. *** Changes in messaging, changes in website structure, or even outside influences ***

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CO M PA R E A N D M E A SUR E : GOA LS A N D C A M PA I GN S

• Use Goals to measure how well your site meets

your objectives.

• A conversion is the completion of an activity on your

site, such as a click to another site, a registration or download.

• Users frequently visit a site multiple times before

converting.

• Use Campaigns to compare traffic from email

and marketing campaigns.

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LEARN ABOUT YOUR VISITORS

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LE A R N A B O U T YO U R V I S I TO R S

• Geography
• Interests
• Browser

Type

• Channels
• Operating System
• Engagement
• Device Type
• New vs. Returning
• Demographics

Use Segments to isolate and analyze specific parts of your traffic.

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SO M E HE L P F UL ST UF F

Campaign URL Builder

• http://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1033867?hl=en

Google Analytics Academy Google Analytics Solutions Galler y

• https://www.google.com/analytics/galler

y/

• Dashboards, custom reports, and segments

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DE MO TIME !

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