Tài liệu For_dummies_seo_all_in_one_for_dummies_apr_2009_5285

spine=1.53” Keyword Strategy • What you should know about HTML, JavaScript®, and CSS • The basics of SEO-friendly design • How to manage the mechanics of content • Why your server is important • Your Google AdWords gift card worth $25! How Search Engines Work SEO Web Design • Secrets for selecting keywords and phrases and in Book V, you learn to create content that lures your audience • Link up — the tips in Book VI show how to line up relevant links Linking • Lookin’ good — Book IV helps you design an SEO-friendly site, Creating Content • How to match meta tags and keywords to page content Search Engine Optimization competitive in Books II and III Optimizing the Foundations • What drives search results ALL- IN - ONE • Words are key — learn to develop a keyword strategy and be Analyzing Results Open the book and find: • What makes ’em tick — Book I explores how search engines work and which ones offer the best exposure International SEO If you have a business, you want your Web site to show up quickly when people search for what you’re selling. Here’s the whole story on how to build a site that works, position and promote your site, track and understand your search results, and use keywords effectively — plus a $25 credit on Google AdWords to get your online advertising efforts off to a good start! Search Marketing Boost your bottom line with your $25 Google AdWords™ credit — see inside Competitive Positioning Web Site Development/Optimization er!™ si a E g in th ry e v E Making e n i g n E h Searc n o i t a z i Optim N E A L L - I N - O for a better search showing • What’s under the hood — Book VII shows how to get more from your server and content management system BOOKS IN 10 1 • Confirm your suspicions — discover how to measure your site’s (and your competitor’s) success in Book VIII • Expand your horizons — Book IX helps you globalize your success by marketing in Asia, Europe, and Latin America Go to dummies.com® for more! • Search and find — use SEO and Book X tips to build your brand • How Search Engines Work • Keyword Strategy • Competitive Positioning • SEO Web Design • Creating Content • Linking • Optimizing the Foundations • Analyzing Results • International SEO • Search Marketing $39.99 US / $47.99 CN / £26.99 UK Bruce Clay is a professional consultant on search engine optimization. He’s a nationally recognized resource for Web site promotion tactics and tools, and his Web site, www.bruceclay.com, is mentioned in the online User’s Guide to the Internet. Susan Esparza is a senior editor for bruceclay.com. ISBN 978-0-470-37973-8 Inside — your Google AdWords gift card worth $25 Clay Esparza ™ Bruce Clay and Susan Esparza 01_379738-ffirs.indd iii 3/24/09 6:43:34 PM Search Engine Optimization Download from Wow! eBook ALL-IN-ONE FOR DUMmIES ‰ by Bruce Clay and Susan Esparza Foreword by Danny Sullivan Editor-in-chief, Search Engine Land 01_379738-ffirs.indd i 3/24/09 6:43:34 PM Search Engine Optimization All-in-One For Dummies® Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 111 River Street Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http:// www.wiley.com/go/permissions. Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/ or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ. For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Library of Congress Control Number: 2009924578 ISBN: 978-0-470-37973-8 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 01_379738-ffirs.indd ii 3/24/09 6:43:34 PM About the Authors Bruce Clay is president and founder of Bruce Clay, Inc., which specializes in Internet marketing. Bruce has worked as an executive for several high-technology businesses and comes from a long career as a technical executive with leading Silicon Valley firms, since 1996 in the Internet business consulting arena. Bruce holds a BS in math and computer science and an MBA from Pepperdine University and has written many articles. He has been a speaker at more than one hundred sessions, including Search Engine Strategies, WebmasterWorld, ad:tech, Search Marketing Expo, and many more, and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, PC Week, Wired, SmartMoney, several books, and many other publications. He has also been featured on many podcasts and WebmasterRadio.fm shows, as well as appearing on the NHK one-hour TV special, “Google’s Deep Impact.” Bruce is a principal editor and speaker for SEMJ (Search Engine Marketing Journal), a scholarly research journal for search engine marketing. He has personally authored many of the advanced search engine optimization tools that are available from www.bruceclay.com. Susan Esparza is senior editor for Bruce Clay, Inc. She joined Bruce Clay, Inc. in November 2004 and has written extensively for clients and industry publications, including the SEO Newsletter, The Bruce Clay Blog, and Search Engine Guide. Susan is an editor for SEMJ, a peer-reviewed research journal in the search engine marketing field and co-hosts SEM Synergy, a weekly half-hour radio show on WebmasterRadio.fm. Her goal is to have a longer author biography in the future. 01_379738-ffirs.indd iii 3/24/09 6:43:34 PM Dedication To Cindy, for supporting me through thick and thin; to my coauthor, Susan, for helping with this endeavor. And to the entire SEM community that I’ve been privileged to be a part of for more than a decade. — Bruce Clay To my family, for being excited about the book when I wasn’t — particularly to my brother, Robert, who made me quit my previous job to join Bruce Clay, Inc. And to Bruce himself for being an awesome boss and coauthor. — Susan Esparza Authors’ Acknowledgments Special thanks to Kyle Looper, who had the idea for this project and who has displayed unending patience no matter the setback. Also, thanks to Linda Morris, our editor, who answered a hundred questions as we figured out the process of writing this. Many thanks go to Paula Allen, Johnny Lin, Scott Polk, Katherine Wertz, and the rest of the Bruce Clay, Inc. staff, for their input, expertise, and support. And not least, we’d like to thank the entire search marketing community, without whom this book could not exist — it’s truly a measure of this industry’s willingness to share knowledge that this book was possible. 01_379738-ffirs.indd iv 3/24/09 6:43:34 PM Publisher’s Acknowledgments We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form located at http://dummies.custhelp.com. For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following: Acquisitions and Editorial Composition Services Project Editor: Linda Morris Project Coordinator: Katherine Key Acquisitions Editor: Kyle Looper Layout and Graphics: Sarah Philippart, Christin Swinford Copy Editor: Linda Morris Technical Editor: Paul Chaney Editorial Manager: Jodi Jensen Proofreaders: Evelyn W. Gibson, Jessica Kramer Indexer: Sherry Massey Media Development Project Manager: Laura Moss-Hollister Media Development Assistant Project Manager: Jenny Swisher Media Development Assistant Producers: Angela Denny, Josh Frank, Shawn Patrick, and Kit Malone Editorial Assistant: Amanda Foxworth Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com) Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director Publishing for Consumer Dummies Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher Composition Services Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services 01_379738-ffirs.indd v 3/24/09 6:43:34 PM Contents at a Glance Foreword ...................................................................xxii Introduction ................................................................ 