Search Engine Optimization: Get Better Results from the Web

written by: Joe Vangsness

Search Engine Optimization: Get Better Results from the Web

Originally published here

Background

  • SEO has two components: On page & Off page
  • SEO can be a noun, verb, person, process, field of study, or a strategy.
  • SEO is part of Internet Marketing Strategy which includes these strategies:
  • Obtain visitors(SEO) – Engage – Convert – Retain – Get Ratings/Referrals

SEO – On Page

How search engines work

  • Crawl websites Index the content Serve results to searchers
  • Are your pages in the Google index?
  • Look at your Google search console, or, go to Google and enter: site:yourdomainname

Determine your SEO goals

New customers, new members, sell products, sign up for newsletters etc.

How Do You Set Smart SEO Goals for Your Team/Agency/Project? – Whiteboard Friday

12 minute video by: Rand Fishkin May 25th, 2018

Look at competitor sites using site evaluation tools and SEO tools

Tools to extract site details:

Tools to evaluate site quality:

Small SEO Tools Score Checker

Determine your Keywords

Keyword usage in the past with Meta Tag Keywords

Keywords can be one word or a phrase

Keyword tools

Caution: Too many keywords on a page is called keyword stuffing and a problem

Where to put keywords

SEO Plugins & Module options:

Google developments

  • Google My Business (formerly Google Local, Google Places)
  • Google local 3 pack
  • Google Maps
  • Knowledge Graph
  • Featured snippet
  • People also ask
  • People also search for

Structured Data: Schema.org

Learn more

Tom Dupuis, WordPress SEO Consultant onlinemediamasters.com/

Several WordPress SEO tutorials, guides & videos – free

SEO – Off Page

  • Nofollow links vs Dofollow links
  • Link has value: to search our ranking, to visitors

Check your competitors’ backlinks with these tools:

Local business information in directories – Whitespark & other services

Some sites I have seen with a high value

  • About.Me
  • Meetup.Com
  • Thomasnet.Com For Manufacturers
  • Give testimonials to businesses you value and ask them to show your url
  • Check for websites that have directories of businesses like yours, ex: Thomasnet.com
  • Content Marketing – Check out: Link Building in 2019 by Sandeep Mallya

TERMS USED IN SEO

  • ORGANIC RESULTS Results from natural search that are not paid for
  • ALGORITHM Search engine’s method of deciding how your site ranks
  • ON-PAGE OR ON-SITE Changes you make directly to your site that gets results
  • OFF-PAGE OR OFF-SITE Things you do to get other sites or people to get to your site. Sometimes called back links.
  • METADATA Tags in the web page that tell robots what your site is about Ex: Meta Description
  • ROBOTS Programs that go through the web looking for content and site links sometimes referred to as crawling the web
  • URL Uniform Resource Locator (address of a web page)
  • KEYWORD/KEY PHRASES Terms that you think people might be using as search terms that indicate they are potential customers or followers
  • ALT TEXT Text that can be entered along with images indicate the image is about