Scott Gledhill presents "Is SEO Evil?" at Web Directions South 2007, in Sydney, Australia. The goods, bads and essentials you need to know about SEO in the web standards community.

1. ?
IS SEOEVIL
WEB DIRECTIONS 2007

2. IS SEO EVIL?
bad reputation

3. IS SEO EVIL?
us vs. them

4. Foundation

5. Foundation
Next Steps

6. Foundation
Next Steps
Findability = Usability

7. Foundation
Next Steps
Findability = Usability
Costs of Findability

8. Foundation
Next Steps
Findability = Usability
Costs of Findability
Is SEO Evil?

9. IS SEO EVIL?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gleddy/498720867/
gleddy

10. IS SEO EVIL? Foundations
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaneda99/223671285/
kaneda99

11. how does my site get indexed?

12. searchbot

13. searchbot
HTML

14. searchbot
list
HTML

15. many lists

16. server
many lists

17. server
search engine results
many lists

18. search engine optimisation

19. making this process e cient

20. FOUNDATIONS Web Standards

21. FOUNDATIONS Accessibility

22. FOUNDATIONS Information Architecture

23. FOUNDATIONS Quality Content
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mdumlao98/186071440/in/photostream/
mdumlao98

24. web standards
accessibility
usability
= solid foundation

25. IS SEO EVIL? Next Steps
http://www.flickr.com/photos/teacherrafael/1335936669/
Rafa from Brazil

26. NEXT STEPS Knowing the Rules
http://www.flickr.com/photos/15369273@N00/427362366/
toddsmithdesign’s

27. NEXT STEPS Knowing the Rules
cloaking
quality content
accessibility redirects
meta-data keyword stu ng
link schemes
hidden text
http://www.flickr.com/photos/souldirty/142452526/
Vijnana

28. NEXT STEPS Knowing the Rules
cloaking
quality content
accessibility redirects
meta-data keyword stu ng
link schemes
hidden text
low risk
http://www.flickr.com/photos/souldirty/142452526/
Vijnana

29. NEXT STEPS Knowing the Rules
cloaking
quality content
accessibility redirects
meta-data keyword stu ng
link schemes
hidden text
medium risk
http://www.flickr.com/photos/souldirty/142452526/
Vijnana

30. NEXT STEPS Knowing the Rules
cloaking
quality content
accessibility redirects
meta-data keyword stu ng
link schemes
hidden text
image replacement??
high risk
http://www.flickr.com/photos/souldirty/142452526/
Vijnana

31. NEXT STEPS Knowing the Rules

32. NEXT STEPS Knowing the Rules

33. NEXT STEPS Defensive SEO
http://www.flickr.com/photos/quinonesanibal/402753236/
quinonesanibal

35. NEXT STEPS Defensive SEO

36. Education

37. Education
Implementation

38. Education
Implementation
Trouble-shooting

39. Education
Implementation
Trouble-shooting
Buy-in

40. standardzilla.com/
www.standardzilla.com
www.standardzilla.com/index.html

41. www.standardzilla.com

42. standardzilla.com/
www.standardzilla.com
www.standardzilla.com/index.html

43. page rank 8
standardzilla.com/
page rank 5
www.standardzilla.com
page rank 7
www.standardzilla.com/index.html

44. www.standardzilla.com

45. NEXT STEPS Content Strategy
http://www.flickr.com/photos/scratt/438875868/
.mauro!

46. Link Baiting

47. Link Baiting
Social Media

48. Link Baiting
Social Media
Contextual Content

49. NEXT STEPS Content Strategy
event optimisation
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pandas/152621393/
Dylan + Hip

50. NEXT STEPS Content Strategy

51. NEXT STEPS Content Strategy
World Cup

52. NEXT STEPS Content Strategy
Ronaldo
World Cup

53. NEXT STEPS Content Strategy
Germany
Ronaldo
World Cup

54. NEXT STEPS Content Strategy
other websites launch
Germany
Ronaldo
World Cup

55. NEXT STEPS Linking Strategy
link building
http://www.flickr.com/photos/barbpinter/106749270/
barbus22

57. NEXT STEPS Best Practice
http://www.flickr.com/photos/babyskinz/875756800/
Baby Skinz

58. Page Titles

59. Page Titles
Meta-data

60. Page Titles
Meta-data
Link Text

61. Page Titles
Meta-data
Link Text
Image Naming

62. Page Titles
Meta-data
Link Text
Image Naming
Alt attributes

63. NEXT STEPS Best Practice
writing for the web
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sherlock77/689150/
Sherlock77