1 Book I: How Search Engines Work ................................. 7 Chapter 1: Putting Search Engines in Context ............................................................... 9 Chapter 2: Meeting the Search Engines ........................................................................ 25 Chapter 3: Recognizing and Reading Search Results .................................................. 39 Chapter 4: Getting Your Site in the Right Results ........................................................ 47 Chapter 5: Knowing What Drives Search Results ........................................................ 65 Chapter 6: Spam Issues: When Search Engines Get Fooled........................................ 75 Book II: Keyword Stragegy ......................................... 85 Chapter 1: Employing Keyword Research Techniques and Tools ............................ 87 Chapter 2: Selecting Keywords ...................................................................................... 97 Chapter 3: Exploiting Pay Per Click Lessons Learned............................................... 109 Chapter 4: Assigning Keywords to Pages ................................................................... 117 Chapter 5: Adding and Maintaining Keywords .......................................................... 129 Book III: Competitive Positioning .............................. 141 Chapter 1: Identifying Your Competitors ................................................................... 143 Chapter 2: Competitive Research Techniques and Tools ........................................ 153 Chapter 3: Applying Collected Data ............................................................................ 179 Book IV: SEO Web Design ......................................... 193 Chapter 1: The Basics of SEO Web Design ................................................................. 195 Chapter 2: Building an SEO-Friendly Site .................................................................... 215 Chapter 3: Making Your Page Search Engine-Compatible ........................................ 241 Chapter 4: Perfecting Navigation and Linking Techniques ...................................... 275 Book V: Creating Content ......................................... 291 Chapter 1: Selecting a Style for Your Audience ......................................................... 293 Chapter 2: Establishing Content Depth and Page Length ......................................... 307 Chapter 3: Adding Keyword-Specific Content ............................................................ 327 Chapter 4: Dealing with Duplicate Content ................................................................ 341 Chapter 5: Adapting and Crediting Your Content ..................................................... 355 02_379738-ftoc.indd vi 3/24/09 6:44:04 PM Book VI: Linking ...................................................... 365 Chapter 1: Employing Linking Strategies .................................................................... 367 Chapter 2: Obtaining Links ........................................................................................... 389 Chapter 3: Structuring Internal Links .......................................................................... 405 Chapter 4: Vetting External Links ................................................................................ 421 Chapter 5: Connecting with Social Networks ............................................................. 435 Book VII: Optimizing the Foundations ....................... 449 Chapter 1: Server Issues: Why Your Server Matters .................................................. 451 Chapter 2: Domain Names: What Your URL Says About You................................... 471 Chapter 3: Using Redirects for SEO ............................................................................. 487 Chapter 4: Implementing 301 Redirects ...................................................................... 495 Chapter 5: Watching Your Backend: Content Management System Troubles....... 509 Chapter 6: Solving SEO Roadblocks ............................................................................ 523 Book VIII: Analyzing Results .................................... 553 Chapter 1: Employing Site Analytics ........................................................................... 535 Chapter 2: Tracking Behavior with Web Analytics.................................................... 557 Chapter 3: Mastering SEO Tools and Reports ............................................................ 571 Book IX: International SEO ....................................... 591 Chapter 1: Discovering International Search Engines ............................................... 593 Chapter 2: Tailoring Your Marketing Message for Asia ............................................ 609 Chapter 3: Staking a Claim in Europe .......................................................................... 621 Chapter 4: Getting Started in Latin America .............................................................. 633 Book X: Search Marketing ........................................ 641 Chapter 1: Discovering Paid Search Marketing.......................................................... 643 Chapter 2: Using SEO to Build Your Brand ................................................................. 669 Chapter 3: Identifying and Reporting Spam ............................................................... 691 Appendix ................................................................. 707 Index ...................................................................... 725 02_379738-ftoc.indd vii 3/24/09 6:44:04 PM Table of Contents Foreword....................................................................xxii Introduction ................................................................. 1 About This Book .............................................................................................. 1 Foolish Assumptions ....................................................................................... 2 How This Book Is Organized .......................................................................... 2 Book I: How Search Engines Work ....................................................... 2 Book II: Keyword Strategy .................................................................... 2 Book III: Competitive Positioning......................................................... 3 Book IV: SEO Web Design ..................................................................... 3 Book V: Creating Content...................................................................... 3 Book VI: Linking ..................................................................................... 