Project on Information Technology & Systems

Search Engine
Optimization
Submitted to: Prof. Somayya Madakam

Shivendra Singh
FMG 27C- 271165
Acknowledgement

Every successful venture has the blessings and the support of many behind it. It would be unjust
if every such support is not revealed and thanked in person as well as in the published report.
First and foremost, I would like to thank Professor Somayya Madakam, Professor, Information
Technology and Systems, FORE School of Management, for giving me a chance to work
contemporary IT research area and gain necessary research-based knowledge on the problem.
This project would have never been possible without his invaluable support and guidance. His
willingness to motivate us contributed tremendously. Beside this a very warm thanks to my
friends who greeted me all the time in this project.
I was able to gain a lot of relevant information on this topic through the project and am now
better equipped to deal with these problems as a future manager.

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Contents
Acknowledgement ................................................................................................................................... i
Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................... iii
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 1
Search Engine Optimization- An Overview ........................................................................................... 2
Analyzing the SEO Effectiveness ........................................................................................................... 3
Problems Associated with SEO .............................................................................................................. 4
Elements on the website for better SEO ................................................................................................. 5
Website Content .................................................................................................................................. 5
URL Structure ..................................................................................................................................... 5
Pictures................................................................................................................................................ 6
Title Tags and Meta Tags ................................................................................................................... 6
Headline Tags ..................................................................................................................................... 6
Internal Linking .................................................................................................................................. 7
Elements of SEO off the Website page ................................................................................................... 8
Links ................................................................................................................................................... 8
Using Social Media ............................................................................................................................. 8
Using Email ........................................................................................................................................ 9
Search for Keywords........................................................................................................................... 9
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................ 10
References ............................................................................................................................................. 11

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Executive Summary

Search Engine Optimization plays an important role in marketing a business in the digital
world. With every business keen to have a digital footprint, the need for distinctiveness
amongst the thousand competitors ahs risen greatly. In order to do so, businesses and websites
are capitalising on the search engine marketing as customers usually search for their on the
internet before moving forwards with their problem solving. In this case Search Engine
optimization helps in bringing the websites name towards the top of the results page through
effective techniques like back linking, using proper keyword and content, sponsored websites
and other measures. This helps in increasing the visibility of the website and generate more
hits for financial rewards.
The report discusses about the various elements of Search Engine Optimization and explores
the applications and issues associated with the technique in order to promote the business in
the digital sphere. It also discusses the ideal SEO plan of action which can be useful in setting
up growing websites that are organically visible to the customers and do not require any
sponsorship from the search engines.

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Introduction

In today’s world, the internet has brought buyers and sellers closer together through its digital
platform and has made the experience more convenient. However, it has also opened up new
opportunities for the sellers to promote their products and are also facing a challenge from the
other competitors who are fighting for the customer’s interest. The customer uses the internet
to search for seeking answers for his problems, finding a variety of options which are providing
the solution to the same problem. It is the quality of the solution that makes the customer choose
one solution over the others and make the financial rewards for the company as well.
In the highly competitive marketplace, digital advertising plays an important role in setting the
company apart from its competitors. The average internet user never goes past the first page of
the search results. In case the solution is not available on the first page, the user tries to re-enter
the query with different “keywords”. It is these keywords that make the difference between the
sites that are opened and the sites that are overlooked. Moreover, the options of sponsored
results and multiple backlinks to the sites are also important factors that need to be considered
while analysing the SEO credentials of a website. The search engines have their deft algorithms
which filter out the redundant results and provide the user with the most relevant results.
In the global marketplace and the technological revolution, marking a digital presence has
become very important for the business in order to gain competitive advantage. This has led to
more research and investment into digital marketing and search engine marketing in E-
commerce. This will not only help the enterprises more visibility but also help them to adapt
to the changing business world.

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Search Engine Optimization- An Overview

Although the technology behind SEO reflects some of the most sophisticated and cutting-edge
computer science programming techniques available, the actual logic of SEO reflects the
conventional wisdom of more than a century of advertising techniques, specifically how best
to create an audience/market interested in a particular good or service through the effective
product placement. SEO is essentially digital marketing. The work of SEO is really nothing
more than a computerized version of a large billboard along a major highway or a splashy
centrefold advertising spread in a high market magazine or a boxed ad in the Yellow Pages or
even an employee paid to walk up and down a busy city street wearing a gargantuan sandwich
board with large and emphatic lettering. The logic is the same: Attract business by promoting
essential information about a company and then make access to the company and its goods or
services convenient. The web has become a marketplace where practical ends are met, and web
users expect an efficient and intuitive interface for browsing and purchasing (Wright, 2016).

