A presentation delivered at Product Camp St. Louis, March 29, 2014. Getting people to your website is essential to marketing success, but focusing on just “SEO” is a mistake. This presentation discusses the essential elements of driving traffic to your site, even as Google constantly rolls out algorithm updates and people evolve how they get information and what social networks they use. Among other things, this presentation focuses on:
> How using a combination of “content neighborhoods” and “keyword silos” can help you win at organic search
> How the mobile revolution will – and will not – impact your search marketing
> Which social networks, and what kind of social media activity, matter to site performance
> Why PR and website performance go together like chocolate and peanut butter
Brand experience Peoria City Soccer Presentation.pdf
Stop Worrying about SEO. Start Thinking about Holistic Website Performance
1. Stop Worrying About SEO and Start
Thinking About Website Performance
Product Camp St. Louis | March 29, 2014
Strategic Marketing for a Web-Centric World
19. The New Linkbuilding Heirarchy
19
Media Coverage
Social Media – Shares, Likes, etc.
Blogs, Key Influencers
Niche Directories
Blog Comments
Free Directories
Article Submission Sites
Quid Pro Quo Links
Earned
Manual
I hope the title says it all. We’re going to cover how SEO is really part of a larger discipline: website performance. We will cover the 3 principles of website performance
What do we think of when we think of SEO?FOCUS ON TRAFFIC DRIVING FOR A PURPOSE
SEO has always and ever been about how you rank. Everyone wants to be king of the mountain. That is still true but changing.Long Tail of Search > Not just dozens but hundreds and thousands
WHAT YOU REALLY NEED TO BE THINKING ABOUT IS THAT BETWEEN 10 AND 25% OF YOUR LEADS SHOULD BE COMING FROM THE WEBYou need to think about “owning” or ranking for different topics and themes, not just individual keywords.
Why am I here talking about website performance? Google is not in the business of ranking websites. They are in the business of giving you the best possible search results. Algorithm updates are scary, but Google is always trending in the direction of giving the best results. They are doing everything they can to make sure nobody can game the results.YOU NEED TO BE ABLE TO ATTAIN NATURAL SEARCH RANKING.PandaIntroduced 2011, still refreshed from time to timeCreated to fend off poor content, “content farms”Key attributes:Low quality, high volume contentWinners: trusted content destinationsLosers: article sites, content hubsEzineArticlesExaminer.comMahaloSquidooPenguinIntroduced in 2012, still ongoingPenguin is to links as Panda is to contentKey attributes:Ignore “easy” or paid linksIgnore spam linksDowngrades free and paid directories(Might) penalize reciprocal linkingPenalize link schemesFocus on authority and quality!Hummingbird = HugeContextual or “Conversational” SearchVoice search vs. keyboard search Impact of Siri, smartphonesAlso known as “semantic” search
To start off with, having a lot of content is good for SEO. More is more. This has been around for a while.Content is at the heart of the universe, but what KIND of content are we talking about?You not only want to draw people to your site. You want them to stay there.USEFUL content. EXPERT content. Content that goes beyond just sharing info about your products and services. Content that turns you into an AUTHORITY in Google’s eyes.
How do you position a personal injury lawyer? Old SEO: just create the core content that describe his services.THE CONTENT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT IS NOT PROMOTIONAL. IT IS DESIGNED TO BE USEFUL AND ENGAGING.
SpyderLynk knew who its target was, and we designed their Content Strategy accordingly.It’s about EDUCATING people.
Keyword silos
Content Neighborhoods
Core Category > Theme > TopicMulti-dimensional > many to manyMore about the creation of a content neighborhood that will make you an authority
KEYWORDS FOLLOW CONTENT
I TELL PEOPLE I DON’T CARE IF YOUR WEBSITE TRAFFIC GOES UP OR DOWN – I ONLY CARE IF YOU WIN BUSINESSLooking in the crystal ball – we may start to see a move away from the term “search engine optimization.” Part of the reason is it’s harder (and not very wise, given the consequences) to game the system. We prefer to think in terms of website performance. What are you trying to get the website to do? At the core, who are you targeting, and what can you deliver them?Think of it this way: Even if you ARE able to make it to the top of the search rankings, if your content is thin, or your site stinks, why are people going to stick around? Why are they going to call you? Getting them to click on your search listing is just the first step. You have to be nurturing them all the way to the sale.
One of the core things to think about with website performance is that YOUR SOCIAL PROPERTIES SHOULD BE DRIVING TRAFFIC
SEOs have traditionally spent a huge amount of their time doing linkbuilding. Well, guess what. Linkbuilding is right in PR’s wheelhouse now, too.
Earn those links!
Good code, readable code, is the price of admissionText to code ratioAccessible CMS
Being mobile accessible makes Google like you more!