SEO Foundations

Introduction to SEO
 Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

Explain the importance of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Describe SEO

Identify SEO components

Highlight the benefits of SEO

 Importance of SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) increases the quantity and improves the quality of traffic to your
website by featuring it in organic search engine results.

SEO helps you:

• Be on top of the search results and be credible

• Gain users’ trust

• Provide better user experience

• Gain a competitive edge

• Increase Return on Investments

 Search Ecosystem Components

Search Engine Optimizers

Users Search Engines
(SEOs)

Use the internet to find Attract huge number of Bring their content to
relevant information users and generate the top of search
revenue from paid search engines to reach users
 Search Ecosystem Components: Incentives

Use internet to find Provide relevant information Use optimization techniques

What they information through: to improve organic ranking
do • Organic search
• Paid search

Want most relevant • Attract huge amount of users Bring their content to
Incentives information • Generate revenue from paid the top of search
search engine to provide it to
users
 What Drives Search Ecosystem

Get information Provide relevant

conveniently information to user

Gain users and

Gain user traffic
serve paid ads to
be profitable
 What Drives Search Ecosystem

Search engines and SEOs work closely. SEOs drive the ecosystem.

Search SEO:
Engine: Organizes
Core of information
everything

The search ecosystem is dynamically complex but profitable.

 SEO and Social Media

SEO can help improve social media and search results.

To be effective with SEO on social media, you must:

• Research and develop a clear list of targeted search terms
• Engage audience using the right keywords
• Have consistency in keywords to raise the overall context of
your social media interactions
• Generate links by writing good articles or videos and
publishing them on social media
• Optimize social content with keywords, links, and SEO
techniques to gain more visibility and reach the right audience
 SEO: Benefits

Benefits of SEO over other channels

Search Engine Optimization Other Channels

Less expensive More expensive

• Pay only for SEO • Pay third-party for PPC and
email marketing
Lasting results
• Efforts continue to bring results Short-lived results

long after • Efforts stop showing results

when you don’t pay

Get right training and follow SEO best practices. Avoid mistakes, marginal and outdated
techniques, and SEO spamming.
 SEOs in Organizations

SEO roles differs depending on the organization size.

Enterprise Small-Medium Business

Agency Individual SEO

SEOs in Enterprises

• Part of a large team

• Work on thousands to millions of pages
• International challenges, multiple languages
• Most likely specialized work
• Little input on direction or strategy
• Researched and defined SEO tactics
• Precedence by other departments
• Programmers or IT support unavailable
• Requires better people skills
SEOs in SMB (Small-Medium Business)

• Single position or small team

• More value
• Multiple responsibilities
• Receive high input on direction and strategies
• Report to Marketing Director or VP
• Work with a variety of disciplines and personalities
SEOs in Agencies

• Work for Marketing Agency, SEO Agency, or Digital

Marketing Agency
• Work within a smaller team
• Have multiple responsibilities
• Manage numerous websites
• Work with variety of clients and business types
• Face new challenges
Individual SEO

• You are the chief operator

• Requires people, personal, and technical skills to
acquire clients
• No success without hard work
• No client, no paycheck
• Dynamic work on different websites
• May have to deal with clients on short budget
 Opportunities and Skills

SEO is a core skill to market online.

There is a need for SEOs in:

• Software companies
• Start-ups
• Search engines

Develop specialized and marketable skills. You can also be a content developer, find niche
in programming, also work in design and development.
 Key Takeaways

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) helps you increase the number of users to your websites and ROI
and provide better user experiences.

SEO helps you optimize your websites for search engines using organic practices that not only
increase the quantity but also improve the quality of traffic to your website.

There are three main components in the search ecosystem: users, search engines, and SEOs.

Search Engine Optimization is comparatively less expensive than other advertising channels. It has
lasting effects as the SEO techniques you use today may continue to provide results in the long run.
Knowledge Check
QUIZ
What is the motive of a search engine?
1

a. To answer questions

b. To develop an audience of searchers

c. To develop an audience of searchers who will click on ads

d. To provide advertising services

 QUIZ
What is the motive of a search engine?
1

a. To answer questions

b. To develop an audience of searchers

c. To develop an audience of searchers who will click on ads

d. To provide advertising services

The correct answer is c

A search engine makes money when searchers click on ads. However, to grow an audience and get clicks, they must
provide a large database of useful information.
QUIZ
What is search engine optimization?
2

a. The process of making changes to a website

b. Making changes to a website to improve its ranking and quality of traffic

c. Utilizing tactics that trick a search engine into assigning your website higher relevancy

d. Creating search engine ads and paying when searchers click on them
 QUIZ
What is search engine optimization?
2

a. The process of making changes to a website

b. Making changes to a website to improve its ranking and quality of traffic

c. Utilizing tactics that trick a search engine into assigning your website higher relevancy

d. Creating search engine ads and paying when searchers click on them

The correct answer is b

Search engine optimization is the process of making changes to a website to increase its relevancy. It improves website
ranking and the quality of traffic by using the correct words and content structure.
SEO Foundations
How Search Engines Work
 Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

Describe major search engines

Explain how search engines work

Define crawling, storing, processing and indexing, and ranking

Explain sitemap and robots.txt

 Major Search Engines

Google, Yahoo, and Bing are the leading search engines.

 Major Search Engines: Google

• It is the largest search engine in the world.

• Most people across the globe use Google.
• It allows you to search in most languages.
• It owns YouTube, which is also a search engine.
• Its results are better and displayed faster than
other search engines due to the PageRank
algorithm.

PageRank attributes qualities to a page and determines its influence by analyzing the complex
structure of links to the page.
 Major Search Engines

Other search engines use similar ranking algorithms.

They consider links, on-page relevance, and other factors to determine their rankings.
 Minor Search Engines

Ask, Aol., WolframAlpha, and DuckDuckGo are some of the minor search engines worldwide.
 International Search Engines

Many search engines cater to a specific country, language, or region.

Qwant (from France) is a new international search engine challenging Google.

 International Search Engines: Yandex

• Its YaBrowser has email service, news, maps, paid

advertising, and translation services.
• It is available in countries like Russia, Belarus,
Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Turkey.
• It is the most used search engine in Russia with over

(Russia) 55.2 Million users.

• It forced Google to make it easy for users to change
their default search engine in May 2017.
 Yandex vs. Google

Algorithm MatrixNet PageRank

Geo Targeting Favors metro areas Favors national
SEO Emphasis On-page Inbound links
User Behavior Major factor Minor factor
Inbound Links Increasing factor Major factor
Spidering Submit sitemaps Aggressive spidering
Meta-keyword Influence Yes – minor No
 International Search Engines: Baidu

Baidu is the number one search engine in China and the fifth most popular site in the world.

• It has 665 million monthly active users and 148

million daily app users.

• It shows image results with thumbnails and offers rich

snippets with additional website content and
information.

(China) • It enables brands develop widgets that provide

additional content, make searches more interactive,
and help users explore brand sites.