3 Book VII: Optimizing the Foundations ................................................ 3 Book VIII: Analyzing Results ................................................................. 3 Book IX: International SEO.................................................................... 4 Book X: Search Marketing ..................................................................... 4 Icons Used in This Book ................................................................................. 4 Conventions Used in This Book ..................................................................... 4 Where to Go from Here ................................................................................... 5 Book I: How Search Engines Work ................................. 7 Chapter 1: Putting Search Engines in Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Identifying Search Engine Users .................................................................. 10 Figuring out how much people spend ............................................... 10 Knowing your demographics ............................................................. 11 Figuring Out Why People Use Search Engines ........................................... 13 Research ............................................................................................... 13 Shopping ............................................................................................... 13 Entertainment....................................................................................... 14 Discovering the Necessary Elements for Getting High Keyword Rankings .............................................................. 16 The advantage of an SEO-compliant site .......................................... 16 Defining a clear subject theme ........................................................... 17 Focusing on consistency ..................................................................... 18 Building for the long term ................................................................... 18 Understanding the Search Engines: They’re a Community...................... 18 Looking at search results: Apples and oranges ............................... 20 How do they get all of that data? ....................................................... 22 02_379738-ftoc.indd viii 3/24/09 6:44:04 PM Table of Contents ix Chapter 2: Meeting the Search Engines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 Finding the Common Threads among the Engines ................................... 25 Getting to Know the Major Engines............................................................. 26 Organic versus paid results................................................................ 27 Directories ............................................................................................ 27 Yahoo!.................................................................................................... 28 Google.................................................................................................... 30 Microsoft Live Search.......................................................................... 32 Checking Out the Rest of the Field: AOL and Ask.com ............................. 33 AOL ........................................................................................................ 33 Ask.com ................................................................................................. 33 Finding Your Niche: Vertical Engines ......................................................... 34 Industry-specific................................................................................... 34 Local ...................................................................................................... 34 Behavioral ............................................................................................. 35 Discovering Internal Site Search.................................................................. 35 Understanding Metasearch Engines ........................................................... 36 Chapter 3: Recognizing and Reading Search Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 Reading the Search Engine Results Page .................................................... 39 Understanding the Golden Triangle ............................................................ 41 Discovering Blended Search ........................................................................ 43 Results of the blended search on the Golden Triangle ................... 43 Understanding the effect of Blended Search .................................... 46 Chapter 4: Getting Your Site in the Right Results. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 Seeking Traffic, Not Ranking ........................................................................ 47 Avoiding Spam ............................................................................................... 48 Understanding Behavioral Search Impact on Ranking ............................. 48 Personalizing results by location....................................................... 49 Personalizing results by Web history ............................................... 50 Personalizing results by demographics ............................................ 50 Opting out of personalized results .................................................... 50 Using Verticals to Rank ................................................................................. 52 Video...................................................................................................... 52 Images ................................................................................................... 53 News ...................................................................................................... 54 Shopping ............................................................................................... 54 Blogs and RSS ....................................................................................... 55 Showing Up in Local Search Results ........................................................... 55 Getting into Google Local ................................................................... 56 Getting into Yahoo! Local ................................................................... 57 Getting into MSN Local (local.msn.com) .......................................... 57 Making the Most of Paid Search Results .................................................... 58 Google AdWords .................................................................................. 58 Yahoo!.................................................................................................... 60 Microsoft Live Search.......................................................................... 62 02_379738-ftoc.indd ix 3/24/09 6:44:05 PM x Search Engine Optimization All-in-One For Dummies Chapter 5: Knowing What Drives Search Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65 Using Advanced Search Operators ............................................................. 66 Combining operators for turbo-powered searching ....................... 68 Searching for images ........................................................................... 