Demand quest seo training

SEARCH ENGINE
OPTIMIZATION
TRAINING
DemandQuest
October 2016

TODAY’S AGENDA
1. Introduction
2. How Searching Has Evolved
3. What to expect today
4. How search engines work
5. What is SEO?
6. The SEO Pyramid
7. Local SEO
8. 30-Minute SEO Checkup

NATE
PLAUNT
Sr. Strategist – Search
Three Deep Marketing
@NatePlaunt
bit.ly/2cLk6eI

DOES SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
REALLY MATTER?

Search Engine Optimization
FACT:
79% of search engine users say they
always/frequently click on the natural
search results.

ANATOMY OF A SERP
(SEARCH ENGINE RESULTS PAGE)
Paid Ads
Local / Map
Results
Organic
Results

• Organic traffic accounts for up to 64% of all
website traffic*
• Roughly 52,000 search queries happen on
Google - every SECOND!
• This translates into about 4.5 billion searches
every day**
ORGANIC SEARCH STATS
* Source: http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/study/2355020/organic-
search-accounts-for-up-to-64-of-website-traffic-study
** Source: http://www.internetlivestats.com/one-second/#google-band

DIFFERENT SEARCH ENGINE, DIFFERENT
RESULTS

U.S. SEARCH ENGINE MARKET
SHARE
*Source:
http://www.statista.com/statistics/267161/market-share-of-search-engines-in-the-united-states/
63.4 %
21.9 %
12.1 %
Everyone else 2.5 %

But the sandbox is
constantly changing…

• Each year, Google changes its search
algorithm around 500–600 times.*
• That’s roughly 1.5 changes
EVERY.
SINGLE.
DAY!
THE SHIFTING SANDBOX
• Source: https://moz.com/google-algorithm-change

BUT, THE ALGORITHM ISN’T THE ONLY THING
CHANGING…
SEARCHERS ARE CHANGING TOO

TOP GOOGLE SEARCHES
2005
1. Myspace
2. Ares
3. Baidu
4. Wikipedia
5. Orkut
6. iTunes
7. Sky News
8. World of Warcraft
9. Green Day
10. Leonardo da Vinci
2015
1. Lamar Odom
2. Jurassic World
3. American Sniper
4. Caitlyn Jenner
5. Ronda Rousey
6. Paris
7. Agar.io
8. Chris Kyle
9. Fallout 4
10. Straight Outta Compton

IN FACT, SEARCHERS ARE “EVOLVING”
THEY ARE LEARNING HOW TO INTERACT WITH
SEARCH ENGINES TO GET SOLUTIONS MORE QUICKLY

DOES SEO REALLY MATTER?
YES!
If you are not optimizing for search you
are already behind your competition.

WHAT TO EXPECT:
• A solid understanding of how search engines
operate
• Learn how to beat out your competition in the
search engine results
• Actionable tactics you can implement today
• Tools to implement optimizations

WEBSITES SINCE 1998
0
200,000,000
400,000,000
600,000,000
800,000,000
1,000,000,000
1,200,000,000
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016*
Websites

WHAT IS SEO?
Search engine optimization
(SEO) is the process of affecting
the visibility of a website or a
web page in a search engine's
"natural" or un-paid ("organic")
search results.
• Source: Wikipedia

WHAT IS SEO? (SIMPLIFIED)
SEO is two things:
1. The practice of making your website as
accessible as possible to search engines and
human visitors.
2. Ensuring your website is as useful and
relevant as possible to your current and
prospective customers.

THINK OF YOUR WEBSITE AS A HOUSE

Ensure your site is
accessible to
humans and
search engines.

Ensure
your site is
relevant
and useful
to your
visitors.

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
101

Ensure your site
is accessible to
humans and
search engines.
Ensure your site is
relevant and useful
to your visitors.

PHASE 1: PLAN FOR
SUCCESS
1. What is the business goal you are trying to
achieve?
2. What are the key performance indicators
that tell you if you’re on or off track?
3. What are your baseline metrics?
4. What does your team look like?