64. NEXT STEPS Best Practice
Beenie
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sherlock77/689150/
Sherlock77

65. NEXT STEPS Best Practice
Toque
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sherlock77/689150/
Sherlock77

66. NEXT STEPS Analytics

67. IS SEO EVIL? Findability = Usability
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stillmemory/1348220/
Irina / Riri

68. ndability

69. FINDABILITY = USABILITY The Perfect Search
driving tra c
http://www.flickr.com/photos/curzio70/349246822/
Curzio

71. FINDABILITY = USABILITY The Perfect Search
relevant tra c
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bail56/50583616/
Random Images from The Heartland

72. lter the noise

73. FINDABILITY = USABILITY The Third Browser
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevint/3010402/
kevinthoule

75. .9%

76. .9%

77. .9% 15%

78. 9,000 150,000

79. 77%

80. FINDABILITY = USABILITY The Third Browser

83. bad grammr

85. FINDABILITY = USABILITY The Third Browser

86. FINDABILITY = USABILITY The Fourth Leg
WEB STANDARDS
ACCESSIBILITY
USABILITY

87. FINDABILITY = USABILITY The Fourth Leg
WEB STANDARDS
ACCESSIBILITY
USABILITY
FINDABILITY

88. FINDABILITY = USABILITY The Fourth Leg
If you build it, they will come
http://www.flickr.com/photos/toolmantim/376859225/
toolmantim

89. FINDABILITY = USABILITY The Fourth Leg
steve irwin dies
Sept 4, 2006

90. FINDABILITY = USABILITY The Fourth Leg
news.com.au publishes
Sept 4, 2006

91. Steve Irwin Dead

92. FINDABILITY = USABILITY The Fourth Leg
smh.com.au publishes
Sept 4, 2006

93. Crocodile Man Reported Dead

94. FINDABILITY = USABILITY The Fourth Leg
rst in to google news
Sept 4, 2006

95. FINDABILITY = USABILITY The Fourth Leg
yahoo news
rst in to google news
Sept 4, 2006

96. FINDABILITY = USABILITY The Fourth Leg
aggregators
yahoo news
rst in to google news
Sept 4, 2006

97. FINDABILITY = USABILITY The Fourth Leg
aggregators
yahoo news
rst in to google news
Sept 4, 2006

98. FINDABILITY = USABILITY The Fourth Leg
record tra c for news.com.au
aggregators
yahoo news
rst in to google news
Sept 4, 2006

99. steve irwin
Steve Irwin
steve irwin death
steve erwin
steve irwin death video
steve irwin dead
terri irwin
steve irwin video
bindi irwin
STEVE IRWIN
steve irwin’s death
australia zoo

100. IS SEO EVIL? The Cost of Findability
http://www.flickr.com/photos/superlocal/216434095/
superlocal

101. greater good of the web

102. THE COST OF FINDABILITY SEO Culture
There Can Be Only One

103. API

104. KPI

105. THE COST OF FINDABILITY Management and SEO

106. THE COST OF FINDABILITY Management and SEO
ent
ont
*k c
F@
is free!
SEO

107. Traffic, Traffic, Traffic!
400
300
200
100
0
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

108. PI
UB
CPC
CPA

109. blah, accessibility, blah...

110. best practice

111. THE COST OF FINDABILITY SEO Culture

112. THE COST OF FINDABILITY SEO Culture

113. IS SEO EVIL?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kentsmudger/1388094939/
kentsmudger

114. young industry

115. IS SEO EVIL?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melbournewsg/140576306/
Melbourne WSG

116. buzzzzz

117. IS SEO EVIL?
SEO vs Developer

118. SEOs

119. accountability

120. $$$$$

121. know technical boundaries

122. developers

123. learn the language

125. class=”robots-nocontent”

126. compromise

127. IS SEO EVIL?
developer
SEO
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fenbranklin/97374570/
Fen Branklin

128. ?
IS SEO
EVIL

129. ?
T
IS SEO
O
N
EVIL

130. a DISCIPLINE cannot be judged because of BAD PRACTITIONERS

131. SMALL part of a BIGGER PROCESS

132. You can use SEO for GOOD, not evil.

133. questions?

134. Is SEO Evil?
Standardzilla
the slides. coming soon...