book

Search Engine Optimization Bible, Second Edition

Name: Search Engine Optimization Bible, Second Edition
Author: Jerri L. Ledford
ISBN: 9780470452646

by Jerri L. Ledford

April 2009

Beginner to intermediate

528 pages

14h 12m

English

Wiley

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Copyright
Credits
About the Author
About the Technical Editor
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Who Should Read This BookHow This Book Is OrganizedConventions and featuresTips, Notes, and CautionsWhere to Go From Here
I. Understanding SEO
1. Search Engine Basics
1.1. What Is a Search Engine?1.2. Anatomy of a Search Engine1.2.1. Query Interface1.2.2. Search engine results pages1.2.3. Crawlers, spiders, and robots1.2.4. Databases1.2.4.1. Quality Considerations1.2.5. Search algorithms1.2.5.1. On-page Algorithms1.2.5.2. Whole-site Algorithms1.2.5.3. Off-site Algorithms1.2.5.4. Additional Algorithms1.2.6. Retrieval and ranking1.3. Characteristics of Search1.4. Classifications of Search Engines1.4.1. Primary search engines1.4.1.1. Google Overview1.4.1.2. Yahoo! Overview1.4.1.3. MSN Overview1.4.2. Secondary search engines1.4.3. Targeted search engines1.5. Putting Search Engines to Work for You1.6. Manipulating Search Engines1.6.1. SEO is hard work1.6.2. Scheduling SEO efforts
2. The Theory of Long Tail Search
2.1. What Is Long Tail Search?2.1.1. The Long Tail in action2.1.2. Characteristics of Long Tail keywords2.2. Long Tail vs. Broad Head2.3. Working from the Bottom Up2.4. Tying It All Together
3. Creating an SEO Plan
3.1. Understanding Why You Need SEO3.2. Setting SEO Goals3.3. Creating Your SEO Plan3.3.1. Picky details3.3.2. Prioritizing pages3.3.3. Site assessment3.3.4. Finishing the plan3.3.5. Follow-up3.4. Understanding Organic SEO3.5. Achieving Organic SEO3.5.1. Web site content3.5.2. Google Analytics3.5.3. Internal and external links3.5.4. User experience3.5.5. Site interactivity

