Brighton SEO April 2023 - Basic Automation Hacks For SEO

Basic Automation
Hacks For SEO
slideshare.net/TomPool
@cptntommy
Tom Pool
Blue Array

www.bluearray.co.uk | @bluearrayseo
@cptntommy |
Like all good
adventures

We’re going to start
with a question
@cptntommy |

Who would like to
make their life job
easier?
@cptntommy |

This will be an
adventure (promise)
@cptntommy |

Over the next 20
minutes
@cptntommy |

I’m going to share a
wide variety of
different
automations
@cptntommy |

Or ways that we, as
SEOs, can help make
our jobs easier
@cptntommy |

Even if you’re not an
SEO, there will be
something for you!
@cptntommy |

I’ll keep things as
actionable as
possible
@cptntommy |

My goal is to help at
least one of you
make your job easier
@cptntommy |

Before we get into it
@cptntommy |

Who Am I?
@cptntommy |

@cptntommy |
Tech &
Training
Director

I look after
the technical
output of the
agency
@cptntommy |

As well as
getting to
work on most
of our clients
@cptntommy |

I also head up
training
throughout
the agency
@cptntommy |

I work on a lot of
exciting and cool
projects
@cptntommy |

Including various
automation pieces
@cptntommy |

@cptntommy |
What Is
Automation?

Anything that
reduces human
intervention in
processes
@cptntommy |

Give the boring stuff
to a machine to do!
@cptntommy |

And in regards to
SEO?

The purpose of
automation in SEO
(at least for this talk)
@cptntommy |

Is not to take your
job
@cptntommy |

We’re not looking to
pull ‘an amazon’
@cptntommy |

@cptntommy |

I’m sure we all
remember the very
recent layoffs at big
tech
@cptntommy |

These companies
aren’t exactly short
of cash
@cptntommy |

There was also this
report
@cptntommy |

@cptntommy |
“ChatGPT Could
Disrupt 19% of US
Jobs, Is Yours on the
List?”

Instead of using
automation to do all
of our jobs
@cptntommy |

We should
use it to do
the ‘boring’
stuff
@cptntommy |

To allow you more
time to focus on the
fun stuff
@cptntommy |

@cptntommy |
Let’s dive in!

We’ll be looking at
@cptntommy |

Google Sheets
Python
Automater
Other Stuff
(‘AI’)
@cptntommy |

For all automations
I’ve provided a link to
an example
@cptntommy |

There’s also some
scripts linked, too
@cptntommy |

The deck will be
shared afterwards
@cptntommy |

Screaming Frog
Crawl
Scheduling
@cptntommy |

Crawling a site when
doing other stuff
@cptntommy |

This is an awesome
feature of everyone’s
favourite frog
@cptntommy |

You can set exactly
when you’d like to
crawl
@cptntommy |

There is a huge
amount of
customisation
@cptntommy |

You can also export
directly to Google
Sheets
@cptntommy |

Saving you having to
export > import to
sheets ‘x’ times
@cptntommy |

You can link this up
with a Data Looker
Studio Report
@cptntommy |

That can
automagically
populate with data
@cptntommy |

On a daily, weekly,
monthly basis
@cptntommy |

Google Sheets
(& Excel)
@cptntommy |

Correct formula
usage is so satisfying
@cptntommy |

That feeling when
you write a formula
& it works first time
@cptntommy |

Proper formula
usage is automation
101
@cptntommy |

I’ll not focus TOO
MUCH on Google
Sheets
@cptntommy |

I’ve covered a number
of great hacks &
formulae in a
previous talk
@cptntommy |

bit.ly/sheets-for-seo
@cptntommy |

However - there are
some things worth
covering here
@cptntommy |

I’d like to share a
single, useful
formulae before
moving on
@cptntommy |

Extract text / strings
from a URL
@cptntommy |

There’s countless
applications for this
@cptntommy |

Product names
@cptntommy |

UIDs
@cptntommy |

Categories
@cptntommy |

The list goes on
@cptntommy |

Let’s look at an
example
@cptntommy |

https://www.argos.co.
uk/browse/home-and-
furniture/wardrobes/c
:797726/
@cptntommy |

https://www.argos.co.
uk/browse/home-and-
furniture/wardrobes/
c:797726/
@cptntommy |

=SPLIT
@cptntommy |

=SPLIT(A2, “/”)
@cptntommy |

Remember Column 4
@cptntommy |

We now need to wrap
this SPLIT within an
INDEX
@cptntommy |

To remove the other
columns of data that
we don’t need
@cptntommy |

=INDEX(SPLIT(A2,"/"
),4)
@cptntommy |

=INDEX(SPLIT(A2,"/"),
4)
@cptntommy |

Copy that formula
down by double
clicking on the bottom
right of the cell
@cptntommy |

Then pull the
subcategory from the
URL, by tweaking the
formula
@cptntommy |

Super useful & many
potential applications!
@cptntommy |

I’m sure we’ve all
had a spreadsheet
with many (many)
tabs
@cptntommy |

And had to apply the
same formatting to
each of them
@cptntommy |

(Freezing top row,
changing font, changing
font size, applying Bold,
adding a logo…)
@cptntommy |

