[Extraordinary Voyages 06] • The Art of SEO · Mastering Search Engine Optimization by Enge, Eric -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover Page 1 Search: Reflecting Consciousness and Connecting Commerce

The Mission of Search Engines The Market Share of Search Engines The Human Goals of Searching

Who Searches and What Do They Search For?

Determining Searcher Intent: A Challenge for Search Marketers and Search Engines

Navigational Queries Informational Queries Transactional Queries

Adaptive Search

Leveraging Searcher Intent

How People Search How Search Engines Drive E-Commerce The Mobile Shift The History of Eye Tracking: How Users Scan Results Pages Click Tracking: How Users Click on Results, Natural Versus Paid

Distribution of Search Results and Traffic

Conclusion

2 Search Engine Basics

Understanding Search Engine Results

Understanding the Layout of Search Results Pages How Vertical Results Fit into the SERPs Google’s Knowledge Graph

Algorithm-Based Ranking Systems: Crawling, Indexing, and Ranking

Crawling and Indexing Retrieval and Ranking Evaluating Content on a Web Page What Content Can Search Engines “See” on a Web Page?

Determining Searcher Intent and Delivering Relevant, Fresh Content

Document Analysis and Semantic Connectivity Measuring Content Quality and User Engagement Evaluating Social Media Signals Problem Words, Disambiguation, and Diversity A Few Reasons Why These Algorithms Sometimes Fail

The Knowledge Graph Analyzing Ranking Factors

Negative Ranking Factors Other Ranking Factors

Using Advanced Search Techniques

Advanced Google Search Operators Bing Advanced Search Operators More Advanced Search Operator Techniques

Vertical Search Engines

Vertical Search from the Major Search Engines Image search Universal Search/Blended Search

Country-Specific Search Engines

Optimizing for Specific Countries

Conclusion

3 SEO Planning: Customizing Your Strategy

Strategic Goals SEO Practitioners Can Fulfill

Visibility (Branding) Website Traffic High ROI

Every SEO Strategy Should be Customized Understanding Search Engine Traffic and Visitor Intent Developing an SEO Plan Prior to Site Development

Business Factors That Impact Your SEO Strategy

Understanding Your Audience and Finding Your Niche

Mapping Your Products and Services Segmenting Your Site’s Audience Context: Market Competitiveness

SEO for Raw Traffic SEO for Ecommerce Sales SEO for Mindshare & Branding SEO for Lead Generation and Direct Marketing SEO for Reputation Management SEO for Ideological Influence Advanced Methods for Planning and Evaluation SWOT analysis SWOT Guidelines Conclusion

4 SEO Implementation: First Stages

The Importance of Planning Identifying the Site Development Process and Players Development Platform & Information Architecture

Technology Decisions Structural Decisions Mobile Sites & Mobile Apps

Auditing an Existing Site to Identify SEO Problems

Elements of an Audit The Importance of Keyword Reviews Keyword Cannibalization Example: Fixing an Internal Linking Problem Server and Hosting Issues

Identifying Current Server Statistics Software and Gaining Access

Web Analytics Logfile Tracking Google and Bing Webmaster Tools

Determining Top Competitors

Two Spam Examples Seeking the Best Uncovering Their Secrets

Assessing Historical Progress

Maintain a Timeline of Site Changes Types of Site Changes That Can Affect SEO Previous SEO Work

Benchmarking Current Indexing Status Benchmarking Organic Rankings Benchmarking Current Traffic Sources and Volume Leveraging Business Assets for SEO

Other Domains You Own/Control Relationships On and Off the Web Content or Data You’ve Never Put Online Customers Who Have Had a Positive Experience Followers, Friends, and Fans

Conclusion

5 Keyword Research

The Theory Behind Keyword Research

Start by Thinking Strategically Understanding the Long Tail of the Keyword Demand Curve Impact of Google Hummingbird Keyword “not provided” and Co-Occurrence Analysis

Traditional Approaches: Domain Expertise, Site Content Analysis

Include Competitive Analysis Integrating Keyword Research, Co-Occurrence Analysis, and Knowledge of User Intent

Keyword Research Tools

Things to Keep in Mind Keyword Research Data from the Engines Keyword Research with Tools KeywordSpy

Determining Keyword Value & Potential ROI

Estimating Value, Relevance, and Conversion Rates Testing Ad Campaign Runs and Third-Party Search Data Using Landing Page Optimization

