SEO & You: The Journey and Importance of Writing for Search Engines

SEO & You:The Journey and Importance of

Writing for Search Engines

www.chatterbuzzmedia.com321.236.BUZZ (2899)

Winner of 2012

Social Media

Agency in

Orlando

and

BEST OF THE

WEB 2012 in the

Nation

What is SEO?SEO = search engine optimization

• The practice of improving and promoting a web site in order to increase the number of visitors the site receives from search engines (Moz)

• Elements of SEO• words on your page• the way other sites link to you on

the web• site is structured in a way that

search engines understand• not just about "engines" It's about

making your site better for people too

• 90% of men and 91% of women use search engines to find information• Google, Bing, & Yahoo• You want to show up in search engines

• Helps the engines figure out what each page is about• 70% of users don’t go past 1st page!• Search engines are smart, but still need help

Why is SEO important?

It All Begins With An Algorithm

Google AlgorithmGoogle was founded September 4th, 1998

What are algorithms? - Algorithms are computer programs that look for clues to give you back exactly what you want.

Automated programs called spiders or crawlers travel the Web, moving from link to link and building up an index page that includes certain keywords. Google references this index when a user enters a search query. The search engine lists the pages that contain the same keywords that were in the user's search terms.

What does this mean?You have to write for both humans and computers to read.

Google HummingbirdRelease date August 20th, 2013

Biggest Changes• Keywords are [Not Provided] by Google

Analytics• Focus has shifted to the content and

keyword meaning rather than exact phrases

What to do?• Aim for long tail keywords• Build an audience on Google+• Monitor keywords on Webmaster Tools• And write naturally!

Finds meanings behind the search string to provide better results

Google Penguin (5) 4.0Release date May 19th, 2014

The Penguin update was mainly an anti-spam update and embedded with the new Hummingbird algorithm.

New Update affected ~7.5% of all queries.

Old 2.1 update hurt 1% of the sites• Paid links• Web Forum Spam• About the Author Spam• Site is Located on Blogrolls• Low Quality & Spammy Directories• Blog Comment Spam• Excessive Exact Match Anchor Text in Links

What Does This Mean for You?

Process• Discovery-

• research, gathering data, keyword lists, variety of how people search

•Building out groups• categorizing and making themes

•Understanding• trying to find insight, then value them with offerings with

brands/products• realize what the data means

•Use it!

Focus with Keywords in MindYou know about our clients.• Services• Location• What the article is about

Question: What if I have questions about the client I’m writing for? Answer: Ask Dianna or Jeff

What are Long Tail Keywords?

Aim for longtail keywords but remember to write naturally!

A Few General Keyword Rules

1. Don’t over saturate your blog with different keywords

2. Don’t stuff keywords into your posts

3. Keep the keywords relevant to your article.

4. Your post is more than just keywords. Keep it natural.

Please Use Proper Anchor TextGood Example• If you need to consult about SEO services, visit chatterbuzzmedia.comBad Example• If you need to consult about SEO services, visit chatterbuzzmedia.com

Good• Need to learn the best SEO practices? Visit our Chatter Buzz BlogBad• Need to learn the best SEO practices? Visit our Chatter Buzz Blog

Other Bad Ways to Use Anchor Text• Don’t link ever other word in a sentence. • Linking words to irrelevant content. If it’s a blog about real estate don’t link to story about

healthcare• Don’t link the entire paragraph of text.

This NOT only looks terrible but Google will devalue your website. This also is hurting everyone’s eyes and ears by having me read this super long hyperlink. It’s also distracting from the presentation so please please please do NOT do this.

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Call to Action!

Add a Call to Action to the End of Each Post

Once a reader finishes the blog you wrote, what do you want them to do?

Do you want them to register, call a phone number, buy something, download your guide, share with a friend on social media, etc.

Writing for SEO TipsChoose keyword phrases• include keywords 2-3 times in body• variations of keyword• use synonyms• use exact term• don’t over optimize!• longer copy = better opportunities

• 1000+ words is ideal

Place keywords in:• Title tag• URL• Headlines/sub headlines• call to action links• main body text copy

Tools of the Trade


Google Keyword Planner• Find what people are searching for• Provide suggestions on new keywords• Tell you how competitive these keywords are• Approximate how many people are searching for these keywords per city

Google AnalyticsWe Know All! (Except for Some Keyword Data)• Track where visitors are coming from • What they do on our client’s site• Compare Organic, Paid, and Referral traffic• And Much more!


Google Webmaster Tools• Can help you diagnose and repair issues on your site

• Find what people are clicking to on to get to your site


Moz Analytics• Monitor not only Analytics, but keyword data across Google, Bing, &

Yahoo.

• Find out what we need to do to optimize a page.

Use Google Authorship to Get Your Picture Next to Your Content

2 Options to setting it up1. Link your content to your Google+ profile using a verified @domain email address2. Linking your content to your Google+ profile and making sure you edit your

“Contributor To” section of your Google+ profile

Need Help Generating Blog Topics?Hubspot Blog Topic Generator• give three words you want to blog about• get ideas!

Del.icio.us• Provides specific tag pages that are timely

Quora• Ask questions and get answers - can see what people are asking/what

content they are interested in

Content Idea Generator• Spreadsheet that pulls in latest content from around the web related to

whatever given topic you choose

Topsy• Can search for keywords/ get info about current trending topics• Can filter based on time

Google trends• See what’s trending right now• can compare keywords to see which has higher search volume• Google Trends Hot Searches - displays top 20 searches any given day

Wordtracker• provides two lists of the top 500 most searched keywords within the last 48

hours and 365 days• looking out for upcoming trends for you to capitalize on

Trends Map• Shows latest trends on twitter for anywhere in the world

What Keywords are Trending?


SEO Overview• Content is king• Write for your audience• Speak the searcher’s language• Optimize site content - where to put your keywords • Get quality links - how search engine looks at it• Need to show up on search results• Over 82% of all product research begins with a web search

Questions?

SEO & You: The Journey and Importance of Writing for Search Engines

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