The New Key Management

Advanced Technical Hacks to Improve Your Sites SEOJanuary 2016

Agenda & Speakers

AgendaIntroductionsAdvanced Technical Hacks for SEO Security Performance Customer Stories Questions Feel free to ask questions using the chat panel throughout the webinar3

Speakers4

Reza MoaiandinSoftware Engineer

Martin WoodsTechnical Digital Marketing Consultant

Patrick StoxSEO Specialist

Peter DumanianHost

Introduction

What is CloudFlare?Enterprise grade provider of improved website performance & security Global CDN with 75 data centers around the worldEnd-to-end SSL encryption, DDoS protection, and WAF (web application firewall) Protection against traffic surges and server overload. Site visitors are more likely to stay on a website if it appears quickly on their smart phone or computer.

OverviewAcross CloudFlares 4,000,000+ websites:7% of daily Internet web page views300 billion page views per month more than eBay, Twitter, Bing, Wikipedia, Amazon, and Apple combined300 billion+ security threats stopped140+ petabytes of bandwidth saved for customers

200GB of log data per minuteCloudFlare

The CloudFlare Global Network

CloudFlare CustomersOver 4 million websites on CloudFlare

Digital Agencies Use CloudFlare for SEO Boost We have partnered with SALT.agency in the UK to test CloudFlares impact on SEOWe are excited to have SALT talk about its results

Who is SALT.agency?Technical performance agencyBased in EnglandInternational client base (San Francisco to Sydney) and brandsWork with a wide range of clients: Fortune 500 / FTSE 100 companiesEcommerceSuccessful start-ups (AKA CloudFlare)11

What are we talking about today?Edge technology is the future present of organic search optimisationSEO isnt dead (despite the periodic articles proclaiming so!)At the core SEO is simply:Technical excellenceCompelling contentIngenious creative marketingEdge technology isnt just about being #1! It helps make the most of your content & creative marketing through faster, more secure delivery 12

SEO in 2016

Mastering SEO Through Technical ExcellenceAchieving technical excellence for SEO (off-page/on-page)Harnessing the power of CloudFlare to set yourself apart from the competition14

CloudFlare the icing on the cake

Technical SEO In 2016What works & what doesntFor example - people are still putting keywords in meta tags thinking this will influence Google positively (no, we are not joking!)

On-site architectureEcosphere of groups of websites (if applicable)

On-page code excellency

Search engine algorithms & their effects15

And MoreSearch engines crawling and indexing (server logs)User intent/usabilityUser metrics such as speed, bounce rate, CTR, dwell timeUser engagementUser protectionAvoiding your website being hacked and manipulatedYour data being stolen16

Ideal WorldMake the BEST website possibleResearched (business intelligence)PlannedProject managedTested & delivered17

Going the Extra MileSecurityImpacts trust, short and long-termUser Brand search goes downSearch engine trust goes downMalwareAlgorithms warn usersPotentially removes/reduces organic visibilitySpeed & networkImpacts user experience, conversions and algorithms CostYou can spend it elsewhere

All directly affect SEO & ultimately profit18

SolutionsEasier said than done for most companies before CloudFlare existed19

Search Engine Ranking Signals

Ranking Signal - HTTPSGoogle considers HTTPS (SSL) ranking signalhttp://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/https-as-ranking-signal.html

Ranking Signal MalwareGoogle penalizes websites that are hacked or have malware. It highlights them with labels or completely removes these sites from the index:https://sites.google.com/site/webmasterhelpforum/en/faq-malware-and-hacked-sites

Ranking Signals Security SummarySecure protocol SSL/TSLWeb Application Firewall (Securing your vulnerabilities using the best minds in the industry)Hackers can inject malware into your site and Google WILL find it and demote your rankingsDDOS protectionIf Google can't access your site, it can't index it. Let alone your customers.DNSSEC23

Ranking Signal Site SpeedGoogle rewards faster loading websites:http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/using-site-speed-in-web-search-ranking.html

Ranking Signal Site SpeedTechnical hacks that boost your sites speed:

CompressionMinification (CSS, JS, HTML)Response timeImage OptimizationBrowser CachingHow JS & CSS are servedUse of Asynchronous scriptsUse of CDNsBetter headers and cachingLatest server technology (HTTP/2, SPDY, GZIP)

Ranking Signal Site SpeedHTTP/2 Protocol the first major upgrade to the HTTP protocol in over 15 years dramatically speeds up your site.

Live demo: https://www.cloudflare.com/http2/

Pimp My Server & NetworkBeing on the edgeFaster DNS response timeFaster CDNBetter global coverageLower latencyDedicated IP addressesYou will be seen differently in the eyes of search engines, better neighborhood & associated websites. (If not using private IP address)

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SEO Is Still A ChecklistAlgorithms are more intelligent, but are still just based on metrics, data, and logic.SEO in 2016 still boils down to a list of things to check off, its just a lot longer, and more complex than a few years ago.CloudFlare lets you tick more of that list quickly, reliably & cost effectivelyThis ultimately means you can spend more time on content, and creative marketing.28

Technical Hacks Impact on SEO Case Studies

CloudFlare SEO Case Study & TestsWe've solved many SEO issues for clients using CloudFlare as part of the solutionGenerally we've had many positive resultsOn one occasion for a high traffic website we ran into a problemDDoS issuesGlobal speed issuesOutgrown hosting capabilities and needed quick fix without high hostsThe client was very heavily dependent on organic search (over 80% of the traffic)

The ProblemInitial stepsClient was put behind CloudFlareDDoS was no longer the problemGlobal speed issues were instantly solved by CloudFlare's CDNProblem aroseSEO visibility dropped resulting in a fall in traffic (roughly 10%, in our case 1.5 million visitors per month)

The DilemmaBack to getting DDoS and serve content slowly?Stay on CloudFlare and find another solution

It was as simple as that

The SolutionFollowing extensive testing it was obvious that the problem came from the IP address change (extremely competitive niche & privacy driven)The solution was to put the site on a private IP address and remove the association given by the shared IP address completelyClient was put on a private IP address through the CloudFlare business planSEO visibility returned to normal within 5 daysSEO visibility continued to grow based on optimization (by 5%) within a month

Fascination and Further Tests with CloudFlareFollowing our experience we tried to measure the SEO impact with other clients that were not adversely affected by being on CloudFlare's shared IP addressWorking with CloudFlare, we put three other websites on the CloudFlare business plan. This put them on a private IP address.We also used CloudFlares dynamic content optimization product, Railgun.

Summary Results #1: Online Services Provider website

Over 30% increase in ranking positions21.5% Increase in traffic as a result28,000 => 34,000 users a day

Client taken onto CloudFlare Enterprise in July 2015

Summary Results #2: E-commerce websiteOver 8% Increase in number of first page ranking positions17.4% Increase in traffic as a resultAverage 1,150 => 1,350 users a day

Client taken onto CloudFlare Enterprise in September 2015

Summary Results #3: Lead Generation websiteOver 13% Increase in Ranking positions9% Increase in traffic as a resultAverage 1,100 => 1,200 users a day

Client taken onto CloudFlare Enterprise in September 2015

Questions?38

Advanced Technical Hacks to Improve Your Sites SEOJanuary 2016