How Leading Brands Earn High SEO Rankings

Erin Everhart● Lead Digital Marketing

Manager – SEO at The Home Depot

● Was the Director of Digital Marketing at the 352 Inc.

● Regular columnist at Search Engine Land

@ErinEver

Mike Tomita● Sr. Marketing Manager at

Marketo, the leader in digital marketing software

● Experienced in SEO, SEM, conversion optimization, and social marketing

@Marketo

Matt Koulas ● Search Marketing Manager

at Grasshopper

● Has years of both in-house and external SEO experience, focuses on sustainable growth strategies

@MattKoulas

Nate Dame ● CEO and Founder of

Propecta

● Regular speaker and columnist

● Oversees client strategy and thought leadership

@seonate

Proving The Value of SEO

(The struggle is very real, you guys)

@erinever

Erin Everhart

Everyone says SEO is important

@erinever

But budgets don’t back it up

@erinever

Set the right expectations

@erinever

Speak their language

@erinever

Make the most of your time

@erinever

Take things one bite at a time

@erinever

Show a competitor beating you

@erinever

Use data to your benefit

@erinever

This used to be all we needed

@erinever

Now, we’re drowning in data

@erinever

And leaving people dumbfounded

@erinever

Why are we showing them this?

@erinever

This isn’t any better folks

@erinever

Give them information, not data

@erinever

Show impact on overall business, not just SEO

@erinever

Relate visits back to revenue

@erinever

Remember: Online metrics don’t live in a bubble

@erinever

Making SEO Everyone’s Job

@Marketo

Mike Tomita

The Spark That Set The Fire

“I just searched for

[INSERT KEYWORD]

on Google and we are below

Competitor X. Why?”

Crisis or Opportunity?

Crisitunity?

Crisis Response1. Concerned but optimistic introduction

2. List of SEO tasks to improve specified keyword rank

3. List of recent SEO wins

4. Commitment to provide performance updates

Influencing The HIPPO

HighestPaidPerson’sOpinion

Crisitunity Response1. Concerned but optimistic introduction

2. List of highest impact, non-keyword specific tasks that

require executive support

3. Impact of above tasks on specified keyword rank

4. Impact of above tasks on company business objectives

5. Ask for the stars

Yes, I am “That Guy”

I love what you’re doing and I think it could really benefit our SEO efforts!

What do you think about doing X instead of Y?

Here’s how that will help both of us!

Identifying Allies

Demand Gen

Content Marketing

Product Marketing

Web Dev

PR / Social Media

Funds SEO

Produces website content & blog posts

Names the products & creates the pitch

Controls the website

Tells the high level story

Team SEO Role

Getting Cross-Functional Support

SEO By Any Other Name…

Demand Gen

Content Marketing

Product Marketing

Web Dev

PR / Social Media

Generate more leads

Drive subscriptions & downloads

Update competitive positioning

Improve website performance

Refine persona based messaging

Team Stated Project Objective

We’re All On The Same Team

Get More Out of Your Content

Matt Koulas @MattKoulas

When Talking About Content...

You’ll hear a lot of people say...

Tah Dah!

“We have a blog…”

What They Really Said...

Have a Vision.

With no destination set, you’ll never get anywhere.

Be Strategic.

1. Set your goal2. Set a target audience3. Research what they need/want to know4. Create comprehensive content which

answers questions or satisfies needs5. Bombard them with your branding5. Ensure your brand ties into the content

Create Useful Resources.

Think About The Consumer.

What will help them most?- Are they marketers, business owners, both?- Do they need videos, pictures, articles,

checklists, kittens, etc?- Are they reading and then taking action, or

printing for later? ...Is your content printer-friendly?

- Have you surveyed your users?

Know Your Goals.

Example: JUMP

Example: Fireside Chats

And Then...

So What is a Fireside Chat Overall?

They are…

● Brand Building● Link Getting● Customer Helping● Email List Developing● SEO Value Rising

...pieces of content.

But Matt, What About Results?!?@#!

● Traffic: 50,000+ visits in 2015● Conversions: 46 signups● Links: 120+ unique domains● Social:

- FB Shares: 800+- FB Likes: 2,800+- Tweets: 1,100+- LinkedIn: 350+

So Remember…

HAVE A VISION.

So Remember…

BE STRATEGIC.

So Remember…

GET RESULTS.

The New Era of SEO

@seonate

Nate Dame

Everything We Know about SEOHas Changed

State of Search

From Nate’s Search Engine Land column, They Fooled Us All: Why Google May No Longer Announce Major Algorithm Updates

Prediction: More False Positives, More Confusion over “Updates”

Source 1Source 2

Google’s Rank-Modifying Spammers Patent

What you’d expect.

Edit a page Google rank increase or decreases

Google’s Rank-Modifying Spammers Patent

What really happens.

Edit a page

Google ranking moves up or down at random for an indefinite period of time

At some point, your page’s new ranking settles

Path to SEO Success

New 80/20 Rule of SEO

Technical SEO

Engagement SEO

Technical SEO

Important, but not impressive

Engagement SEO

My page is the best content that meets the user’s specific needs

My page is the most popular page when compared with competing content

Learn

Test!

Beyond the Keyword: User Intent

Earn That Popularity

● Strong relationships with high-value influencers

● Promotion is gas on the fire● Study the emotional triggers that work

Audit Efforts.

Where Are We Going?

Audit Results.

See a Live Demo of Propecta’s SEO Services

Wednesday, May 202pm ET / 1pm CT / 11am PT

Sign up: propecta.com/live-demo

@ErinEver

Erin Everhart Mike Tomita Matt Koulas Nate Dame

@Marketo @MattKoulas @seonate

Thank you!

@ErinEver

Erin Everhart Mike Tomita Matt Koulas Nate Dame

@Marketo @MattKoulas @seonate