• It has a Domain Credibility System that provides more

relevant search results and delivers a better
experience to searchers.
 International Search Engines

SEO for Baidu

• Supports only Mandarin-based websites

• Algorithm similar to Google’s
• Oriented towards Chinese websites
• Local hosting (hosting website in China) is
(China) critical
• Links from Chinese websites are favored
• Domain age (older websites are favored)
 International Search Engines

Naver supports only Korean language.

• It draws from user-generated content and the social

community, which is reflected in the search results.

• It limits the amount of available websites to pull from

(South Korea) in its search results page.

• Its search page has three major sections: Q&A

knowledge base, database search, and web search.
 International Search Engines

SEO for Naver

• Website should be content-focused

• Completely exclude low-quality pages
• Measure visit duration
(South Korea)
• Build website with native Korean language
 How Search Engines Work

• Search engines do not show live results when you

perform a search, but they display results from their
database of websites.

• They make copies of all the websites that they index and
cache. Their algorithms use these copies instead of
relying on the live sites.

You need to ensure that search engines find your website, download it, assess its property, and then
display it accurately in the search results.
 Search Engine Mechanism

The four stages of the search mechanism are:

Crawling Storing Processing and Indexing Ranking

 Crawling

Crawlers

They are also called bots, robots, or spiders. They are search engine-owned
software that crawl every page of the Internet.
 Crawling Process

A crawler crawls the entire internet.

• They follow links around the web and download
information from every page they reach.
• They are sophisticated enough to avoid traps online,
such as infinite loops.
• They must be able to access important information
on a website.

SEOs must block crawlers from accessing private or sensitive information.

 Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a webmaster tool that helps you see the search engine activity.

It helps you see:

• How often Googlebot visits pages
on your website
• How much content is downloaded
and at what speed
• What problems may arise from
the spidering
 Robots.txt

A robots.txt file provides the search engine crawler with the necessary
information to crawl and index the website.

It is a protocol to exclude certain content while

indexing.

Remember that robots.txt:

• Does not secure a website
• Can block development sites for indexing
• Can block non-search content
• Doesn’t influence all bots
 Sitemaps

A sitemap is a representational model of a website's content structure and has two types.

A sitemap for users lists the major XML sitemap lists all pages of a
hierarchy of the website and website in one document. It provides
important pages. It is a visual design a map for search engine spiders to
of the website’s navigation. find every page on the site.
 Storing

• Copies of websites are stored on search engine servers

around the world after crawling.
• You can access these copies from the cache.
o Search engines return results from their copies of
websites instead of live websites.
o Search engines crawl websites from different
locations. Therefore, search results may not always
be personalized for every user’s location.
 Processing and Indexing

● The third phase, processing and indexing, is the most

complex phase in the search engine process, and occurs in
many sub-phases.

● In this phase, search engine algorithms analyze factors like

inbound links, outbound links, content structure, and other
website data. It does this to find the best information on the
Internet for a given search query.

● All of this magic occurs behind-the-scenes and is not visible to

Internet users.
 Ranking

Results are ranked and displayed to users when a user raises a query.

They depend on many factors like relevance, location, past searches, etc.
 Ranking
Search Engine Side
User Side

The query is sent to the search engine servers,

User types in a search query
where information is already indexed.

The ranking algorithm then uses many signals to

rank results, including:
• Relevance
• Links
• Context of search
• Location
• User behavior

Milliseconds later, the ranked search results The search engine ranks all possible results
are displayed to the user. relevant to the search query.
 Key Takeaways

Google, Yahoo, and Bing are the three major search engines. Apart from these, Yandex, Naver, and
Baidu are some other international search engines.
Search engines use spiders, or bots, to find and download pages and documents into their index of
websites. The results that you see are not live results.

The search engine process includes crawling, storing, processing and indexing, and ranking.

A sitemap is a representational, hierarchical model of a website's content structure.

Knowledge Check
QUIZ
What is the search engine index?
1

a. Paper-based files kept in a secure location

b. Database of downloaded websites

c. A worldwide collection of search engines

d. A specialized search engine

 QUIZ
What is the search engine index?
1

a. Paper-based files kept in a secure location

b. Database of downloaded websites

c. A worldwide collection of search engines

d. A specialized search engine

The correct answer is b

A search engine's database of web pages and documents gathered by crawling the internet is called the search engine
index.
QUIZ
What does Robots.txt files and XML sitemaps help search engines with?
2

a. Ranking

b. Storing

c. Spidering

d. Processing
 QUIZ
What does Robots.txt files and XML sitemaps help search engines with?
2

a. Ranking

b. Storing

c. Spidering

d. Processing

The correct answer is c

The Robots.txt files and XML sitemaps help search engine spiders find pages and documents while crawling.
This concludes “How Search Engines Work.”
The Next Lesson is “Types of SEO.”
SEO Foundations
Types of SEO
 Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

Explain the SEO hats

Describe the different types of SEO

Explain SEO best practices

Highlight SEO spam

 SEO Hats

SEO hats represents that type of techniques used by people for optimization.

There are three types of SEO hats:

• White hat
• Gray hat
• Black hat
 White Hat SEO

White hat SEO refers to techniques that are compliant with Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.

Benefits: Risks:
• Security • Takes longer to
• Avoid penalties obtain results
• Build client trust • Presents low-risk
 White Hat SEO

Google Webmaster Guidelines

• It helps every SEO, or business wanting to

implement SEO.
• It gives a significant amount of helpful
information on developing, optimizing and
managing websites.
• It provides specific parameters for acceptable
tactics, as well as tactics to be avoided.
 Black Hat SEO

Black hat SEO refers to techniques that does not follow Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.

It uses various illegitimate techniques for false relevance:

• Cloaking
• False redirects
• Hidden text or links
• Doorway pages
• Scraped content
• Abusing rich snippets

Benefits: Increased website ranking in short time.

Risk: Search engine algorithm updates can penalize sites

 Gray Hat SEO

Gray hat SEO employs tactics not explicitly against the Google Webmaster Guidelines.

False relevancy may include: There are also other tricks such as:
• Keyword stuffing • SEO Squatting
• Duplicate or “thin” content • Google Bombing
• Blog comment spam • Cybersquatting
• Buying positive reviews • Private Blog Networks
• Selling Links • Automating Google Queries
• Negative SEO

Benefits: Obtains faster results with higher cost

Risk: Threat of penalty or exclusion from the search engine
 SEO Mistakes

There are tips and techniques being used from the past that could get
you removed from the search engines.

• Avoid outdated techniques such as

keyword stuffing
• Avoid using wrong keywords
• Avoid techniques that fool the
search engines or falsify relevancy
• Avoid being static.
SEO Mistakes

You should continuously reinforce your

knowledge with:
• Keyword research
• Keyword optimization
• Analytics
• Design principles
• User experience
• Content marketing
• Programming
 SEO Best Practices

Create a website for humans and make it informational,

entertaining, and a reason to return.

