blueprint to search engine success

Blueprint to SEARCH ENGINE SUCCESS

Simone WatsonDigital Marketing Manager, iContact

Loren BakerSearch Engine Journal, Founder Foundation Digital, Co-Founder

MARCH 8, 2017

© 2017 iContact LLC. All Rights Reserved. 2

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PRESENTED BY:Simone Watson, Digital Marketing Manager, iContactShe manages the company's SEO, SEM campaigns, and affiliate marketing program. Before coming to iContact, Simone worked with an agency and managed SEO for numerous clients. Simone is a contributor to Search Engine Journal, and guest lecturer at Wake Forest University.

Loren Baker, Founder of Search Engine JournalLoren is founder of Search Engine Journal a leading SEO industry publication and the co-founder of Foundation Digital, a digital marketing agency. He's worked with companies such as ESPN, iContact, Disney and HSN as well as many small to medium sized businesses to improve their SEO.


• Why SEO matters• Set up your analytics• Writing meta for success• Combining email & SEO• Link building how-to’s• Using mobile optimization to improve SEO

• Recommended SEO tools• Q&A

AGENDA


NOTE: STAR RANK TO GAUGE DIFFICULTY

Moderate difficulty, can be done with

a little time** Technical knowledge

required, developer recommended***

*Easy, no technical knowledge needed

© 2017 iContact LLC. All Rights Reserved.

WHY SEO MATTERS

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Best way to capture large amounts of high-converting trafficUsers from search engines usually convert at a higher rate than other channelsConnect high-value prospects to valuable content Analyzing ranking results can let you know what your target customers care about.Helps you land a prime spot in the purchase decision cycleBecause search engines provide opinions & reviews, your site can be considered early in the purchase cycle if you rank highNo media cost = high ROIGood SEO works for almost all search enginesIf you optimize for Google, you’re also optimizing for Bing, Yahoo, Baidu, etc.


SET UP YOUR ANALYTICS

Google AnalyticsMeasure behavior on your website

THESE REPORTING PLATFORMS ALLOW YOU TO:

1Google Search ConsoleGoogle’s search engine to crawl your website

Google My BusinessOptimize essential business info for searchers


GOOGLE MY BUSINESS*

8 © 2016 iContact LLC. All Rights Reserved.

HIGH importance to small-to-medium size businesses• The easiest way to get your

organization hours, phone number, and location listed on Google Search

and Maps• The information above influences

the “local pack” and the “knowledge graph” shown so searchers can find you

• Google Reviews are key for your organization to show up in local pack

Example of Knowledge Graph

Example of Local Pack


How to Set UpGOOGLE MYBUSINESS*

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• Sign up at https://www.google.com/business/• Enter your business name, address, phone number, and hours of operation• Need support? Shoot a quick tweet to @GoogleMyBiz • Don’t forget Bing! Sign up at https://www.bingplaces.com/


GOOGLE SEARCH CONSOLE**


Use this tool to:• See Google search results data • Analyze crawling errors at a page-level (i.e., 404 pages)• Submit sitemaps & crawl requests• See pictures of how Google views your site (using Fetch &

Render)

Note: Only place to disavow linksTip: Make sure to set up properties based on HTTP


GOOGLE ANALYTICS***


Analyze data by traffic channel and compare periods of

time

Apply data filters to ensure accuracy

(i.e., filter out your office IP address)

Important metrics include: sessions, new users, bounce

rate, avg. time on page,

conversions


WRITING META FOR SUCCESS**

2Writing meta is the easiest way to tell a search engine what your page is about, so it can get ranked faster.

Resist the urge to keyword-stuff

Write a compelling meta title and description

Yoast SEO (FREE version available!) simplifies metahttps://yoast.com/wordpress/plugins/seo/Available for Wordpress & Drupal


KEYWORDS & GOOGLE

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Keywords The words or phrases used to describe your products or services.High-quality, relevant keywords can help you reach more people likely to be interested in you.BUT: Google has moved to machine-learning (RankBrain)

and away from counting keywords in a piece of content. What does this mean for SEO?


NO MORE KEYWORD-STUFFING!

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Repetitive keyword use is an outdated technique• The bad news: it makes SEO

harder• The good news: brands can focus

on fresh, non-repetitive content

Your content should serve the goals of the searcher• Deliver the experience they need

and the answers they want.• If a user is searching for “metal

roofing benefits,” then provide content that thoroughly answers the query.

