A workshop I gave in the business school of Cardiff Metropolitan University to entrepreneurship students.

1. SEO Workshop
Thursday 14th April 2016
Steve Morgan
morganonlinemarketing.co.uk

2. @steviephil SEOno.co.uk
About Me
• Full-time in SEO for 7+ years:
• Liberty Marketing (SEO agency)
• Confused.com (no intro needed!)
• Box UK (web dev agency)
• Full-time self-employed for 3 years
• Organiser of Cardiff SEO Meet
• Blogger at SEOno (my blog) &
State of Digital (European digital
marketing blog)

3. @steviephil SEOno.co.uk
About You!
•Who blogs?
•Who manages a website?
•Who knows about SEO already?

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What is SEO?
• SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
• Increasing your rankings
in search engines

5. @steviephil SEOno.co.uk
What is SEO?
• SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
• Increasing your rankings
in search engines

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The Importance of SEO

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(Fun) Facts
• Google owns 90%+ of search
engine market share in UK
• Searchers are more likely to
click on organic results
compared to ads

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(Fun) Facts
• PPC (Pay Per Click)
a.k.a. Google AdWords
c. 25% of clicks
• SEO
organic/natural results
c. 75% of clicks

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Pros & Cons of SEO & PPC
• PPC (Pay Per Click)
• Pros:
• Instant
• More controllable
• More ‘buying’ mentality
• Cons:
• Fewer clicks
• Pay for every click/visit
• SEO
• Pros:
• More clicks
• The clicks are free
• Cons:
• It takes time…
• Less control / unpredictable
• More ‘informational’ mentality

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SEO vs. Other Channels

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More (Fun) Facts
• c. 95% of searchers do not go
beyond page 1 of the search results
• If they haven’t found what they’re
looking for, they’ll revise their search
(…or give up)
• [Comic source: http://xkcd.com/1334/]

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• Higher rankings
=
more clicks
=
more traffic!
[Source: http://moz.com/blog/a-
tale-of-two-studies-google-vs-
bing-clickthrough-rate]
(Fun) Facts

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First (important) step?
• Keyword Research!
• No point ranking #1 for a keyword that nobody searches for!
• Search volume data obtainable via the
Google AdWords Keyword Planner tool
• https://adwords.google.com/ko/KeywordPlanner/Home
(You need a Google AdWords account)

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Interactive Exercise 1 – Keyword Research
• Use the Keyword Planner to see keyword search volumes
• Think about:
oYour business idea…?
oIs it more popular / less popular than you thought?
oSet your country of preference: UK or Global?
oTry variations, synonyms, singular vs. plural, etc.
oIts specificity: e.g. "shoes" vs. "buy blue trainers online"
oBe careful of words with double meanings:
e.g. trainers (type of shoes) vs. trainers (people who provide training)

16. @steviephil SEOno.co.uk
Interactive Exercise 1 – Keyword Research
• Logging in…
1. Google "google keyword planner" & click the 1st result
2. Click ‘Sign in to AdWords’
3. Username: [REMOVED]
4. Password: [REMOVED]
5. Expand ‘► Search for new keywords using a phrase, website or category’
6. Type in some keywords in the 1st field and select ‘Get ideas’
7. Click the ‘Keyword ideas’ tab
8. Try different keywords, settings, etc.

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The Main Factors of SEO
• When Google evaluates a website:
oIs it relevant?
oIs it authoritative?
oIs it trustworthy?
• How does it determine these things?

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SEO – the code of a website

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SEO – the code of a website

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SEO – the website’s text

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SEO – link building
Your-Site.com
PR
Social media
Guest blogging
Business directories
Industry-specific
directories
Blog commenting
Forums Infographics

22. @steviephil SEOno.co.uk
Interactive Exercise 2 – Link Analysis
• Use Open Site Explorer to see the links pointing to a website
• https://moz.com/researchtools/ose/
• Check one of the following:
oYour own website? The website your business idea aspires to be?
oA friend or family member’s website? A website you like?
oThe site of a competitor / a business you aspire to be like
ocastlebikes.co.uk (Steve’s website!)

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Interactive Exercise 1 – Keyword Research
• Logging in…
1. No login required!
2. Google "ose" & click the 1st result
3. Type in the site & click ‘Search’
4. Review the results
5. (You may want to change ‘Target’ to ‘this root domain’)

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SEO – local SEO

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SEO – image & video SEO

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White-hat SEO vs. Black-hat SEO

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SEO is like… Personal Training
[Image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/stoermchen/9117238961/]

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SEO resources
• Moz’s Beginner’s Guide to SEO
http://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo

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SEO resources
• Technical SEO Checklist for
Developers & Testers
(with Infographic / Cheat Sheet)
https://t.co/IaJeV9dQja
by me!

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SEO resources
• On-site/technical SEO tools:
oScreaming Frog – http://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/

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SEO resources
• On-site/technical SEO tools:
oGoogle Search Console – https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/

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SEO resources
• Web traffic analysis:
oGoogle Analytics– https://www.google.co.uk/analytics/

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SEO resources
• Backlink analysis tools:
oMoz’s Open Site Explorer – https://moz.com/researchtools/ose/ (pictured)
oMajestic – https://majestic.com/

34. @steviephil SEOno.co.uk
SEO resources
• Moz blog (& Whiteboard Friday)
http://moz.com/blog
• Search Engine Land
http://searchengineland.com/
• DistilledU
https://www.distilled.net/u/
($40 per month BUT free demo)

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Q&A?
•…Any questions?

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Thank you!
My blog: SEOno.co.uk
Twitter: @steviephil
morganonlinemarketing.co.uk