HOW DO WE MEASURE
SUCCESS?
Source: http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/digital-marketing-and-measurement-model/

PHASE 1: YOUR TEAM
SEO
Project
Team
SEO
Dev.
P.M.
Analyst

TECHNICAL AND STRUCTURAL
FACTORS

• Goal: Ensure accessibility for Search
Engines & Users
• Foundation of your entire online presence,
so it’s important to get it right
• Search engines have very clear guidelines
for webmasters to follow when building
sites
TECHNICAL AND STRUCTURAL
FACTORS

WHAT TO LOOK FOR
• Can your entire website be
crawled?
• Is your website indexed by the
search engines?
• Does your website have any
errors?
• Is your page load time too
slow?

HOW YOU CAN DO THIS
• XML sitemap
• Accurate robots.txt file
• Google Search Console
• Page speed optimization

WHAT TO AVOID
Any unnecessary hurdle for the search
engines
• Flash
• iFrames
• Serving content via JavaScript
• URL Parameters

HERE’S WHAT GOOGLE SEES
(not a glitch)

ROBOTS.TXT FILE
The robots.txt file is a directive for all
“bots” visiting your site.
• It tells them
what URLs to
crawl or not
crawl
• Simple text file –
can be created
with notepad

ROBOTS.TXT FILE – *PRO TIP
Use the
Robots.txt
testing tool in
Google Search
Console to
troubleshoot
errors in your
file and to test
individual URLs

XML SITEMAP
The XML sitemap is a map of your website
that enables search engines to efficiently
crawl and index your site.

XML SITEMAP
Various tools can help you generate an
accurate and up-to-date sitemap:
• Screaming Frog Spider
• CMS plugins like Yoast
• Other web-based sitemap generators
- www.xml-sitemaps.com

WHY DOES SPEED MATTER?
In 2014, mobile search overtook desktop search.
• The gap between
mobile and
desktop will widen
• Fast page load
speed is critical to
optimizing for
mobile
• Page load in 2
seconds

GOOGLE PAGESPEED
INSIGHTS
PageSpeed Insights is a free tool from Google that
gives you a prioritized roadmap on how to fix
speed issues on your site.
• https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights

ON AND OFF PAGE
FACTORS
• Goal: Demonstrate Relevance and Authority
• Search engines want to provide users with
search results that are relevant to their
query and authoritative in nature.
• Building upon a sound technical structure,
we make sure that search engines and users
are able to fully understand what various
pages on your website are all about.

On-page SEO refers to
factors that you can
control directly on your
website
Examples of on-page
factors are:
• Metadata
• Internal links
• Content
• Technical / Structural
Off-page SEO refers to
factors “out of your
control” on other
websites
Examples of off-page
factors are:
• Inbound links
• Social Media
• Mentions
• Local Directories
ON-PAGE vs. OFF-PAGE SEO

WHAT TO LOOK FOR
• Are your on-page elements
optimized?
• What keywords are you
ranking for?
• Who are your organic
competitors?
• Who is linking to you?

ON-PAGE SEO ELEMENTS
• URL
• Page Title
• H1 heading
• H2 headings
• Meta Description
• Page Copy
• Alternative image text

Page Title: Unique
and descriptive
URL: Descriptive
and readable by both
humans and search
engines
H1 Heading: Unique
and descriptive
Sub-Headings:
Targeted sub-topics
of the page theme
Page Copy:
Descriptive, unique,
and RELEVANT
Alt Image Text:
Descriptive and
keyword rich
SEO ON-PAGE
ELEMENTS

PAGE TITLE
Good:
Organic Result #1
Bad:
Organic Result #32

URL STRUCTURE
Good:
Organic Result #9
Bad:
Organic Result #94

WHAT KEYWORDS DO YOU
RANK FOR?
Ground Rules:
1. Don’t “Google yourself”
2. Use a keyword tracking tool
a) SEM Rush (freemium)
b) Bright Local (paid)

WHAT KEYWORDS DO YOU
RANK FOR?

