DIGITAL MARKETING: Session 11

Search Engine Optimisation

 Learning Objectives

• How do Search Engines work

• Components of SEO
• The Role of SEO as a Marketing Channel

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 How do Search Engines work

1. User types in a Search Query

2. Search Engines looks through the millions of web pages in its index to find
matches
3. These matched results are then ranked in order of relevancy (and
popularity)

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 How do Search Engines work - Crawling

• Crawling is the process by which Search Engines create the index of webpages
related to a Search.

• Search Engines send out a small piece of programme called ‘crawlers’,

‘spiders’ to scan through the documents on the web.

• Once it arrives at a page, it scans through the content and stores selected
pieces in the Search Engine’s databases.

• It then follows all the links on a page, doing the same on all the subsequent
pages.

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 How do Search Engines work - Indexing

• The data captured by the crawlers is stored in massive databases.

• Search Engines uses this data to create an index of all the websites the
crawlers have come across.

• When users type in a Search Query, Search Engines look at their index to
determine which pages to display.

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 How do Search Engines work - Ranking

• There could be hundreds, thousands or more pages that are relevant to a

Search.

• The process by which Search Engines order these pages to show to a user is
called ‘Ranking’.

• This is done by computer algorithms which look at various different signals

called ‘Ranking Factors’.

• The aim is to provide relevant and popular results.

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 Evolution of Ranking

• In the early days of Search (1990s), tactics such as manual submissions, use of
‘meta keywords’ tag and ‘keyword stuffing’ could lead to better rankings.

• Then, in the mid 2000’s, links became an important factor. This led to the rise
of ‘link buying’ / ‘link bombing’.

• In the early 2010s, social media became an important factor.

• Search Engines are constantly evolving their algorithms to ensure the most
relevant sites are displayed to users.

• Blindly following old tactics could harm your SEO today.

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 Why is SEO important?

• ‘Free’ traffic

• Building trust

• SEO practices can help in providing a better experience for your users

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 SEO Ranking Factors

Google considers over 200 factors while deciding on ranking.

Some Important Factors:

1. Website and URL Structure
• Site organised logically into categories and sub-categories
• Descriptive URLs

2. Mobile Friendliness

3. Domain Security
• https

4. Topic Authority
• The more content you publish on a particular topic, the higher each
piece of content belonging to that topic will rank in Google's SERPs.

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 SEO Ranking Factors

Some Important Factors:

5. Keyword intent
• Not just matching the keywords, but the intent behind the search

6. Page Content Structure

• Use of Headers, sub-headers
• Use of supporting images, etc.

7. Page Speed

8. Meta Tags
• Title, keywords, image, etc.

9. Inbound Links
• Indicator of popularity and trust

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 Components of SEO Optimisation

Technical On-page Off-domain

• Site performance • Content is laid out in • Building good quality

• Use of appropriate an easily accessible in-bound links from
search friendly tags manner reputed websites
• Ensuring site is • Content is written for • Right anchor text
readable by Search the user, not search • Strong social media
Engine bots engine presence
• Good internal links • Appropriate use of
relevant keywords
• Regular content
refresh

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 Technical SEO – Site Performance

• Ensure sit is optimised for mobile web

• Review page loading times, compatibility with devices, browsers, etc.
• Review use of JavaScript
• Check on Google’s page speed tool -
https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/

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 Technical SEO – URL Structure

URLs:
• Have clear, descriptive URLs
• Include the keyword in the URL
• Should be simple, readable, logical (not 1234…, etc.)
• Should provide users with a logical understanding of how pages are organised
in your site
• Ensure there are no blank pages in the URL structure

Site Map:
• Have an XML version of sitemap for search engine crawlers
• You can include HTML version of sitemap on website for users

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 Technical SEO – Sitemap

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 Technical SEO – Internal Links

• Have a clear, unbroken internal linking strategy

• Ideally there should be no pages that are floating (without any links to it from
other pages on the site)
• Typically, the Home Page will be the most important page from SEO
perspective – think about which pages you would like to be linked from the
home page, and so on (pyramid structure)
• Have a consistent header and footer with links to key pages
• Use “nofollow” attribute judiciously to conserve link juice

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 Technical SEO – Robots.txt

• Robots.txt is a text file used to instruct search engine bots how to crawl pages
on their website.
• A robots.txt file consists of one or more rules. Each rule blocks (or or allows)
access for a given crawler to a specified file path in that website.
• Example of how it looks like:
User-agent: Googlebot
Disallow: /nogooglebot/
Sitemap: http://www.example.com/sitemap.xml
• The user agent “Googlebot” crawler should not crawl the
folder http://example.com/nogooglebot/or any subdirectories.
• The site's Sitemap file is located at
http://www.example.com/sitemap.xml

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 Technical SEO – Use of Meta Tags

Meta tags help Google identify the specific purpose of a page and what role
each component of that page plays to the topic and target keyword.

