SEO Basics & Beyond - 2017 Edition

SEO Basics & Beyond: Keys to Search Engine Success

Download this slide deck at: http://bit.ly/seobasicsbeyond17

Agenda

What SEO Means How Search Engines Work Steps to Setting Up a

Successful SEO Strategy Things You Can Do Right

Now to Increase Your Exposure in Search Engines

SEO Trends to Watch

We will have Q&A at the end of each section

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About Me

Coding since 6 years old Creating websites since

1997 Working in e-commerce

since 2005 Marketing MBA Agency since 2011

What SEO Means

What “SEO” Means

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the art and science of influencing

search engines to rank your content high in search results..

What “SEO” Means

…influencing search engines…

1. Apply a set of educated guesses2. Test and measure results3. Rinse, repeat.

How Search Engines Work

Google does data entry with your website

They extract a copy of your site’s text and code and put it into their own database

This is called “indexing”

Their copy is what gets searched against when a user enters a search

To determine position in results, sites are ranked according to a set of algorithms (“if this, then that” conditions)

There are over 200 known ranking factors that Google looks at

They can all be lumped into 3 categories

Technical ranking factors include things like: Search-engine-friendly

website code Error-free code Website server speed Mobile-friendliness Additional markup

(Schema.org)

1) Technical

Content ranking factors include things like: What keywords you use Where and how you use them How you organize the content Frequency of new content added How you link the content together

2) Content

Off Page ranking factors include things like: How many reputable & relevant websites link to

yours Social media “signals” (for local businesses) NAP Citations

(a.k.a. online phone book listings)

3) Off Page

Questions onHow Search Engines Work?

A Successful SEO Strategy

A successful SEO strategy has 4 parts:1. Technical2. Content3. Off Page4. Measurement & Analysis

4 Parts

Part 1: Technical Strategy

New site in the works? Start with a “blueprint” Build it right in the first place! At most basic level, make sure new site will be fully responsive

(mobile-friendly), and that it loads fast per Google PageSpeed Insights test

Technical

WordPress is highly recommended as an SEO-friendly platform, as it is a widely-supported open source platform. Click here to read why open source is best for SEO.

An SEO Agency can provide full and customized specifications for the web designer to work off of

Existing site? Start with an audit WooRank is free, but only scans one page and

doesn’t check for everything. Good place to start though.

An SEO agency can do a full audit▪ Be sure it includes mobile friendliness & site speed, as

well as other common factors such as header tag hierarchy, Schema.org, robots.txt, XML sitemaps, etc.

Technical

www.WooRank.com

Technical

www.WooRank.com

Hand audit report to webmaster.

Tell them to fix it all.

(Cry at cost if necessary)

Google Search Console (formerly known as Google Webmaster Tools) For now, still located at:

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/ Contains info on index status, crawl errors,

warning messages, penalties, mobile usability errors, etc .

This is THE ONLY place Google will communicate with you directly about your site!▪ Ensure that email notifications are turned on in the

preferences!

Technical

Ongoing Technical Strategy Full audit updates quarterly Check Search Console regularly & subscribe to

email notifications▪ Consistently fix any crawl errors that come up

Subscribe to Google Webmaster Central Blog for real time alerts of new technical considerations▪ https://webmasters.googleblog.com/

Technical

Questions onTechnical Strategy?

Part 2: Content Strategy

How to organize information A lot of different topics on one page is confusing

to the search engines

Content

ContentHow to organize information

Separate pages for each topic, product, or service Link similar pages to each other to create topical

“hubs”

ContentOngoing content strategy

“Fresh” content is important, but that doesn’t mean CHANGING existing content, that means ADDING new content

Important to keep site size growing by adding new pages or articles all the time

Blog RELIGIOUSLY!

(Blog must be on your own website, not on WordPress.com or Blogger.com)

Content

Source: Hubspot

Content

4 Categories = 4 Posts Per Month Use Keyword Research to get ideas Plan far ahead

• HINT: An Editorial Calendar is a lifesaver!

Determine what keywords to use (a.k.a. “Keyword Research”)

Content

Search Suggest Tools▪ AnswerThePublic (free)

▪ Soovle (free)

Data Tools:▪ Google AdWords Keyword

Planner (for existing advertisers)

▪ SEMRush (partially free)

▪ SERPStat (partially free)

“Not too hot, not too cold…”

Content

ContentDetermine what keywords to use

Where & how to use keywordsContent

1. Pick One Primary Phrase, and Several Secondaries for Context: Focus your content on one primary phrase that meets the “Goldilocks Rule”, but also pick several related words to use as secondaries. Secondaries don’t have to be used in all the following places, but should be “peppered in” naturally for context.

2. Use Primary Phrase in the Title: Use the phrase in the article or page title, towards the front if possible, e.g. “Facebook Marketing Strategy: Top 10 Best Practices”

3. Use Primary Phrase in a Subtitle: Subtitles are great for breaking up longer content into more digestible chunks. Use your phrase once in a subtitle.

4. Use Primary Phrase in the Title tag & URL: Most modern content management systems will do this automatically for you based on the title of your article, but make sure your phrase lands in both the title tag and the URL for the content.

5. Use Primary Phrase in the Meta description: This is a one-page summary of the content that search engines often use as the “snippet” in the search results. Although not a direct ranking factor, using the phrase here can assist with click-through rates.

6. Use Primary Phrase in Image Filename & Alt Tag: All content should have at least one image. Name the image filename with the phrase, using dashes (NOT underscores) as spaces, e.g. facebook-marketing-strategy.jpg. There is also a tag called an “image alt tag” that exists to tell search engines more about the image. Use your phrase in this description as well.

