Interview guest: Zac Zan (Pinyin: zan) Hui
Sponsor: Grassroots Network www.20ju.com
Host - Black Dream: The interview officially begins.
Zan Hui: Good afternoon everyone, I’m Zac. Thank you for your enthusiastic participation.
Host - Black Dream: Welcome ZAC. Today's interview is quite popular. Many of your fans are actively speaking.
Host - Black Dream: Question 1: The most direct effect of SEO is to increase website traffic. In your new book "SEO Practical Code", you mentioned that "website traffic increased 20 times in 60 days". This practical effect is for everyone. SEOers have all dreamed of it. Could you please explain in detail how you use SEO and use various promotion methods to quickly increase website traffic?
Zan Hui: First of all, different websites have different characteristics and have different SEO problems to be solved. You have to analyze the website to find the breakthrough point. As for the case website in the book, Yicike ( www.yicike.com ) has enough information, with 3 million product information by the end of 2009. But the collection is too inadequate. So solving the problem of inclusion is the biggest problem.
Zan Hui: This only applies to websites with a certain scale and a large amount of data, so that they can make full use of the long tail effect. For small websites, different problems may need to be solved, such as keyword mining. Webmasters often ask how to make full use of the long tail, but in fact, it is difficult to make use of the long tail for websites with less than a few thousand pages and no content foundation.
There are two main points to solve the problem of inclusion of Yicike website. The first is to make the URL static. This search engine says it is not necessary, but it is still recommended for websites with more complex URLs. There are major changes.
Second, solve the problem of internal links and make the click distance between all pages from the homepage as short as possible. For large and medium-sized websites, this is not easy.
There are tens of thousands of products under some product categories, and it may take dozens of page flips to access a deep product page. Therefore, we made relatively big changes to the product page flipping. In addition to the 1 2 3 4 5 paging, we also added the 10 20 30 paging. With the addition of classification and some other small areas, the effect is pretty good. The collection quickly increased from tens of thousands to millions.
For large websites, the internal link structure is often very complex, so you need to be very careful when optimizing it. If you don’t do it right, problems will arise.
Yicike solves the problem of inclusion, the domain name has a certain weight, and the long tail will appear. Of course, the current weight is not very high, and there is a lot of room for improvement.
Moderator - Black Dream: Question 2: "Solve the problem of internal links and make the click distance between all pages from the homepage as short as possible." Regarding this point, should we consider the physical structure of the site or the link hierarchy? In addition, once a website undergoes a static URL transformation, it will often have a significant impact on the current collection, search traffic, and user experience. What issues generally need to be paid attention to before making such an action?
Zan Hui: The link issue is mainly considered at the link level, not the physical structure. Some readers have asked that the Yixike product page is in the root directory, not the category directory, but in fact we are not doing it because of the physical structure or directory hierarchy, but because some products often need to be changed into categories. Automatic classification is not accurate.
When the URL is made static, it will indeed cause short-term fluctuations in the collection volume, ranking, etc. In addition to being mentally prepared, I also remind you of two points. First, dynamic URLs need to be redirected to static URLs with 301. Some webmasters only generate static ones, but the original dynamic ones can still be accessed. Without redirection, they will be included repeatedly. Second, be sure to manually access all types of pages (old and new URLs) to see if the redirection and page are normal. Regular expressions are quite subtle, and a single mistake can cause problems on the page.
In addition, many webmasters say that the virtual host they use cannot be redirected. I don't know where this statement comes from. Virtual hosts can also redirect 301 requests.
Moderator - Black Dream: Question 3: Among the many questions raised by netizens, many netizens are generally concerned about this point of view: "The shorter the click distance between all pages and the homepage, the better?" Can you explain this topic in detail?
Zan Hui: Usually, the products or article pages that can really achieve the long tail effect are the pages that are difficult to include. The website link structure is homepage - first-level classification - second-level classification - third-level classification - (there may be deeper categories here) - product or article page. If there are many products in the bottom-level category (the category with the last product or article list), it will be divided into pages. When the number of products is huge, the number of pages will often reach hundreds or thousands. In this way, some product pages have to be clicked many times from the homepage to access, and the same is true for search engines. If it is far away from the homepage, search engine spiders will probably not visit it.
In order to make the product pages under this category closer to the click distance from the home page, the categories can be further subdivided, such as 1,000 products, and then subdivided into 10 categories. There are only 100 products under each category. Each page of the final category page lists For 20 products, 5 page turns will be enough. These 5 flip pages can all be listed on the final category page.
Or if you want to add 10 20 30 40 50. to the final category page of Yicike. .In this kind of page turning, the product on the 50th page turning can be accessed with one click. Just click twice more on No. 51-59.
Of course, more methods can be used, such as related product links. If one product page is included, it can drive more product pages. At this time, it is important to make related products more random so that more products can be covered.
Host - Black Dream: Question 4: In the case of Yicike ( www.yicike.com ), what external link building strategies have you adopted? Which strategies do you think work better?
Zan Hui: The previous ones are mainly about the internal optimization of the website, and the link building has not been carried out in depth.
