This presentation is an introduction to search engine optimisation SEO for small businesses. It was a seminar presented by Ann Stanley on behalf of Business Link at the HM Customs and Revenue business roadshow in Northampton.

1. eBusiness Programme workshop programme
HOW TO GET MORE WEB
TRAFFIC & HIGH SEARCH
ENGINE RANKINGS
Presented by: Ann Stanley
MD Anicca Solutions

2. Agenda
• All About Search Engines
• Getting Listed in Search Engines
• Targeting Traffic - Keyword Analysis
• On-page Optimisation
• Off-page Optimisation

3. Inside search engine results
Search using Keyphrase
Pay Per Click
Advertising
Natural/Organic Search

4. Inside search engine results
Search using Keyphrase
Sponsored links
Natural/Organic Search

5. Inside search engine results
Search using Keyphrase
Sponsored links
Natural/Organic Search

6. Local Search

7. Local Search

8. Local Search

9. Getting Listed in Local Search – go to
maps & click on “put your business here”

10. Getting Listed in Local Search - open
your account (or a new one)

11. Getting Listed in Local Search – add contact details &
description (including important keyphrases)

12. Getting Listed in Local Search – select
categories

13. Getting Listed in Local Search – get
validation code

14. Getting Listed in Local Search – add
number from your text message

15. Getting Listed in Local Search - infoserve

16. Getting Listed in Local Search - Thomson

17. How Search Engines Work
A search engine is made of three basic components:
A Spider or Robot A Storage System A Matching Process or
An automated browser, it or Database Relevancy Algorithm
searches the web for new A record of all the pages The rules that tell the search
websites and changes to viewed by the Spider engine how to determine
websites then views the what would be relevant to
web pages and strips out your search
the text content

18. Search Engine Optimisation Process
Part 1 – Auditing and planning
• Can the spiders access your site?
• Keyphrase research
• Page planning
Part 2 – On-page factors
• Writing optimised text
Part 3 - Off page factors
• Link building
Part 4 – Ongoing Management
• Submission
• Reporting
• Ongoing Activity
Part 5 – Using pay per click (PPC) while SEO kicks in
• Developing a new site
• Integration with PPC

19. Is my content listed in Google? – Yes!
This technique also allows
you to see how your web
developer has set-up your
urls, titles and descriptions
for your site (key for being
found in the search engines)

20. Is my content listed in Google? – No!
These sites have been
constructed in Frames
and Flash, technologies
which can't be indexed
(or spidered) by the
search engines

21. Targeting Traffic - Keyword Analysis
• No point being no.1 for a phrase nobody
searches for
• Aiming for highly-popular phrases may be
difficult or deliver poor ROI
• Do the chosen phrases convert?
• Traffic is pointless without sales!

22. Key Phrase Length
• Results for all search engines world wide

23. Create a Keyphrase Matrix for Your Products/Services
hotel hotels room rooms weekend
break
book book hotel book hotels book room book rooms book weekend
break
reserve reserve reserve reserve reserve reserve
hotel hotels room rooms weekend
break
check hotel check hotels room check rooms weekend
availability availability check availability check break check
availability availability availability
Derbyshire hotel hotels room rooms weekend
Derbyshire Derbyshire Derbyshire Derbyshire break
Derbyshire
London hotel hotels room rooms weekend
London London London London break London

24. Google PPC keyword tools – get suggestions

25. Google PPC keyword tools – get estimates

26. Case Study: Injury Compensation
• Keyword research tools return hundreds of
terms for any given topic, e.g. “no win no
fee”, “accident claim”, “personal injury” etc.
• Millions of sites compete for these visitors:
• “no win no fee”: 4.5m sites
• “accident claim”: 6m sites
• “personal injury”: 36m sites
• Best terms: Enough people searching but
few enough competing websites.

27. Case Study: Injury Compensation
Keywords Search Total Competitors Pages with
Count per Search with term in exact phrase
day Results Title tag in text
Accident claim 756,907 6,000,000 18,800 667,000
Accident claim expert 11,299 1,370,000 4 3,750
Road traffic accident 240 1,500,000 352 831
compensation
Whiplash injury 174 365,000 316 5,000
compensation
Work accident 493 1,260,000 37 738
compensation claim
Industrial injury 145 1,330,000 79 9,830
compensation
Whiplash injury claim UK 8 327,000 0 1
Whiplash compensation 8 102,000 1 3
award

28. Case Study: Injury Compensation
Keywords Search Total Competitors Pages with
Count per Search with term in exact phrase
day Results Title tag in text
Accident claim 756,907 6,000,000 18,800 667,000
Accident claim expert 11,299 1,370,000 4 3,750
Road traffic accident 240 1,500,000 352 831
compensation
Whiplash injury 174 365,000 316 5,000
compensation
Work accident 493 1,260,000 37 738
compensation claim
Industrial injury 145 1,330,000 79 9,830
compensation
Whiplash injury claim UK 8 327,000 0 1
Whiplash compensation 8 102,000 1 3
award

29. What Determines Your Page Ranking?
1. On Page Factors 2. Off Page Factors
• Title Tag • Domain name
• Meta Tags • Filename / full URL
• Content • Directory Listings
• Heading Content • External Link Structure
• Frequency of phrases • Anchor text of inbound links
• Density of phrases • Page quality of inbound links
• Internal Link structure
There are 85 – 100 factors used in the algorithms
of the major search engines!