Leveraging the Long Tail of Keyword Demand

Extracting Terms from Relevant Web Pages Mining Keyword Research Tools Identifying Long Tail Patterns Editorial Content Strategies for Long Tail Targeting User-Generated Content Strategies for Long Tail Targeting

Trending, Seasonality, and Seasonal Fluctuations in Keyword Demand Conclusion

6 Developing an SEO-Friendly Website

Making Your Site Accessible to Search Engines

Indexable Content Spiderable Link Structures XML Sitemaps

Creating an Optimal Information Architecture (IA)

The Importance of a Logical, Category-Based Flow Site Architecture Design Principles Flat Versus Deep Architecture Search-Friendly Site Navigation

Root Domains, Subdomains, and Microsites

When to Use a Subfolder When to Use a Subdomain When to Use a Separate Root Domain Microsites When to Use a TLD Other Than .com

Optimization of Domain Names/URLs

Optimizing Domains Picking the Right URLs

Keyword Targeting

HTML Title Tags Meta Description Tags Heading (H1, H2, H3) Tags Document Text Image Filenames and Alt Attributes Boldface Text Avoiding Keyword Cannibalization Keyword Targeting in CMS’ and Automatically Generated Content Encouraging Effective Keyword Targeting by Content Creators Long Tail Keyword Targeting

Content Optimization

Content Structure CSS and Semantic Markup Content Uniqueness and Depth Content Themes

Duplicate Content Issues

Consequences of Duplicate Content How Search Engines Identify Duplicate Content Identifying and Addressing Copyright Infringement How to Avoid Duplicate Content on Your Own Site

Controlling Content with Cookies and Session IDs

What’s a Cookie? What Are Session IDs? How Do Search Engines Interpret Cookies and Session IDs? Why Would You Want to Use Cookies or Session IDs to Control Search Engine Access?

Content Delivery and Search Spider Control

Cloaking and Segmenting Content Delivery When to Show Different Content to Engines and Visitors How to Display Different Content to Search Engines Versus Visitors

Redirects

Why and When to Redirect Good and Bad Redirects Methods for URL Redirecting and Rewriting Redirecting a Home Page Index File Without Looping

Content Management System (CMS) Issues

Selecting a CMS Third-Party CMS Add-ons Flash Coding Best Practices

Best Practices for Multilanguage/Country Targeting

Targeting a Specific Country Problems with Using Your Existing Domain The Two Major Approaches Multiple-Language Issues

Semantic Search

Google’s Hummingbird Semantic Search and SEO Entities and Semantic Search What About Structured Data?

Schema.org

Overview How to use Schema.org

Summary

Google Authorship and Author Authority

A Brief History of Google Authorship Why Did Google End Support for rel=author? Is Author Authority Dead for Google? Google+ Authors in Personalized Search The Future of Author Authority at Google Building Author Authority Google’s Publisher Tag

Google’s Knowledge Graph and the Knowledge Vault

Overview of Changes in Search Complexity Fair Use? How the Knowledge Vault Works The Future of the Knowledge Vault

Conclusion

7 Content Marketing

How Links Historically Influenced Search Engine Rankings

The Original PageRank Algorithm Additional Factors That Influence Link Value How Search Engines Use Links

Further Refining How Search Engines Judge Links

Additional Link Evaluation Criteria How Search Engines Determine a Link’s Value

Creating Content That Attracts Links

How are Links Earned? How Can Sites Approach Getting Links?

Introduction to Content Marketing

Content Marketing Basics Content Types Content Marketing Strategies

Developing Content That Works

Content Ideation and Creativity Repurposing Content What Makes Content “High Quality”? Emotional Triggers, Titles, and Images The Power of Memes The Role of Engagement in Content Marketing

Choosing the Right Content Marketing Strategy

Identify types of sites that might link to a site like yours Placing a Value on the Sites Find out where your competitors get links Review your website assets Segmentation, Identifying Personas and Targeting Content Content Marketing Process Summary Putting It All Together

Types of Content Marketing Campaigns

Guest Posting Create High Quality, Differentiated Content Aim high Quality Trumps Quantity Picking targets Content Syndication Creating Link Worthy or Viral Content Leveraging User-Generated Content

Building an Audience

Other People’s Audiences Influencers and Influencer Marketing Get Active in Social Media Paid Social Media Social Distribution Social Amplification Steps Psychographic Targeting Social Advertising Can Drive Links to Your Site Offline Relationship Building

Relationships and Outreach

Building Relationships with Influencers Creating a value proposition for a relationship What about direct email pitches