Never hide content. Creating content specifically for search

engines bots could result in a penalty.

Optimize snippets as this is the first thing a user will see

from your website.

Use prominent headings as they explain the purpose of the

content.

Develop a clear hierarchy to organize your website content.

Present a link with contextual relevance.

 SEO Spam

Spam is unwanted and unsolicited email, or messages that the recipient did not sign up to receive.

Spam became the word for practicing techniques that violated the search engines policies.
 Falsifying Content

Spam is an attempt to create a false opinion of relevancy through content.

Some of the techniques include:

• Keyword Stuffing
• Keyword Density
• Content Duplication
• Overlinking
• Thin or Shallow Content
• Aggregated or Scraped Content
• Unregulated Spam Comments or Posts

Search engines today can find falsifying content easily through technology and AI capabilities.
 Falsifying Links

Falsifying links is the primary reason for constant updates to the algorithm. Through linking
schemes, black hat or gray hat communities attempt to create false or artificial relevancy.

In 2012, Google’s Penguin update targeted

linking schemes.
• Thousands of websites were dropped
from the index.
• Search engines identified schemes,
communities, and networks who took
payment to publish links on pages.
 Falsifying Website Content

Falsifying website content is done through programming techniques that shows

different results to search engines and users.

Some of the techniques include:

• Doorway pages
• Hidden text
• Phishing/Malicious Content
 Key Takeaways

SEO hats help distinguish optimizers based on the different optimization

techniques they use.

White hat SEOs are optimizers who use techniques defined in Google Webmasters
Guidelines, while Black hat SEOs don’t. Gray hat SEOs use marginal, questionable
tricks to fool the search engine.

There are several best practices that help you ensure effective web optimization
such as, making your website human oriented, not hiding content, good metadata,
organized headings, organized website hierarchy, and practical links.
Knowledge Check
QUIZ
Adhering to the Google Webmaster Guidelines and best practices is called:
1

a. Gray Hat SEO

b. Black Hat SEO

c. White Hat SEO

d. Green Hat SEO

 QUIZ
Adhering to the Google Webmaster Guidelines and best practices is called:
1

a. Gray Hat SEO

b. Black Hat SEO

c. White Hat SEO

d. Green Hat SEO

The correct answer is c

White Hat SEO is considered the “good guy” approach as it respects search engines and other competitors. The tactics
in this approach adhere to Google Webmaster Guidelines and SEO best practices.
QUIZ
What is the best approach to content development?
2

a. Create paragraphs of text for the reader to browse and read

b. Use all images instead of text

c. Break up text by using headings and visual breaks. Avoid large paragraphs

d. Use multiple main headings for best search engine rankings

 QUIZ
What is the best approach to content development?
2

a. Create paragraphs of text for the reader to browse and read

b. Use all images instead of text

c. Break up text by using headings and visual breaks. Avoid large paragraphs

d. Use multiple main headings for best search engine rankings

The correct answer is c

Organize text by using HTML headings. Ideally, a reader should be able to scan the page in a few seconds and locate the
information they need.
 This concludes “Types of SEO.”
The Next Lesson is “Keyword Research and Competitive Intelligence.”
SEO Foundations
Keyword Research and Competitive
Intelligence
 Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

Explain the importance of identifying user intent while

performing keyword research

List the basic methods for performing keyword research

Explain the differences between long tail queries

and short tail queries

Perform basic competitive analysis on search queries

related to your product or service
 Importance of Keyword Research

Everything that you search for in a search engine is based on keywords.

Below are the two important factors for

selecting keywords:

Keywords 1. Keyword traffic: The amount of search

queries recorded against a keyword
2. Competition: The number of websites
targeting the same keyword

Find keywords with high traffic but low competition for faster results.
 User Intent

User intent drives research queries on the Internet.

Research what people type in as search

The context and intent of the search are
queries to find the product or service
more important than the query itself.
you are trying to sell.

Example: Lawyer vs. Attorney Example: Buy vs. Free

• Although Lawyer and Attorney have • Users who search for free product are
nearly the same meaning, the traffic you less likely to make a purchase vs. users
get depends on user intent, which who search for buy product.
among other factors also depends on • You want to rank for phrases with the
geography. word buy and not so much for phrases
with the word free.
 Keyword: Not Provided

In the past, search engines provided keyword data on what phrases users
searched for to reach your website.

This data is no longer provided, or “not provided.” Therefore, SEOs can

no longer make decisions based on this data.
 Keyword Research

Keyword research helps you to identify search phrases and search intent.

Listed below are the four ways of researching

keyword intent:
• Look for brand name
• Look for related keywords and concepts
• Look for specific indicators of time,
location, or features
• Identify the questions and needs
 Four Ways to Perform Keyword Research

1. Industry keywords 2. Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

• Interview people within the • Get information on keywords and search
organization and in the field. queries from your paid search team.
• Get it from adware.

3. Internal site search 4. Competitor keywords

• Use analytics to mine keywords from • To find what words your competitors are
internal site search. ranking for, start by identifying the
keywords they are bidding on.
 Search Queries
Organic search queries can be divided into two broad categories:

1. Short Tail Queries 2. Long Tail Queries

• Shorter queries • Longer queries that make up majority
• Higher search volume of the traffic
• Broad intent • Lower search volume
Example: desk chair • Specific intent
Example: Brown leather desk chair 02824R
 Short Tail Query: Pros and Cons

Pros:
• It can be easy to rank for branded terms.
Example: When a search matches your
domain name

Cons:
• It can be very difficult to rank for short tail
terms with a big-budget.
Example: Industry/category keywords like
attorneys
• Short tail terms are a long-term goal.
• Ranking for a term needs time and money.
 Long Tail Query: Advantages

• Long tail queries have more targeted and

descriptive phrases.
• Searchers of long-tail terms are more likely to
convert.
• There is less competition for long-tail terms.
o When starting out with SEO, focus on long-
tail terms.
• Long tail queries involve smaller budgets and
quicker ROI.
 Competitive Analysis Overview

Competitive analysis is one of the earliest and easiest things you can do. There are
four areas that you can look at while performing competitive analysis.

Competitive terms Impacts your marketing

helps to decide on the efforts by helping you
Difficulty
resources needed to Competition steer clear of hard-to-
(Realistic Perspective)
rank for rank keywords

Content types
and format User experience
Helps to know what Helps you to know what
worked before works now
 Factors in Competitive Analysis
There are four competitive analysis metrics:

Domain Name Domain Authority

Number of Indexed
PPC Terms and
Pages
Advertisers
 Factors in Competitive Analysis

1. Domain name 2. Domain authority

• What are some competitor domain names? • Refers to the strength of the link profile
• Do your keywords have anything in common • Is an actual metric available for free
with established brands?

3. Number of indexed pages 4. PPC terms and advertisers

• Reflects how much search • Reflect what keywords companies are willing
engines care about the domain to pay for
• Assess the competition based on the top ads
that show for a search
 B2B vs. B2C

The basics of SEO apply equally to both B2B and B2C Marketing.