7. Use the Primary Phrase AND Secondaries in the Copy :

• It’s important that the copy reads very naturally, e.g. “New business owners often wonder what’s involved in executing a successful Facebook marketing strategy.”

• In total, when you are finished writing, the primary phrase should appear approximately 1 to 2 times per 100 words. This DOES include the titles and subtitles. DO NOT exceed this frequency!

• For example, a 500 word article should have the phrase appear anywhere from a minimum of 5 times (1 time per 100 words) to an absolute maximum of 10 times (2 times per 100 words).

• Secondaries can be used as little as 1 time each. Just “pepper them in” naturally.

Questions onContent Strategy?

Part 3: Off Page Strategy

Off PageLinks

Other websites linking to your website QUALITY OVER QUANTITY Reputable and Relevant CANNOT be manipulated – DO NOT buy links!

Off Page Best Ways to Get Natural Links

Write great content & pay to promote it ▪ Paying for eyeballs is okay, paying for links is not!▪ Pay to boost great blog posts on social (FB/LI)

HARO (Help A Reporter Out) Offer (and promote) scholarships & internships Offer government & university staff/student discounts Look at competitor links for ideas (Ahrefs,

OpenSiteExplorer, Majestic)

Off PageSocial Signals

Content that lives on your website getting “liked”, shared, commented on, etc.

Boost to get more signals Again, write great content & pay to

promote it

Off Page (for Local Biz)Citations (a.k.a. “Online Phone Book

Listings”)

For local businesses NAP = Name, Address, Phone Consistency is key

Google My Business (a.k.a. Google Maps)

Claim & fully fill out all info

Questions onOff Page Strategy?

Part 4: Measurement & Analysis

Measurement & AnalysisRemember…

This is educated guesswork

You HAVE to measure what worked and what didn’t!

Why? So you can do more of what works and less of what doesn’t

Measurement & AnalysisWhat to measure

Organic traffic▪ Make sure it’s always increasing

Top landing pages▪ See what content works best

Top referring sources ▪ See what sites are linking to you

Top organic keywords▪ What keywords is Google associating your site with (in

Search Console)

Google Analytics Cheat SheetWhat to measure

Organic traffic▪ Acquisition -> All Traffic -> Channels

Top landing pages▪ Behavior -> Site Content -> Landing Pages

Top referring sources ▪ Acquisition -> All Traffic -> Referrals*

▪ *beware of referral spam

Questions onMeasurement & Analysis?

Be diligent, but have patience

A Case Study

Actual Case Study

This is What Could Happen.

Things To Do NOW

Things to do NOW

Set up Search Console Subscribe to email notifications

Start blogging (on your own site) Switch to WordPress if not already in it, or add it to

your siteShare (and boost) your great content on

socialSign up for HAROFor local businesses…

Claim/optimize Google My Business listing Build/correct other “online phone book” listings

Things To NEVER Do

Things to NEVER do

“Stuff” keywords into your content Create lots of similar pages with

boilerplate copy Create orphaned/doorway pages Use hidden text Hyperlink tons of keywords Buy links (NEVEREVEREVEREVER do this!)

Let’s Bust a Few Myths

Myth Busting

MYTH: The meta keywords tag matters Google hasn’t used it since 2008

MYTH: There’s a duplicate content “penalty” It is NOT a “penalty” - Duplicate

copies will simply be ignored

MYTH: “We can just ‘SEO it’ later”

SEO needs to start BEFORE a site build

MYTH: SEO is a one-time project There are THOUSANDS of

algorithm updates each year. SEO is never-ending

MYTH: Link-building is dead Inbound link factors continue to

outweigh all other factors

MYTH: “Our Agency is Google-Certified for SEO” No such thing. Only certifications

available are for AdWords & Analytics.

Trends to Watch

Mobile, Mobile, Mobile! Google Mobile-Friendly Test Mobile Usability in Search Console

Trends to Watch

SPEED Google PageSpeed

Insights GTMetrix

“You really have to speed up your site” – Gary Illyes, Google

Closing keynote, Pubcon 2015

Trends to Watch

Google AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) Not yet an official ranking factor (but will be) At first, this was important only for news sites & large blogs,

but AMP pages are now found throughout all types of search results

Trends to Watch

RankBrain Google’s AI (Artificial

Intelligence) algorithm Give context

▪ Schema▪ Detailed/nuanced information

Minimize pogo-sticking & bouncing▪ Try to make content “sticky”

Trends to Watch

Schema Schema.org Gives context to text

& code Helps Google develop

artificial intelligence & machine knowledge

What SEO Means Art & science of *influencing*

position in search engines How Search Engines Work

Extract text & code, take a copy That’s what gets searched

against Sites ranked based upon 200+

factors in 3 categories: Technical, Content, Off Page

Successful SEO Strategy 1) Tech: Spec or Audit, Search

Console 2) Content: Keyword Research,

Page Organization, Ongoing Blogging (Editorial Calendar!)

3) Off Page: Write great content & pay to promote it – DON’T BUY LINKS. Use HARO

4) Measure & Analyze: Do more of what works!

Things to do NOW Start blogging & promote on

social!

Things to NEVER do Buy links! Stuff keywords Over-hyperlink Hide pages or content

SEO Trends to Watch Mobile, Speed, Schema,

RankBrain, AMP

Download this slide deck at http://bit.ly/seobasicsbeyond17

SEO Basics & Beyond - 2017 Edition

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