Optimizing Your Content for Future Success

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

Optimizing Your Content for Future Success

Arnie Kuenn, CEO, Vertical Measures

@ArnieK #SearchEx

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

About Your Presenter…

• Vertical Measures is a 45 person search, social & content marketing agency in Phoenix, AZ

• Instructor for the Content Marketing Institute & Online Marketing Institute

• Columnist for Marketing Land, Chief Content Officer & LinkedIn

• Wrote the content marketing book Accelerate!

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

What I’ll Cover

• Most common mistakes we see

• How to optimize specific types of content like video and images

• Optimization for the future

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

Most Common Problems We Find?

• Unintentional duplicate content • Duplicate title and meta tags • Blocked pages or entire site • Poorly optimized images and videos • Over optimization of anchor text in backlinks

and footer

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

Another example… • After 5 months of intense content marketing and no results.

– Identified a penalty back in August of 2012

– Duplicate content issue: same text snippet shows up on 259 pages

– There is wide use of duplicate or near-duplicate content in titles and page content

– A big issue: 100% of their image content and 45% of their HTML/text content is hosted externally (not under the domain).

– Lots of spammy anchor text in their backlink profile

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

Core Elements to Optimization Web Pages

1. Links pointing to your content (Internal too)

2. Titles & title tags (viewed in results)

3. Description meta tag (viewed in results)

4. H1 Tag (headline tag – only one!)

5. Page load times

6. Freshness of content

7. AuthorRank

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

Title Tag An important on-page element (~55 characters).

<title>Your Keywords Need be Here</title>

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

Meta Description

• Mainly for conversions • First time a visitor is understanding who you are • ~115 characters

<meta name="description" content=“On this site we talk all about everything you just

searched for!">

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

• Should be similar to page title • Tell the bots what to expect on the page • Hard coded into the CSS (H1, H2, H3, etc.) • Only one H1 tag per page

<h1>My Post is About SEO</h1>

<h2>SEO is Awesome</h2> <h2>What is Google</h2> <h2>People Love SEO</h2>

<h3>Matt Cutts Loves SEO</h3>

H Tags

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

How To Optimize Images • Image files should be compressed as much as

reasonably possible to reduce file size. Smaller files mean faster site load speeds. JPGs generally offer the best balance of file size & quality.

• Use relevant keywords in image filenames. Instead of "DL000031.jpg", use something like "red-sports-car.jpg"

• Make sure <img> tags have their "alt" and "title" attributes defined with descriptive, concise, keyword-related text. Do not stuff <img> attributes.

• Context matters. Google looks at content placed around the image, like titles and captions, for context about your image.

BusinessInsider.com

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

How to Optimize Videos • Specific, Compelling Title –Would you click on “XYZ

Company” or “V00023.mov?” neither will your audience.

• Tags –This is where you can help your video appear in the “Suggested” or “Similar” videos section.

• Description - Say as much as you can in the first sentence or two, because many video sites will hide the bulk of your description. Include at least one link placed at the start of the description – with http://.

• Video Quality / Resolution – Shoot, edit and export the video in the highest quality available on the devices and software you use.

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

of all consumers use

search prior to making a

purchase

Source: GroupM

93%

86%

90+%

of searchers conduct non-

branded queries

of buyers click on organic

links vs. the sponsored

ads

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

Buyers are searching for information

that helps them make an informed

decision.

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

Buyers are searching for information

that helps them make an informed

decision.

Businesses that provide

that information - will win.

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

Because most of our clients are not the NYY, we strongly

suggest playing Moneyball

1 in 4 at bats = hit (a success)

1 in 36 at bats = home run (a big success)

1 in 1,691 at bats = grand slam (viral success)

The Odds of Hitting A Grand Slam

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

(

In order to play content Moneyball, you need to come up with

hundreds of ideas so you can create fresh, highly converting,

useful content on a frequent basis.

Here’s how we do it…

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

Site Search

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

ASK YOUR STAFF!

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

• What made you trust us? (About Us)

• What information do you wish we had

provided upon first contact?

• What information do you wish we had

explained upon completion of

services?

• What information were you looking for

when you began searching for a

company like ours?

• What do you wish we would do better?

Flow motion cafe

Ask Your Customers

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

Google Keyword

Suggest

Related

Searches

Research Tools

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

KeywordTool.io

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

More than 410

questions about

More than 3,400

using broad match!

“visit the grand canyon”

(exact match)

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

Long tail searches are

like hitting those singles.

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

List All Content Ideas in a Spreadsheet

This is the kind of content that converts.

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

Source: http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/keyword-stats.html - 9/01/2013

Longer Search String = More Clicks

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

Put Together An Editorial Calendar

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

Put Together An Editorial Calendar

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

VerticalMeasures.com/calendar

Put Together An Editorial Calendar

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

REMEMBER:

1 in 4 at bats = hit (

The key is to keep going to the plate, take your

swings, be happy with your singles, and do it

over and over again!

The Odds of Hitting a Grand Slam

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

• Yale’s traffic has grown from 40,000 visitors

to 150,000 annually

• Leads have grown from 800 to 2,300

monthly!

• Revenue is up by 40% since starting their

content marketing program.

• And according their president Steve

Sheinkopf: “Profitability is up way more

than that, because we eliminated other

marketing expenses.”

The Results…

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

Shameless Plug

We offer the best content marketing workshops in the industry and can bring them to you.

@ ArnieK #SearchEx

More Traffic. More Leads. More Business.

www.VerticalMeasures.com

Tweet:

@ArnieK’s content marketing book

@AccelerateBook – is FREE on Amazon Kindle – Today only! #SearchEx