• Minimum word count is 500. The best-performing content has 1,000-1,500 words


EXAMPLE OF YOAST SEO FOR META

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Meta title = title of the web page• The bad news: it makes SEO harder• Should capture the user’s attention

& directly answer the query• Should be no longer than 60 characters

Image Credit: support4WP.com

Meta descriptions = concise explanations of the page• Serves as ad copy on search

engine result• Should be no longer than

160 characters


QUALITY EXAMPLES

OF META BY SMBS

Query: Roofing Company Raleigh, NC

Query: Hair Salon Raleigh, NC

Query: Home Automation Raleigh, NC


COMBINING EMAIL & SEO*

Email alone can’t help you rank, but email that stimulates page traffic and sharing of content (like blog and social posts) Will give Google what it likes to see: engagement.With RankBrain, Google’s machine-learning artificial intelligence system, on-page engagement metrics became highly important for SEO. Metrics include Bounce Rate, Pages per Visit & Avg Time on Page.

3The more users engage with your content, the better that page performs in rankings.Read Larry Kim’s study here: www.searchenginejournal.com/11-ridiculously-effective-ways-boost-organic-ctr/177253/


COMBINING EMAIL AND SEO

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What other ways can you use email to help boost SEO?• Use targeted email campaigns to send traffic to important

pages you want to rank higher.• Remember, your own audience is your best brand advocate:

ask your newsletter subscribers to follow your social channels and engage!

• Share blog posts via email and encourage readers to comment on the blog.

• Use email to encourage subscribers to connect via RSS (if you have one), so you can keep them coming back to your content.


DO LINK BUILDING,

NOT BUYING***

Necessary since 2012, when Google began to penalize websites that werebuying links or engaging in link schemes(Penguin Update)

4Investing time in a link building (or link earning) campaign delivers high-quality links back to your website, which sends trust signals back to the search engines. This helps push your website higher in the rankings.

So, what’s link building? • Create intriguing content which influencers and

publishers will want to link to.• Make sure that content is relevant to your overall

SEO goals.• Outreach to high-quality websites that may find

your content relevant and timely.

• Do not concentrate on anchor text, concentrate on topical relevance.


STEPS TO BUILDING QUALITY LINKS

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Reach out to 3 target groups of targeted writers:• Bloggers • Influencers (Social media influencers are important)• Journalists (Industry publications, local journalists, etc.)Introduce yourself, your organization & offer specific content relevant to their site.• Get started building a relationship• Explain why your content is a great fit• Content is more than blog posts. Try white-papers and infographics too!Use a tool like Buzzstream.com to manage your link building outreach


LOCAL CITATIONS & LOCAL LINKS

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Embarking on a local listings campaign can differentiate your site from your competition• links from Local Business Directories • local Yellow Pages• local Classifieds• Other Local Businesses or Chambers of Commerce

Listings in Local Social Media• Yelp, Facebook, Swarm and other business profiles rank in Google• Siri loves Yelp results (great way to optimize for mobile searchers)


MOBILE OPTIMIZATION TO INFLUENCE

SEO***

5Over 70% of Google’s search requests now occur on mobile A site’s rankings will be judged by mobile standards, not desktopGoogle will soon implement a “mobile-first” index

Avoid pop-up adsThey’re usually annoying and Google has started to penalize for them

3 key elements• Mobile responsive: website

automatically resizes to fit different screens

• Page speed: target 2-3 seconds load times

• Prioritize the mobile experience: design or edit a web page with mobile users in mind


ACCELERATED MOBILE PAGES (AMP)

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Used to help with page load speed:AMP is a Google feature that builds a lightweight version of your webpage AMP pages load in less than 2 seconds!• Hosted on Google’s servers• Strip out a lot of weighty HTML and CSS• Currently incompatible with Javascript How do you get AMP?• If you have a developer, send them here: https://www.ampproject.org/learn/about-amp/• If you don’t have a developer or have Wordpress, set up using Yoast:

https://yoast.com/setting-up-wordpress-for-amp-accelerated-mobile-pages/


FREE TOOLS TO CHECK MOBILE OPTIMIZATION

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What’s loading per page & how fast? https://www.webpagetest.org/Specific instructions on how to improve speed?https://gtmetrix.com/Does my website have mobile usability issues?Google Search Console’s “Mobile Usability Report” (find in your account)Does Google think I’m mobile friendly?Google’s Mobile Friendly test: https://search.google.com/search-console/mobile-friendly


RECOMMENDED SEO TOOLS

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FREE - Google Analytics & Google Search ConsoleFind target keywords & spy on competitor rankings with SEMRushhttps://www.semrush.com/Find relevant content ideas with Buzzsumohttp://buzzsumo.com/Manage your disavow links with Ahref’s link managerhttps://ahrefs.com/Start a link building campaign with Buzzstreamhttp://www.buzzstream.com/How do I generate new, relevant keywords?http://lsigraph.com/ FREE


Q&A

THANK YOU!


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