Digital Marketing - D098 UNIT FIVE

organic search

Rankings based on search engine algorithms for relevancy and authority (not paid advertisements)

algorithms

Rules and formulas that search engines use to determine web page ranking on SERPs

relevance

How directly related a web page's content is to a user's search query

authority

A web page's trustworthiness, or how recognized a web page is as a resource for particular content (one indicator are backlinks to the site)

Search engine optimization, SEO for short

the process of making a website visible to search engines such as Google and Bing, while organically improving the site's ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs)

SEO is a critical part of an effective digital marketing strategy. SEO provides value over time, as opposed to paid search, which requires a company to pay for a click.

SERP

A web page where the search engine displays in ranked order the web pages that algorithms determine are most related to the user's search query

Search engines need to help users find what they are looking for. To make sure, search engines list the best results first, looking for signals of

popularity

authority

relevance

trust

importance

Search engine optimization is a fairly technical practice, but it can easily be broken down into five main areas:

A search-engine-friendly website structure

A well-researched list of keywords

Content optimized to target those keywords

Link popularity

User insights

SEO can be thought of in three main areas:

-technical SEO-the process of optimizing a company's website for the crawling and indexing the search engines perform. This is the technical architecture a web page needs to consider. The website structure needs to be search friendly.

-on-page SEO optimization-the elements that are controlled by a company and can be applied on its individual web pages and content for optimization.

-off-page SEO optimization-activities outside of a company's web page and the process of getting external resources to link to a company's web page (or backlink). Off-page SEO is about sharing, and examples include links to websites, social media, or digital PR activities. This focuses on link popularity

How can search engine optimization (SEO) be described?

The process of making a website organically visible to a search engine user

Correct! Search engine optimization (SEO) allows a website to be visible to major search engines. Organic results are not influenced by commercial or paid relationships.

Simply put, the purpose of SEO is to

increase the quality and quantity of website traffic by increasing the organic visibility of the website or a web page to users of a web search engine. SEO practices optimize a brand's visibility through quality, relevant, and authoritative content.4 SEO is essentially about making websites friendlier—friendlier to the search engines and friendlier for the user or customer

pay-per-click advertising

Digital marketing strategy in which marketers only pay when an advertisement is clicked on by a user

It is important to understand the difference between SEM and SEO

--SEO involves organic, unpaid search results driven by algorithms and requires a considerable investment in creating quality content with keywords and links to increase visibility. It can take time to earn a high ranking (and thus a visible position) in organic search results.

--SEM also involves using paid search results, such as pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, which do not require the same time investment but do carry a direct financial investment. SEM tactics include paid placement, contextual advertising, and paid inclusion, in addition to SEO techniques. With paid advertising, marketers typically pay each time users click on their listing and are redirected to their website, allowing companies to refine searches and gain information about their market

landing page

Where users are directed after clicking a digital advertisement or link

Paid SEM also allows companies to control the URL and

direct a visitor to a landing page specifically designed to convert that keyword search into a sale.One major benefit of SEM is the immediate publishing of information that is not limited by geographic or time constraints. Digital marketers can customize advertisements, making consumer targeting more efficient and precise.

crawl

Systematically collect information on web pages on the internet, where search engine spiders or bots travel from link to link

index

The process of adding content collected by spiders or bots to search engine databases

rank

Use of algorithms to order and return results to a user's search query based on information about web pages indexed by the search engine

crawler

Automated software agents, like bots and spiders, that find and index web content for search engines

XML sitemaps file

A file where website owners provide information to the search engine about the pages on a website and the relationships between them, helping a search engine more intelligently crawl and index the site

HTML

HyperText Markup Language, the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser

What are key signals that affect a website's authority ranking?

Degrees of separation from a known source

Number and diversity of incoming links

Correct! Authority of a website affects its ranking. Authority factors website security, the number and diversity of incoming links to the page, as well as how many degrees of separation the page is from known authoritative sources.

hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP)

The protocol that enables a web browser to retrieve content from a server

What is the scripting language that is necessary to place text, images, and other content on any web page?