While the keywords that you target will change for B2B and B2C marketing, the high level
strategies of SEO will remain the same.
 Key Takeaways

User intent is the driver of word choice and search demand. It is the
foundation of strong SEO strategies.

Some basic methods for performing keyword research include analyzing industry
keywords, PPC campaigns, internal site search, and competitor keywords.

Short tail keywords are typically short, have high search volume, and
have broad intent.

Long tail keywords are typically long, have lower search volume, and
have specific intent.
Knowledge Check
QUIZ
What is the advantage of targeting long tail terms?
1

a. They have high search counts and high competition and provide fast results

b. They have lower competition and are more specific and usually provide faster results

c. They have no competition and high search volume

d. They have high competition, but low search counts

 QUIZ
What is the advantage of targeting long tail terms?
1

a. They have high search counts and high competition and provide fast results

b. They have lower competition and are more specific and usually provide faster results

c. They have no competition and high search volume

d. They have high competition, but low search counts

The correct answer is b

Long tail keywords have lower search volumes and lower competition. They help you rank faster for very specific and
relevant terms.
QUIZ
What is the most valuable information that keyword research provides?
2

a. A keyword you can use to optimize your website

b. Competitive data

c. Searcher intent

d. Visitor estimates
 QUIZ
What is the most valuable information that keyword research provides?
2

a. A keyword you can use to optimize your website

b. Competitive data

c. Searcher intent

d. Visitor estimates

The correct answer is c

Searcher intent is the most valuable data gained through keyword research. It helps you optimize your business
strategy.
This concludes “Keyword Research and Competitive Intelligence.”
The Next Lesson is “On-Page Optimization.”
SEO Foundations
On-Page Optimization
 Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

Describe the two broad categories of ranking signals

Identify best practices for on-page signals such as title tags,

header tags, URLs, alt text, and others

Identify on-page SEO practices that you should avoid

Describe how natural language processing aims to

understand the meaning behind text
 Relevancy and Popularity

Search Engines use hundreds of signals while ranking web pages.

These can be broadly classified into two categories:

Relevancy
Popularity
On-Page Off-Site
 On-Page Optimization

On-page optimization is the practice of optimizing web pages to rank

higher and get relevant traffic from the search engine.
 On-Page Factors

Primary on-page factors are:

• Title Tags and Meta Descriptions

• Header Tags
• URLs
• Image Alt Text
• Internal Links
• Keywords
• Sitemaps
 On-Page Factors

Title Tags and

Header Tags URLs Image Alt Text Internal Links Keywords Sitemaps
Meta Descriptions

Title Tag

• Title tags influence click-through rates and the first

impression a brand makes.
 On-Page Factors

Title Tags and

Header Tags URLs Image Alt Text Internal Links Keywords Sitemaps
Meta Descriptions

Meta Description

• It is a snippet explaining the contents of a web

document that appears below the title tag in the search
engine results page (SERP).

• It doesn’t directly influence rankings, but does influence

click-through rates.
 On-Page Factors

Title Tags and

Header Tags URLs Image Alt Text Internal Links Keywords Sitemaps
Meta Descriptions

Header tags break the information of a page into hierarchical

H1
order:

H2 H2 • Start with H1, which specifies the main purpose of the page.

• Follow it up with H2 and H3 sub-categories.

H3 H3 H3 • H1 header tags were misused in the past when they were a
primary SEO metric. They are less important now.
 On-Page Factors

Title Tags and

Header Tags URLs Image Alt Text Internal Links Keywords Sitemaps
Meta Descriptions

• A Uniform Resource Locator, or URL, is the

URL address of a web document. It can be either
text, PDFs, images, or others.
www.example.com/seo/ • URLs are important in relevancy analysis and
should contain the keywords you want to rank
for.

• Keep URLs short to make sharing easier.

 On-Page Factors

Title Tags and

Header Tags URLs Image Alt Text Internal Links Keywords Sitemaps
Meta Descriptions

URL Structure: Different parts of a URL convey specific meaning to search engines and users.

Your business domain name:

Domain name
• Should be easy to spell, pronounce, and
share
www.example.com
• Must include keywords, but not too many
• Must be optimized for people and not just for
SEO.
 On-Page Factors

Title Tags and

Header Tags URLs Image Alt Text Internal Links Keywords Sitemaps
Meta Descriptions

Subdirectory • Subdirectory is everything that comes after

the domain name in the URL.

www.example.com/shoes/ • Limit the number of times you use them to

only what is absolutely necessary.
 On-Page Factors

Title Tags and

Header Tags URLs Image Alt Text Internal Links Keywords Sitemaps
Meta Descriptions

• Alt Text, or alternative text, is text that shows

when images cannot be viewed, and it
<img src="house.jpg" describes the image in words.
alt="Villa in Ohio">
• It helps the visually impaired to extract
meaning out of images.
• As computers also cannot “see” images,
search engines use alt text to derive meaning
<img src="house.jpg" from images.
alt="Villa in Ohio">
 On-Page Factors

Title Tags and

Header Tags URLs Image Alt Text Internal Links Keywords Sitemaps
Meta Descriptions

• An internal link points from one web page

to another within a website.
• Internal links help users and search
engines understand the navigational
structure of a website.
• They are important relevancy signals.
 On-Page Factors

Title Tags and

Header Tags URLs Image Alt Text Internal Links Keywords Sitemaps
Meta Descriptions

• When a search engine crawls your website, it uses

Natural Language Processing (NLP) to extract
meaning from website copy.
• Search engines look for keywords and their context.
Therefore, while writing online, use synonyms of
keywords and related words to rank better in the
SERP.

NLP uses algorithms to understand the meaning of text.

 On-Page Factors

Title Tags and

Header Tags URLs Image Alt Text Internal Links Keywords Sitemaps
Meta Descriptions

Sitemaps allow both humans and computers to better understand the

structure and hierarchy of a site.

HTML sitemaps XML sitemaps

• They are meant for humans and are • They exist in the back end and are
generally found in the footer of a formatted for bots or crawlers.
website. • They show search engines the
• They show the major sections and hierarchy and priority of each URL.
hierarchy of a website.
 On-Page Don’ts

Common mistakes to avoid for a well optimized page:

Keyword stuffing Hidden text

Cloaking Repetitive anchor text

 On-Page Don’ts

1. Keyword stuffing
• Placing a keyword many times on a page will not
improve ranking
• Effective in the past, not anymore
• Focus on writing engaging content

2. Hidden text
• Only search engines can read hidden text
• Search engines can detect hidden text on a page,
which will negatively affect rankings
 On-Page Don’ts

3. Repetitive anchor text

• Pages that contain redundant sentences, unnecessary
links, and confusing information flow
• NLP algorithms can recognize redundant links and
unreadable text
• Redundant links do not improve your page rank or link
equity

4. Cloaking
• Showing different results to search engines and users,
which is against the search engines guidelines
• Search engines recognize both sets of results and
penalize websites for cloaking
 On-Page Ranking Factors
There is no web page that is perfectly optimized as the Internet is ever-changing and dynamic.

