ama phoenix 2016- creating organic search strategy that works

How to Build an Organic Strategy That Works

Ralph Miller and Elise Gould

February / 11 / 2016LaneTerralever.com

Agenda 01 Introduction

02 Reciprocity

03 Customer Journey

04 Keyword Research

05 Competitive Analysis

06 Putting it all together

What is SEO in 2016?

What SEO is

• Matching search intent to the content provided

• Providing value to the end user

• Anticipating a searchers next steps

• Answering questions before they’re asked

• Speaking the language of the consumer, including the use or peripheral terms associated with the primary keyword

What SEO is NOT

• Optimizing pages to a single keyword

• Optimizing title tags and meta descriptions to manipulate the search engines to get you to rank

• Building or buying links to get a page to rank

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Reciprocity is a social rule that says we should repay, in kind, what another person has provided us. That is, people give back the kind of treatment they have received from you. This sense of future obligation associated with reciprocity makes it possible to build continuing relationships and exchanges.

Reciprocity

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Blogging: Giving great content is a way of helping people and often in turn leads to them liking you, trusting you and often even willing to do something for you in return.

Guest Blogging: Offering free pre-written guest posts (abstract) and including links, quotes and your byline.

Free Guides/ White Papers: Providing this exceptional content for free often provides the perfect venue to give you an email address in return for it.

Promotion/ Seeding: Groups: Inbound.org, Reddit, and of course any social site like LinkedIn, FB or Twitter have groups/ lists either built naturally or purposefully to promote your content.

Marketing Examples of Reciprocity

Put yourself in the mind of your customer, and start at the beginning of their journey, from the moment they have the awareness of what they might want, to the moment they make the commitment to purchase a product or service. Positioning yourself to be of service.

• What’s motivating their desire?• What questions are they asking?• What words are they using?• What tools do they need?• What experience are they looking for?• What are their emotional needs?

Customer Journey

Customer: Someone who wants to go back to school to get a college degree

Customer Journey Example

Motivation: I want to get a better job, or I want to make more money

Questions: What do I want to do? What jobs are available? What are the highest paying careers?

Searches: Types of jobs, careers, occupations, salaries

Example: list of criminal justice careers, types of police jobs, highest paying criminal justice careers, criminal justice salaries

Early Research

Motivation: Define area of interest

Questions: How can I narrow my search to a job that matches my interest and financial needs?

Searches: narrow career search, look for general information about the career

Example: how much does a law enforcement officer make, how many hours does a detective work, law enforcement training, police officer salaries

Narrow Search

What words are people using? How could a person refer to law enforcement officer?• police officer• cop• detective• marshall• state trooper• lawman• patrolman• sheriff• traffic officer• traffic cop• deputy• peace officer• trooper• state trooper

Keywords

Motivation: I know the type of job I want, now I want to learn more.

Questions: What are the requirements to get there? is there a particular education, training, or certification I need?

Searches: job requirements, education requirements, training, certification

Example: what are the education requirements for state troopers, how do I become a cop, law enforcement officer requirements

Research

Motivation: Now I know what the requirements are, I want to learn more about those

Questions: how do I fulfill the needed requirements, time, money, convenience

Searches: degrees, programs, online vs campus

Example: criminal justice degrees, criminal justice programs, online degree programs

Specific Research

Motivation: I want to narrow my search

Questions: what are the specific degrees I could get based on my current education level, and desired job outcome?

Searches: bachelors degree, master degree, certifications, training, dual degree programs

Example: B.S. in Criminal Justice, Master of Criminal Justice, BA criminology, B.S. in criminal psychology

Narrow Search

Motivation: I need external validation that I’m making the best decision.

Questions: How do I know I’m choosing the best school or program? Is the program I’m considering reputable?

Searches: Guides, Reviews, Accreditation

Example: How to choose the best criminal justice program, best criminal justice schools, online criminal justice programs, Phoenix Community College criminal justice programs, ASU criminal justice program reviews, University of Phoenix accreditation

Validation

Tools:

Keyword Research and Competitive Analysis

Keyword Research

Competitive Analysis

Google Auto-complete

Google Related Searches

• What sections are they including?

• What words are they using?

• What pages are they linking to externally?

• What pages are they linking to internally?

Example: Search: Criminal Justice Degrees On-page content: benefits of the program, requirements, courses: required and elective, advising checklist, major map, future employment, career opportunities, list of schools, list of programs, overview of online learning, affordability, grants, scholarships, work study, federal student loans, private loans, school/program search tool, 5 major fields of Criminal Justice are Law Enforcement, Courts/Judiciary, Corrections, Forensic Science, and Private Security?

View Top 3 Pages in Google For a Search

WordCount Tool

Goal: Create overarching structure for your website, authority around subtopics, build content consistently to position yourself at various stages of the customer journey

• Organize keywords into categories

• Choose the most lucrative category, and start building out content around that area

• Focus on one keyword search at a time —

• do the keyword research

• put yourself in the searchers shoes and anticipate their needs

• look at what competitors are doing

• don’t write to a word count, include as much information as is needed to make the content complete

• Sub topics can be sections, or if there’s enough content for it to be it’s own search, make it it’s own page

• Over time, you build authority within a category

• Keep working and publishing content — consistency is everything!

Putting it all together

increase in conversions since new website launch.

70%

of all website traffic comes from the digital publication within the last 4 months

29%

increase in first page organic keyword rankings in direct-to-consumer marketing initiative.

17%

Q & A

Thank YouFebruary / 11 / 2016LaneTerralever.com

Ralph Miller SEO Manager ralph.miller@laneterralever.com 602.258.5263

Elise Gould - Director of Acquisition Content elise.gould@laneterralever.com 602.258.5263