Experts Exchange - SEO Demystified Part 1

Why SEO Should be Less Like

Rocket Science and More

Like 3rd Grade Math

SEO DEMYSTIFIEDPART I

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GOALS

• Clear understanding of SEO fundamentals• Provide specific, actionable takeaways• Encourage you to get out and ‘do’ SEO• Show how ExpertBase can help

INTRO TO SEO

What is SEO and why should I care?

WHAT IS SEO?

• SEO is the process of creating and optimizing content in a manner that: 1. Attracts search engine bots to crawl,

discover and index that content

2. Places it as high as possible on the SERP for relevant keywords

3. Engages people and drives them to take action

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WHY IS SEO IMPORTANT?

• Google is #1 in terms of traffic– Daily reach approaching 50%– Facebook closing in at #2 (40%)

• Alexa Traffic Ratings

• Primary manner for finding content• 60 to 80% of traffic from Google• No SEO = No Traffic

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IN THE LOOP

• SEOmoz: www.seomoz.com/blog• Search Engine Land: www.searchengineland.com• SEO Round Table: www.seoroundtable.com• Distilled Blog: www.distilled.co.uk/blog • Webmaster Central Blog:

googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com• Webmaster World: www.webmasterworld.com• Matt Cutts Blog: www.mattcutts.com/blog/• SEO Book: www.seobook.com/blog• Search Engine Watch: www.searchenginewatch.com • Search Engine Journal: www.searchenginejournal.com

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IN THE LOOP

• Rand Fishkin: @randfish• Laura Lippay: @lauralippay• Vanessa Fox: @vanessafox• Matt Cutts: @mattcutts• Tom Critchlow: @tomcritchlow• Search Engine Land: @sengineland• Distilled: @distilled• SEOmoz: @SEOmoz• BlueGlass: @blueglass

KEYWORDS

The Foundation of SEO

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KEYWORDS

• In SEO, keywords refer to the words or phrases people used to search for content on Google, Bing and other search engines.

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KEYWORD ANALYSIS

The Right Keywords Make

All the Difference

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KEYWORD ANALYSIS

• Questions– Who is your target audience?– What key demographic are you hoping to

attract to your site, content or product?– What do they need?– How does your product or service help make

their lives easier, better, more efficient?– Where will they connect with you?

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KEYWORD ANALYSIS

• Key Takeaway– No amount of SEO can overcome lack of

planning, value propositions or product quality.

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KEYWORD ANALYSIS

• Search Intent– Navigational– Transactional– Informational

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KEYWORD ANALYSIS

• Rules of Thumb– Keywords should be specific to your brand,

product or service– The more specific, the better.

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KEYWORD ANALYSIS

• Keyword Matching– Broad Match– Phrase Match– Exact Match

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VOLUME

TRENDING

COMPETITION

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KEYWORD ANALYSIS

• Tool #1: Google Autocomplete– www.google.com– Discover popular, relevant keywords– SUPER easy to use– Point you in the right direction

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KEYWORD ANALYSIS

• Helpful Hint– Google Auto-Suggest can also give you ideas

for your biz-dev team for future product development.

KEYWORD ANALYSIS

• Tool #2: Google Trends– www.google.com/trends– Compare search volume over time– Decide between keywords

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KEYWORD ANALYSIS

• Tool #3: Google Keyword Tool– www.google.com/adwords – Keyword discover– Competition analysis– Search volume analysis

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KEYWORD ANALYSIS

• Helpful Tip– Keyword Gap Analysis– ID opportunities for new keywords– Assess keywords that need to be improved

KEYWORD ANALYSIS

• Gap Analysis1. Export top keywords with # of referrals

2. Paste keywords into Google KWT

3. For each keyword, divide the referrals you get by the # of ‘Global Monthly Searches’

4. This calculates your ‘Share of Search’

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CONTENTOPTIMIZATION

Without quality content, you don’t

have squat!

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CONTENT OPTIMIZATION

• From The Beginners Guide to SEO– Developing "great content" may be the most

repeated suggestion in the SEO world. Yet, despite its clichéd status, appealing, useful content is critical to search engine optimization.

– http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo

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USEFUL

UNIQUE

RELEVANT

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QUALITY CONTENT

• Usefulness Check– Address a specific need– Answer a question– Solve a problem– Educate– Provide guidance– Help make a decision– Accomplish a task

QUALITY CONTENT

• Helpful Tip– Every person in your business has a skill set,

or an expertise. Leverage it!

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QUALITY CONTENT

• Unique– More unique = less competition– Obscure != Unique– Unique content by nature adds value

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QUALITY CONTENT

• Internal Relevance– Motivation– Psychological state of your visitors– Understanding motivation is key

QUALITY CONTENT

• External Relevance– Timeliness– External events or pressure– Need help resolving this pressure

QUALITY CONTENT

• Geographical Relevance– Local, National, International– Does your location matter– Mobile!

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CONTENT IS KING!

CONTENT IS KING!

RELEVANT, UNIQUE & USEFUL

CONTENT IS KING!

QUALITY CONTENT

• DON’T FORGET– When creating your highly-valuable, hyper-

relevant content, USE YOUR KEYWORDS!

PART I REVIEW

• Keywords– Customer focused, specific to business– Use the right tools for analysis– Regularly analyze for growth

• Quality Content– Useful, unique, relevant– Adds value to your users

PART II PREVIEW

• On-Site– Site architecture – Internal link strategy – On-page optimizing

• Off-Site – Building site authority– Link building– Social queues

EXPERTBASE

expertbase.com

blog.expertbase.com

@expertbase

youtube.com/expertbase

CONTACT INFO

Jonathan Hoekman

805.787.0603 x 202

jonathan@expertbase.com

@jhoekman

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