The value of SEO is obvious when the reach of the Internet is made clear. In 2000, computer
science engineers estimated that a little over 700 million people worldwide would use the
Internet on any given day. By 2015, however, that number had soared to close to 4 billion users,
or a little more than 60 percent of the entire human race. Because nearly all Internet inquiries
begin with a browser search, making a company visible to the searcher is essential to capturing
business (Baye et al., 2016). The market reach of the Internet offers unprecedented
opportunities for any business—whatever the size and wherever they are headquartered—to
create a vast global niche for itself. The ability to create substantial customer profiles and link
customers with businesses offering products of interest makes the Internet and SEO more
influential than all other forms of media marketing (Mahendru, 2014).

One problem, however, is that the enormous reach of the Internet inevitably creates a glut of
information, some of it relevant, most of it noise. For example, a customer wants to purchase
a Victorian-styled brooch. Given the global market available within the reach of the Internet,
that customer is no longer restricted to specialty shops within a limited geographical range. The
sheer number of websites catalogued within a given Internet search engine is overwhelming.
Indeed, simply typing in "Victorian brooch" yields more than eleven million hits, or potential
sites.

As it turns out, computer visitors are not particularly hardy or particularly patient when it comes
to sustained computer searches. More than 90 percent of visitors rely on the listings that appear
on the first page of a web search call, which means that nine out of ten computer users depend
on their search engine to generate the most promising results. If that first page does not generate
a result that matches the customer's needs, that customer is more likely to trash the search and
restart it with a different set of key terms rather than go to the second page, much less the
thousands of pages that may follow. If a company is listed among the far reaches of a search,
its chances of reaching online consumers are basically nil. Even more important, nearly seven
out of ten computer customers select one of the first three or four results on the first computer
page to pursue. Screen space therefore is extremely valuable for a company. Indeed, the first
three entries from any computer search are termed the "Golden Triangle." If a company can
get its website listed within those initial three, the chance of financial rewards in the form of
customer signups, purchases, subscribers, or clients is exponentially improved.

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Analyzing the SEO Effectiveness

Effective SEO depends on an understanding of algorithms designed by engineers, who

endeavour to mimic and improve upon users' own search patterns in order to ferret out the most
helpful results (Arlitsch, 2013). A jewellery site that doesn't identify a selection of nineteenth
century cameo pins as brooches will not turn up in a search for Victorian brooches though it
may turn up in a search for nineteenth century pins. Optimizing the search results would include
identifying the objects as both pins and brooches and as Victorian as well as nineteenth century.
The ranking of websites is determined by algorithms created by search engines (e.g., Google,
Bing, or DuckDuckGo). The algorithms depend on logical guesses based on the search terms
of the user, seeking the presence of those terms on websites and making selections using factors
such as the prominence, abundance, and relevance of the website's use of the search terms and
the quality of the website according to a set of standards, such as how many other websites
reference to it via hyperlinks (Westfall, 2009).

In the interest of maintaining its integrity and not selling out to the highest bidders, a search
engine company deliberately keeps that algorithm a carefully guarded secret. Theoretically,
because no business is privy to all the workings of a search engine's algorithms, the search
engine must answer to the user objectively based on the content, reliability, and relevance of
the available websites rather than merely listing the highest bidders.

Because search results are so highly valued by users, search engine companies usually offer of
some portion of the results page real estate to advertisers. Companies bid to be listed on the
first screen of a relevant computer search. Paid, or "sponsored," ads are identified as such and
located above or alongside the true search results to underscore that the website's presence on
the page is not organic to the site's content but rather owing to a fee.

Because most users will not stay with a search much beyond the first screen, those who design
websites or specialize in SEO, work to optimize each site's content in order to secure a position
at or very near the top of results lists. Though web designers do not know the precise
algorithms, much can be deduced from search engine behaviour, and the various search engine
companies provide general guidelines, such as ensuring that websites are secure and content
accessible to a general audience. Optimizing a website raises the possibility of attracting a
higher volume of web traffic that, in turn, translates into higher Internet visibility and increased
business.