OFF-PAGE SEO ELEMENTS
• Backlinks
• Link anchor text
• Citations or Mentions
• Competitors

INTERNAL vs. EXTERNAL
LINKS (BACKLINKS)
• Internal links refer
to links within
your site, such as
navigation links.
• External links
refer to links
outside of your
site, such as a link
from Wikipedia.
• Both are very
useful, but for
different reasons.

HOW DO BACKLINKS HELP?
• Backlinks act as
“votes” for pages on
your site.
• Generally
speaking, the more
links you have
from authoritative
sources, the more
your site is trusted,
and the better your
pages will rank.
YourWebsite.com
NewsSite.com RetailSite.com
IndustryBlog.com ShadySite.com

WHY INVEST IN LINK
BUILDING?
A technically sound site will only get you so
far.
Without links, it simply will not have the
equity or authority to be visible in search
engines.

LINK ANCHOR TEXT
• The words used in the anchor text of a link to
your site helps search engines understand
what that page is about.
• So, if your page is about “Lego Star Wars
collections” the anchor text Star Wars Legos
would be preferable over click here.

CONTENT STRATEGY
• Goal: Ensure Quality & Alignment with
Audience
• To convert visitors to prospects or
customers we need to have high quality
content that addresses their problems.
• Through keyword research and customer
understanding, we can determine the
topics that are of interest to your
customers and where you have the
opportunity to be competitive in search
engine results.

Understanding
who your user
is,
WHAT IS A CONTENT
STRATEGY?
+ =
what problems
they have that
you are able to
solve,
and finding a
way to solve
those problems.

WHAT IS A CONTENT
STRATEGY?
what problems
they have that
you are able to
solve,

WHAT TO LOOK FOR
• Am I speaking to my
customer in their language?
• Do I have the content they
are looking for?
• Where is there opportunity
to provide an answer to a
question?

HOW YOU CAN DO THIS
1. Identify buying personas or audience
segments
2. Understand the decision making
process
3. Keyword research
4. Content inventory

• Match existing content to
personas and steps in the
buying cycle.
• Identify areas that lack content
and fill gaps.
Content Inventory & Gap Analysis
VS.

Content Inventory &
Gap Analysis
URL Worker
Willy
Fashion
Freddy
Awareness Interest Consideration Purchase
Intent
/401-red-wing-
mens-6-inch-boot-
brown
x x x
/footwear/6-
hawthorne-8113-
08113
x x x
Awareness Interest Consideration Purchase
Intent
Worker
Willy
15 17 10 5
Fashion
Freddy
11 2 7 13
Content Inventory & Gap Analysis

CONTENT STRATEGY STEPS
1. Business Objectives
2. Persona / Buying Cycle Analysis
3. Content Audit
4. Gap Analysis
5. Recommendations

CONTENT MARKETING
• Goal: Right Content in front of the Right
People in the Right Place at the Right Time
• Content Marketing is the practice of
distributing your content through various
channels.
• Get the right types of content to the right
audiences.

WHAT IS LOCAL SEO?
Local SEO is the process of making it as
easy as possible for prospective
customers to find information about your
company online, either when they search
specifically for your enterprise or for any
businesses that provides particular
goods and services nearby them.
• Source: LocalU.org

WHAT IS LOCAL SEO?
Enhancing the
visibility of your
business for
queries with
“local intent”

LOCAL SEO RANKING
FACTORS
• Link signals
• On-page signals
• Google My Business signals
• External location signals
• Behavioral signals
• Personalization signals
• Review signals

HOW YOU CAN DO THIS
• Ensure your contact info is present
• Acquire relevant local links
• Make sure your Google My Business page is
accurate and optimized
• Consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone #)
• Create engaging, quality content
• Make your site the best in your area
• Ask for reviews!