Title Tag
• This is usually the title of your article, represented in the HTML of that article.
This helps Google create the blue, clickable headline you see on the SERP itself.
• Ideal length of ~65 characters – preferably including the brand and relevant
keywords
• Keep the title unique to every page

Meta Description
• A URL's meta description is the brief string of text that appears underneath
each blue link on Google's SERPs, summarizing the content inside.

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 On Page SEO

• Ensure content is written for the user

• Use relevant keywords in H1 header tag
• Keyword appearing in first 100 words of page content
• ‘Phrase match’ keywords will generally rank better than keywords in a
different order
• Use of multimedia typically indicates high quality content
• If using images, note that Google can't read or "crawl" images the same
way it crawls text. To help Google read images, give images alt text (or "alt
tags") that best describe the image in context of the webpage on which
the image is published.
• Having pages such as Contact Us, Privacy can help signal that the site is
trustworthy

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 On Page SEO

• Duplicate content on a site can negatively impact SEO

• Use of ‘canonical’ tags can help address this issue

• Ensure proper spelling and grammar, else site might be perceived as low
quality

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 On Page SEO – Keyword Research

Keyword Research is a very important tactic in SEO.

This can help identify the keywords you want to target in your SEO.

Factors to consider:
• What are the terms used by users that are related to your product / service?
• Which keywords are relevant to the website’s content?
• Will users find what they are looking for on the site when they are searching
using these keywords?
• How competitive is the keyword?
• Other brands
• Paid Search

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 On page SEO - Schema

Schema markups help make it easier for Search Engines to better understand
the information on a web page.

These power the rich snippets such as Ratings that you see on the SERPs.

These can help improve the CTRs and lower the Bounce Rates.

Example:

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 Off domain SEO – Link Building

Links from other website are a very important signal of popularity and trust.

Some considerations to keep in mind:

• Links from reputed sites are more valuable.
• Links from websites that are considered important for that topic are
more valuable
• Freshness is important
• Be careful of linking to or getting links from ‘spammy’ sites
• The value that a link passes is likely to be diluted by the number of links
on a page.
• Link building should not just be about SEO – it can also send targeted,
valuable visitors to your site.

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 Off domain SEO – Anchor Text

Anchor text is considered to be one of the strongest signals used in rankings.

If dozens of links point to a page with the right keywords, that page has a very
good probability of ranking well for the targeted phrase in that anchor text.

Consider the two links below:

• Check out our collection of Bridal Jewellery

• Check out our collection of Bridal Jewellery

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 Off domain SEO – Link Building Tactics

• Get your customer to link to you

• Badges, Awards

• Maintain a company blog with valuable, interesting information

• Create content that inspires viral sharing

• Be newsworthy
• Promotions, guest blogging

• Be wary of Paid Links

https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo/growing-popularity-and-links
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 Off domain SEO – Social Media

• The role of Social Media in influencing Organic Search Rankings is still unclear.

• In general, it is believed that a higher number of shares of your content, or

tweets of a page might influence rankings.

• Also, a higher number of followers and interactions with your brand on social
media might indicate popularity and trust.

• All of these could also lead to indirect benefits such as higher searches for
your brand, increased CTRs on your links, etc.

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 SEO - tools

Google Search Console provides tools and reports to help you measure your
site's Search traffic and performance, fix any issues and help you perform
better on Google.

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 Search Console - Average Position

Google Search Console provides Average Position for Keywords, Pages,

Countries and Devices

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 Search Console – Page Inspection

You can view the performance of pages and request Google to reindex the page
if you have made any changes

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 Search Console – Links

You can view both external and internal links

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 SEO Score

Given below is the performance data for a few keywords. Discuss how you
could use this information to create a single score that reflects your
performance on SEO

Paid Search
Keyword Conversions Search Volumes Average Position
K1 25 20,000 6.5
K2 50 30,000 3.5
K3 20 12,000 10
K4 30 35,000 2.5
K5 10 25,000 5
K6 12 5,000 2
K7 45 50,000 2
K8 30 30,000 6
K9 10 10,000 1.5
K10 15 18,000 3

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 LET US SUM UP

• SEO is one of the most important tactics in Digital Marketing

• The rules of the game are constantly evolving
• Some fundamentals include a well designed and performing site that has
content created for the user
• The three broad components of SEO include
– Technical
– On page
– Off domain
• Google Search Console is a valuable tool to aid SEO.

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