69 Searching for videos ............................................................................ 69 Searching for news .............................................................................. 69 Searching through blogs ..................................................................... 70 Searching with maps ........................................................................... 71 Distinguishing between High Traffic and High Conversion Search......... 71 Chapter 6: Spam Issues: When Search Engines Get Fooled . . . . . . . .75 Understanding What Spam Is ....................................................................... 75 Discovering the Types of Spam ................................................................... 76 Hidden text/links .................................................................................. 76 Doorway pages ..................................................................................... 77 Deceptive redirection .......................................................................... 78 Cloaking................................................................................................. 79 Unrelated keywords ............................................................................ 79 Keyword stuffing .................................................................................. 79 Link farms ............................................................................................. 80 Avoiding Being Evil: Ethical Search Marketing .......................................... 80 Realizing That There Are No Promises or Guarantees ............................. 81 Following the SEO Code of Ethics................................................................ 82 Book II: Keyword Stragegy.......................................... 85 Chapter 1: Employing Keyword Research Techniques and Tools. . . .87 Discovering Your Site Theme ...................................................................... 88 Brainstorming for keywords............................................................... 88 Building a subject outline ................................................................... 89 Choosing theme-related keywords .................................................... 91 Doing Your Industry and Competitor Research ........................................ 92 Researching Client Niche Keywords ........................................................... 93 Checking Out Seasonal Keyword Trends ................................................... 93 Evaluating Keyword Research ..................................................................... 95 Chapter 2: Selecting Keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97 Selecting the Proper Keyword Phrases ...................................................... 97 Reinforcing versus Diluting Your Theme ................................................... 99 Picking Keywords Based on Subject Categories ..................................... 104 High traffic keywords ........................................................................ 104 High conversion keywords ............................................................... 106 02_379738-ftoc.indd x 3/24/09 6:44:05 PM Table of Contents xi Chapter 3: Exploiting Pay Per Click Lessons Learned. . . . . . . . . . . . .109 Analyzing Your Pay Per Click Campaigns for Clues About Your Site ... 110 Brand building .................................................................................... 111 Identifying keywords with low click-through rates ....................... 112 Reducing Costs by Overlapping Pay Per Click with Natural Keyword Rankings............................................................. 114 Chapter 4: Assigning Keywords to Pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .117 Understanding What a Search Engine Sees as Keywords ...................... 117 Planning Subject Theme Categories.......................................................... 118 Choosing Landing Pages for Subject Categories ..................................... 121 Organizing Your Primary and Secondary Subjects ................................. 121 Understanding Siloing “Under the Hood” ................................................. 122 Consolidating Themes to Help Search Engines See Your Relevance.... 124 Chapter 5: Adding and Maintaining Keywords. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129 Understanding Keyword Densities, Frequency, and Prominence ......... 130 Adjusting Keywords .................................................................................... 133 Updating Keywords ..................................................................................... 134 Using Tools to Aid Keyword Placement ................................................... 134 Book III: Competitive Positioning............................... 141 Chapter 1: Identifying Your Competitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .143 Getting to Know the Competition .............................................................. 143 Figuring Out the Real Competition ............................................................ 145 Knowing Thyself: Recognizing Your Business Advantages.................... 147 Looking at Conversion as a Competitive Measure .................................. 148 Recognizing the Difference Between Traffic and Conversion ................ 149 Determining True Competitors by Their Measures ................................ 151 Sweating the Small Stuff .............................................................................. 152 Chapter 2: Competitive Research Techniques and Tools . . . . . . . . . .153 Realizing That High Rankings Are Achievable ......................................... 153 Getting All the Facts on Your Competitors .............................................. 154 Calculating the Requirements for Rankings ............................................. 155 Grasping the tools for competitive research: The Page Analyzer.......................................................................... 156 Discovering more tools for competitive research ......................... 161 Mining the source code..................................................................... 162 Seeing why server setup makes a difference ................................. 164 Tracking down competitor links ...................................................... 168 Sizing up your opponent ................................................................... 169 Comparing your content ................................................................... 170 02_379738-ftoc.indd xi 3/24/09 6:44:05 PM xii Search Engine Optimization All-in-One For Dummies Penetrating the Veil of Search Engine Secrecy ........................................ 171 Diving into SERP Research ......................................................................... 172 Doing More SERP Research, Yahoo! and Microsoft Style ....................... 174 Increasing your Web Savvy with the SEMToolBar .................................. 175 Chapter 3: Applying Collected Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .179 Sizing Up Your Page Construction ............................................................ 