Search Engine Optimization 101: A New Hope

1. Search Engine Optimization 101: A New Hope May 12, 2010

2. University of Nebraska Medical Center Agenda • Why SEO? • How Search Works • Quick and Easy SEO Strategies • Next Steps

3. University of Nebraska Medical Center Why SEO?

4. University of Nebraska Medical Center The Case for Search • Of anything you do with your website – writing great content, building a beautiful architecture, adding lovely graphics – no single factor has a greater potential to affect your site more than search • We’re in the business of pushing information into a very crowded, high signal-to-noise environment • The dominance of search is indisputable (see: Google) • For those that don’t know us, that’s how they find our sites • For those that do know us, that’s how they use our sites • If you’re not found, you’re wasting your time and energy

5. University of Nebraska Medical Center Search Meets the Needs of Users • Task-Oriented – Fits the “get in, get it, get out” utility of the web • User-directed – Web users get only the content they are looking for; it answers their questions* • Easy – Does not require users to learn each site’s navigation or structure; matches their language to that of the site • Specific – Search combined with specific content drives use of the web** * see http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20040816.html ** see http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20030616.html

6. University of Nebraska Medical Center But… • Web users are poor searchers: About 51% of first queries are successful, 32% of second queries are successful, and 18% of third queries are successful. • Lesson: Repetition does not improve results! • Web users are merciless: About 47% of searchers will give search just one chance; only 30% will give it a second shot; and just 25% will give it more than 2 chances. • Lesson: Searchers getting it “right” the first time is very important. • Web users demand accuracy: On average, about 70% of searchers will look at the top search result; 50% will look at the top 3 results; 10% will look at the top 10; and just 3% look beyond the first page of results. • Lesson: Getting the highest possible rank can only benefit you; getting on page one is essential to being noticed.

7. University of Nebraska Medical Center So…What the Heck is SEO? “Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site or a web page from search engines via "natural" or un-paid ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results…The theory is that the earlier (or higher) a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine… As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work and what people search for. Optimizing a website primarily involves editing its content and HTML and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines.” -- “Search Engine Optimization,” Wikipedia, 5/11/2010

8. University of Nebraska Medical Center “That Sounds Like a Lot of Work” • It is. It is a process, not a project. • Really need to balance how you want your site to perform vs. how it’s actually performing • Consider your resources and how your key audiences are already getting to your site first • Remember, the web team is also doing things to help move search forward, so holding off a little while may also be prudent, depending on your short term need

9. University of Nebraska Medical Center Everything You Wanted to Know About Search in 2 Slides or Less

10. University of Nebraska Medical Center The One Page Explanation • Crawler search engines, such as Google or Bing, “read” web pages the way most of us would – from top to bottom. The stuff that’s higher up on the page is generally considered more important than what’s lower in the page. • The difference is that search engines read the HTML code, rather than just the elements we see (e.g. it doesn’t “see” graphics or pictures, only file locations). You can simulate a crawler’s view of your page here - http://www.webconfs.com/search-engine-spider-simulator.php. • There is an additional layer of data, called metadata because it sits “above” the visible data in a page, which is there specifically for search engines to read and catalog • Once a page is read by the crawler, it follows the links from that page to other pages, which are then read. These links affect the target page’s rating as well. • All these pieces are then filed into the search index and run through an algorithm to form a page ranking, which is the search engine’s way of rating the content on a variety of factors to determine what position it takes in related search queries.

11. University of Nebraska Medical Center What is a “Successful Search?” Successful searches, are, in short, ones which return results that drive traffic to the target site – your site. Hallmarks of strong search performance are: • Target page appearing in the top 3 results of a select keyword search • Result informs visitors of the page’s content to assist in decision-making, even if they don’t want that page • Follows basic best practices for format and presentation

12. University of Nebraska Medical Center Simple SEO for the Overworked Web Developer

13. University of Nebraska Medical Center Assess the Situation Before you launch into an SEO campaign, first assess how your site’s doing by: • Asking your colleagues – is it easy to find our site in Google or Bing? Are there places you want to be found but aren’t? • Searching for your site externally using some search queries you would like to be included in (i.e. Neurological Sciences might want to appear in searches on “nebraska neurological sciences,” “neurology omaha” and “UNMC neurology”) • Googling your site using UNMC’s search engine – is there any difference between on-campus and global searches? • Getting some info – You can see where you currently are using tools like this one: http://www.webconfs.com/domain-stats.php

14. University of Nebraska Medical Center Identify Keywords “Keywords” here refers to words you would like users to associate with your site (i.e., Neurological Sciences might like “neurological sciences,” “neurology,” “nebraska” and “omaha” associated with their site). • Start internally – The searches used in the previous step can and should inform the keywords you want to “own” in search. • Think externally – Keywords are ideally user-defined, not department-defined. The more commonly-used a term is (for example, a topic vs. a specific name) the more likely it is to be searched on. • Think in phrases – the chances of owning a single word in the explosive web environment are slim to nil. Use keywords in unison to narrow the search and improve your chances of “placing.” • Look to variations – in our example, using neurology in addition to Neurological Sciences gives you a better chance of being found. Handy utility for comparing terms - http://www.webconfs.com/keyword-playground.php

15. University of Nebraska Medical Center Keywords Continued • Assess the competition – Some searches are more sought after than others; in our example, “neurology” is more competed for than “neurological sciences”. You can use Google’s Keyword Tool (https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal) to see competition for keywords; the new Beta version also offers suggestions for keywords based on your site’s address and lets you see general search volumes on those terms. • Ask outsiders – When you’ve got some keywords, ask folks outside your unit what they think of when they think of you. This can provide valuable insight into how a searcher might see you. • Refine, refine, refine – Your keywords will change over time, and you can make a big impact by tweaking as you go. • http://www.webconfs.com/seo-tutorial/seo-and-keywords.php