HTML

Correct! Hypertext markup language (HTML) is the language that provides the structure of a website.

snippet

Brief description of a web page displayed on a SERP

What is the purpose of search engine algorithms?

To determine relevant search results

Correct! Search engines display results to search queries based on proprietary algorithms. Each major search engine uses its own formula to determine what results to display for a particular term.

What is contained in a snippet displayed on a search engine results page (SERP) to a user? Choose three answers.

The title of the web page

Text describing the web page

A colored link to the web page

Correct! SERPs present query results to users in a snippet, which is the format of presenting a preview of each search result web page in a consistent manner.

Sitemaps help

crawlers know which pages and content on a website to index. Web developers can use robots.txt files to set rules for how search engines crawl a site.

NAP citations

Data about a company including its name, address, and phone, everywhere it is listed on the web

How can localized SEO help a small business owner of a retail store?

It directs nearby customers to the store.

Correct! Localized SEO ranks results based on the location of the user, which helps direct customers to the physical location of the retail store.

What are important relevancy signals for localized SEO ranking? Choose three answers.

Name, address, and phone number of the business

Location of the user

Location of the business

Correct! Important relevancy signals for localized SEO ranking include information related to the physical location of the user and the business.

Which type of search does a user perform when providing the location "near me"?

Contextual

Correct! Contextual searches include the user's location in the search for localized results.

Localized SEO

recognizes that search engines give priority in rankings to small businesses serving a local area when displaying search results.

Localized SEO requires a few additional steps, including creating or verifying a Google My Business listing, reviewing NAP citations, and seeking business reviews.

SEO can be divided into two main strategies:

on-page and off-page optimization.

On-page optimization

within the control of the company and is achieved by making changes to the HTML code, content, and structure of a website, making it more accessible to search engines and by extension, easier for users to find

includes practices such as optimizing a site's title and meta description, using a clear URL structure, adding HTML tags to mark headers and important sections, optimizing keywords and synonyms, having appropriate and relevant marketing content, and adding alt tags to images.

Off-page optimization

generally focused on building links to the website from external sources and through online sharing activities and covers activities like social media and digital public relations

meta description

An HTML meta tag providing a brief summary of a web page's content

long-tail keywords

Search phrase that caters to a more specific, lower-volume search query

Breadcrumb navigation

Secondary navigation system of links for a website, typically appearing horizontally across the top of the web page

A company that sells antiaging skincare products wants to use on-page optimization to improve search engine result ratings.

What is an appropriate on-page optimization technique for the company to use? Choose three answers.

Adding HTML tags to mark headers and sections

Placing keywords in the title and meta-description

Adding alt tags to images on the website

A customer is looking for a product on a company's website, and they find a specific product page. When they are finished reading about the product, they want to return to the home page. This all takes place during a single visit to the website.

Which website feature will make this process easier for the customer?

Breadcrumb navigation

Correct! Breadcrumb navigation makes it possible for the customer to visually identify their location within the website's structure.

A digital marketer is using on-page optimization to build website credibility and authority.

What are the components of this on-page optimization? Choose three answers.

Keywords

Internal links

Content

Correct! The components of on-page optimization include keywords, content, and internal links. SERPs are the output of SEO and the goal of on-page optimization is to rank higher on the SERP.

SEO techniques involve both

on-page and off-page optimization. On-page optimization seeks to improve a web page's position in SERPs through the content and structure of the page or site itself.

On-page SEO should consider different search methods including web (desktop), mobile, and voice.

Components of on-page SEO include SERPs, keywords, content, and internal links.

Which types of data do companies use to learn about the people who visit their websites? Choose three answers.

Search terms

Traffic source

Location

Correct! Companies look at data such as location, traffic source, and search terms to learn about the individuals who visit their websites.

rich snippets

Snippet on a SERP that contains additional information beyond that found on a regular snippet, such as ratings or images (drawn from structured data on the web page)

There are three common user search intents:

informational -"Know"

navigational-"Go"

transactional-"Do"

A customer wants to purchase a specific cappuccino machine. The customer searches for Smartistry cappuccino machines.

