Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Editorial Strategies February 2013 Ginger Lindberg Principal SEO Program Manager

Search Engine Optimization SEO is the art and science of getting web pages ranked for targeted key words. Different keywords have different ranking criteria Each search engine (Google, Bing, AOL, etc.) has their own ranking criteria SEO takes time, as trust* is a huge part of the algorithms Google Algorithm has 200+ ranking elements *Trust = age of site + relevancy of links to site + age of links to site + frequency of links gathered + trust of sites linking in + more

What’s your rank? It depends on…

Freshness of Content: Trends AOL Demand Tool -  Shows current trends from yesterday and today  Shows seasonality  Brings in multiple sources: Twitter, Google, Yahoo, Bing, AOL Search, Facebook  Can filter by category, source, time period, location  Keyword Insights provides:  keyword popularity  time of year topics peak in interest  keyword phrase patterns

Freshness of Content: Trends Google Trends  Hot Searches – updates hourly  Explore Trends – updates daily  Breakout = 5000+% growth  Shortest time period to review is last 7 days  Identify keyword popularity from present by country, time period & category  Compare popularity of keywords Marketplace Trends Because of search query volumes, not every term is accurately categorized. However, sometimes what seems unrelated to a category is actually related so click on the link to see current Google results.

Linking Linking On Your Page  Include links in articles to relevant content on your site and on other related sites.  Tags and category pages are perfect for this. Use them.  Link to other AOL sites.  Link to partners.  Links to.gov,.edu and valid.org are great. Linking To Your Page  Make sure there are at least 3 permanent links to your article (category and tag directory pages count)  Add as related link from older articles.  Ask for links from other AOL sites. Find related content within AOL from Demand Tool or  Share on social media

Personalization – Search results without personalization

Personalization – Search results with personalization

Google+ You can link content you publish on a specific domain to yourGoogle+ profile. Visit 1.Sign up for Google+ and create a Google+ profile.Google+ 2.Make sure you have a profile photo with a recognizable headshot. 3.Make sure a byline containing your name appears on each page of your content (for example, "By David Schepp"). 4.Link to your Google+ profile from your bio (i.e. ). 5.Make sure your byline name exactly matches the name on your Google+ profile. 6.Verify you have an address (such as on the same domain as your content. (Don't have an address on the same domain? Use the verification method to link your content to your Google+ profile) ption2 7.Return to and enter your address.

Credibility – Building Trust Establish yourself as an individual brand. Engage with the online community.  Make the effort to reply to comments on all of your content (posts on your articles, galleries, social media pages, etc.) to help build relationships.  Find an active forum within your niche to start contributing and building profiles.  Find two targeted blogs; comment where you can add value, and subscribe or follow them and their key writers on Twitter.  Answer common questions asked within your industry. This can be a great method for brainstorming content ideas. (Answers.com, Yahoo! Answers )Answers.comYahoo! Answers  Show objectivity. While your goal is to get more traffic to your site, don’t be afraid to link to other sites while sharing your opinion or expertise.

Resources Search Engine Ranking Factorshttp:// factorshttp:// factors 96 Quick SEO Wins – What You Can Do With an Hourhttp:// hourhttp:// hour Trends Tools Google+ Set Up AOL SEO Wiki -