Some of the top influencing on-page factors:

• Relevant page title
• Page headings
• Anchor text links
• Keyword-based URL
• Keyword or contextual filename
• Alt text in images
• Lists, bullet points and bolded text
 Off-Page Ranking Factors

Some of the top influencing off-page factors are:

• Link factors such as influential domains, unique domain IP
addresses, backlinks without nofollow limits, and so on
• Performance factors such as age of the domain, real business
information, and social signals
• Accessibility factors such as robots.txt file, XML sitemap and
HTTPS protocol
• Behavioral (user) factors such as brand searches, direct
website visits, pages per session, and so on
 Key Takeaways

The two broad categories of ranking signals are relevance (on-page signals) and popularity
(off-page signals).

Important on-page factors are title tags, heading, subheadings, URLs, and alt
text.

Avoid keyword stuffing, hidden text, repetitive anchor text, and cloaking while
optimizing on-page factors.

Natural language processing is a technology that aims to understand the intent and semantic
structure behind text written by humans.
Knowledge Check
QUIZ
Why is the page title or title tag important?
1

a. It is used in the browser title bar and in search engine results

b. It is the primary explanation of the page

c. Search engines give extra weight to the words in the title tag

d. All of the above

 QUIZ
Why is the page title or title tag important?
1

a. It is used in the browser title bar and in search engine results

b. It is the primary explanation of the page

c. Search engines give extra weight to the words in the title tag

d. All of the above

The correct answer is d

All of the above statements explain why page title is important for SEO.
QUIZ
How should SEOs optimize web pages for NLP?
2

a. Create content with a natural language pattern without stressing specific keywords

b. Repeat keywords excessively throughout the text and internal links of a website

c. Focus on only a single keyword for each page

d. Create artificial means of adding keywords into the website

 QUIZ
How should SEOs optimize web pages for NLP?
2

a. A keyword you can use to optimize your website

b. Competitive data

c. Searcher intent

d. Visitor estimates

The correct answer is a

Natural Language Processing is the ability of search engines to evaluate content and find concepts, and not just keywords. This implies that
SEOs should create content with natural language patterns in mind without stressing more on a particular keyword.
This concludes “On-Page Optimization.”
The Next Lesson is “Off-Page Optimization.”
SEO Foundations
Off-Page Optimization
 Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

Describe how links influence search rankings

Explain the three basic principles of link building

Explain how links from different websites impact search

rankings differently

Explain why links from social media sites generally do not

have a direct influence on search rankings

Avoid using potentially penalizable link building tactics such

as buying spammy links
 Signals of Popularity

While on-page optimization is centered on relevancy, off-page optimization is

centered on popularity

Popularity is an off-page factor that depends on hyperlinks to your website.

Signals of Popularity

From an SEO perspective:

• Links are votes of popularity.
• Hyperlinks form the bulk of factors processed by
search engines to rank pages.
• Hyperlinks are difficult to influence as they are
off-page.
• Links are a reliable set of metrics to rank pages,
but this means the results change every day.
 Why Links

Links from influential websites add credibility to your reputation.

People link to your website or share it with others only if they have a compelling reason.
 Principles of Link Building

Link building is inherently difficult and time-consuming and it’s constantly changing.
Consider your business or website context and apply these general principles.

Create link-worthy Proactively participate in off-

content site engagement

Utilize offline relationships

Create Link-Worthy Content

• Content must be designed for users

• Users will always look for the most relevant and up-
to-date content

As an SEO, you must:

• Create content that will make people want to read,
share, and reference in links
• Remember, “Content is the King.”
Participate in Off-Site Engagement

How to build links to your website?

• Spend a lot of time on other sites
• Build online relationships as people
tend to link to people and resources
they know well
Participate in Off-Site Engagement

How to achieve off-site engagement?

• Through social media
• By leaving comments on blogs and promoting
other’s content
• By building genuine relationships so that
people think of you when they’re ready to link
out to others
Utilize Offline Relationships

• You can convert offline relationships to

online benefits.
• Your friends and colleagues are the best
people to promote new online content.
• You can also reach out to local businesses
and agencies.
 Types of Links

• Link equity refers to the value of a link:

o Links from popular websites are more
valuable (high link equity)
o Links from suspicious websites can cause
harm (low link equity)
• Ensure your link sources are trustworthy.
• Links are also classified based on direction:
o Inbound links: helpful for popularity
o Outbound links: links to other websites
• You need high-equity inbound links to build
popularity.
 Rel = “no follow” and Social Media

rel=“nofollow” was originally developed to combat comment spam.

• Links with rel=“nofollow” do not pass link equity,

there is no impact on search rankings.

• Ensure the inbound links you’ve earned are not

marked with this attribute.

• Most links on social media do not pass link equity

as some are hidden from search engines and
others have the rel=“nofollow” attribute.
 Link Building Don’ts
Don’t build spammy links
• Spammy links are meant for bots and usually irrelevant.
• They have little and sometimes negative value.
• It is not a good practice to use spammy links.

Don’t buy links

• Paying for inbound links or backlinks is a gray area in SEO.
• Search engines can identify purchased links.
• It is difficult to calculate the ROI for purchased links.

Don’t acquire reciprocal links

• Some reciprocal links occur naturally.
• Search engines do not encourage building unnatural reciprocal links.
• Don’t go out of your way to acquire reciprocal links; one-way links are better.
 Key Takeaways

Hyperlinks act as votes of popularity on the web.

Three basic principles of link building are creating link-worthy content, engagging
proactively off-site, and building offline relationships.

The value of a backlink (inbound link) depends on the ranking value of the web
page containing it.

The ranking value of a webpage depends on the values of pages that link to it.

Links from social media are either not followed or inaccessible to search engines.
Knowledge Check
QUIZ
Why are links a good assessment of a website’s relevance, influence, and authority?
1

a. The website with the most links is always the best

b. Like reviews, links help search engines judge the relevance of website

c. Links do not provide any kind of valuable measurement of a website

d. Links that are purchased to inflate a website’s relevance are the most valuable
 QUIZ
Why are links a good assessment of a website’s relevance, influence, and authority?
1

a. The website with the most links is always the best

b. Like reviews, links help search engines judge the relevance of website

c. Links do not provide any kind of valuable measurement of a website

d. Links that are purchased to inflate a website’s relevance are the most valuable

The correct answer is b

Links are used to measure a website's relevance as they cannot be influenced by the website’s owner. They signify the
value others place on a website’s content.
QUIZ
What is a difficult yet rewarding way to build links?
2

a. Sending thousands of emails and asking for links from other websites

b. Finding internet directories that will allow you to add a link to your website

c. Creating valuable, interesting, educational, and entertaining content that people like

d. Buying links on other websites that search engines might not be able to find
 QUIZ
What is a difficult yet rewarding way to build links?
2

a. Sending thousands of emails and asking for links from other websites

b. Finding internet directories that will allow you to add a link to your website

c. Creating valuable, interesting, educational, and entertaining content that people like

d. Buying links on other websites that search engines might not be able to find

The correct answer is c

Creating content that people like and want to share is the most effective and long-lasting method of link building.
People link to sites that they like and want to share with others.
SEO Foundations
Duplicate Content
 Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

Define duplicate content

Explain why duplicate content can create problems

Identify common instances of duplicate content

List three potential solutions for duplicate content

 What Duplicate Content Is

Duplicate content refers to two identical pages on the Internet.