GOOGLE LOCAL RANKINGS
(RIGHT FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH)
Relevance
“Relevance refers to how well a local listing
matches what someone is searching for.
Adding complete and detailed business
information can help Google better
understand your business and match your
listing to relevant searches.”
Source: https://support.google.com/business/answer/7091

Distance
“Just like it sounds–how far is each potential
search result from the location term used in a
search? If a user doesn't specify a location in
their search, Google will calculate distance
based on what’s known about their location.”

Prominence
“Prominence refers to how well-known a business is.
Some places are more prominent in the offline world,
and search results try to reflect this in local ranking.
Prominence is also based on information that Google
has about a business from across the web (like links,
articles, and directories). Google review count and
score are factored into local search ranking: more
reviews and positive ratings will probably improve a
business's local ranking.”

CITATIONS
• Citations are essentially a mention of your
brand on another site like a listing directory.
• Yelp
• Yellow Pages
• City Search

CITATIONS
• It is important that these listings maintain
consistency and accuracy.
• Name
• Address
• Phone Number
• *Check up on your listings using Moz Local
• - moz.com/local

1. If done right, SEO is a distinct competitive
advantage
2. Get the foundation right
3. Optimize your pages and off-page presence
4. Strategically create and distribute content
5. Optimize for local visibility
TL;DR

MEASUREMENT &
IMPROVEMENTAnd then do it all over again!

1. Analytics Platform (Google Analytics)
2. Google Search Console (formerly Webmaster
Tools)
3. Bing Webmaster Tools
4. Google
5. Screaming Frog Spider
6. Crawl Data Visualization Spreadsheet
7. Panguin Tool – by Barracuda Digital
8. Word, Excel, Google Docs, pen and paper, or
anything else you want to use to make a checklist
WHAT YOU NEED:

1. Google Analytics - https://www.google.com/analytics/
2. Google Search Console -
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/home
3. Bing Webmaster Tools -
http://www.bing.com/toolbox/webmaster
4. Google - https://www.google.com/
5. Screaming Frog Spider - http://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/
6. Crawl Data Visualization Spreadsheet -
http://bit.ly/1npByIE
7. Panguin Tool - http://barracuda.digital/panguin-tool/
WHAT YOU NEED:

STEP #1:
CRAWL YOUR SITE WITH SCREAMING FROG

• Download Screaming Frog Spider
• http://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/
• Enter your domain into the box at the top and
hit Start
• *Pro Tip: exclude the “www” to capture info on
all subdomains
STEP 1: CRAWL YOUR SITE

• Download the Crawl Data Visualization
Worksheet
• http://www.threedeepmarketing.com/blog/visualizing-website-data-with-screaming-
frog
• Save your crawl once it’s complete
• Export the Crawl Overview Report as a .csv
file
• Copy and Paste into the “Data” tab of the
Crawl Data Visualization Worksheet
STEP 1: CRAWL YOUR SITE

Page Title: Unique
and descriptive
URL: Descriptive
and readable by both
humans and search
engines
H1 Heading: Unique
and descriptive
Sub-Headings (H2):
Targeted sub-topics
of the page theme
Page Copy:
Descriptive, unique,
and RELEVANT
Alt Image Text:
Descriptive and
keyword rich
SEO ON-PAGE
ELEMENTS
Meta Description:
The elevator pitch -
unique and
descriptive

• Take note of:
• Any redirection (3xx), broken links (4xx), and
server error (5xx) status codes
• URL Issues
• Page Title Issues
• Meta Description Issues
• Missing Heading Tags (H1, H2)
• Mark any issues down on your checklist
STEP 1: CRAWL YOUR SITE - OUTPUT

STEP #2:
GOOGLE SEARCH CONSOLE

• If you haven’t already, go verify your site in
Google Search Console –
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/home
• Once verified, click on your site to access the
Dashboard
STEP 2: GOOGLE SEARCH CONSOLE

• First stop here is to check out your crawl errors
report.
• Click on the section banner to access the
report
• This will bring you to a different screen

• Here you will see the graph on each type of
error encountered over time.
• Clicking on the individual error URLs will
show you exactly where that URL is linked
from (internal or external too!)