Which type of search query did this customer use?

Navigational

Correct! This is an example of a navigational search query. The brand name Smartistry will take the user to that specific website.

Keyword relevancy

a measure of how useful searchers find search results.2 An increase in keyword density, or how many times a keyword is used on a web page by a content writer, is not necessarily a good indicator for the relevancy of a document; therefore, it does not equate to better rankings

refers to how relevant, or important, certain keywords or phrases are to each page of your website.

Search engines consider context in three ways:

-User intention—Google tries to match a user's query to what they are asking rather than the individual words used. "Book about kids on an island" gives you Lord of the Flies as a result, rather than a page with those specific keywords.

-Content—Google reads a web page's keywords to find out what they are about conceptually.

-Relating concepts—Google relates concepts to each other, like showing William Golding as author of Lord of the Flies and offering related results for his work.1

Proximity

refers to the similarity of keywords as understd by search engines including misspellings and use of synonyms, as well as close proximity of keyword terms within content.

Keyword frequency

is how often a keyword or keyword phrase appears on a web page or in a piece of content.

Search volume

is the average number of times a specific search query is entered on a search engine.

Which factors influence types of keywords that a marketer should target? Choose two answers.

Competition

Search volume

Correct! The types of keywords to target depends on a number of factors including user intent, keyword relevance, search volume, and competition.

search demand curve

Graph of search volume for related keywords, ranging from high volume to low volume at the "long tail" of the curve

There are many things to consider when choosing a keyword, including

search volume, competition, relevance, frequency and diversity in content, proximity, along with understanding the consumers' propensity to convert and the value per lead.

All these keyword considerations can be grouped into three main categories of

relevance

competition

volume.

Relevance

Matching of specific words used in a search query

Volume

Number of searches being conducted for specific keywords; seasonality of words can influence search volume

Competition

Level of difficulty to rank against other companies for specific keywords; competition can be based on authority, trust, and credibility

How can a digital marketer develop and conduct keyword search strategies? Choose two answers.

By categorizing keywords into topics

By using a variety of keyword research tools

Correct! The process for identifying keywords being used and understanding user intent is accomplished by using research tools, categorizing keywords into topics, and brainstorming keywords from a consumer's perspective.

long-tail keywords

These terms typically have less competition and represent more specific user intent, which may lead to higher conversion rates.

infrequent key words

keyword stuffing

Practice of using many keywords in an attempt to manipulate search engine ranking

inbound links

Link from another website that directs users and search engines to another page; also known as backlinks

A shoe company wants to ensure that their web page ranks high in SERPs for a given keyword phrase.

How should the company use keywords to achieve this goal?

Include keywords relevant to the theme of the page.

Correct! Including keywords relevant to a page's theme will help a web page rank high in SERPS.

Having a keyword density of no more than 3 percent for on-page optimization, as well as including inbound links for off-page optimization are both

important parts of SEO.

Even though you should be thinking about the customer first rather than about exact keywords, keywords are still useful. Here are some guidelines:

-URL—Try to use the keyword in your page URL.

-Title tag—Use the keyword in the title and as close to the beginning as possible.

-H1 header tag—Use the keyword in the header tag and as much as possible in the other H tags.

-Body content—Use keywords as it makes sense in context. Remember to use synonyms rather than focusing on one specific version of a keyword. You should aim for about 350 words of content.

-Bold—Use tags around the keyword at least once.

-Meta description—Use it at least once in the meta description of the page, which should entice users to click through to your site from the SERP. This is not used in search engine rankings.

-Image alt text—Try to ensure that the keyword is used in the alt text of an image.

-Link anchor text—Try to ensure that the keyword is used in the anchor text of the pages linking to you.

