1. Demystifying SEO
Getting the Fundamentals Right
Raunak Guha
Co-Founder, RankHigher.in
www.rankhigher.in

2. Content
● Understanding Search process
● SEO - What, when and why?
● Getting Deeper with SEO
o Understanding Search Intent
o SEO SWOT Analysis
o Domain Name and Hosting
o Keyword Research
o Performance
o Technical
o On-page
o Off-page
● Blogging
● Domain Authority
● Measuring SEO Impact
● Where do we go wrong?
● Please Remember

3. Understanding Search Process

6. SEO - What, when and why?

7. What is SEO?
SEO is the practice of improving and
promoting a website to increase the number
of visitors the site receives from search
engines.

8. Google Search - SERP

9. CTR based on Google rankings

10. SEO - Why do you need?
94% of searchers click on Google organic
results.
6% click on PPC results
- GroupM UK and Nielsen

11. Getting Deeper with SEO

12. Understanding Search Intent
● What is your business value proposition?
● What problem are you solving and for whom?
● What is the current option your prospect has?
● How are they looking for a solution to their problem that
you can solve?

13. VS.
Understanding Intent

14. SEO Swot Analysis

16. Domain Name and Hosting

17. ● Brandable vs Keyword rich domain name
● Duration of the domain being bought
● Hosting Server Location
● TLD extension (.in vs .com vs .net etc)
● Hosting Server type (shared vs dedicated)
● Avoid Cheap hosting providers

18. Keyword Research

19. ● Focus on User Buy Intent
● What problems are you solving
● Brainstorm possible search queries
● Ask your
employees/customers/investors/friends/family
● Follow discussions on Forums/Quora/FB Groups
● Spy on competitor keywords
How to do Keyword Research

20. Tools for Keyword Research
● Keyword Planner
● Keyword.io
● Google Auto Suggest
● Google Related Searches
● SEMRush
Pick keywords which have low competition

21. Performance

22. ● Page size < 500Kb
● http requests < 50
● Load time < 1.5 seconds
Use:
● GTMetrix
● Google PageSpeed Chrome Extension
● tools.pingdom.com

23. Technical

24. ● Directory Structure
● URL Structure
● Internal linking
● sitemap.xml
● schema.org
● URL Redirects
● Robots.txt
● Responsive Design

25. Structuring Pages & Interlinking

26. On-Page SEO

27. ● Title Tag
● Header Tags
● Content
● Alt Tags
● Meta Description
● LSI and Keyword Density
● Focus on Call to Action per page

28. Title Tag
1. 512 Pixels (approx 55-60 characters)
(http://moz.com/blog/new-title-tag-guidelines-preview-tool)
1. Keywords towards the front
2. Make title tags readable
3. If you include a brand in the title tags, place it at the end unless it is a
well-known brand people seek out
4. Make each title unique
5. Avoid stuffing keywords
- Google may change this is SERP based on search query relevance

29. Header Tags
Use H1 and H2 tags
- Use only one H1 tag per page. Multiple H2 tags
- Use Keyword in header tags
- H1 - E.g., - What is SEO?
- H2 - E.g., - Performance Optimisation
- H2 - E.g., - What is On-Page SEO?

30. Content
● Min. 300 words/page
● Don’t stuff keywords
● Write proper constructed sentences
focussing on thought behind the keyword
● Don’t cloak keywords

31. Alt Tags
● Google reads images through HTML tags
● Use Alt Tag for all images
● Use the context of the image in Alt Tags
● You can use keywords in Alt Tags

32. Meta Description
● 920 px width
● Google uses 13px Arial font
● Use Meta Description to explain what the
page is about
● Use the Keyword in Meta Desc. Appears
bold in SERP
● Google may change Meta Desc based on
Query

33. LSI and Keyword Density
● Don’t write content using exact keywords
everywhere (looks unnatural)
● Write for humans (not search engines)
● Keep Keyword density <1%
Google getting smarter at detecting LSI.

34. Off-Page SEO

35. ● Forum/Blog Commenting
● Blogger outreach
● Guest Blogging
● Social Media/Content Marketing
● Social Bookmarking
Get Relevant high Quality Backlinks

36. ● Rich anchor text backlinks
● Branded backlinks
● Naked URLs
● Anchor text variations
● Generic anchor texts
Anchor Text Strategy

37. Blogging

38. Why should I blog?
● Long Tail Keywords targeting
● Establishing authority
● Engagement
● Frequently updated website gets Google
benefit

39. Topics for Blogging
● Solve your prospects pain point
● Keyword Planner
● Google Auto Suggest
● Google Related Searches
● Spying on Competitor Blogs
(buzzsumo/Quicksprout)
● Popular blogs in your niche (buzzsumo)

40. Domain Authority

41. ● Age
● Quality
● Relevant Backlinks
● Engagement
● Visitors
(Demo - Majestic.com)

42. Measuring SEO Impact

43. GA and GWT
● Organic New Visits
● Sessions
● Ignore branded search queries
● Pages/session
● Average Session Duration
● Bounce Rates
● Impressions
● Crawl Errors

44. Where do we go wrong?

45. ● Obsession over rankings
● Targeting wrong/less keywords
● Not using SEO as a test case in development
● Too much focus on on-page and off-page. Less focus on
technical/performance

46. Please Remember

47. ● All SEO knowledge is based on experiences of SEO experts globally
● SEO is not an instant pain relief medicine. SEO is a long term
process
● SEO is a strategy. Not a tactical ploy
● SEO is an ocean. We covered a pond today
● SEO is not about on-page or off-page. It is a process in totality

48. RankHigher Resources
Subscribe to our blog:
http://www.rankhigher.in/knowledge-hub/

49. Thank You
Website
www.rankhigher.in
Email: raunak.guha@rankhigher.in
Twitter: @raunakguha
Mobile: +91 9008 639 690