OS5+-+Salon+B

This page is for notes from Open Space #5 in Salon B.


 * Topic: SEO
 * Convener: Will McCulloch from New Hampton School, but Francis from WH ran the show
 * names of the participants

I asked for this workshop because I have little working knowledge of SEO and I would love to learn more. __** We are talking about Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing. **__ // Core principles: 1. Strategic framework of keywords //
 * Francis from Whipple Hills says there are so many things that you can do:
 * Francis can give a background of SEO for folks, half the room has little to no expeience
 * WH clients can do it themselves, but they also offer the service.
 * A specialty for the school -- you taylor terms to that specialty LD, Arts
 * Google AdWords has a tool, [|keyword tool], type in performing arts schools,
 * 165,000 searches globally for this in the last two months
 * you want to target terms people are actually searching, look at competing schools, start a list, use your gut to vet the list
 * specific to different regions

Title tags- on main page can be added by support at no charge for custom landing page. Cranbrook is a good example:
 * Where do you go once you have a list -- there is an SEO section within podium. You can optimize by putting words into title tags. The descriptive metatag. keywords are all important. **
 * Who has a footer on their web site? Put keywords there and hyperlink them to other places on the site. **

Footer is a tool you can use, raises other tools. Terms -- type of school, depends on the language your audience use (private more than independent) Massachusetts Private School search yields: It could take you 3-6 months to see the results.

"Go down as far as you can. As a school, you have an advantage--all ranked by google. A School like Fenn, I've downloaded google toolbar -- it's a 4 out of 10 -- schools are usually 4 or 5. Your domain has some popularity. If you change the content as well as tags you will show up."

You are trying to reach the universe of people who do not know about the school.

Another key part is links. Not only the content on you web site and what's important, but also what other sites are using to link to you.
 * How many look at analytics? Have you looked at Search Engine? **

SEO is like monopoly -- you win the game by having the most properties and take over. The part that holds up is building strength online.
 * The opportunity??? **

What comes out of SEO is that you can create a YouTube account with key words -- you can tag videos to link back. FACEBOOK posts -- you can insert keywords.

**Question about the future:** One of the factors we don't know what will happen with Google's new social network -- how do we integrate that in.
 * FACT: Homepage load time can affect google rank and searchability. The use of Flash, for instance, can then affect SEO rank. **


 * Titletags -- pulled in at the top of the browser, in search results
 * Metatags -- it's a short desriptive sentence you can work keywords into.
 * Keywords -- contents of the page????

Is Whipple Hill looking into keyword in individual news articles? WH can't commit to this yet. CHECK OUT opensiteexplorer.org to see who is linking to you.
 * ACTION -- search google with the following:**
 * link:www.yourschool.org
 * This will tell you how many links you have.
 * site:www.yourschool.org
 * This will tell you the pages you have spidered

**WebMaster tools account?** An account with google that shows the school is the correct authority on the domain. It hooks into analytics account, how your site is being read on the internet. good tools to improve SEO -- subdomain SEO. Dynamic SEO -- news site -- ways to read changing data.

**What's the best way to link besides click here?** If you search for click here, adobe acrobat comes up. The idea is to put in descriptor -- link in terms for your lacrosse team for example -- --set up a convention for your photos. the other piece is how well are you doing as your position improves. IS THERE FURTHER TO GO. Francis from WH says it's not like Facebook -- you'll always want to find out how the web presence can work better. HOW DO YOU POSITION THE SITE.
 * How deep do you go. Should we be tagging all photos and video? **

**__True Story from KUA Communications Director, who worked with WH on an SEO strategy:__** KUA had worked at winning "New England Boarding School" it went from being #3 to not being on there because they had gone through a redesign. Took three months to capture position then lost it. KUA "this is one side" What about the people you would like -- what are they using -- is your niche too narrow. We'd rather have broad following.

**WH IT Staffer suggests:** GUEST blogging -- people to write something on your web site.

**Francis on the organization of the process:** You can put a list together that has different buckets. There are broader terms you can target. "narrower search becomes less popular -- but you get the results of specific searches."

**A DUBIOUS TACTIC:** Google frowns upon it -- but it works in some other industries -- JC Penney bought links with keywords and they showed upf for broad terms. They were called out on it. NY Times reporter contacted Google. Google will penalize if you buy links. The idea of blogging as a tool for SEO. Separate domain?? If you update that content and link back to the school, that helps. Google loves to see relevent content that is updated frequently. Leverage everything you do for SEO. Blogs get spidered.

**How do shortened URL's affect SEO?** It creates another layer. **References --** Go to GoogleAdwords **Company called Trada -**- Crowdsource people to come up with best keywords

Go here for the Etherpad http://etherpad.whipplehill.com/SEO