30. On-page factors

31. On-Page Optimisation
Title tag
Alt tag
Body copy &
internal links
Heading tag

32. Title Tags and Meta Tags

33. Title Tags and Meta Tags
<title>Commercial Photography Northampton UK - From The Hip
Photographic Studio</title>
<meta http-equiv=quot;Content-Typequot; content=quot;text/html;quot;>
<meta name=quot;keywordsquot; content=quot;Northampton photography
Studio, creative photographic studio northampton, northampton
photographer, photographic studio northampton,quot;>
<meta name=quot;DESCRIPTIONquot; content=quot;From the Hip
Photography are a Northampton UK based creative photographic
studio specialising in creative commercial portraits and PR
events.quot;>

34. Title Tags and Meta Tags

35. Improving Title Tags – optimise on url?

36. Improving Title Tags – optimise on homepage?

37. Improving Title Tags – no location

38. Keyword Density
• Number and proximity of keywords on
a page
• Too high looks like spam
• Too low will appear irrelevant

39. Check Your Keyword Density: www.ranks.nl

40. Check Your Keyword Density: www.ranks.nl

41. Check Your Keyword Density: www.ranks.nl

42. Structuring Content
• Heading tags emphasise keywords
• Also use bold and italics for emphasis
Handmade Chocolate Gifts <h1>
Welcome to Handmade Chocolate Gifts, a collection of dark, milk
<p>
and white chocolate bars, novelties and sweets to buy online.
75% Dark Chocolate a Speciality <h2>
Handmade Chocolate Gifts specialise in 75% cocoa dark
<p>
chocolate, made from the finest beans of Africa.
Buy Chocolate Gifts Online in Confidence <h3>
Our online chocolate shop is 100% secure, all our chocolates are
<em>
in stock and we offer next day delivery.

43. Off page factors
(Link building)

44. Adobe.com is found for “click here”
(due to the importance of linking & anchor text)

45. Anchor Text
• Anchor text is the visible hyperlinked text on
the page
• Can be used to strengthen keyword density
• Anchor text phrases should include your key
search terms. Example:
• Bad: For our latest office furniture, click
here
• Good: Look at our latest office furniture

46. The Importance of PageRank

47. The Importance of PageRank

48. Who Links to You?
linkdomain:www.yoursite.co.uk

49. Who Links to You? – more links in Yahoo
linkdomain:www.yoursite.co.uk

50. Getting Links
• Useful/funny/controversial/valuable content
• Syndication
• Directory entries
• Direct approaches to webmasters
• Beware reciprocal and paid links
• Online press releases
• User-generated content sites

51. Major Directories

52. Major Directories

53. Major Directories

54. Key Points: Link Building
• The PageRank of the sites that link to you
directly affects your own PageRank
• The text used to link to your site (“anchor
text”) is vital in the optimisation process
• One-way backlinks (inbound) are much
better than reciprocal links
• An ongoing programme of link building is
vital to retain and improve your position.

55. Myth Busters
• Submit your site to thousands of search engines
• Meta tags make all the difference
• You can guarantee top placing in a search engine
• You need to constantly re-submit your site
• Multiple versions/domains for a site helps
• PPC campaigns mean higher natural ranking

56. Top-tips to improve your
search engine traffic
• Check that your site has been indexed in the top UK and .com search engine (type
site:www.mycompany.co.uk into each search engine)
• Check that your site has no search engine barriers (eg flash, frames)
• Check that there is a “site map” and text links to pages within your site
• Every page within your site must act as a doorway into the site by containing the
keyphrases used by searchers in the text and tags
• Check that every page has the “calls for action” – eg phone numbers, register for
email, check availability, book now!
• Check your Google page rank, inbound links in order to develop Strategic link
building and registration in directories - DIY!
• Use a dual strategy of optimisation and pay per click (+/- xml feed) to cover all the
keyphrases used by potential customers
• Monitor your site, use a statistics package to determine levels of traffic,
where they came from, keyphrases used and what they did when they got
there (did they register or book?) - What is the CPA & ROI?

57. Improve Your Search Engine Rankings
Presentation: email ann@anicca-solutions.com
Workshops & events: www.ebusinessclub.biz
Further support:
eBusiness Programme:
Workshop programme advice: Joanne Mobbs:
joanne@emcc.org.uk
Business Link Business Support Adviser
appointment:
0845 058 6644