Day 1 – Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
I. Understanding SEO and its benefits?
- Search engine history
- Benefits of SEO
- How effective SEO can impact your business
- What is Black Hat vs White Hat SEO
- Google vs Yahoo! and Bing
Meta Tags
- Create optimized page titles
- Creating effective meta descriptions
- Effective URLs that help rank
- Robots and Spiders
- What is follow/no follow and how it impacts your rankings
- Canonical URLs
- Creating a site map
- Selecting the Right Keywords
- Using keyword research tools
- Long-tail vs. head terms
- How to choose the right keywords
- How to determine competitive keywords
- Site Structure
- Optimized navigation to benefit site discovery
- The age of a page and how it impacts ranking
- Effective Page layout
LAB: Create a 5 page website using a flowchart while employing proper meta tags, keywords and site structure. Determine what pages need to be follow vs. no follow.
III. On-Site SEO Part 2
Content
- What is SEO optimized copy
- How to write effective SEO optimized copy
- Writing optimized copy for ecommerce websites
- Duplicate copy and impact on SEO
- Social Content and how it impacts your rankings
- Linking
- Impact of linking on SEO
- Effective on-site linking
- What is a “good link”
- How to obtain backlinks
LAB: Create 3 pages of optimized SEO copy for various types of websites.
IV. Tools and How to Use Them to Increase Your SEO
- Google Webmaster tools
- Google Analytics
- Pay for use tools
LAB: Determine metrics and data that would be most important for determining SEO impact while using Google Analytics, Google Webmaster Tool sand others.
Day 2 – Paid Search
I. What is Paid Search?
- Paid vs. Organic
- Impact of paid search on a business
- Beyond Google AdWords
- II. Opening an AdWords Account**
- Billing set-up and choices
- Account access within your organization
- Pre-Requisites
- III. Starting at the Campaign Level**
- Budgeting at the campaign level
- How to target properly
- Choosing what devices is best for your campaign
- Selecting the right audience
- Time adjustments
LAB: Create a sample campaign for 3 different target markets
IV. The AdGroup level
- Creating effective AdGroups
- How to group keywords properly
- V. Effective Keyword Research and Use**
- How to find keywords
- Choosing the right match type
- Using negative keywords
- How competition can impact your spend
LAB: Set-up and create multiple AdGroups based on mock keyword research. Determine the correct keywords for a website and group them properly using concise and targeted AdGroups.
VI. Writing Paid Search Ads that get Clicks
- Ad text limits
- Using keyword insertion to increase click through rates
- How click through rates impacts your bids
- Ad optimization
LAB: Create multiple ads for the AdGroups created in previous lab
VII. Landing Page Impact on Paid Search
- What is “Quality Score” and why it matters
- Landing page creation tips
- Selecting the right landing page for your keywords
LAB: Using the keywords and ads created in previous lab, students will create mock landing pages for optimal conversion.
VIII. Bid Strategies
- How to determine effective bids
- Day-parting bid strategies
LAB: Using sample data students will determine Return on Investment and establish proper bid strategies.
IX: Moving Beyond Search
- Setting up a content network campaign
- Where your content network ads will be shown
- Selecting the right keywords for a content network campaign
- Creating effective content network ads
- Setting up a site-targeted campaign
- What sites to target and how to find them
- Using the display ad builder
LAB: Create a content network and a site-targeted campaign and target each effectively.
**X. Conversion Tracking Set-Up
- How to select the right conversion tracking code
- How to implement conversion code tracking properly
- XI. The AdWords Editor and other tools**
- A look at how the AdWords Editor can help in AdWords management
- Other tools to use for paid search intelligence and tracking
- Day 3 – Google Analytics**
I. What is Google Analytics?
- Web analytics introduction
- II. Setting Up Google Analytics**
- Basics of getting your Google Analytics account configured
- How to implement tracking code properly
- Setting up account access and setting user levels
- Creating multiple profiles and uses
- III. The Basics of Google Analytics**
The basic information and data viewable in Google Analytics
- Google Analytics navigation
- Explanation of the menu items
- Basic data shown and what it means
- How to compare date ranges
- Changing views
LAB: Determine what data is important to view on a daily, monthly and yearly basis for various website types.
Digging deeper into Google Analytics
- Traffic Sources; Direct, Search and referring
- -Using Google Analytics to learn more about your visitors
- Creating your own reports
- Adjusting your Google Analytics dashboard to provide easy access to the data that matters
- Benchmarking uses
LAB: Create custom reports for various types of websites
IV: Goals and Ecommerce
Setting up goals and funnels
- How to create a goal in Google Analytics
- How to create goal reports
- Using funnels to determine site issues such as bounce rate and navigation errors
LAB: Create various funnels for different types of websites and determine what metrics are important and how Google Analytics data can be used to correct the issues.
Implementing Ecommerce Tracking
- How to set-up ecommerce tracking
- Using ecommerce data to determine best sources
- Ecommerce tracking and Google AdWords
LAB: Determine how ecommerce tracking can be used on various website types and use what types of Google Analytics reports can be used to track data.