Demystifying SEO
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Transcript of Demystifying SEO
Demystifying seoSocial Media Breakfast Montreal – June 2011
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WHO IS THIS GUY?
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Marketing Hack @nvisolutions
Consultant @websitetogo.ca
Musician @weswalls
#SMBSEO
WHY IS HE HERE?
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SEO is not scary
How SEO can fit into your business strategy
Where to start with your SEO campaign
How to put SEO into action for your business
Measuring SEO
Getting results
#1
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ASK YOURSELF SOME QUESTIONS
STEP #1: ASK YOURSELF SOME QUESTIONS
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Is SEO worth considering for my business?
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• 78% of Canadians online will use search engines to research online and offline purchases
• 27% of those who researched product info online purchased online
• 45% of those that searched for product information online still purchase via traditional retail
• In 2009, search represented over 41% of overall online revenue, $741 million in Canada
• 106 million search engine queries a day in Canada
• 77% of all Canadian internet traffic starts from a search engine
• 98% of online users rely on search engines to find websites
Source : IAB 2010 & Comscore 2009.
STEP #1: ASK YOURSELF SOME QUESTIONS
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Who is my target user?
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STEP #1: ASK YOURSELF SOME QUESTIONS
• What unique offering can I add to the internet?
• Why would people want it?
• How would people seek it out?
• How would I want them to engage with me?
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STEP #1: ASK YOURSELF SOME QUESTIONS
With over 100 million websites on the internet
How do I avoid being another BLAH ?
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STEP #1: ASK YOURSELF SOME QUESTIONS
Know your niche
#2
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RESEARCH & STRATEGY
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STEP #2: RESEARCH & STRATEGY
Getting to know your playing field
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STEP #2: RESEARCH & STRATEGY
Keyword Research
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STEP #2: RESEARCH & STRATEGY
Keyword ThemesBlank/White T-shirtsblank tshirtswhite tshirtsblank t-shirtswhite t-shirtsblank t shirtswhite tshirtblank shirtblank shirts blank tshirtwhite t shirtt shirt blankblank tee shirtwholesale blank t shirtscheap blank t shirtsplain white tshirts
Custom T-shirtscustom tshirtscustom t-shirtscustom t shirtcustom made t shirtscustom t-shirts torontocustom t shirts calgarycustom t-shirts canadacustom t shirts ottawatoronto custom t-shirtscustom print t shirtscustom t shirts cheapcustom t shirtcustom tshirts torontocustom t-shirts winnipegcheap custom tshirts
T-shirt Printingt shirt printingtshirt printingtee shirt printing custom shirt printingt shirt printing companiesonline t shirt printingshirt printingshirt screen printingt shirts printedt shirt printst shirt printing companyt shirt printing torontoshirts printingt shirt screen printingt shirt printing machines
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STEP #2: RESEARCH & STRATEGY
Keyword Spreadsheet• Organize themes and subthemes into tabs • Global and local searches
• Weed out irrelevant keywords
• Sort by search volume
• Start to get an understanding of search patterns
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STEP #2: RESEARCH & STRATEGY
Low Hanging Fruit
Keyword Search Volume
Actual Traffic
Current Rankings
Low Hanging Fruit?
t shirt printing 1,900 80 87 No
cheap t shirts online 28 10 12 No
custom t-shirts canada 320 90 14 Yes
shirt printing 170 40 22 No
white t shirts 170 80 11 Yes
Rank Checker by SEOBook.com
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STEP #2: RESEARCH & STRATEGY
Who is Ranking?
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STEP #2: RESEARCH & STRATEGY
What are my competitors doing?
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STEP #2: RESEARCH & STRATEGY
What do I want out of all this?
KPI’SKPI’SKPI’S
NOT A KPI
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STEP #2: RESEARCH & STRATEGY
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STEP #2: RESEARCH & STRATEGY
• Set goals
• Establish budget
• Get ready for the long haul
#3
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BUILD!!!