Some methods are currently being considered, but it is really not convenient to disclose them. I can only say one thing first. The book mentions that the latest news about the case can be viewed in a private forum. To enter this forum, you need to link to the Yicike website. Undoubtedly, in addition to commercially sensitive information, this also includes the purpose of building links. There is no cost to readers, but to Yicike, there is one more one-way link. Mutual benefit.
Host - Black Dream: Question 5: What is the project operation process of this case of Yicike ( www.yicike.com )?
Zan Hui: After communicating with the company boss, I learned about the business model. Then I diagnosed the website, conducted keyword and competitor research, and provided them with an optimization report, which should be in October 2009. Their technicians are responsible for the execution. The first optimized version was launched on January 1, 2010. Afterwards, we will observe data such as inclusion, ranking, traffic, etc., and then make modifications.
In fact, it has been continuously revised since January 1st. For example, URL staticization and 301 redirection have been done several times. There is also the arrangement of product page content. SEO is a process of continuous revision. We will constantly look at the data to see what needs improvement. It is not completely completed yet.
All my communication with them is done online. Their technical team is relatively small in the industry, but very capable.
Moderator - Black Dream: As ZAC said, the operation process of the SEO project is roughly understanding the site business model 》 Website diagnostic analysis 》 Keyword research and competition analysis 》 On-site optimization 》 Page optimization 》 External link optimization 》 Effect tracking and data analysis 》Data Report》Feedback to customers. How many people do your team need to participate in this project? What is their division of labor and organization?
Zan Hui: Their direct participation in SEO projects includes a full-time SEO who is responsible for further researching keywords on classified pages, manually writing titles, exchanging links, communicating with other personnel on SEO, etc. Two technicians and programmers mainly rely on them to modify the website structure and pages. When they encounter SEO problems, they can also communicate with me directly online. In addition, they are not directly involved but are also related, such as specialized database optimization technicians, which can make page loading faster and page information more accurate, which is helpful for SEO.
Their team is relatively small, and their advantage is that organization and communication are very direct and convenient. I make reports or some daily suggestions and tell them directly to the technical staff, and they implement them immediately.
Moderator - Black Dream: Question 6: What do you think of purchase links? Especially the popular black chain in China?
Zan Hui: Black link is not recommended, it is illegal. Buying links is effective in some cases, and sometimes it is a necessary choice. For example, how can a new e-commerce website quickly increase its weight? Relying on link bait takes a long time. Buying links is the fastest and most direct way. If it's not too much, it works well. What I mean by excessive here is don’t buy from low-quality websites that look like they’re selling links. When you see a good website, talk to the other website or webmaster privately, and most of them will not refuse. In addition, do not use target keywords in all link text. Instead, it is safer to use the official name of the website.
Moderator - Black Dream: Some people believe that a new website should not rush to optimize keyword rankings, but should focus on cultivation, maintain updated original content on the basis of creating a reasonable site structure, and maintain stable operation and maintenance for at least half a year. time. What do you think of this perspective? Does this mean that in the short term, the new website will have no competitive advantage at all? What should the SEO work of a new website focus on?
Zan Hui: If it is a popular keyword, you really shouldn’t rush to rank the target keyword. There is no point in rushing. It will be difficult to compete with big and old websites. For a new site, it is better to focus on fine-tuning the website structure, observing and improving the inclusion rate, and adjusting various factors on the page, such as the position of keywords on the page. After the basic optimization is done, the weight of the website should also be improved, and the main target keywords should be deliberately optimized.
Moderator - Black Dream: Question 8: Due to the closed nature of SNS sites (such as Kaixin.com), the operating space of SEO will be limited. How should SEO be done for such sites?
Zan Hui: I personally think that SNS websites are not suitable for SEO, not only because of their closed nature, but also because such websites must quickly occupy the market, and they may not have the chance after a few months. SEO is difficult to achieve results in one or two months. Moreover, if the website must be registered to see the content, there is no way to do SEO. Search engines cannot crawl it. GG has a mechanism to skip login, but Baidu doesn’t seem to have one. Therefore, this kind of website must be as open as possible to all content, and should not be set so that only logged-in users or friends can see it. There is not much that can be optimized on SNS websites, and they mainly rely on word-of-mouth and interaction.
Moderator - Black Dream: Question 9: Many domestic small and medium-sized foreign trade companies have neither resource advantages nor sufficient overseas marketing budgets in the target market. Most of them choose to use SEO to obtain sales opportunities in overseas markets. However, the English search market The competition is extremely fierce. What suggestions do you have for foreign trade companies on their SEO journey?
Zan Hui: First of all, you must do keyword research. Different cultures have different terms. Don’t put Chinglish thinking on the website. Europeans and Americans will know at a glance that it is not their native language, and they are not familiar with user experience and keyword combinations. Good thing. Just do the basics of page optimization and there is no need to pursue perfection. Regarding optimization factors on the page, GG is less sensitive than Baidu. If my SEO posts were in English every day, with the same articles and attention, the external links would be at least dozens of times higher than now. .. Therefore, when making an English website, you will realize the meaning and fun of content being king. Of course, the content mentioned here is not product description, but interesting and even gossipy content. Foreigners like fun things.