While ranking, search engines do not have enough data to determine which of the identical
pages is original. They may pick one arbitrarily.

Example 2: A new product page on a website

Example 1: A spammer takes content has email and social media links to it. The
from a blog and posts it as is. search engine is incapable of evaluating
which source is more important.
 Common Instances

Example 1: WordPress
• Content Management System used by many websites
• Creates duplicate content in default settings

It may create several copies of a new blog post in:

o Actual blog post

o Tag pages

o Archive pages

o Author pages

o Home pages
 Common Instances

Example 2: Ecommerce websites

• From a list of cars, you want to see only the red

ones.

• You will be shown a subset of the master list but

with the same metadata. Subset

• From a search engine’s perspective, this is

List of cars
duplicate content that should rank lower.
 Three Ways to Fix Duplicate Content

1. Remove and Redirect

• You can remove the unnecessary version.
• You can exclude pages or directories by using robots.txt.

2. Rel=“Canonical”
• This HTML tag informs search engines that a given page
is a copy of the “canonical.”
• This tag points to the preferred version of the page.

3. “Noindex, Follow”
• “Noindex” indicates that the page will not be indexed.
• “Follow” means the links will still count.
• This HTML tag informs search engines not to include a certain page in search
results.
 Key Takeaways

Duplicate content is identical content at different URLs.

Search engines find it difficult to distinguish the original version that must rank from the
duplicate ones.

Duplicate content can be an article or blog post that is available on many different URLs
(homepage, author page, category page).

Solutions for duplicate content are: remove and block, rel=“canonical”, and “noindex,
follow”
Knowledge Check
QUIZ
Why is duplicate content a big problem?
1

a. Search engines find it difficult to identify original source content during relevance assessment

b. It isn’t a problem. It's better if the same content is published on different pages

c. It isn’t a problem. Duplicating content helps to increase its relevance

d. Duplicate content takes additional space on the server and confuses the domain name server
 QUIZ
Why is duplicate content a big problem?
1

a. Search engines find it difficult to identify original source content during relevance assessment

b. It isn’t a problem. It's better if the same content is published on different pages

c. It isn’t a problem. Duplicating content helps to increase its relevance

d. Duplicate content takes additional space on the server and confuses the domain name server

The correct answer is a

Each piece of content has its own unique “address” or URL. This enables all external links to go to the same web page, and to
judged if the content is relevant. Duplication diminishes this uniqueness and disables a true relevance calculation.
QUIZ
What is a redirect?
2

a. When a page is replaced with another page

b. When you send your visitor to the homepage

c. A visitor from the search engines

d. A programming instruction to direct visitors from one URL to another URL

 QUIZ
What is a redirect?
2

a. When a page is replaced with another page

b. When you send your visitor to the homepage

c. A visitor from the search engines

d. A programming instruction to direct visitors from one URL to another URL

The correct answer is d

A redirect is an instruction to send visitors of a web page to its new or final web address.
SEO Foundations
Design and Architecture
 Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

Describe how design impacts SEO and user experience

Explain standard best practices of designing a website

Describe the importance of incorporating goal-oriented designs

on every page of a website

Identify when you only need to optimize for search engines

 Importance of Design

• Design impacts all SEO metrics.

• Design is an important factor that search

engine algorithms take into account while
rangking pages.

• Good SEO site architecture is useful for

humans as well as search engines.
 Design Best Practices

• Clickable logo: people expect logos to be clickable

• Predictable navigation: navigation bar generally found
in standard locations to make it easy
• Click-worthy links: links that look clickable and enticing
and are generally underlined
• Column-based layout: it’s a layout that is familiar to
users
• Goal-oriented design: design based on content and
purpose of the website
• Multi-device friendly: ensures website can be viewed on
different devices
 Designing for Search Engines

Web designing takes into consideration both users and search engines.
Here are a few best practices aimed at search engines.

XML Sitemap
• Explains the priority of web pages on the website and how they are
interconnected
• Can be placed in the root directory or submitted directly to the search engine

Robots.txt
• You can add this text file to the root directory to specify the pages to be crawled
• Helps protect the privacy of some website links

Crawler-friendly Media
• Avoid using technologies that search engines can’t read or access
• Use open standards (HTML5) instead
 Key Takeaways

Design greatly affects SEO metrics and how users interact with websites.

Design elements are factored into search algorithms and are part of the
criteria for evaluating the rank-worthiness of online content.

Each URL on a website should provide value as a landing page for at least one
possible search query.

Each page should be designed around a specific and actionable goal.

Elements you should specifically optimize for search engines are XML sitemaps,
robots.txt, and crawler-friendly media.
Knowledge Check
QUIZ
Which design principle focuses on completing a task?
1

a. Robots.txt

b. Clickable logo

c. Standard navigation

d. Goal-oriented design
 QUIZ
Which design principle focuses on completing a task?
1

a. Robots.txt

b. Clickable logo

c. Standard navigation

d. Goal-oriented design

The correct answer is d

Goal-oriented design focuses on the tasks that visitors need to complete like purchasing, filling forms, sharing contact
details, or submitting queries.
QUIZ
Who uses XML sitemaps?
2

a. Human visitors

b. Search engine spiders

c. Email providers

d. Domain registrars
 QUIZ
Who uses XML sitemaps?
2

a. Human visitors

b. Search engine spiders

c. Email providers

d. Domain registrars

The correct answer is b.

XML sitemaps are designed exclusively for search engine spiders.

SEO Foundations
Local SEO
 Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

Summarize the history of local search and how new technologies have
made local search a reality

Explain NAP (Number, Address and Phone Number) and its importance

Give examples of directories that play a big role in local SEO

List some of the top local signals that affect local search results
 Local SEO

• Search engines want to show results as per searcher's

exact location.
• Locations could be approximated using IP addresses in the
past.
• Mobile devices and location technologies have made local
search results a reality. Around 60% of all daily searches
are local.
• Local SEO has drastically changed the job of SEOs.
 NAP
NAP is at the core of local searches. It is short for Name, Address, and Phone number.

When you enter your NAP in different directories ensure it is the same letter-for-letter.