The meta description

is a short paragraph describing the page content. This summary is usually shown on the SERPs if it contains the search term, which means that it needs to entice users to click through with a strong call to action

How can a marketer use HTML tags to improve on-page optimization? Select two answers.

Use keywords in the header and title tags.

Use to bold keywords at least once.

Correct! Using keywords in the title and header tags can improve on-page optimization, and using the tag to bold a given keywords at least once in the content can also be helpful. Header tags should be used for headers, and the use of backlinks is an example of off-page optimization.

Following are the main elements of a SERP:

-Direct search results, consisting of links to sites. These are ranked based on search engine algorithms, where sites are struggling for the highest positions. The search results page contains, by default, 10 links, but the number can be changed in the search settings.

-Blocks with contextual advertising.

-Small fields before search results. They can contain typing errors, a quick response to a user request, a calculator, and more.

-Pictures issued in response to a particular search query.

-Related queries, where the search query is refined. The user is offered word forms or similar requests.1

SERP features may include paid advertising above and beneath organic search results as well as

featured snippets, image packs, in-depth articles, knowledge cards, knowledge panels, a local pack, local teaser pack, news box, related questions, reviews, shopping results, site links, tweets, and video

What are the main elements that can be seen on a search engine results page (SERPs)? Choose three answers.

Paid results

Search query

Organic results

Correct! The main elements of search engine results pages (SERPs) are query, organic search results, and paid advertisements. SERP results include both organic and paid SEO efforts.

What can affect the organic results of the search engine results page (SERP)? Choose two answers.

Keywords in the query

The user's search history

Correct! The keywords in the user's search query and the user's search history will have a major impact on the organic search results.

click depth

Measure of how many clicks it takes a user to access a page from the landing page

It is desirable to select keyword phrases that relate closely to the website's content and have low competition. These keyword phrases will often result in

an increase in qualified fields

What is the definition of click depth?

The number of clicks a user needs to get to a specific web page

Correct! Click depth refers to the number of clicks on a website a user needs to land on a specific page.

What are the two main metrics used to measure search traffic on a website?

Page views

Unique visitors

Correct! Page views and unique visitors are two of the primary measurements used to measure search traffic.

Common SEO metrics include

keyword rankings, search traffic, and click depth.

Off-page optimization

Actions digital marketers can take outside of changes to the website itself to impact rankings on SERPs

Factors that off-page SEO focus on include popularity, quality, and authority of the website and its content.

focuses on link building, social media, and other public relations activities

link building

A process of exchanging links with other websites to increase rankings

Off-page optimization focuses on three key aspects of the links:

popularity

quality

authority

A backlink, also referred to as an inbound link

is a link pointing to one website from another website.2 Backlinks from reputable sources are important in establishing the trustworthiness and authority of a website, as they represent a vote of confidence.

nofollow attribute

An attribute used to prevent a link from passing link authority; commonly used on sites with user-generated content, like in blog comments

Anchor text

The text that a user would click on to follow a link

(if the link is an image, the alternative attribute may act in place of anchor text)

A retail company has a sudden drop in search engine ratings.

Which off-page optimization technique will improve website visibility and raise search engine ratings?

Securing backlinks that direct users to content

Correct! Securing backlinks that direct users to content is an off-page optimization technique that will raise website visibility and search engine rankings.

Quality of backlinks is an off-page optimization technique and can be evaluated based on

themes to demonstrate relevancy of the content on the page.

At which locations do search engines recommend placing a nofollow attribute? Choose three answers.

Comment sections

Log-in pages

Paid links

Correct! According to some search engines, the nofollow attribute should be placed in paid links, log-in pages, and comment sections to tell a search engine not to crawl the link as it may not have trusted content or may include user-generated content as with comments.

Link building

bout acquiring hyperlinks from other websites that will direct the user to another website. Link building is a critical component of off-page optimization by demonstrating a website's authority and relevance to search engines. Search engines assume that if a reputable online source links to a website, the content on it must be valuable.

An organic health food store is seeking to optimize their brand's online footprint so that search engines see their website as credible and trustworthy.