Host - Black Dream: Question 10: What do you think the future development trend of SEO will be? What do you think about the integrated search marketing of SEO and PPC?
Zan Hui: In a short time, the basic skills of SEO will be the basic skills of all websites and webmasters, and SEO itself is not very advanced. But SEO will still exist, because search engines are expected to exist for a long time. Two or three years later, SEOers may be fighting for tools, creativity, team execution, data analysis capabilities, social network participation capabilities, multimedia content production capabilities, etc. Everyone will probably know how to arrange keywords on a page soon.
Companies that have the conditions are recommended to actively try PPC, which is not only fast and the effect is relatively guaranteed, but also promotes the natural ranking effect. Experiments have shown that the simultaneous occurrence of PPC and natural ranking has an impact on the brand and click-through rate of natural ranking. The data obtained in PPC, such as which keywords have large search volume and which conversion rates are high, can also be used as a reference or even guide for SEO work.
Host - Black Dream: OK. Let's enter the netizen question session of this interview. I will select 10 typical questions from the many netizens' speeches. ZAC will directly answer the netizens' questions. The 10 chosen netizens who ask questions will get prizes: ZAC in electronics Industrial Publishing House's new book "SEO Practical Code - Increase website traffic 20 times in 60 days".
Host - Black Dream: Netizen "Zhu Congcong" asked: We all know that the biggest trend on the Internet now is e-commerce. In the cost field, only SEO, the Internet marketing method, has the lowest cost. Please give me some ideas and suggestions for SEO+B2C e-commerce entrepreneurship.
Zan Hui: When using SEO to do B2C, don’t think about SEO first. Find the right product first. Without good products, optimizing keywords is useless. Once the product is determined, the main target keywords are usually determined, and then the keywords are expanded to a certain extent, upward and downward. For example, soymilk machines can be extended downwards to brands, models, and functions (Joyoung soymilk machines, etc.), and upwards can be extended to words such as food machinery and breakfast. So once you have determined your product, you don’t have to worry about not having keywords.
E-commerce websites are not easy to optimize based on the content of the product itself. The content is the same (generally given by the manufacturer) and no one is willing to give you a link. Therefore, we must consider how to generate original content. For example, writing blogs, cooperating with SNS, forums, user comments, etc.
Netizen "Li Hao" asked:
1. I understand that you are now running a website that sells virtual hosts. When promoting the website, in addition to using SEO methods, you also choose which promotion methods you think are better. If possible, I hope to use one of your methods to promote the website. Please tell us about this website as a case, thank you.
2. Nowadays, many websites are facing crisis public relations problems on search engines. Could you please give us a summary of what we need to know and pay attention to?
Zan Hui: In addition to SEO, the Chinese website of the virtual host also has some affiliate programs, which is the website promotion. There is no other way. However, the business of selling consoles has basically been abandoned. A website that sells hosting in English and also does forum marketing. Providing holiday discount codes in webmaster-type forums works well.
Crisis public relations on search engines is mainly about how to suppress negative news, and it is impossible to prevent it in advance (except for after-sales service). Create positive information on more authoritative websites, including Baidu's own know-how, encyclopedias, wiki websites, question and answer websites, news, SNS, free blogs, forums, etc. If necessary, create some external links to positive information. As long as there are no experts specifically attacking your brand, this method can usually suppress the negative. Of course, if you have channels, you can directly contact the website to delete the negative information.
Netizen "Loach" asked:
I would like to ask about the standardized products of the English website (such as: china hotel, china tour, the content is relatively fixed, and originality is unlikely). Currently, the top ranking sites are all long-standing and high-weighted sites, and they work hard on popular keywords. I'm afraid it's difficult to optimize to the front, but it's also difficult to get more traffic if you go long tail. What's a good strategy? Is it necessary to join the competition for hot words? Thanks!
Zan Hui: There is no need to consider the new website for popular Chinese tourism keywords. The competition is relatively high. Not only are the ones at the top of the list old, but SEO has also been done very early and very well. We still have to start with the long tail. There are so many places in China, including scenic spots, hotels, specialties, humanities, history, geography, etc., and the number of long tails is huge. Those big websites are unlikely to have a monopoly on all keywords, so there are still opportunities. The search volume is certainly not large, but the quantity is large, and the comprehensive search volume is definitely larger than the search volume of popular keywords. The key is to expand on a variety of content and keywords.
Netizen "Ah Hui" asked:
In view of the current departure of Google, Baidu's manual intervention is becoming more and more common, and e-commerce advertising bidding investment is increasing. Can Zac tell us what the future optimization direction is?
Zan Hui: I can’t predict this. I don’t know how much manual intervention there will be on Baidu, but it is a fact that Baidu’s own content is increasing. Baidu knows, there are, encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc., and the ranking performance is very good. The amount given to SEO will inevitably decrease. Whether there will be more or less in the future is hard to say, and we can’t control it. We can try searching for pictures, videos, maps, etc. Try to participate in social networks as much as possible, which will not only help SEO, but also minimize dependence on search. Establishing a brand and turning the brand name into a search term is also beneficial to increasing the weight of the website.
Article source: http://www.20ju.com/content/V158069.htm