1. How Search Engine Operate
1.1. Crawling and indexing
1.1.1. Through links, search engines’ automated robots, called “crawlers,” or “spiders” can reach the many billions of interconnected documents.
1.2. Providing Answer
1.2.1. calculating relevancy & serving results.
2. How People interact with search engines
2.1. Build for users, not search engines
2.1.1. User bad experience correlates with poor search engine performance.
2.1.2. User good experience will lead to both search engines and site providing information.
2.2. Search engine usage has evolved over the years but the primary principles of conducting a search remain largely unchanged. Listed here are the steps that comprise most search processes:
2.2.1. 1. Experience the need for an answer, solution or piece of information. 2. Formulate that need in a string of words and phrases, also known as “the query.” 3. Enter the query into a search engine. 4. Browse through the results for a match. 5. Click on a result. 6. Scan for a solution, or a link to that solution. 7. If unsatisfied, return to the search results and browse for another link or... 8. Perform a new search with refinements to the query.
3. Keyword Research
3.1. How to judge the value of a key word?
3.1.1. Ask yourself
3.1.1.1. If the keyword is relevant to your website's content and you are happy with the result, then proceed.
3.1.2. Search for the term/phrase in the major engines
3.1.2.1. many search ads means a high value keyword, and multiple search ads above the organic results often means a highly lucrative and directly conversion-prone keyword.
3.1.3. Buy a sample campaign for the keyword at Google AdWords and/or Bing Adcenter
3.1.3.1. In Google Adwords, choose "exact match" and point the traffic to the relevant page on your website. Track impressions and conversion rate over the course of at least 2-300 clicks.
3.1.4. Using the data you’ve collected, determine the exact value of each keyword.
3.1.4.1. if your search ad generated 5,000 impressions, of which 100 visitors have come to your site and 3 have converted for total profit of $300, then a single visitor for that keyword is worth $3 to your business.
3.2. Understand the long tail of keyword demand
3.2.1. The long tail contains hundreds of millions of unique searches that might be conducted a few times in any given day, but comprise the majority of the world's demand for information through search engines. long tail keywords often convert better, because they catch people later in the buying/conversion cycle
3.3. keyword research (resources)
3.3.1. some sources include Google Adwords’ Keyword Tool,k Google Insights for Search, Google Trends Keyword Demand Prediction.Google's AdWords Keyword tool is a common starting point for SEO keyword research. It not only suggests keywords and provides estimated search volume, but also predicts the cost of running paid campaigns for these terms.
3.4. keyword difficulty
3.4.1. In order to know which keywords to target, it's essential to not only understand the demand for a given term or phrase, but also the work required to achieve those rankings.
4. Link building basics
4.1. Natural" Editorial Links
4.1.1. Links that are given naturally by sites and pages that want to link to your content or company. These links require no specific action from the SEO
4.2. Manual "Outreach" Link Building
4.2.1. The SEO creates these links by emailing bloggers for links, submitting sites to directories, or paying for listings of any kind. The SEO often creates a value proposition by explaining to the link target why creating the link is in their best interest.
4.3. Self-Created, Non-Editorial
4.3.1. Hundreds of thousands of websites offer any visitor the opportunity to create links through guest book signings, forum signatures, blog comments, or user profiles. These links offer the lowest value, but can, in aggregate, still have an impact for some sites.
5. Search Engines friendly design and developement
5.1. Indexable content
5.1.1. 1. Images in gif and jpg format can be assigned “alt attributes” in HTML,
5.1.2. 2. Search boxes can be supplemented with navigation and crawlable links.
5.1.3. 3. Flash or Java plug-in contained content can be supplemented with text on the page.
5.1.4. 4. Video & audio content should have an accompanying transcript
5.2. Keyword Usage and targeting
5.2.1. Keywords are the most important to the search process
5.3. Keyword Domination
5.3.1. Keywords dominate our search intent and interaction with the engines
5.4. Keyword abuse
5.4.1. People have abused keywords that involves "stuffing" keywords into text, the url, meta tags and links.
5.5. On-Page Optimization
5.5.1. Use the keyword in the title tag at least once. Try to keep the keyword as close to the beginning of the title tag as possible.
5.6. Title Tags
5.6.1. Be mindful of length
5.6.2. Place important keywords close to the front
6. link signal used by
6.1. search engines
6.1.1. It is critical to understand the elements of a link used by the search engines as well as how those elements factor into the weighting of links in the algorithms. through analysis of patent applications, years of experience and hands-on testing, we can draw some intelligent assumptions that hold up in the real world.
6.2. Global Popularity
6.2.1. The more popular and important a site is, the more links from that site matter. To earn trust and authority with the engines, you'll need the help of other link partners. The more popular, the better.
6.3. Local/Topic-Specific Popularity
6.3.1. The concept of "local" popularity, first pioneered by the Teoma search engine, suggests that links from sites within a topic-specific community matter more than links from general or off-topic sites
6.4. Anchor Text
6.4.1. If dozens of links point to a page with the right keywords, that page has a very good probability of ranking well for the targeted phrase in that anchor text
6.5. TrustRank
6.5.1. In order to weed out this irrelevant content, search engines use systems for measuring trust, many of which are based on the link graph. Earning links from highly trusted domains can result in a significant boost to this scoring metric
6.6. Link Neighborhood
6.6.1. By looking at the totality of these links in aggregate, search engines can understand the "link neighborhood" your website exists in. Thus, it's wise to choose those sites you link to carefully and be equally selective with the sites you attempt to earn links from.
6.7. Freshness
6.7.1. it's important not only to earn links to your website, but also to continue to earn additional links over time. "FreshRank," is where search engines use the freshness signals of links to judge current popularity and relevance.
6.8. Social Sharing
6.8.1. Although search engines treat socially shared links differently than other types of links, they notice them nonetheless. Those with large social circles, who share a lot of material, are more likely to see that material (and their face) promoted in search results. For publishers, this means its beneficial to have your content shared by these same highly influential folks with large social followings. Social shares are not the same as links. links are considered a far superior and more lasting way to promote the popularity of your content than any other method.
7. five samples of link building strategies
7.1. Get your customers to link to you.
7.1.1. If you have partners you work with regularly or loyal customers that love your brand, you can use this to your advantage by sending out partnership badges - graphic icons that link back to your site
7.2. Build a company blog. Make it a valuable, informative and entertaining resource.
7.2.1. Blogs have the unique ability to contribute fresh material on a consistent basis, participate in conversations across the web, and earn listings and links from other blogs, including blogrolls and blog directories.
7.3. Create content that inspires viral sharing and natural linking
7.3.1. Each leverages aspects of usefulness, information dissemination, or humor to create a viral effect - users who see it once want to share it with friends, and bloggers/tech-savvy webmasters who see it will often do so through links. This high quality, editorially earned votes are invaluable to building trust, authority, and rankings potential
7.4. Be newsworthy.
7.4.1. Earning the attention of the press, bloggers and news media is an effective, time honored way to earn links.
7.5. Find directories or listings of relevant resources.
7.5.1. You can find many of these on SEOmoz's Directory List or use the search engines themselves to find lists of pages that offer outbound links in this fashion links that are easy to get often carry risks when pursued aggressively and in volume. A diverse, well rounded link profile is always best.