II. SEO Strategies
4. Building Your Site for SEO
4.1. Before You Build Your Site4.1.1. Know your target4.1.2. Page elements4.1.2.1. Text4.1.2.2. Tags4.1.2.3. Links4.1.2.4. Popularity4.1.2.5. Other Criteria to Consider4.2. Understanding Web Site Optimization4.2.1. Does hosting matter?4.2.2. Domain-naming tips4.2.2.1. Choosing the right site name4.2.2.2. Considering URL Structures4.2.3. Understanding usability4.2.3.1. Navigation Knowledge4.2.3.2. Usability Considerations4.3. Components of an SEO-Friendly Page4.3.1. Understanding entry and exit pages4.3.2. Using powerful titles4.3.3. Creating great content4.3.4. Maximizing graphics4.4. Problem Pages and Work-Arounds4.4.1. Painful portals4.4.2. Fussy frames4.4.3. Cranky cookies4.5. Programming Languages and SEO4.5.1. JavaScript4.5.2. Flash4.5.3. Dynamic ASP4.5.4. PHP4.6. Other Design Concerns4.6.1. Domain cloaking4.6.2. Duplicating content4.6.3. Hidden pages4.6.4. 404 error pages4.7. Validating Your HTML4.8. After Your Site Is Built4.8.1. Beware of content thieves4.8.2. Dealing with updates and site changes
5. Keywords and Your Web Site
5.1. The Importance of Keywords5.2. Understanding Heuristics5.2.1. Patterns, proximity, and stemming5.2.2. Heuristics and site usability5.3. Natural Language vs. Boolean Searches5.3.1. In the beginning there was Boolean5.3.2. Search language matures, naturally5.4. Picking the Right Keywords5.5. What's the Right Keyword Density?5.6. Taking Advantage of Organic Keywords5.7. Avoid Keyword Stuffing5.8. More About Keyword Optimization
6. Pay-per-Click and SEO
6.1. Understanding How PPC Affects SEO6.2. Before You PPC6.3. How Pay-per-Click Works6.3.1. Determining visitor value6.3.2. Putting pay-per-click to work6.4. Pay-per-Click Categories6.4.1. Keyword pay-per-click programs6.4.2. Product pay-per-click programs6.4.3. Service pay-per-click programs6.5. Keyword Competitive Research6.5.1. Keyword suggestion tools6.5.2. Ongoing keyword testing6.6. Choosing Effective Keywords6.6.1. Creating your first keyword list6.6.2. Forbidden search terms and poison words6.6.3. Forecasting search volumes6.6.4. Finalizing your keyword list6.7. Writing Ad Descriptions6.8. Monitoring and Analyzing Results
7. Maximizing Pay-per-Click Strategies
7.1. Understanding Keyword Placement7.2. Alt Attributes and Other Tags7.2.1. Alt tags in graphic links7.2.2. Title tags7.2.3. Meta description tags7.2.4. Anchor text7.2.5. Header tag content7.2.5.1. Losing Sleep Over Poor Sleep Habits?7.2.5.1.1. Your Mattress Could Keep You Awake7.2.5.1.2. Choosing the Right Mattress7.2.6. Body text7.3. URLs and Filenames
8. Increasing Keyword Success
8.1. What's Better: Traffic or Conversions?8.1.1. Setting goals8.1.2. Achieving conversions8.2. Pay-per-Click Advertisement Text8.2.1. Category words and product words8.2.2. Writing the ad8.3. Understanding Landing Pages8.4. Understanding and Using A/B Testing8.5. Tying It All Together
9. Understanding and Using Campaign Targeting
9.1. What Is Behavioral Targeting?9.2. Benefits of Behavioral Targeting9.3. Taking Advantage of Behavioral Targeting9.3.1. Meeting the customer halfway9.3.2. It's all in the timing9.4. Additional Behavioral Targeting Tips9.4.1. Multiple users require multiple placement methods9.4.2. Behavioral targeting and privacy concerns9.5. Then There Is Placement Targeting9.6. Making Placement Ads Work for You
10. Managing Keyword and Pay-per-Click Campaigns
10.1. Keyword Budgeting10.1.1. The value of a conversion10.1.2. Budgeting based on conversions10.2. Understanding Bid Management10.2.1. Manual bid management10.2.2. Automated bid management10.3. Tracking Keywords and Conversions10.4. Reducing Pay-per-Click Costs10.4.1. Managing PPC campaigns10.4.2. Negative keywords10.4.3. Dayparting10.5. Improving Click-Through Rates10.6. The ROI of PPC
11. Keyword Tools and Services
11.1. Google AdWords11.1.1. Campaign management11.1.2. Reports11.1.3. Analytics11.1.4. My Account11.1.5. Print Ads11.2. Yahoo! Search Marketing11.2.1. Dashboard11.2.2. Campaigns11.2.3. Reports11.2.4. Administration11.3. Microsoft adCenter11.3.1. Campaign11.3.2. Accounts & Billing11.3.3. Research11.3.4. Reports
12. Tagging Your Web Site
12.1. Why Site Tagging Is Important12.2. How Site Tagging Works12.3. Additional HTML Tags12.3.1. Nofollow12.3.2. Strong and emphasis12.3.3. Noframes12.3.4. Table summary tag12.3.5. Acronym/abbreviation tags12.3.6. Virtual includes12.4. Using Redirect Pages
13. The Content Piece of the Puzzle
13.1. How Web Site Content Affects SEO13.2. Elements of Competitive Content13.3. Using Duplicate Content13.4. Search Engine Spam13.4.1. Doorway pages13.4.2. Hidden and tiny text13.4.3. SEO oversubmission13.4.4. Page jacking13.4.5. Bait and switch13.4.6. Cloaking13.4.7. Hidden links13.5. Considerations for Multilingual Sites13.6. Content Management Systems13.6.1. When should you use CMS?13.6.2. Choosing the right CMS13.6.3. How CMS affects SEO13.7. Understanding and Using Viral Content
14. Using Communities to Improve SEO
14.1. The Value of Communities14.1.1. Community statistics14.1.2. User expectations14.2. Leveraging Communities for SEO14.2.1. Creating a dialog14.2.2. Improving keyword effectiveness14.3. Choosing the Right Type of Community14.4. Proper Care and Feeding of Communities14.4.1. Prelaunch preparations14.4.1.1. Tools14.4.1.2. Building buzz14.4.1.3. Beginning in beta14.4.2. Once your community goes live14.4.3. Maintaining your community over time
