The second day of the Performance Marketing Expo started with a presentation from Stephan Spencer, co-author of The Art of SEO. I first met Stephen a few weeks ago at ThinkTank and he gave me a copy of his book. It’s been a reference guide to SEO for me ever since.
Stephen showed many examples of SEO mistakes made by several big sites. One of them being WordPress.com, a site with a PageRank 9. He explains that WordPress.com is missing a lot of opportunity for more Google traffic due to lack of strong text-based navigation and too much attention paid to the random stories on the front page.
Stephen explained why Abode is ranked number 1 for the search term “click here” and that 41% of all search traffic goes to the number 1 ranked site on the Google search results page. It drops to 11% for the second place listing. Other tips and tricks that Stephen revealed include:
- When using the Google AdWord Keyword Tool, you should switch it to exact match to find the real search volume.
- Yahoo Site Explorer is a great resource to find more information about your blog.
- A tool call SEO Browser will allow you to see your site the way search engines see it.
- Getting a .edu link can be as simple as doing a “site:.edu sponsor donate” search in Google.
- You’re always better off with a text link than a graphical link
- Check your link authority with Open Site Explorer
After the main presentation, Stephen did SEO for some sites from the audience. This was one of the most valuable sessions of the Performance Marketing Expo. If you missed it, you can catch Stephen again at Shoemoney’s Elite Retreat. That is, if you can afford the $5,000 ticket price. If that’s too rich for your blood, I recommend you buy his Art of SEO book.