16. University of Nebraska Medical Center Page Titles The page title is not only an identifier in browser windows or tabs – it is the link people read and click when they get search results. • Can be set in the new templates using the Foundation Page > “Edit Headline” or “Edit Page Title Tag” • Use keywords if possible, but do not misrepresent the page contents • Keep it tight – 5-7 words if at all possible • Go specific to general – Start with page name, then unit name, seperated by a “pipe.” For example: Faculty & Staff | Neurological Sciences • Don’t add UNMC – this is added by our web templates

17. University of Nebraska Medical Center Page Descriptions Page descriptions are a metatag that let you describe the page’s contents, replacing the text you see below the link in a search result. They allow you to place key words and phrases higher in your page for search engines. • Can be set in the new templates using the Foundation Page > “Edit Page Description Meta Tag” • Keep it short – 25-30 words and 255 characters max, preferably less • Must be descriptive – Do not make these all the same; be honest! • Insert key terms – If you have key terms you want to include but don’t fit your title, this is the best place possible to put those out there • Bring important points to the top – Similarly, if you have a vital piece of info at the end of your content (such as the dean’s name in an open letter), you can use description to bring that info up much higher in the page and thus, more likely to be found in search.

18. University of Nebraska Medical Center Content Because search engines look beyond just metadata when generating page rank (and metadata’s result on search is slowly diminishing), keywords in content have a huge SEO impact. • Follow our writing for the web guidelines!  • Strive to use key words or phrases 5-10 times in important content. You can test keyword density here - http://www.webconfs.com/seo-tutorial/seo-and-keywords.php#2. Keyword Density|outline • Use keywords in page headers (the H1 and H2s within your page) making them easier to spot • Tend your content well – Unique, frequently updated content actually improves a page’s rank in search. • Break down long content – Long content pushes key terms lower in pages and in page rank. Break it up to make it search-friendly

19. University of Nebraska Medical Center Alt-Tags Alt-tags are small pieces of text used to describe images. While most often used for accessibility to people with low-vision, they represent an opportunity for including additional target words and phrases for search engines. • Only use if appropriate – Alt tags need to represent the image they are attached to, first and foremost. Using alt-tags as a way to spam more keywords will hurt visitors with disabilities • Relate to the content – You can slip key words related to the image, however, to tie it all back in.

20. University of Nebraska Medical Center Links Links to your target page, or backlinks, are often overlooked as a resource for increasing a page’s rank in search. • Get linked – The more your site is link to, the more trusted and authoritative a search engine believes your site to be. • Get linked from similar sites – Links from “the competition” are considered a vote of confidence by search engines • Get linked from reputable sites – .edu or .gov is best! • Get linked from popular sites – This increases the frequency you are found by spiders and web users. • Get backlinks to use your keyword(s) if possible • Use directories – You can add your site to user-managed directories, such as Yahoo Directory or DMOZ. This page can help ID useful directories – http://www.webconfs.com/backlink-builder.php

21. University of Nebraska Medical Center URLs More recently, search engines (especially Yahoo! and Bing) have started to incorporate page and file URLs as a very important factor in their ratings. Adding keywords to URLs can be a powerful SEO tactic. • Can be set in RedDot sites under Properties > File Name. Default URLs of pages will be a number! • Choose a URL and stick with it – Changing page names or addresses tends to “annoy” crawlers • Include keywords in filenames – Use a key term or phrase as part of a file’s name, but remember to avoid spaces or other special characters that are not - or _

22. University of Nebraska Medical Center Test, Test, Test The only way to find out how your efforts are going is to create a starting benchmark than monitor your progress at regular intervals. • Run your searches again – Remember those initial searches? Try them again and see how your page rankings have changed since you last changed your SEO plan. Have you improved? Are you in the top 10? • Get analytical – All RedDot UNMC sites are tracked using Google Analytics, which can provide an (over)load of metric data on site performance. If you have a Google account, we can get you access – contact Alex Flagg at aflagg@unmc.edu. How to interpret analytics data will be covered in a future training session. • Use free tools – There are lots of free tools out there to analyze your site’s search performance. We like http://www.webconfs.com in particular.

23. University of Nebraska Medical Center More Resources There are tons of great sites on SEO out there. Recommended tools include: • 15-minute SEO checklist: http://www.webconfs.com/15-minute-seo.php • SEO best practice checklist: http://seograil.org/seo-checklist.html • Podcast on managing sites for top tasks/search: http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2009/09/04/spoolcast-managing-sites-for-top-tasks/

24. University of Nebraska Medical Center Next Steps

25. University of Nebraska Medical Center Is That It? Not by a long shot! We’ve only begun to scratch the surface of web marketing. Future trainings will look into: • Web analytics – the science of dissecting user behavior • Advanced SEO – More tactics for identifying and tuning your site for your audience’s needs • Metrics-based decision-making – Turning numbers into business goals Suggestions for topics and issues you’d like to see address are welcome – please feel free to add these to your evaluation sheets.

26. University of Nebraska Medical Center Materials Available Online The contents of this training, as well as other web and communications trainings, are available for download at the following web page: http://info.unmc.edu/brandingresources.htm An Echo360 video of this training will be available online later this week.

27. University of Nebraska Medical Center University of Nebraska Medical Center