Which type of site may the company strive to get a backlink from in order to gain authority?

A university domain

Correct! Well-known and established news sites, government sites (.gov), and university domains (.edu) are examples of sites from which links can carry more authority.

In what ways can link authority be achieved? Choose two answers.

Create descriptive anchor text

Create relationships between sites

Correct! Link authority can be obtained by creating descriptive anchor text and creating relationship between sites. Backlinks should be geared toward reputable websites.

Directory submission

Adding a website to a categorized catalog of websites, typically manually organized by topical editorial experts

Forum postings

Online discussion space where users hold asynchronous conversations in the form of posted messages

key place to build brand presence, share content, and demonstrate expert knowledge.

Jaunty Candle Company has a well-designed page on a large social media platform. Two weeks after its launch, the page received a low volume of likes and limited traffic back to the company website.

What can Jaunty Candle Company do to build its reputation using off-page optimization efforts? Choose two answers.

Tag website content with hashtags.

Integrate share buttons within web pages.

Correct! Jaunty Candle Company should focus on getting referrals from credible social media communities by creating opportunities for sharing its content. This can be accomplished through integrating share buttons within web pages, posting videos on video sharing platforms as well as tagging website content with relevant social media hashtags to raise SERP rankings.

Digital marketers can use a variety of off-page strategies for SEO in order to establish a site's authority and expertise. These include

link building, social media, directory submissions, and forum postings.

The most important part of link building is creating

high-quality content that others find valuable to share. Earning links shows search engines that a site has authority, and descriptive links help search engine ranking for keywords and related terms.

The CEO of Alliah Inc. has received reports that there are several links to its landing page in multiple news blogs and social platforms across the internet. Although the website contains quality content, this has caused some people to feel apprehensive about trusting the site's content.

Which SEO challenge is Alliah Inc. facing that could lead to lower rankings?

Website relevancy challenges

Correct! It appears that digital marketers have invaded forums and blogs in an effort to provide links back to Alliah Inc.'s website. This practice can create a false sense of relevancy leading to poor customer experience and lower search engine rankings.

Which Google update combats black-hat link building techniques?

Penguin

Correct! Penguin combats black-hat link building techniques such as spammy link directories.

A retailer wants to speed up landing pages and advertisements on web pages for mobile device users.

Which technique should the company use?

Use Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)

Correct! Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) can increase site speed up to 85%.

SEO techniques can be classified into two broad categories:

white hat SEO

On- and off-page best practices that follow search engine rules to improve SEO rankings

black hat SEO

Practices that attempt to game or manipulate search engine rules to improve SEO rankings

black hats

intentionally break the search engine rules to improve their ranking. As such, black hats only experience short-term success, as they know their sites will likely be shut down or banned once the search engines discover what they are doing.refers to practices that attempt to game the search engines.2 Some black hat strategies include creating duplicate and nonrelevant content, adding invisible text and stuffed keywords, redirecting users to other pages or sites, and using links from sites with irrelevant content.

White hats

tend to produce long-term, durable results, whereas black hats intentionally break the search engine rules to improve their ranking.uses both on- and off-page best practices and SEO strategies, which follow search engine rules to improve rankings.This includes listing relevant content, using complete sentences with accurate spelling and grammar and well-labeling images, providing relevant links and references, accurate page titles, and more

White hat SEO follows a series of principles outlining best practices, as well as practices not to follow, including the following:

Avoid hidden text or hidden links.

Do not use cloaking or sneaky redirects.

Do not load pages with irrelevant keywords.

Do not create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with substantially duplicated content.

Do not create pages that include malicious behaviors such as phishing or installing viruses, trojans, or other malware.

Avoid "doorway" pages created just for search engines or other "cookie cutter" approaches, such as affiliate programs with little or no original content. If your site participates in an affiliate program, make sure that your site adds value.

Provide unique and relevant content that gives users a reason to visit your site first.

Avoid link farms and focus on attracting quality, valuable links.