180 Landing page construction ............................................................... 180 Content ................................................................................................ 184 Engagement objects .......................................................................... 185 Learning from Your Competitors’ Links ................................................... 187 Taking Cues from Your Competitors’ Content Structure ....................... 190 Book IV: SEO Web Design ......................................... 193 Chapter 1: The Basics of SEO Web Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .195 Deciding on the Type of Content for Your Site ........................................ 196 Choosing Keywords .................................................................................... 197 Running a ranking monitor to discover what’s already working ................................................................. 197 Matching Meta tags and keywords to page content ..................... 200 Using Keywords in the Heading Tags ....................................................... 201 Keeping the Code Clean .............................................................................. 203 Organizing Your Assets .............................................................................. 205 Naming Your Files ....................................................................................... 206 Keeping Design Simple ................................................................................ 208 Making a Site Dynamic ................................................................................ 211 Develop a Design Procedure ...................................................................... 212 Chapter 2: Building an SEO-Friendly Site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .215 Preplanning and Organizing your Site ...................................................... 215 Designing Spider-Friendly Code................................................................. 216 Creating a Theme and Style ....................................................................... 218 Writing Rich Text Content .......................................................................... 219 Planning Your Navigation Elements .......................................................... 220 Top navigation ................................................................................... 222 Footer navigation ............................................................................... 223 Side navigation ................................................................................... 224 Implementing a Site Search ........................................................................ 224 Incorporating Engagement Objects into Your Site.................................. 226 Embedding interactive files the SEO-friendly way ......................... 227 Allowing for Expansion ............................................................................... 230 Developing an Update Procedure.............................................................. 231 Balancing Usability and Conversion ......................................................... 232 Usability and SEO working together................................................ 232 Creating pages that sell/convert ...................................................... 236 Creating a strong call to action ........................................................ 238 02_379738-ftoc.indd xii 3/24/09 6:44:05 PM Table of Contents xiii Chapter 3: Making Your Page Search Engine-Compatible. . . . . . . . .241 Optimizing HTML Constructs for Search Engines ................................... 242 The Head section ............................................................................... 242 Body section ....................................................................................... 248 Using Clean Code ......................................................................................... 256 Making Your Site WC3–Compliant ............................................................. 257 Designing with sIFR ..................................................................................... 261 Externalizing the Code ................................................................................ 268 Choosing the Right Navigation .................................................................. 269 Image maps ......................................................................................... 269 Flash .................................................................................................... 270 JavaScript............................................................................................ 270 Text-based navigation ....................................................................... 270 A word about using frames............................................................... 270 Making Use of HTML Content Stacking ..................................................... 271 Implementing the table trick ............................................................ 271 Div tag positioning ............................................................................. 272 Chapter 4: Perfecting Navigation and Linking Techniques . . . . . . . .275 Formulating a Category Structure ............................................................. 276 Selecting Landing Pages ............................................................................. 281 Absolute versus relative linking ................................................................ 283 Dealing with Less-Than-Ideal Types of Navigation.................................. 284 Images ................................................................................................. 284 JavaScript............................................................................................ 285 Flash .................................................................................................... 286 Naming Links ................................................................................................ 288 Book V: Creating Content .......................................... 291 Chapter 1: Selecting a Style for Your Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .293 Knowing Your Demographic ...................................................................... 294 Finding out customer goals .............................................................. 294 Looking at current customer data ................................................... 295 Researching to find out more ........................................................... 296 Interviewing customers..................................................................... 297 Using server logs and analytics ....................................................... 299 Creating a Dynamic Tone ........................................................................... 299 Choosing a Content Style............................................................................ 301 Using Personas to Define Your Audience ................................................. 