Example

• Do not allow even the slightest inconsistency 123 Happy Street

STE 3
in your NAP across the internet as it is case
123 Happy Street
sensitive. Ste Three

123 Happy Street

ste 3
• Even discrepancies in formats can confuse 123 Happy Street
Unit 3
search engines.
 Directories

Link building through local directories is effective.

• Directories were abused and overused in the past.

Businesses could easily pay and list themselves.

• Directories are now important for local SEO.

• Some local Internet directories for businesses are:

o Yelp
o Urbanspoon
o Yellowpages.com

• Citations from these directories are valuable.

 Top Local Signals

On-Page Signals Inbound Link Signals

• NAP • Anchor text
• Keywords and titles • Linking domain
• Domain authority authority

Reviews and Citations Schema Markup

• Quality of reviews • Addresses

• Quantity of reviews • Contact cards

• Ecommerce products
• Places and more
 Top Local Signals

Photos
• Amount of times pictures were viewed

User Behavior
• Number of people searching your business
• Length of their visit
• Number of clicks on phone number or address
 Key Takeaways

Local SEO has gained prominence with the emergence of location-aware technologies and
methods like GPS, Bluetooth, IP address mapping, and cell tower triangulation.

NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone number.

Important local directories are Google, TripAdvisor, and Yelp.

Local search results filter information like NAP, keywords, reviews, citations, pictures,
searcher behavior data, schema, and business information that is consistent across
pages.
Knowledge Check
QUIZ
NAP stands for:
1

a. Near Address Presence

b. Name And Position

c. Name Address Phone

d. Next Applicant Please

 QUIZ
NAP stands for:
1

a. Near Address Presence

b. Name And Position

c. Name Address Phone

d. Next Applicant Please

The correct answer is c.

NAP is short for name, address, and phone number.

QUIZ
How does a Schema or Microdata assist your local efforts?
2

a. It presents important information in a bright color

b. It sends information directly to a searcher’s mobile device

c. It enables a consistent data format that is used by browsers, operating systems, and search
engines

d. It adds more programming issues to your list of responsibilities

 QUIZ
How does a Schema or Microdata assist your local efforts?
2

a. It presents important information in a bright color

b. It sends information directly to a searcher’s mobile device

c. It enables a consistent data format that is used by browsers, operating systems, and search
engines

d. It adds more programming issues to your list of responsibilities

The correct answer is c.

Schema is a common format for codifying repetitive information online. The format makes it easy to display, process, and use
information like addresses, phone numbers, reviews, and images across browsers, operating systems and devices.
SEO Foundations
Algorithm Updates and SEO Changes
 Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

Describe how the Google Panda and Google Penguin updates

changed SEO

Summarize how Not Provided changed keyword research

Defend the importance of SEO in the ever-evolving Internet

landscape
 Biggest SEO Misconception

• One of the biggest misconceptions in SEO is that you

have to constantly change your tactics.

• The truth is providing high-quality content is always

effective.

• Even though SEO is constantly changing, you don’t have

to change your tactics so often.
 What to Measure

• In the past, you could use ranking reports and

analytics to measure SEO efforts.

• These methods are no longer useful.

• You can now measure different aspects of traffic to

specific pages like:
o on page visit time
o depth of visit
o conversions and more
 Constant Changes

• Search engines constantly strive to improve quality of

search results.

• Google changes its algorithms 300 to 500 times a

year; most changes are unnoticeable. ALGORITHM CHANGED

• Once in a while, a big update causes what is called an

SEO blip or a Google Dance.

• There were three major updates by Google: Panda,

Penguin, and Hummingbird.
 Google Panda Update

• Is an algorithm update that changed SEO radically

• Rejects low quality content and removes websites

and domains from ranking

• Prescribes standards for content to qualify for
ranking
• Impacted 12% of all searches

• Is continuously updated
 Google Penguin Update

• Rejects websites and domains with

purchased links or link farms
• Affected many websites including
established brands
• Raised the benchmark for link building
• Is updated regularly
 Google Penguin Update

• Hummingbird is an AI algorithm that determines the searchers’

intent to display relevant pages.
• This update rewards websites with a natural language flow in
their content.
• It strengthens the long tail search, according to Google.
• RankBrain is a similar algorithm by Google that focuses on
interpreting new and ambiguous words.
 Not Provided

“Not Provided” phrase:

• Search engines initially showed all the keywords
used by people to reach a website

• Search engines, including Google, later switched to

Secure Search

• Analytics now shows the phrase Not Provided

when people use Secure Search
 SEO Is Still Powerful

• Don’t be deterred by these Google algorithm updates

Educate
• Develop quality content that is useful for users Entertain

• Analyze keywords differently

• Content marketing and social media now supplement SEO

efforts
Communicate
 Key Takeaways

Google Panda and Google Penguin updates were bigger and more impactful than
others.

Not Provided has made keyword research more difficult.

SEO is still the most effective and free marketing channel. It is unlikely to disappear in
the near future.
Knowledge Check
QUIZ
Which algorithm change increased the value of high-quality content?
1

a. RankBrain

b. Not Provided

c. Hummingbird

d. Panda
 QUIZ
Which algorithm change increased the value of high-quality content?
1

a. RankBrain

b. Not Provided

c. Hummingbird

d. Panda

The correct answer is d.

The Panda update eliminated low-quality content from Google’s results in order to improve the quality of results and
sites in its index.
QUIZ
Which change tries to find the meaning of new and obscure words that were never
2 searched for?

a. RankBrain

b. Not Provided

c. Hummingbird

d. Panda
 QUIZ
Which change tries to find the meaning of new and obscure words that were never
2 searched for?

a. RankBrain

b. Not Provided

c. Hummingbird

d. Panda

The correct answer is a.

RankBrain is Google’s machine learning algorithm that learns new words and phrases that have never been searched
for before and matches them with relevant content.
SEO Foundations
Integrating SEO with Other Disciplines
 Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

Explain why user experience is at the core of great SEO

Describe how SEO is related to social media, PPC, and

conversion optimization

Describe how SEO and content marketing are intertwined

Explain why analytics is key for success in SEO

 Integrating Marketing Channels

• Digital marketing channels are interdependent.

• SEO should not work in isolation.
• Collaborating with others marketing channels always provides
better results.
• SEO is more powerful as a sum of its parts.
 User Experience Across Channels

• SEO can be a standalone division but it provides a solid foundation for other marketing channels.

• SEO studies website design, user intent, user experience, and how computers and humans
interact with content.

• User experience and SEO are important for all marketing channels.

Social Media Marketing PPC Conversion Rate

 SEO and Content Marketing

• The Panda algorithm raised the standards for content

development.

• SEO is an important part of content marketing.

• SEO supports content development by providing information

on keywords, user intent, and search trends.

• SEO uses above information to help optimize blog pages,

websites, and other content and drive traffic from various

channels.

• Keyword information helps in social promotion, developing

engaging emails and marketing materials, and aligning the

messages in your creatives.

 SEO and Analytics

• Analytics is the primary source of data for SEO.

