SEO Mistakes That Are Costing You Serious

 SEO Mistakes That Are Costing You
Serious Money!
Stephan Spencer!
Co-Author of The Art of SEO; Author of Google
Power Search; Founder of Netconcepts!
Who Am I? •  Author of Google Power Search & Co-­‐author of The Art of SEO •  Founder of SEO agency Netconcepts •  Sold Netconcepts to Covario in 2010 •  Lived in New Zealand for 8 yrs, returned to US in 2007 •  Invented GravityStream, a pay-­‐for-­‐performance SEO technology (now Covario’s Organic Search OpNmizer) •  Now a free agent, developing an SEO coaching program which will launch soonish 2 © 2009 Stephan M Spencer Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com sspencer@netconcepts.com
10 Common SEO Mistakes •  Mistake #1: Making assumpNons about customer vocabulary •  Mistake #2: No or ineffecNve keyword brainstorming •  Mistake #3: Not using the tools properly •  Mistake #4: Cannibalizing organic search with paid search •  Mistake #5: Ignoring your compeNtors 10 Common SEO Mistakes •  Mistake #6: ExecuNng a social media strategy that isn’t driven by SEO needs •  Mistake #7: Duplicate content •  Mistake #8: WasNng Nme on no-­‐value acNviNes (like meta keywords) •  Mistake #9: Buying into SEO myths •  Mistake #10: UnintenNonally spamming #1: Making assumpNons about customer vocabulary •  Your customer doesn’t use industry-­‐speak •  Just because it makes intuiNve sense doesn’t mean it’s right •  Example: home loan vs. mortgage •  Example: kitchen electrics •  Example: digital camera(s) •  Example: hoodie vs hooded sweatshirt Soovle.com Soovle.com Soovle.com Soovle.com #2: No or ineffecNve keyword brainstorming •  Keyword brainstorming should be integral to your content planning. Think laterally! •  Example: Neopets •  Example: baby furniture manufacturer •  Google Suggest – autocompletes as you type, built into Google.com •  Soovle – autocompletes simultaneously from from Google, Bing, Yahoo, YouTube, Wikipedia, Amazon, Answers.com Soovle.com Soovle.com Soovle.com Soovle.com Soovle.com Soovle.com #3: Not Using the Tools Properly •  Not logging in (to Google Trends, Google AdWords Keyword Tool, etc.) •  Not logging out (when searching) – turn off personalizaNon •  Broad matching by default in AdWords Keyword Tool •  Not running the right Google queries –  EsNmated results w/o including omiied results –  Not using “” or inNtle: operator •  white noise vs. “white noise” vs. inNtle:“white noise” Free version: adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
Free version: adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
#4: Cannibalizing Organic w/ Paid •  The so-­‐called “synergy” of paid search with organic search is olen manifested instead as cannibalizaNon http://searchengineland.com/organic-search-paid-search-are-they-synergistic-or-cannibalistic-36444
#5: Ignoring Your CompeNtors •  Ignore your compeNtors at your peril •  Your compeNtors can teach you a lot –  Where to get links (uncover with tools like Link Research Tools, Open Site Explorer, MajesNcSEO) –  How to flow PageRank –  Building linkworthy content –  How to get them banned from Google J OpenSiteExplorer.org OpenSiteExplorer.org OpenSiteExplorer.org MajesNcSEO.com MajesNcSEO.com LinkResearchTools.com LinkResearchTools.com LinkResearchTools.com LinkResearchTools.com #6: Social Media Minus the SEO •  It’s not a social media “strategy” if it isn’t driven by SEO needs •  Write “link bait” and seed it into social media like StumbleUpon, Digg, Reddit, etc. •  “Power users” on social media get a lot more mileage out of their submissions http://searchengineland.com/the-social-media-underground-22030
#7: Duplicate Content •  MulNple URLs leading to the same piece of content •  Duplicate content triggers Google’s “duplicate content filter” – all but one gets filtered out •  It also results in PageRank diluNon •  Technical reasons: –  CanonicalizaNon (www.domain.com vs. domain.com) –  Session IDs, tracking codes, superfluous parameters •  Indicators of (likely) duplicate content: duplicate Ntle tags, duplicate meta descripNon, duplicate page copy #7: Duplicate Content •  Duplicate Ntle tags •  Check for duplicaNon –  Use special queries with Google to find duplicaNon. –  Over 9,000 duplicates of this Ntle alone … what does it say to Google? •  Purely duplicate Ntles •  CanonicalizaNon •  Parameters & URL bloat site:www.officedepot.com intitle:"Office Supplies: Office Products and Office Furniture: Office Depot"
Even You Know Who Struggles •  1 product •  5 different URLs – 
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DiluNng PageRank Duplicated content Self-­‐compeNng, cannibalizing Diluted crawl equity #8: Low-­‐ (or No) Value AcNviNes •  Meta keywords, anyone? –  Google never supported this worthless tag –  hip://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/
2009/09/google-­‐does-­‐not-­‐use-­‐keywords-­‐meta-­‐
tag.html –  Free info for your compeNtors •  Guaranteed there are items on your SEO to-­‐do list that aren’t worth doing •  Be outcome-­‐focused, not acNvity-­‐focused #9: Buying into SEO Myths •  Myths are created inadvertently, unintenNonally –  Easy to confuse correlaNon with causaNon •  Some myths are perpetuated by snake oil salesmen –  e.g. If some SEO consultant starts talking about how they’ll help you rank by opNmizing your meta tags, turn and run! •  Boiom line: SEO is an experimental science #9: Buying into SEO Myths • 
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Meta tags will boost your rankings Country sites are “duplicate content” JavaScripted links will keep the spiders away Googlebot doesn’t read CSS You must update your home page daily Linking out (such as to Google.com) helps rankings SEO is a one-­‐Nme acNvity SEO is free Google penalizes for duplicate content .edu links get extra weight etc. http://searchengineland.com/36-seo-myths-that-wont-die-but-need-to-40076
http://searchengineland.com/36-more-seo-myths-that-wont-die-but-need-to-41999
http://searchengineland.com/seo-myths-reloaded-clarifcations-consensus-and-controversy-41816
#10: UnintenNonally Spamming •  Too many keyword-­‐stuffed text links •  “SEO copy” = clearly not meant for human consumpNon •  Reordering text with CSS for SEO •  Inappropriate use of CSS “Image Replacement” •  Hidden text or hidden links •  TargeNng irrelevant keywords Hidden link – in the “All” of “All Rights Reserved” – leads to a hallway page Now What? •  What can you do tomorrow that will improve your site’s SEO? Write down 3 things. Get ‘em done! •  Remember: you eat an elephant one bite at a Nme •  To contact me: stephan@stephanspencer.com •  For an SEO Myths whitepaper, e-­‐mail admin@stephanspencer.com