301 Creating personas .............................................................................. 302 Using personas ................................................................................... 303 Benefits of using personas ................................................................ 305 Drawbacks of using personas........................................................... 305 02_379738-ftoc.indd xiii 3/24/09 6:44:05 PM xiv Search Engine Optimization All-in-One For Dummies Chapter 2: Establishing Content Depth and Page Length . . . . . . . . . .307 Building Enough Content to Rank Well ..................................................... 308 Developing Ideas for Content..................................................................... 309 Brainstorming to get ideas ............................................................... 310 Looking at competitors for content ideas ...................................... 310 Utilizing your offline materials ......................................................... 311 Listening to customers...................................................................... 312 Using Various Types of Content ................................................................ 312 Optimizing Images ....................................................................................... 313 Naming images ................................................................................... 313 Size matters ........................................................................................ 314 Mixing in Video ............................................................................................ 315 Placing videos where they count most ........................................... 316 Saving videos, and a word about formats ...................................... 316 Sizing videos appropriately for your audience .............................. 317 Choosing the “best” video quality ................................................... 317 Choosing the right video length....................................................... 318 Posting your videos to increase traffic ........................................... 318 Making the Text Readable .......................................................................... 318 Allowing User Input ..................................................................................... 322 Creating User Engagement ......................................................................... 323 Writing a Call to Action ............................................................................... 325 Chapter 3: Adding Keyword-Specific Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .327 Creating Your Keyword List ....................................................................... 327 Developing Content Using Your Keywords .............................................. 329 Beginning to write .............................................................................. 330 Keeping it relevant ............................................................................. 331 Including clarifying words ................................................................ 331 Including synonyms to widen your appeal..................................... 332 Dealing with stop words ................................................................... 333 Freshness of the content .................................................................. 333 Dynamically adding content to a page ............................................ 334 Optimizing the Content............................................................................... 334 Digging deeper by running Page Analyzer ...................................... 336 Finding Tools for Keyword Integration ..................................................... 338 Chapter 4: Dealing with Duplicate Content. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .341 Sources of Duplicate Content and How to Resolve Them ...................... 342 Multiple URLs with the same content ............................................. 342 Finding out how many duplicates the search engine thinks you have ..................................................... 343 Avoiding duplicate content on your own site ................................ 344 Avoiding duplications between your different domains .............. 345 Printer-friendly pages ........................................................................ 346 Dynamic pages with session IDs ...................................................... 347 Content syndication .......................................................................... 348 Localization ........................................................................................ 349 02_379738-ftoc.indd xiv 3/24/09 6:44:05 PM Table of Contents xv Mirrors ................................................................................................ 349 CMS duplication ................................................................................. 350 Archives .............................................................................................. 351 Intentional Spam .......................................................................................... 351 Scrapers .............................................................................................. 352 Clueless newbies ................................................................................ 353 Stolen content .................................................................................... 353 Chapter 5: Adapting and Crediting Your Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .355 Optimizing for Local Searches ................................................................... 356 Creating region-specific content ...................................................... 357 Maximizing local visibility ................................................................ 358 Factoring in Intellectual Property Considerations .................................. 359 What to do when your content is stolen......................................... 359 Filing for copyright ............................................................................ 360 Using content from other sites ........................................................ 361 Crediting original authors................................................................. 362 Book VI: Linking ...................................................... 365 Chapter 1: Employing Linking Strategies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .367 Theming Your Site by Subject.................................................................... 367 Web analytics evaluation .................................................................. 372 PPC programs ..................................................................................... 372 Tracked keyword phrases ................................................................ 372 Keyword research.............................................................................. 372 Using search engine operators for discovery ................................ 