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Problems Associated with SEO

Webmasters maintain the basic integrity of a website in managing its development. Less
scrupulous webmasters, however, can manipulate the SEO process and create essentially
fraudulent perceptions of either competing websites or even their own in an effort to secure
optimization (Malaga, 2008). The opportunity for making a website appear more relevant than
it actually is, termed "Black Hat" search optimization, has emerged as a significant problem
largely because at the present there really are no publicly known computer applications or
algorithms able to sort through information and separate honest signals from deliberately
created noise. Webmasters, for example, can hide key terms in websites to create additional
attractors; webmasters can insert essentially useless and/or irrelevant information or
deliberately misleading key terms in a website; webmasters can actually buy links and
artificially create networks of links to create the illusion of a website's popularity.

Because webmasters designing new sites are sometimes desperate to secure a position in the
so-called Golden Triangle, and because webmasters are on par in terms of computer savvy with
those who are responsible for developing intelligent search engines, the conflict between signal
and noise will maintain a presence in SEO even as the search engines seek to offer relevant and
useful searches for users. Sophisticated algorithms, however, have begun to enable search
engines to distinguish highly refined details, for example, separating single visits from
returning queries, to evaluate the value of visitor activity and the usefulness of the site.
Inexplicably, despite the surging interest in the marketing potential of SEO, as Clarke and
Clarke pointed out in 2014, marketing schools at the university level were slow to embrace the
technology and strategies of effective search engine planning.

The bottom line for businesses and other organizations is that to ignore SEO risks jeopardizing
potential exponential expansion of the reach of the website. Indeed, the impetus of an SEO
process has encouraged webmasters to develop more accessible sites that invite users to explore
the site (Gronlund 2010). In short, SEO has quietly revolutionized web design itself.

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Elements on the website for better SEO

Website Content

Without rich content, it is difficult to rank for specific keywords and drive traffic to the website.
Additionally, if content does not provide value or engage users, it is less likely to drive leads
and customers.

It is impossible to predict how people will search for content and exactly what keywords they
are going to use. The only way to combat this is to generate content and lots of it. The more
content and webpages are published, the more chances are at ranking on the search engines.
Lottery tickets are a good analogy here. The more lottery tickets, the higher the odds of win.
Imagine that every webpage created is a lottery ticket. The more webpages, the higher the
chances of ranking in the search engines. As we already know, the search engines are smart. If
we create multiple webpages about the same exact topic, we are wasting the time. We need to
create lots of content that covers lots of topics. There are multiple ways we can use content to
expand the online presence and increase the chances of ranking without being repetitive.

Here are few examples:

• Homepage: Use the homepage to cover the overall value proposition and high-level
messaging. If there was ever a place to optimize for more generic keywords, it is the
homepage. Product/Service
• Pages: If we offer products and/or services, create a unique webpage for each one of
them.
• Resource Center: Provide a webpage that offers links to other places on the website that
cover education, advice, and tips.
• Blog: Blogging is an incredible way to stay current and fresh while making it easy to
generate tons of content. Blogging on a regular basis (once per week is ideal) can have
a dramatic impact on SEO because every blog post is a new webpage.

While conducting SEO research, we may come across articles that discuss being mindful of
keyword density (how often we mention a keyword on a page). Although following an
approach like this may seem technically sound, it is not recommended. Remember: do not write
content for the search engines. Write content for the audience and everything else will follow.
Make sure each webpage has a clear objective and remains focused on one topic, and we will
do just fine.

URL Structure

The actual structure of the website URL can have an impact on the search engines ability to
index and understand the website content. Opting for a more organized URL structure will have
the greatest impact. Some website creation software will insert arbitrary numbers and code in
the URL. Although this may be optimal for the software, it serves no other purpose. If we can
edit the URL to include the title of the webpage, we should do so. In fact, some website creation
software, like HubSpot, will automatically create URLs based off of the webpage content in
order to eliminate this issue.

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Pictures

There is nothing worse than landing on a webpage and being faced with mountains of text. Not
only are pictures a great way to break up sections of text, but they also serve as an opportunity
to communicate with the search engines. Because search engines cannot tell what a picture is
by scanning it, they look for clues in two places. Every picture we upload to the website will
have a file name. When the picture is inserted on the website, the picture’s file name actually
lives in the website’s sources code, or HTML. Since the search engines scan the website’s code,
we should use file names that describe the picture. For example, „red-tennis-shoesvelcro.jpg‟
is much more useful than „pic12345.jpg‟. Additionally, we can give the search engines an extra
hand by including alt tags on all pictures on the website. Alt tags are short snippets of code that
allow we to tag each photo on the site with a short text blurb.

