SEO 101 2 | SEO 101 Todays Agenda: Introduction What to expect - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

SEO 101

Today’s Agenda:

• Introduction
• What to expect today
• How search engines work
• What is SEO?
• Foundational SEO
• On and off page basics

Nate Plaunt

• Sr. SEO Strategist

@NatePlaunt bit.ly/1LoDdWN

Today’s Presenters Taylor Pettis

• Sr. Marketing Manager

@tpettis linkd.in/1dsZJAa

DOES S SEARCH H ENG NGINE NE OPTIMIZA TIMIZATION TION REALL LLY Y MATTER? TTER?

Organic Search is the #1 Driver of Website Traffic

From a usage perspective, new studies have found that organic search drives 64% of all web traffic.

Search Engine Optimization

FACT:

79% of search engine users say they always/frequently click on the natural search results.

A New Click Rate Study For Organic Results

A New Click Rate Study For Organic Results

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 SEO

WHA HAT DID YOU SEARCH CH TODAY? Y?

What Did You Search Today?

What Did You Search Today?

How Search Engines Work

• Over 200 “ranking factors” help to decide

where your site ranks

• Roughly 10,000 sub-factors
• Fewer ranking factors in algorithm
• Heavy reliance on social factors

Search Engine Algorithm Key Components

Google’s Algorithm Key Components

Top 4 Components ponents

• 1. Trust / Authority of

the Host Domain

• 2. Popularity of the

Specific Page

• 3. Anchor Text of

External Links to the Page

• 4. On Page Keyword

Usage

U.S. Search Engine Market Share

64. 4.2 % 2 % 20 20.2 .2 % 12 12.7 .7 %

Ever eryone

• ne el

else e 2.9 9 %

Not all results are organic

What is SEO? Search engine optimization (SE 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.

• 2. Ensuring your website is as useful and

relevant as possible to your current and prospective customers.

SEARCH H ENG NGINE NE OPTIMI TIMIZA ZATION TION 10 101 THE HE BASI SICS CS

Technical and structural factors

Technical and structural factors

• Goal:

al: En Ensure ure accessibil essibility ity for r Searc rch h En Engines gines & & Us 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

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
• JavaScript
• URL Parameters

Here’s What Humans See

Here’s What Search Engines See

(not a glitch)

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

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 you file and to test individual URLs

Google Search Console

Google Search Console (formerly Google Webmaster Tools) is a free resource with tons of valuable information available to all website owners.

• https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/home

Why Does Speed Matter?

Last year, mobile search overtook desktop search.

• The gap between mobile and desktop will widen
• Fast page load speed is critical to optimizing for

mobile

• “Mobile-geddon”

Google PageSpeed Insights

PageSpeed Insights is another 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

On and Off Page Factors

• Goal:

al: Demons monstrat trate e Rele levan ance ce and nd Authori thority ty

• Search engines want to provide users with

search results that are rele levant ant to their query and au authori thoritativ tative 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 about.

On On-page 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 page SEO refers to factors “out of your control”

• n 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 is linking to you?
• Who is linking to your competitors?

On Page SEO Elements

• URL
• Page Title
• H1 heading
• H2 headings
• Meta Description
• Page Copy
• Alternative image text

On Page SEO Elements

Page Title

Good:

Organic Result #1

Bad:

Organic Result #245

URL structure

Good:

Organic Result #1

Bad:

Organic Result #260

On Page SEO Elements

A Tale of Two Devices

A Tale of Two Devices

What Keywords Do You Rank For?

Ground Rules:

• 1. Don’t “Google yourself”
• 2. Use a keyword tracking tool
• SEM Rush (freemium)
• Bright Local (paid)

What Keywords Do You Rank For?

Off Page SEO Elements

• Backlinks
• Link anchor text
• Citations or Mentions

Internal vs. External Links (Backlinks)

• Two types of links:

• Internal links refer to

• External links refer

• Both are very useful,

How do Backlinks Help?

• Backlinks act as

“votes” for pages on your site.

• Generally speaking,

the more links you have from aut uthorita horitativ tive e sour urce ces, the more your site is trus usted ed, and the bett etter er your pages s will rank.

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 site is about “Cats” the anchor text cats would be preferable over click here.

Who is linking to you?

Conduct a backlink audit:

• Open your Google

Search Console

• Navigate to the “Links

to Your Site” section

• Check out who links

the most and to what content

• *Pro Tip: this will help

inform future content!

Who is linking to your competitors?

Conduct a competitive link analysis:

• 1. Use Open Site Explorer
• https://moz.com/researchtools/ose
• 2. Enter your competitor’s site into the search bar
• 3. Dig through their backlink profile
• 4. *Pro Tip: Identify where you can acquire some of

the same links!

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

REVIEW EW

• 1. If done right, SEO is a distinct competitive

advantage

• 2. Get the foundation right
• 3. Optimize your pages
• 4. Optimize your off page presence
• 5. Move up the pyramid…

Review

Measurement and Improvement

Questions?

1. Google Search Console 2. Google PageSpeed Insights 3. Screaming Frog SEO Spider 4. Yoast plugin for WordPress 5. XML Sitemap Generator 6. SEM Rush 7. Bright Local 8. Open Site Explorer 9. Moz Local

Appendix – Tools Mentioned