• Next, from the left-hand
navigation, head to the
HTML improvements area
• Here you’ll find a listing of
issues with various on-page
elements such as:
• Meta descriptions
• Title tags
• Non-indexable content
• Take note of any issues
reported here and mark
them in your checklist.

• Finally, make sure you
do not have any
manual actions from
Google.
• These can be
extremely time
consuming and costly
to clear up.
• If you see something
here, consult an
experienced partner.
• Pro Tip: for a detailed walk-through on how to recover from a link based
manual penalty, see my instructions here:
http://www.threedeepmarketing.com/blog/complete-guide-google-manual-penalty-removal/

• If you haven’t already, go verify your site in
Bing Webmaster Tools –
https://www.bing.com/webmaster
• Once verified, click on your site to access the
Dashboard
STEP 3: BING WEBMASTER TOOLS

• From the left-hand dropdown menu, select
“SEO Reports”
• Although there is a lot of great information
here, we’re only going to check out this
section.

• Here you’ll find a list of “SEO Suggestions”
• Clickable links to lists of URLs on which the
issue occurs.
• Prioritize the most severe issues and mark
them down in your workflow checklist.

• Log into your analytics tool and access your
website profile
• For this example we are going to look at
Google Analytics as it is one of the most
popular and powerful website analytics tools
on the market…and it’s “free”
STEP 4: CHECK YOUR ANALYTICS

• Choose a period of
time you want to
analyze and compare
it to the previous
year.
• Drill down into the
Channels report
• Here you’ll see a
listing of traffic by
channel
• Next step is to click
on “Organic Search”

• Now change the Primary Dimension to
“Landing Page”
• Here you can see the year over year difference
in entrances per page from organic search
• Mark down any pages with drastic drops in
your checklist

• The Panguin Tool is a tool developed by a
company called Barracuda Digital
• It pulls in your organic data and overlays
when major updates to the Google algorithm
have occurred
• This is SUPER helpful when trying to
diagnose whether or not your site took a hit
• While you are logged into Google Analytics,
head over to http://barracuda.digital/panguin-
tool/ and follow the instructions to connect your
site’s analytics to the tool
STEP 5: THE PANGUIN TOOL

• Once connected you will see something like
this:
Color-coded lines
represent updates to
the Google algorithm
Toggle switches allow
you to turn off update
types

• Mark down major traffic correlations
• Read up on the provided information about the
update
• List out possible solutions in your checklist

STEP #6:
GOOGLE YOURSELF (BUT NOT LIKE THAT)

• Pull up google.com in your browser and use the “site:”
advanced search operator to check your indexation
• Example: “site:domain.com”
• How many pages are indexed?
• How does this compare to your actual page count?
• If it differs greatly, mark it down in your checklist.
STEP 6: GOOGLE YOURSELF (LIKE THIS)

• High priority issues include:
• Internal redirection – 301 and 302 status codes
• Broken links – 404 status codes
• Page Title issues
• Uncrawlable website
• Manual actions
• Medium priority issues include:
• H1 and H2 issues
• Pages with traffic loss YoY
• Low priority issues include:
• Meta Description issues
• Alt image text
PRIORITIZE YOUR CHECKLIST

1. Launch a crawl on your site with Screaming Frog
2. Download the Crawl Data Visualization spreadsheet
3. While crawl is running, log into Google Search
Console
4. After that, log into Bing Webmaster Tools
5. Check your crawl, if it’s done export the crawl
overview and load data into the Crawl Data
Visualization spreadsheet
6. Log into Google Analytics
7. While logged into GA, head over to the Panguin Tool
8. Check your indexation in Google
9. Mark down issues as you go
WORKFLOW TIMELINE AND REVIEW

THANK YOU!
NEXT UP: ADVANCED
SEO TACTICS
QUESTIONS?

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