15. Understanding the Role of Links and Linking
15.1. How Links Affect SEO15.2. How Links and Linking Work15.2.1. Snagging inbound links15.2.2. Creating outbound links15.2.3. Taking advantage of cross-linking15.2.4. The skinny on link farms15.3. The Basics of Link Building15.4. Using Internal Links15.5. Judging the Effectiveness of Your Links
III. Optimizing Search Strategies
16. Adding Your Site to Directories
16.1. What Are Directories?16.1.1. Submitting to directories16.1.2. Major online directories16.1.3. Paid vs. free directories16.2. Geo-Targeting SEO Strategies16.3. Using Submission Tools
17. Pay-for-Inclusion Services
17.1. When to Use Pay-for-Inclusion Services17.2. Understanding the Business Model17.3. Managing Paid Services17.4. Hiring the Right Professionals17.5. Contract Considerations17.6. When the Relationship Isn't Working
18. Robots, Spiders, and Crawlers
18.1. What Are Robots, Spiders, and Crawlers?18.2. What's the Robot Exclusion Standard?18.3. Robots Meta Tag18.4. Inclusion with XML Site Mapping18.4.1. Creating your own XML site map18.4.2. Submitting your site map
19. The Truth About SEO Spam
19.1. What Constitutes SEO Spam?19.2. Why SEO Spam Is a Bad Idea19.3. Avoiding SEO Spam19.3.1. Smart Site Design
20. Adding Social-Media Optimization
20.1. What Is Social-Media Optimization?20.1.1. What's different about social-media optimization?20.2. The Value of Social Media20.3. Social-Media Strategies20.4. Measuring Social-Media Optimization
21. Mobile Search Engine Optimization
21.1. The Mobile User Experience21.1.1. Mobile networks21.1.2. Mobile devices21.1.3. How mobile users use the web21.2. Mobile Web Site Design21.3. Mobile SEO21.4. The Rapid Evolution of Mobility
22. Monetizing Traffic as an SEO Strategy
22.1. Understanding Ad Placement Services22.2. Monetization Service Overviews22.3. Monetization Strategies for SEO22.3.1. Choosing the right monetization strategy22.3.2. Adding monetization to your web site22.3.3. Placement: deciding where ads appear on the page22.3.4. Monitoring success with monetization
23. Plugging In to Seo
23.1. Understanding Plug-Ins23.2. Choosing the Right Plug-In23.2.1. Google Toolbar23.2.2. Alexa Toolbar23.2.3. SEOQuake23.2.4. SEO for Firefox23.2.5. SEO tools for the chrome browser
24. Automated Optimization
24.1. Should You Automate?24.2. Automation Tools
IV. Maintaining SEO
25. SEO Beyond the Launch
25.1. It's Not Over25.1.1. Monitoring your position25.1.2. Monitoring web analytics25.1.3. Monitoring keywords and links25.1.4. Keeping content fresh25.2. Using Content Management Systems25.3. SEO Problems and Solutions25.3.1. You've been banned!25.3.2. Content scraping25.3.3. Click fraud
26. Analyzing Success
26.1. Analyzing SEO Successes26.1.1. Managing SEO expectations26.1.1.1. SEO time line26.1.1.2. Hands-on involvement26.1.2. Find yourself26.2. Analyzing Web Stats26.2.1. Baseline statistics26.2.2. Referring web sites26.2.3. Referring keywords (paid and organic)26.2.4. Visit duration26.2.5. Visit depth26.2.6. Repeat visits26.2.7. Additional statistics26.3. Competitive Analysis26.4. Conversion Analysis26.5. Analyzing Server Logs
V. Appendices
A. Optimization for Major Search Engines
A.1. Optimization for GoogleA.1.1. Understanding Google PageRankA.1.2. Google Webmaster ToolsA.1.3. Google APIsA.2. Optimization for MSNA.3. Optimization for Yahoo!
B. Industry Interviews
B.1. Eric Bloomfield, Vice President of Client Service & Technology, SendTrafficB.2. Jessica Bowman, SEMPO Board of Directors, In-House SEO ExpertB.3. Brian Combs, Founder and Senior VP, Apogee SearchB.4. Rhea Drysdale, SEO and Social Media Coordinator, We Build PagesB.5. Paul Dyer, Director of New and Interactive Media, CarryOn CommunicationsB.6. Miki Dzugan, President, Rapport Online, Inc.B.7. Rand Fishkin, CEO and Co-Founder, SEOmozB.8. Duane Forrester, Founding Co-Chair for the In-house SEM Committee with SEMPOB.9. Stephen Harris, Managing Director, SPH AssociatesB.10. Ryan Hoppe, Director of Marketing, ATGB.11. Diane Kuehn, President & CEO, VisionPoint MarketingB.12. Matt Naeger, Executive VP, Operations, IMPAQTB.13. Simon Otter, Technical Manager, thebigwordB.14. Sarah Skerik, VP Distribution Services, PR NewswireB.15. Andrew Wetzler, President, MoreVisibilityB.16. Jill Whalen, Founder and CEO, High Rankings
C. SEO Software, Tools, and Resources
C.1. Major Search Engines and DirectoriesC.2. Secondary Search EnginesC.3. Meta Search EnginesC.4. Keyword ToolsC.5. Content ResourcesC.6. RSS Feeds and ApplicationsC.7. Search Engine Marketing Resources and ArticlesC.8. Registration Services and ProgramsC.9. Link Resources and SoftwareC.10. Pay-per-ClickC.11. Social-Media ToolsC.12. Mobile Optimization Tools
D. Worksheets
D.1. SEO ChecklistD.1.1. Current StateD.1.2. Keyword ResearchD.1.3. Web Site DesignD.1.4. Write Clean CodeD.1.5. Make Use of Tags and AttributesD.1.6. SEO-Approved ContentD.1.7. Manual SubmissionsD.1.8. Linking StrategiesD.1.9. ConversionsD.2. Four Phases of the Buying Process WorksheetD.2.1. Prep WorkD.2.2. Phase 1: CuriosityD.2.3. Phase 2: Deeper CuriosityD.2.4. Phase 3: Justification and ValueD.2.5. Phase 4: Purchasing and OwningD.3. Keyword Checklist
Glossary