374 Implementing Clear Subject Themes ........................................................ 375 Siloing ............................................................................................................ 377 Doing Physical Siloing ................................................................................. 378 Doing Virtual Siloing.................................................................................... 380 Anchor text ......................................................................................... 381 Backlinks ............................................................................................. 381 Keyword-rich anchor text ................................................................. 381 Relevant Web sites link to relevant categories .............................. 382 Natural link acquisition ..................................................................... 382 Ethical site relationships .................................................................. 382 Purchased links .................................................................................. 382 External links ...................................................................................... 383 External link anchor text................................................................... 383 Internal linking structure .................................................................. 383 Excessive navigation or cross linking ............................................. 385 Building Links............................................................................................... 385 Link magnets ...................................................................................... 386 Link bait .............................................................................................. 386 Link requests ...................................................................................... 387 Link buying ......................................................................................... 387 02_379738-ftoc.indd xv 3/24/09 6:44:05 PM xvi Search Engine Optimization All-in-One For Dummies Chapter 2: Obtaining Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .389 Researching Links........................................................................................ 389 Soliciting Links ............................................................................................. 393 Requesting unpaid backlinks ........................................................... 393 Soliciting a paid link .......................................................................... 396 Making Use of Link Magnets and Link Bait ............................................... 397 Articles ................................................................................................ 398 Videos .................................................................................................. 398 How Not to Obtain Links ............................................................................ 399 Evaluating Paid Links .................................................................................. 400 Working with RSS Feeds and Syndication ................................................ 401 Creating a press release .................................................................... 402 Spreading the word ........................................................................... 403 Chapter 3: Structuring Internal Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .405 Subject Theming Structure......................................................................... 405 Optimizing Link Equity ............................................................................... 407 Creating and Maintaining Silos .................................................................. 408 Building a Silo: An Illustrated Guide.......................................................... 410 Maintaining Your Silos ................................................................................ 414 Including Traditional Site Maps ................................................................. 415 Using an XML Site Map ............................................................................... 418 Chapter 4: Vetting External Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .421 Identifying Inbound Links ........................................................................... 421 Avoiding Poor Quality Links ...................................................................... 422 Reciprocal links .................................................................................. 422 Incestuous links ................................................................................. 423 Link farms ........................................................................................... 424 Web rings ............................................................................................ 424 Bad neighborhoods ........................................................................... 424 Identifying Quality Links ............................................................................. 426 Complementary subject relevance .................................................. 426 Expert relevance reinforcement ...................................................... 427 Quality testimonial links ................................................................... 428 Finding Other Ways of Gaining Link Equity ............................................. 429 Making the Most of Outbound Links ......................................................... 430 Handling Advertising Links ........................................................................ 431 Dealing with Search Engine Spam ............................................................. 432 Chapter 5: Connecting with Social Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .435 Making Use of Blogs .................................................................................... 435 Discovering Social News Sites ................................................................... 437 Promoting Media on Social Networking Sites .......................................... 438 Social Media Optimization.......................................................................... 440 Community Building.................................................................................... 442 Incorporating Web 2.0 Functioning Tools ................................................ 445 02_379738-ftoc.indd xvi 3/24/09 6:44:05 PM Table of Contents xvii Book VII: Optimizing the Foundations ........................ 449 Chapter 1: Server Issues: Why Your Server Matters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .451 Meeting the Servers..................................................................................... 452 Using the Apache server ................................................................... 452 Using the Microsoft IIS server .......................................................... 452 Using other server options ............................................................... 453 Making Sure Your Server Is Healthy, Happy, and Fast ........................... 