There’s 3 ways we
can do this
@cptntommy |

1.Manually
2.Macros
3.Google Apps Script
@cptntommy |

1.Manually
2.Macros
@cptntommy |

@cptntommy |
Macros
have been
around for
a LONG
TIME

They allow you to
repeat actions
multiple times
@cptntommy |

You can either write a
Macro using VBA
(Excel) or Apps Script
(GSheets)
@cptntommy |

Or you can use the
‘Record Macro’
function
@cptntommy |

That records what you
do
@cptntommy |

You can then access
this macro from the
same menu
@cptntommy |

The potential
applications for these
are wide-ranging!
@cptntommy |

You can see the code
behind the macro/s that
you make
@cptntommy |

This is Google Apps
Script
@cptntommy |

Amd can be used for
many more things
beyond macros
@cptntommy |

Google Apps Script
is like superpowered
formulae
@cptntommy |

For example
@cptntommy |

You can send emails
based on sheet contents
@cptntommy |
>>>

Show individual cell
edit history in notes
@cptntommy |

Generate PDF invoices
based on sheet contents
@cptntommy |

Create custom
functions, menus &
buttons
@cptntommy |

You can use
Apps Script
in Slides, too
@cptntommy |

I used it for this deck,
to apply consistent
fonts for all text
@cptntommy |

Only because I get
caught up and forget
check manually
@cptntommy |

I’ve modified this to
exclude certain slides
(title slide, for
example)
@cptntommy |

I also use Apps Script
to set consistent font
colours, too
@cptntommy |

Nothing worse than
having multiple people
work on a deck in 7
different shades of
grey
@cptntommy |

There’s huge amounts
of resource out there
on Formulae, Macros
& Apps Script
@cptntommy |

I’d 100 % recommend
@cptntommy |

Python
@cptntommy |

We’ll briefly touch on
python - there’s a huge
amount you can do with
it
@cptntommy |

Large scale data analysis
Big ‘vlookups’
Data merging
Extracting locations
@cptntommy |

text
@cptntommy |

Problem:
I have 100,000 keywords
& I need their monthly
Search Volume
@cptntommy |

Idea:
Use (insert tool here)
to get the volume
manually
@cptntommy |

Idea:
Use an API to get
everything
@cptntommy |

Solution
@cptntommy |

SEMRush have an
API that allows you
to get this data
@cptntommy |

1x ‘quick’ coding
session later
@cptntommy |

(It’s always longer
than you think)
@cptntommy |

I won’t go through
this - but there’s a
link on the slide ;)
@cptntommy |

Problem:
I now have 100,000
keywords & their
monthly search
volume
@cptntommy |

How can I use this?
@cptntommy |

Idea:
Use Sheets (HA, no
chance)
@cptntommy |

Idea:
Use Excel (sure, but
no)
@cptntommy |

Idea:
Use python to build a
dashboard
@cptntommy |

(Yes, but no)
@cptntommy |

Idea:
Use BigQuery
@cptntommy |

We can upload data
to this ‘database’
@cptntommy |

And then use it in
Looker Studio
@cptntommy |

Automator
@cptntommy |

This is one
exclusively for Mac
users
@cptntommy |

And not limited to
SEO
@cptntommy |

You can use it to
rename files
@cptntommy |

Remind you of tasks,
to-do’s, notes
@cptntommy |

Email automation,
web scraping &
automation, image
resizing…
@cptntommy |

I don’t have time to
go through these
today
@cptntommy |

But there is a lot of
great resource out
there on it!
@cptntommy |

Official
documentation is a
good place to start
@cptntommy |

https://support.apple.co
m/en-
gb/guide/automator/wel
come/mac
@cptntommy |

‘AI’
@cptntommy |

When I pitched this
talk - I wasn’t going
to mention this
@cptntommy |

An SEO automation
talk wouldn’t be
complete without
covering it
@cptntommy |

It’s taken the world
by storm

And offers incredible
opportunity to
automate workflows
@cptntommy |

Remember those
code examples?
@cptntommy |

ChatGPT can
make/edit/assit with
creation of them
@cptntommy |

It’s like an
enthusiastic
junior
developer
@cptntommy |

Just be ready to
guide it when it goes
wrong
@cptntommy |

Closing Thoughts
@cptntommy |

Automation is
powerful
@cptntommy |

@cptntommy |
With great
power…

Consider how you
can use it to improve
efficiency, and make
your job easier
@cptntommy |

Thank You
@cptntommy |

Brighton SEO April 2023 - Basic Automation Hacks For SEO

Recomendados

Recomendados

Más contenido relacionado

Similar a Brighton SEO April 2023 - Basic Automation Hacks For SEO

Similar a Brighton SEO April 2023 - Basic Automation Hacks For SEO (9)

Último

Último (20)

Brighton SEO April 2023 - Basic Automation Hacks For SEO

Notas del editor