Content preview from Search Engine Optimization Bible, Second Edition

Appendix D. Worksheets

IN THIS APPENDIX

SEO Plan
SEO Checklist
Four Phases of the Buying Process Worksheet
Keyword Worksheet
PPC Keyword Worksheet
Keyword Checklist
Keyword Performance Worksheet
A/B Testing Worksheet
PPC Competition Worksheet
Link-Tracking Worksheet
Rank-Tracking Worksheet

SEO Plan

Goals and Strategies	Notes
Primary goal
Secondary goal
Secondary goal
Secondary goal
Description of marketing strategy
Who are your best customers and why?
Who is your competition? (Include URLs)
What's the geographic scope of your marketing?
Web Site Design
Corporate history, news, PR, or current events?
Executive bios?
Product and service information?
Customer support/live help?
Online requests for information or contact forms?
Membership-only content?
Contact information?
Forums?
Educational materials?
Links or resources?
Archived content?
Unique title tags on each page?
Meta keyword tags?
Meta description tags?
Headers?
Alt tags?
Anchor text?
Links and linking strategies?
Keyword density? (Suggested 3–7 percent)
Keyword Considerations
Keyword brainstorming
Initial keyword list
Keyword research
Pay-per-click strategies
Content Considerations
Well written and reader friendly?
Keywords included in body text?
Keywords included in titles?
Keywords included in directories?
Keywords included in file names?
Keywords contained in images? (Should be avoided)
Keyword variation?

SEO Checklist

Current State

Check your rank in the major search engines.

Don't overuse or misuse rank-checking automation.

If it works, ...

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