453 Running a Check Server tool ............................................................ 454 Indulging the need for speed ............................................................ 457 Excluding Pages and Sites from the Search Engines ............................... 458 Using a robots text file ...................................................................... 458 Using Meta Robots tags..................................................................... 461 Being wise to different search engine robots................................. 462 Creating Custom 404 Pages ........................................................................ 464 Designing a 404 error page ............................................................... 464 Customizing your 404 error page for your server ......................... 466 Monitoring your 404 error logs to spot problems ......................... 467 Fixing Dirty IPs and Other “Bad Neighborhood” Issues ......................... 468 Diagnosing your IP address’s health ............................................... 468 Chapter 2: Domain Names: What Your URL Says About You . . . . . . .471 Selecting Your Domain Name..................................................................... 471 Registering Your Domain Name................................................................. 474 Covering All Your Bases ............................................................................. 475 Country-code TLDs ............................................................................ 475 Generic TLDs ...................................................................................... 477 Vanity domains .................................................................................. 478 Misspellings ........................................................................................ 479 Pointing Multiple Domains to a Single Site Correctly ............................. 480 Choosing the Right Hosting Provider ....................................................... 481 Understanding Subdomains ....................................................................... 484 Why people set up subdomains ....................................................... 484 How search engines view subdomains ........................................... 485 Chapter 3: Using Redirects for SEO. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .487 Discovering the Types of Redirects .......................................................... 487 301 (permanent) redirects ................................................................ 488 302 (temporary) redirects ................................................................ 489 Meta refreshes.................................................................................... 490 JavaScript redirects ........................................................................... 491 Reconciling Your WWW and Non-WWW URLs ........................................ 492 Chapter 4: Implementing 301 Redirects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .495 Getting the Details on How 301 Redirects Work...................................... 495 Implementing a 301 Redirect in Apache .htaccess Files ......................... 496 To add a 301 redirect to a specific page in Apache....................... 498 To 301 redirect an entire domain in Apache .................................. 498 02_379738-ftoc.indd xvii 3/24/09 6:44:05 PM xviii Search Engine Optimization All-in-One For Dummies Implementing a 301 Redirect on a Microsoft IIS Server .......................... 499 To 301 redirect pages in IIS 5.0 and 6.0 ........................................... 499 To 301 redirect an entire domain in IIS 5.0 and 6.0 ....................... 500 To implement a 301 redirect in IIS 7.0 ............................................. 502 Implementing a 301 redirect with ISAPI_Rewrite on an IIS server...................................................... 503 To 301 redirect an old page to a new page in ISAPI_Rewrite ....... 503 To 301 redirect a non-www domain to the www domain in ISAPI_Rewrite ............................................... 504 Using Header Inserts as an Alternate Way to Redirect a Page .............. 504 PHP 301 redirect ................................................................................ 505 ASP 301 redirect ................................................................................. 505 ASP.NET 301 redirect ........................................................................ 506 JSP 301 redirect .................................................................................. 506 ColdFusion 301 redirect .................................................................... 507 CGI Perl 301 redirect.......................................................................... 507 Ruby on Rails 301 redirect ................................................................ 508 Chapter 5: Watching Your Backend: Content Management System Troubles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .509 Avoiding SEO Problems Caused by Content Management Systems ..... 510 Understanding why dynamically generated pages can be friend or foe ............................................................. 510 Dealing with dynamic URLs and session IDs .................................. 511 Rewriting URLs ................................................................................... 513 Choosing the Right Content Management System .................................. 515 Customizing Your CMS for SEO ................................................................. 517 Optimizing Your Yahoo! Store ................................................................... 519 Chapter 6: Solving SEO Roadblocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .523 Inviting Spiders to Your Site ...................................................................... 524 Avoiding 302 Hijacks ................................................................................... 528 Handling Secure Server Problems ............................................................. 530 Book VIII: Analyzing Results ..................................... 553 Chapter 1: Employing Site Analytics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .535 Discovering Web Analytics Basics ............................................................ 535 Web metrics........................................................................................ 536 Web analytics ..................................................................................... 537 Measuring Your Success............................................................................. 538 Identifying what you are tracking .................................................... 539 Choosing key performance indicators ............................................ 541 Measuring reach ................................................................................ 542 Acquisition .......................................................................................... 543 Response metrics............................................................................... 544 02_379738-ftoc.indd xviii 3/24/09 6:44:05 PM