Search Engine Optimization(SEO) Basics
Scott Bothel
FourTen Creative
fourtencreative.com

Goals
Get found.
Compete.
Deliver organized and relevant content.
Topics Covered
Keyword Strategy
PageRank
Meta/On-Page Elements

PageRankGoogle thinks youre cool
PageRank Is
A number from 1 to 10 as a measure of your websites relative usefulness on the web.
Measured by a complex algorithm combining many top secret factors, the most important of which is backlinks.
PageRank Is Not
What determines your search result position.
The goal of SEO or Web Design

PageRankThe magic algorithm
Links are counted as votes.
The more votes, the higher the PageRank.
The higher the PageRank, the more important the vote.
Expressed as a Percentage, Decimal, or 1-10

PageRankSo what
Code Moment
The rel attribute defines the link relationship.

Tells search engines not to count that vote.
Useful for managing PageRank leak and pointing internal authority towards your most productive pages.

PageRankSo what
The real goal Search Engine Results Page
Your SERP Position is what makes people more likely to find you and makes you more competitive.
#1!

SERPs
$
$
Combination of $ and Reputation

Meta/On-Page ElementsWhat Search Engines see that you dont
Meta Greek along with or self
Metadata Data about data.
Our Definition Machine readable (indexable) bits of information about your webpage.

Sample HTML Page

Meta/On-Page ElementsWhats in your HEAD
Meta Elements
Description A short statement describing the content of the page which appears in SERPs.
Keywords A list of concepts, topics, locations deemed relevant to the content of the page.
Title (Not technically meta) The name of your website or page which appears at the top of the browser and in some SERPs.
URL (Not technically meta) Your domain name and filename/folder structure combine to provide more clues as to content.

Meta/On-Page ElementsWhats in your HEAD

Sample HTML PageAnother code moment

Meta/On-Page ElementsDoes a BODY good
On-Page Elements
Heading Tags H1,H2,H3 Serve to organize your page into sections and define content on-page. You should have one H1 tag per page.
Paragraph Tags p Sets off content as content. Given more weight on page than extraneous bits of text.
Image Alt Attributes alt= Provides hints as to the content of the image for search engines and serves accessibility.
Link/Image Title Attributes title= Provides hints to users and more keyword opportunities in search engines.

Sample HTML PageAnother code moment

Keyword StrategyWhats the point
Keywords as a strategy, not just meta.
Agreement The strongest pages in search results demonstrate agreement between as many elements as possible.
Focus Reduce the number of topics you seek to cover, create distinct pages for each.

Keyword StrategyWhats the point
Keywords as a strategy, not just meta.
Order A well organized page is easier to read and the on-page elements contribute to search results.
Keep It Natural Search engines have gotten good at detecting gaming of the system. Valuable content is rewarded. Average Keyword Density = 10%

Sample HTML PageLets agree to agree

Goals
Get found.
Compete.
Deliver organized and relevant content.
Topics Covered
Create Value
Keyword Strategy
PageRank
Meta/On-Page Elements

ExerciseLift those fingers
Google your topic to determine the top websites.
View the Source Code. Observe the meta and on-page elements. What do you see?
Are these pages clean?
Check the PageRank prchecker.info

ExerciseDo it yourself
Give your site a twist or niche concept.
Choose a fictional domain name.
Choose keywords that include your niche and location.
Fill out the sample HTML page with your data.

Search Engine Optimization(SEO) Basics
Scott Bothel
FourTen Creative
fourtencreative.com