Critical Rules for SEO Success in 2014

www.act-on.com | @ActOnSoftware | #ActOnSW

Critical Rules for SEO Success in 2014

Martin Laetsch


Today’s Presenter

Martin LaetschDirector of Online Marketing

Act-On [email protected]


Agenda

• SEO Overview• Content is (still) King• Write For Your Audience• Speak the Searchers Language• Optimize Site Content• Get Quality Links

3


Did you know?

100 Billion searches each month

Over 82% of all product research begins with a web search 1

Inbound leads have an 8x greater likelihood of closing

compared to other leads 2

Sources: McKinsey & Company, Pew Research


What is Search Engine Marketing?

Putting content in front of people who OVERTLY AND EXPLICITLY

express a desire, via keywords, for a particular PRODUCT, SERVICE

OR PIECE OF INFORMATION.


What is Search Engine Optimization?

• The process of making a site and its content highly relevant for both search engines and

searchers.

• Successful search marketing helps a site gain top positioning for relevant words and phrases.


Why is content marketing so important?

of buyers view 4 or more pieces of content when making a considered purchase70%

71% of buyers trust brands that provide useful info without trying to sell something

Because the buyer says so…

more leads generated by B2B companies that create content67%


Google’s Goal

SHOW PAGES

THAT DELIGHT HUMANS


Your Goal

To be the best possible pageon the internet

for your target keyword


Write for Your Audience1


Write For Your Audience

• You are creating content for your customers and prospects.

• If you base your marketing decisions on what is best for your customers, you will likely rank well in the search engines.

• If you try and game the system to rank, you will eventually fail

11


12

Panda – Detect low quality and duplicate content

Penguin – Devalue link spam

Hummingbird – Understand natural language and the context of queries


Speak the Searchers Language2


Develop the Searcher Profile/Persona

Who is the searcher? Who would be looking for this information? Someone who…

• Is looking for a general category of information?

• Is looking for a specific solution?

• Has one of your products and needs help?

• Is a college student writing a research paper?

14


Define the Searcher’s Mindset

Why are they searching? They want to …

• Purchase a product or solution

• Learn about a product or solution

• Solve a specific problem

• Understand a product category

15


Develop Initial Keyword List

Compile a definitive list of keywords or phrases that customers should find your content with:

• Analyze existing search engine referrals

• Research external keyword databases

• Review internal site search logs

• Ask customers how they would find a specific product or category

16


Keyword Mapping

Map your important keywords to pages on your site:

• Look at each page in your site – what words do you think each is relevant for?

• Now look again at the pages – are you actually using these words?

• Try searching your own site for these words. If you can't find them, search engines won't.

17

TIP: Use Google to search your site


Don’t Ignore the Long Tail

• Higher conversion rates and better quality traffic

• Long tail keywords are less competitive

• Long tail search helps you rank for difficult terms.

• 70% of search traffic is from long tail search terms


Optimize Site Content3


Writing for SEO

• Choose 1 keyword phrase that is targeted for each page.

• Include each keyword phrase 3-4 times each within your copy — more if it makes sense.

• If your text sounds awkward to you, slice your keyword phrase usage or use synonyms.

• Use the exact term – “symptoms of diabetes" is not the same as “diabetes symptoms"

• Don’t over optimize. Use natural language to communicate your message (synonyms, varying word order, etc.)

• Longer copy provides a better opportunity for keyword placement that sounds good and allows you to provide more information to you visitors.

• Page length should be dictated by the message you want to communicate, but 300 words is a good minimum target. 1000+ words is better.

20


Put Keywords in…

• Title Tag

• URL

• Headlines and sub-headlines (H1 & H2 tags)

• Call to action links (hyperlinks)

• Main body text copy, top to bottom

21

SEO copywriting helps your writing be more specific. It’s just changing how we “see” and write copy!

1

1

2

2

33

4

45

5


Make Your Search Listing Compelling

• Optimize the search results listing

• Crafted from the Title and Description

• It doesn’t matter how high you rank if nobody clicks on your listing


SERP Preview


Link Building4


Links

Links are usually editorial votes given by choice,

and the more useful content you have, the greater the chances someone else will find that content valuable to their

readers and link to it.


Why people link

• Compelling content they want to share

• Had a great experience with the brand

• Had a terrible experience with the brand

• They are a friend of the brand and want to promote it


How to get links

• Great content

• Curated directories

• Competitor backlinks

• Mentions in press & articles

• Broken links

• Social media

• Network – people are more likely to link to people they know


Link strategies that no longer work

• Buying links

• Article marketing

• Blog/forum spam

• Speakerships, sponsorships, events.

• Exact match anchor text

• High volume, low quality content

• Sidebar & footer links

• Links in widgets

• Anchor text links in press releases


Link strategy that always works

Target links that you would want even if Google doesn’t give you

any credit for them.


Q&A

Martin LaetschDirector of Online Marketing

Act-On [email protected]


Ready to Learn More?

Interested in a demoCall +1 (877) 530-1555Email [email protected] www.act-on.com

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.act-on.com/

Critical Rules for SEO Success in 2014

Marketing

site content

search engines

search traffic

web search

search results

content marketing

successful search marketing

long tail search terms