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STEP #3: BUILD
Audit Your WebsiteThe Basics:
• Unique content strategy & hierarchy
• Interlinking
• Duplicate content
• Title tags
• Meta descriptions
• Indexation
• No shortcuts
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STEP # 3: BUILD
Unique Content Strategy & HierarchyContent is still king! Content must be:
• Unique and different to other content on the web• Useful and informative• Well-written, 250 words/page min. recommended• Well-organized throughout the site
• Theme silo concept http://www.bruceclay.com/seo/silo.htm
• Organizational chart• Content content content!
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STEP # 3: BUILD
InterlinkingGood interlinking ties all of the content on your site together in a clear hierarchy.• Crawlable text main navigation links• Main category links• “Quick links” • Breadcrumbs• Footer links & sitemap• Contextual links (deeper in site)
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STEP # 3: BUILD
Duplicate Content
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro?mco=MTM3NjU5MzU
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro
Two different URLS + same page =POTENTIAL DUP CONTENT
Always use exact same version of URL
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STEP # 3: BUILD
Title Tags
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STEP # 3: BUILD
Meta descriptions
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STEP # 3: BUILD
Indexation
• Get to know how your site is indexed. Use Google query site:yoursite.com to browse the indexation of your site.
• Use a tool like Xenu Link Sleuth to crawl your site.
• Remove pages that do not have a purpose such as internal search results pages or dup content pages, using rel=“noindex, follow” or robots.txt
• Submit XML sitemap via Google Webmaster Tools
#4
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PROMOTE
Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/altterrain-guerilla-marketing-wild-posting-alternative-outdoor-advertising/
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STEP # 4: PROMOTE
Backlinks• Popularity contest
• Each backlink is like a “vote”
• “Who is voting” is as important as “how many votes”
• Backlink profile matters as much as individual links
• How to become popular?
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STEP # 4: PROMOTE
Linkbuilding“Who would want to link to you, and why?”
• Write linkable content
• Contests, widgets, incentives – be creative
• Reach out and build relationships with thematically similar websites
• Going the extra mile will pay off
• No link exchanges
• Avoid “over-optimization” and spammy techniques at all costs
• Vary your strategies and activities as much as possible.
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STEP # 4: PROMOTE
What is a good link?• From a relevant page or website
• Page is in good neighbourhood with good links pointing to the page
• Has purpose for user
• Pagerank of page and website (a signal, not absolute)
• Page is cached by Google
• HTML, not javascript, etc
• Direct (not a redirect) and not nofollowed
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STEP # 4: PROMOTE
Engage
“Who would want to engage with you, and why?”
• Social signals are becoming increasingly important in SEO • Google +1, Facebook Shares & Likes, Tweets
• Become active in social media, beyond simply posting content
• Talk to people
• Build your community as an investment
#5
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Measure
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STEP # 5: MEASURE
Google Analytics
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STEP # 5: MEASURE
Keyword Themes
• Use Advanced Filter to drill right down to main keyword themes identified during Research & Strategy • Measure/analyze the performance of each keyword theme separately
• Ties into your theme silo site structure • The more you granular you get in your analysis, the better you can attribute specific activities to specific results over time, as well as more accurately prepare new strategies
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STEP # 5: MEASURE
Keyword Depth vs Width• Within each theme, how much long-tail?
• 500 visits from 400 keywords is much different than 500 visits from 100 keywords
• Should get a balance of short- and long-tail, otherwise indicates and issue or opportunity
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STEP # 5: MEASURE
Reference Points
• Reference points helps put your data in context
• Compare this month to last, or the same period last year
• Use Google Insights to find out if there are larger search trends and patterns
http://www.google.com/insights/search
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STEP # 5: MEASURE
Where is the $$?
• If website is e-commerce, ensure that analytics is tracking this • If not e-commerce, set up goal conversion tracking based on KPIs
• Find a way to put a $$ value to your traffic in order to measure ROI
• Also allows you to refine strategy and activities to pursue the $$
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Any Problem is an Opportunity
• There will always be issues and problems with your SEO marketing campaign
• If you have taken the right steps, you can turn any SEO issue into an opportunity
THANK YOU