digital marketing test 1: SEO

page rank

Google's secret algorithm for ranking web pages in search engine results pages.

How can analysing the links to a competitor's website help aid your own link building strategy?

Use this information to identify sites to target for link requests.

home page

The first page of any website. The home page gives users a glimpse into what your site is about - very much like the index in a book, or a magazine.

key phrase

Two or more words that are combined to form a search query - often referred to as keywords. It is usually better to optimise for a phrase rather than a single word.

xml sitemap

A guide that search engines use to help them index a website, which indicates how many pages there are, how often they are updated and how important they are.

hyperlink

A link in an electronic document that allows you, once you click on it, to follow the link to the relevant web page.

IP address (internet protocol address)

The Internet Protocol (IP) address is an exclusive number that is used to represent every single computer in a network.

landing page

The page a user reaches when clicking on a paid or organic search engine listing. The pages that have the most success are those that match up as closely as possible with the user's search query.

5 main areas of SEO

• A search engine friendly website structure • A well-researched list of key phrases • Content optimised to target those key phrases • Link popularity • User insights

how to get more links to your page?

-create valuable content others want to read (emotive, useful, entertaining, great content) -create tools/documents others want to use -create games -capitalize on software and widgets

SEO's 2 main strategies:

1. On-page optimisation- is achieved by making changes to the HTML code, content and structure of a website, making it more accessible for search engines, and by extension, easier for users to find. 2. Off-page optimisation- is generally focused on building links to the website, and covers activities like social media and digital PR.

Each web page should be optimised for two to three key phrases: the primary key phrase, the secondary and the tertiary. A page can be optimised for up to five key phrases, but it is better to have more niche pages than fewer unfocused pages. Here are some guidelines:

1. Title tag: use the key phrase in the title and as close to the beginning as possible. 2. H1 header tag: use the key phrase in the header tag, and as much as possible in the other H tags. 3. Body content: use the key phrase at least three times, more if there is a lot of content and it makes sense to. You should aim for about 350 words of content. But don't overdo it! That could look like spam to the search engines. 4. Bold: use <strong> tags around the keyword at least once. 5. URL: try to use the key phrase in your page URL. 6. Meta description: use it at least once in the meta description of the page, which should entice users to clickthrough to your site from the SERP. 7. Link anchor text: try to ensure that the keyword is used in the anchor text of the pages linking to you. 8. Domain name: if possible, use the key phrase in your domain name.

steps to key phrase research

1. brainstorm (how do ppl think of your brand ,what words) 2. gather data (survey customers and look at your website referral logs) 3. use keyword research tools

4 things to consider when choosing a keyword:

1. search volume 2. competition 3 propensity to convert 4 value per lead

robots.txt

A file written and stored in the root directory of a website that restricts the search engine spiders from indexing certain pages of the website.

usability

A measure of how easy it is for a user to complete a desired task. Sites with excellent usability fare far better than those that are difficult to use.

link bait

A technique for creating content that is specifically designed to attract links from other web pages.

flash

A technology used to show video and animation on a website. It can be bandwidth heavy and unfriendly to search engine spiders.

Universal Resource Locator (URL)

A web address that is unique to every page on the Internet.

back link

All the links on other pages that will take the user to a specific web page. Each link to that specific page is known as an inbound/backlink. The number of backlinks influences your ranking, so the more backlinks the better - get linking!

HTML

Certain HTML tags are used to structure the information and features within a web page.

heading tags

Heading tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) are standard elements used to define headings and subheadings on a web page. The number indicates the importance, so H1 tags are viewed by the spiders as being more important than H3 tags. **Using target key phrases in your H tags is essential for effective SEO.

search engine spiders

Programs that travel the web, following links and building up the indexes of search engines.

meta tags

Tags that tell search engine spiders what exactly a web page is about. It's important that your meta tags are optimised for the targeted key phrases. Meta tags are made up of meta titles, descriptions and keywords.

alt text

The 'alt' attribute for the IMG HTML tag. It is used in HTML to attribute a text field to an image on a web page, normally with a descriptive function, telling a search engine or user what an image is about and displaying the text in instances where the image is unable to load. Also called Alt Tag.

canonical

The canonical version is the definitive version. In SEO, it refers to a definitive URL.

domain name

The easy-to-read name used to identify an IP address of a server that distinguishes it from other systems on the World Wide Web: our domain name is quirk.biz.

app store optimization

The process of optimising mobile and web applications for the specific web stores in which they are distributed.

anchor text

The visible, clickable text in a link.

referer

When a user clicks on a link from one site to another, the site the user has left is the referrer. Most browsers log the referrer's URL in referrer strings. This information is vital in determining which queries are being used to find specific sites.

rel="nofollow"

can be included in links when you don't want to vouch for the target URL. Search engines do not count nofollow links for ranking purposes. This was introduced by Google to try to combat comment spam.

Search Engine Optimization

the practice of optimising a website to achieve the highest possible ranking on the search engine results pages (SERPs). AKA organic or natural optimization

anchor text

the visible text that forms a link in HTML line

keyword frequency

The number of times a keyword or key phrase appears on a website.

link

A URL embedded on a web page. If you click on the link you will be taken to that page

keyword rankings

Where the keywords or phrases targeted by SEO rank in the search engine results - if your targeted terms do not appear on the first three pages, start worrying.

growing trends in seo include

the influence of social content on search results, mobile SEO and local search.

ways to optimise images with key phrases for SEO:

• Use descriptive, keyword-filled filenames. • Use specific alt tags and title attributes. • Add meta information to the image. Make sure this information is relevant. • Use descriptive captions, and keep relevant copy close to the corresponding media. For example, an image caption and neighbouring text will help to describe content of the image. • Make sure that the header tags and images are relevant to each other.