• It is a measure for SEO efforts and helps identify the

reasons for success or failure.

• Everyone can access analytics.

• It can be directly tied to page performance and content

optimization.

• Insights from analytics provide information on pages searchers visit, for how long

and from which domain source.

• Develop content engagement metrics and apply them to your analytics.

 SEO and Mobile

• SEO also applies to mobile in this mobile-first era.

• Major search engines take a mobile-first approach.

• Local search, mobile specific ads, and applications

are notable areas for Search Engine Optimization.

 SEO for WordPress

• It is easy to apply SEO on WordPress using plugins

• You need to understand Permalink structure which can be
managed through WordPress Settings menu
• Avoid using date or numeric format for Permalinks, rather use
simpler structure based on post or page name
• Yoast SEO is a useful and popular plugin available on WordPress:
o It helps you manage your SEO efforts
o Provides SEO guidance and feedback
o Helps generate XML sitemap
o Blocks duplicate directories
 Key Takeaways

Search engines strive to avoid sending users to web pages that have poor user experiences.
User experience is deeply connected to SEO best practices.

Content that is well optimized for SEO (for humans and crawlers) tends to be effective for
social media, PPC, and content marketing.

Great content attracts users, but well optimized great content is more likely to rank higher
in search engines.

Analytics is paramount to SEO success as it provides the tools and framework for
measuring the effectiveness of SEO efforts.
Knowledge Check
QUIZ
Why is understanding analytics critical for SEO?
1

a. It helps identify and mitigate duplicate content

b. It enables working with sitemaps

c. It provides comprehensive feedback and helps you measure your SEO efforts

d. It helps you track backlinks, link activities, and visitors from links
 QUIZ
Why is understanding analytics critical for SEO?
1

a. It helps identify and mitigate duplicate content

b. It enables working with sitemaps

c. It provides comprehensive feedback and helps you measure your SEO efforts

d. It helps you track backlinks, link activities, and visitors from links

The correct answer is c.

Analytics is a primary tool to measure effectiveness of SEO efforts in increasing number of visitors, improving website
usability, and achieving business objectives.
SEO Foundations
SEO Tools
 Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

List the three types of SEO tools

Describe keyword research and start a project

Explain the importance of having an SEO management tool

List SEO tool providers

 What Are SEO Tools?

• SEO tools help search engine optimizers to optimize pages effectively.

• There are many tools that SEOs use.

• These tools are segregated into three main categories:

o Search engine provided tools
o Keyword research tools
o SEO management tools
 Search Engine Provided Tools
Search engine provided tools enable you to manage your website effectively.
Example:- Google Webmasters Tools.
They provide insights on:

Search engine provided tools come at a cost, but there are also free versions
available with limited features.
 Keyword Research Tools
Keyword research should begin with keyword research tools.

Keyword research tools are used for: Keyword research tools include:

You can later use spreadsheets and whiteboards for detailed analysis.
 Keyword Research Tools

SpyFu is slightly different than conventional keyword research tools.

It provides insights after analyzing the keywords your competitors

use in their websites and campaigns.
 SEO Management Tools

SEO management tools are full suite SEO tools.

They help you entirely manage your SEO and domain efforts.

These tools help you with:

DEMO: Raven SEO
 Other SEO Management Tools

Other full suite SEO management tools include:

 Key Takeaways

Search engines provide webmaster tools to track information on website compatibility,

spidering, and other insights on your website.

Keyword research tools provide extensive insights on keywords that searchers use across
the world.

Full suite SEO tools help you manage your SEO campaigns, information on competitors, and
historical data for comparison.
Knowledge Check
QUIZ
Which is the best tool to test the compatibility of your Robots.txt with Google?
1

a. Google Webmaster Tool

b. SpyFu Competitor Analysis Tool

c. Keyword Research Tool

d. SEO Management Tool

 QUIZ
Which is the best tool to test the compatibility of your Robots.txt with Google?
1

a. Google Webmaster Tool

b. SpyFu Competitor Analysis Tool

c. Keyword Research Tool

d. SEO Management Tool

The correct answer is a.

Google’s Webmaster Tool is an essential tool for SEOs as it provides immediate feedback and reports on technical
issues, sitemaps, robots.txt and other compatibility functions.
QUIZ
What can you use to examine the ranking, website status, and the link profile of your
2 competitor?

a. Google Webmaster Tool

b. SpyFu Competitor Analysis Tool

c. Keyword Research Tool

d. SEO Management Tool

 QUIZ
What can you use to examine the ranking, website status, and the link profile of your
2 competitor?

a. Google Webmaster Tool

b. SpyFu Competitor Analysis Tool

c. Keyword Research Tool

d. SEO Management Tool

The correct answer is d.

A full-suite SEO management tool is the best option. Not only does it enable you to manage your own website, but also
manage the profiles of your competitors.
SEO Foundations
Building a Successful Career in SEO
 Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

List dos and don’ts of managing website accounts

Identify what certifications are suitable for you

Identify marketing functions and skills required

 SEO Career: Top Dos and Don’ts

To start a successful SEO career in a company or to work with clients, you need:

1. Account credentials

• Ideally, the client or company should create an

account and add you as an SEO collaborator.
• You must have credentials for the websites you will
optimize.

• You must have access to tools like Google Analytics

and Google Webmasters Tool.

• You should also have social media account

credentials.
 SEO Career: Top Dos and Don’ts

To start a successful SEO career in a company or to work with clients, you need:

2. To do your research

• Start by finding problems before you begin website

optimization.

• Audit the website for SEO, programming, and other

needs.

• Set proper action plan during research.

• Prioritize your tasks like programming, designing,

and optimization based on research.
 SEO Career: Top Dos and Don’ts

To start a successful SEO career in a company or to work with clients, you need:

3. To understand statistics and set expectations

• Identify trending keywords related to the website’s

domain.

• Understand whether the website is old or new and

whether it lacks links.

• Set realistic expectations with your clients.

• Be careful of what you promise. Inform your clients

that it may take time for results to show.
 SEO Career Paths
Working for a company or agency helps you:

Gain experience of
Learn new techniques
working on different
and tactics from peers
websites

Gain knowledge and Learn various tools

acquire different skill sets and software
 SEO Career Paths
To run a successful SEO business, you need:

A trusted network of Knowledge of sales, Tools for project

providers like programmers account management, management
and copywriters and marketing
 SEO Certifications

Some recognized certification bodies that help you gain an extra edge in
your career are:

omcp.org omcp.org digitalmarketinginstitute.com

 SEO Certifications

Google also provides two major certification options to add value to your profile.

Google Partner Certifications Google Analytics Academy

google.com/partners analytics.google.com/analytics/academy/
 Key Takeaways

Set proper expectations with your clients and associates while working on their
websites.

Maintain and manage client accounts correctly.

Look for enriching experiences of working on a variety of websites, business

types, and challenges.

Certification enhances your knowledge and ensures growth in the industry.

Thank You