Title Tags and Meta Tags

Besides an actual text headline on the page, every webpage we create has a title tag. This is the
text snippet that appears in the upper left corner or on the tabs of the web browser. Also, the
title tag is the blue link that the search engines show when they list the webpage on the SERP.
Title tags max out at 75 characters, so choose the words wisely. Meta tags are snippets of code
we can include within the webpage’s HTML. The meta tags are usually located near the title
tag code in the head of the HTML. There are two meta tags – meta description and meta
keywords. The meta description is a text snippet that describes what the specific webpage is
about. Meta descriptions are usually the first place a search engine will look to find text to put
under the blue link when they list the website on the SERP. If we do not have a meta
description, the search engines will usually select a random piece of content from the page they
are linking to. The meta description is limited to 150 characters.

Meta keywords consists on an additional text snippet in the HTML that allows we to list a few
different keywords that relate to the webpage. Back in the day, search engines used this field
to determine what keywords to rank the webpage for. Now, most search engines claim they do
not even use meta keywords when indexing content. Some small or niche search engines may
still use it though. As a best practice, it is recommended to put 5-7 keywords in the meta
keywords.

Headline Tags

When the search engine bots scan the webpages, they look for clues to determine exactly what
the webpage is about. Keywords that are treated differently than most others on the page show
the search engines that they are more important than other keywords on the page. This is why
the use of headline tags within the page is so important. By using various headline tags (each
tag will produce a different size headline), we not only make the webpage easier to digest from
a reader’s standpoint, but we will also give the search engines definitive clues as to what is
important on the page.

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Internal Linking

Up until this point we have only referenced inbound links, or those links coming to we website
from other websites. When creating content for the website on the blog or on specific
webpages, we may want to reference other pages on the website. We can reference these other
pages by inserting a link to another webpage within a specific webpage’s content. The use of
anchor text is recommended when linking to another webpage or even another website. When
anchor text is used, it implies that the page we are linking to is about the keyword or phrase we
use as the anchor. This is yet another way we can help out the search engines.

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Elements of SEO off the Website page

Compared to on-page SEO, off-page SEO can certainly be more difficult to execute. Off-page
SEO entails building relationships with other websites through the creation of attractive
content, or reaching out to the people who run the websites. This process of building
relationships is called link building. Who is linking to us, how they are linking to us, and how
the content is shared in social networks and across the web are all factors that can have a
significant impact on the ability to rank on the SERP.

Links

Since the Internet is essentially an inter-linking network of pages and websites that make up
the World Wide Web, not every link is created equal. Links from major publications and blogs
usually provide more link juice because they are visited by millions of people each day.
Therefore, they have an incredible impact on the ability for webpage to go viral. It is in a
newspaper website’s very nature to link to authoritative websites that relate to current stories
and trends. Therefore, these websites are most likely more valuable than others. The same goes
for education websites with a .edu domain, since these are reserved for educational institutions.
As such, the search engines realize that links to the website from these websites equate to we
having more authority.
Just like when anchor text is used to link an internal webpage to another one of the webpages,
the use of anchor text when another website links to we can be extremely helpful in creating
relevancy to certain keywords and phrases. If we have the option, always request keyword-rich
anchor text for a link that uses the domain. That said, if we have no other option, still take a
link with anchor text to the domain. All link juice is good.
A common practice in linking building is link trading, or “I will put a link to the website on
my website if we put a link to my mine on yours.” These types of links are referred to as
reciprocal links. Since all link juice is good link juice, reciprocal links are not prohibited, but
their value is certainly not as good as a one-way link to the website. There was most likely a
time when reciprocal links were just as good as any other, but the search engines are always
getting smarter in determining how much juice a link should receive. Just like any other aspect
of SEO, throwing money at link building is bad. Paying others to link to we is strictly prohibited
by the search engines. In fact, all paid links must include a tag, called a no-follow tag, which
tell the search engines not to give those links credit. If we’re caught with un-tagged paid links
(the linker or the linkee), the website could be suspended from the search engines or blacklisted
for good. Links to the website from advertisements are not counted as inbound links by the
search engines. If they discover paid link relationships that are not classified as advertisements,
we risk having the website suspended from being listed on the SERP, or even blacklisted if the
instance is deemed severe enough.

