SEO... WTF? (Search Engine Optimisation for PRs)
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Charlotte Gunnell Content and SEO nerd / Blogger @cavatica_copy www.cavatica.co.uk
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Transcript of SEO... WTF? (Search Engine Optimisation for PRs)
Charlotte Gunnell
Content and SEO nerd / Blogger
@cavatica_copy
www.cavatica.co.uk
@cavatica_copy
SEO… WTF?
@cavatica_copy
What is SEO?
What is SEO?
Search Engine Optimisation
@cavatica_copy
What is SEO?
Search Engine Optimisation
Bing, Yahoo, Duck Duck Go...
@cavatica_copy
What is SEO?
Search Engine Optimisation
Bing, Yahoo, Duck Duck Go...
Google (and YouTube)
@cavatica_copy
What is SEO?
Using great content and a user-friendly website to
help reach an audience searching for the answers to
questions.
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Answering questions like...
Who killed Lucy Beale?
How do I register to vote?
How do you make pancakes?
Do eyelashes grow back?
Why did he dump me?
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Why is SEO important?
Why is SEO important?
40,000 Google searches every second
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Why is SEO important?
40,000 Google searches every second
3 billion searches a day
@cavatica_copy
Why is SEO important?
40,000 Google searches every second
3 billion searches a day
1.1 trillion searches a year
@cavatica_copy
Why is SEO important?
Over 2.5 million blog posts and news
articles are published every day
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Why is SEO important?
Over 2.5 million blog posts and news
articles are published every day(That’s a lot of competition)
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How to ‘do’ SEO in 2015
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The past...
It was all about getting exact keyword
combinations into your content, wherever
they would fit
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The past...
And getting as many links as possible...
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The past...
...It didn’t really matter (for SEO) whether
your content was actually any good...
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The past...
...Or how you treated your customers.
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The past...
Now? Not so much...
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Now...
Google uses over 200 factors to rank
your page
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Now...
Google uses over 200 factors to rank
your page(and then some)
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Now...
These include…
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Now...
These include…(but are not limited to)
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Now...
● What language is used in the page (titles, body copy,
URL, categories, sub-categories, meta data, alt titles)
● How old your domain is (older sites are trusted more)
● Quality: links in / out, length of content
● Engagement (bounce rate, time on page, # shares)
● Technical factors: How fast is it; how modern is the
code; is it mobile friendly?
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Now...
But it all comes down to...
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Now...
Great content
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Now...
And a fast, user-friendly website
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Now...
Because it’s all about topics, not
keywords...
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Now...
...And giving users a website that’s a
joy to use
(quick and painless, basically)
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Your content
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Your content
● Identify your audience: who are they? Where do
they hang out online?
Use: Brand knowledge, Google Analytics,
competitive analysis (Moz)
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● Gather your data: what are your audience interested
in? What questions do they have that are currently
not being answered?
● What inspires them to share?
● Understand the context: think topics, not keywords.
Use: Reddit, BuzzSumo, forums, Keywordtool.io,
Google Keyword Planner, Google Trends, YouTube
Trends, popular blogs
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● Understand the competition: what already ranks for
those subjects? Content format, length, style, number
and style of images.
● Focus on specific ‘long tail’ questions
● Start thinking now about how you can raise the bar...
Use: Google search, keyword analysis tools (Moz)
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● Research, research, research: know your topic inside
out.
● Authenticity is essential: if necessary, use or interview an
expert.
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● Don’t ‘write for search’. Write for your audience. Use the
language they already use
● Make your audience want to stick around and share your
page rather than the competition’s.
● Answer people’s questions in an in-depth, interesting,
insightful and easy-to-digest way.
● Above all, remember that sharing counts too.
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General stuff:
● Spend more time on your headline than any other part
of your content: make it engaging, clickable and use
the same language as you see in your research
● Make your content easy to scan: use headings, sub-
headings, bullet points and exciting (original) images
● Consider using video, audio and other multimedia to
increase time on page and get your message across in
a more digestible way
● Make use of categories and sub-categories: Google
likes to know which parts of your content are most
important
● Don’t expect results straightaway
Your content
The benchmark...
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Your content
“10 times better than anything I can
find in the search results today”
Rand Fishkin, Moz.com
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A fast, user-friendly
website
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A fast, user-friendly website
‘User interaction signals are
Google’s 2015 weapon of choice’
John Limbocker
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What Google looks at
● Low bounce rate, high CTR, high # pages visited,
longer time on site, lots of return visitors
Use: Analytics software (Google Analytics,
Omniture)
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What Google looks at
● Mobile-friendly: quick to load on mobile, easy to
navigate, easy to read
Use: Google’s mobile-friendly checker, Google
Webmaster Tools, tech support
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What Google looks at
● A quality brand: high number of brand searches,
outstanding customer service, loyal readers and
customers, high conversion rate
Use: PR!!!
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What Google looks at
The main thing to remember…
Google looks at everything it can to rank your
website/page amongst the competition
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Real-time data: What are people
searching for right now?
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Useful tools:
● Google Trends
● Social media (trending, hashtags)
● Topsy.com
● News sites
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Social media
The future of SEO:
trends to be aware of
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Trends to be aware of
● Even more emphasis on mobile-friendly
● Tweets now ranking in Google search results
● The Knowledge Graph: Google now understands how
entities are connected, meaning there will be less and
less focus on specific keywords and more on
becoming the most useful and/or interesting resource
for a topic@cavatica_copy
Useful links:
● Moz.com beginner's guide
● SEO starter guide - Google
● Search Engine Land
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Case study: Protein Saker
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Thanks for listening!
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