Using Social Media

Use of social networks like Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and LinkedIn has exploded over the
last few years. In fact, the latest figures from ComScore suggest that 16% of all time spent
online is spent on a social network.iv With hundreds of millions of users across these social
networks sharing content they find online with their friends and followers, search engines have
begun to take notice. According to SEOMoz, the amount of social activity that a webpage has

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on social networks (shares, recommendations, likes, links, +1‟s, etc.) is an important factor in
that page’s ability to rank on the SERP.v Simply put, search engines have realized that content
shared on social networks is extremely influential, and should therefore rank higher. Beyond
using social networks to engage new prospects, drive leads, and build brand awareness,
businesses should consider all of the SEO benefits they miss out on by not having a brand
presence. In order to capitalize on the boost to the SERP rankings from social media, we need
to make the content easy to share. Implementing social network buttons across the website is
the easiest way to accomplish this. Installing the buttons is easy if we use a service like
AddThis. Better yet, HubSpot’s blogging software automatically adds this functionality for we.

Using Email

Almost any business these days uses email to nurture relationships with their current leads and
customers, and utilizes promotional email blasts to attract new email marketing has exploded.
It has never been easier to set up an email program, upload the leads, and send them
communication. Obviously, the extreme rate at which businesses have adopted email has
deteriorated its effectiveness industry-wide. There is so much noise out there that we need to
make every email send count. Just like we need to make the content on the website easy to
share in social media, we need to do the same for email. Aside from having clear call-to-action
in the emails to nurture the list, drive leads, and convert them to customers, we should also
make it easy for the email readers to share the content with friends and post it to social
networks. This will increase the reach of the website content and make it easier for we to get
inbound links for SEO.

Search for Keywords

Using the search engines can help we answer critical questions like:

Is Google providing other recommendations?

When we type a keyword into Google, it will automatically populate the search results as we
type. This feature is called Google Instant. This is Google’s attempt at trying to anticipate what
we are searching for. Google is giving we results based off of previous search data. We can use
this data to the advantage. Simply start typing in a keyword and see what keywords Google
populates under the search result. This is a quick way to get keyword ideas.

How much competition is in the space?

See how many search results there are. If there are hundreds of thousands or millions of results,
ask, if it is really worth the time and effort to play in that space. Where do the competitors
rank? Pick a keyword we would like to optimize for and look at the top 20 results. Are the
competitors anywhere to be found? Where do we rank? Are we ranking at all? This information
will guide we in making a decision to carve out a niche with keywords where the competitors
are not playing, or we may find a keyword we think is worth picking a battle over.

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Conclusion

The concept of SEO is based on two related concepts: key terms and page rank. Page rank is a
measure of the site's relevance as defined by the prevalence of what are termed "backlinks"—
that is, links followed by other users to the target company's website. The assumption was that
such a metric would help define a website's reliability, currency, and usefulness. Backlinks
became a de facto recommendation by literally a world-wide audience.

In addition, the more people used the website, navigated its links, and explored its content, the
more other users unfamiliar with the website could assume the site had validity. Using this
logic, search engines summarily dropped websites that were not searched or were quickly
examined and then rejected. By factoring in website usage, SEO theoretically created a sense
of trust in those websites that attracted the most users. Further, because Internet traffic is
volatile and fluid and highly unpredictable, the SEO would be organic, that is, it would reflect
the ongoing, real-time use of a website. Unlike traditional advertising in which a company
could rest on its established reputation, SEO compelled companies to maintain constant
vigilance over its own Internet traffic.

Webmasters can also manipulate the link traffic by developing a substantial network of sites
linked to their website. An array of associated sites can be created using social media platforms,
including Facebook, Snapchat, and LinkedIn. Posting articles that use the website's content is
a widely used strategy for broadcasting backlinks, and interfacing with Internet discussion
boards and blogs catering to a business's client base courts potential incoming traffic. Savvy
webmasters understand the wider the reach of the website's links, the more likely search
engines will favor the website. Influence is considered the most significant metric in assigning
listing ranks. In essence, the Internet community itself creates the advertising for millions of
websites.

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