SEO BOOTCAMP: Lift Your Rankings!

19.05.2016

Put Your Website in Positionto Rank in the Natural Search Results!

2016 SEO FIELD-GUIDE HANDBOOK

OUTLINE FOR TODAY’S BOOTCAMPTheory & Drill Exercises

• SEO Landscape• What Is SEO? Why Does It Matter?• SEO Dynamics & Background Context

• Practice with Go-To-Market Strategies• Onsite Tactics

• SEO Audit & Technical Enhancements• Keyword Research• On-Page Optimization: Meta Data & Content

• Offsite Tactics• Corresponding SEM Ad Campaign• Content Marketing & Link Building• Social Marketing• Local Directories & Review Sites

• Data Analysis & Continual Enhancement

WHO PUT YOU IN CHARGE? SEO Credentials for the Squad Leader

15 Years of Hard-Core SEO Tactical Work

Nikki Johnson

LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/nikkijohnsonhqo

> VP of Copywriting - Hotel / Travel Marketing Agency• TIG Global – Washington, DC

> Founder / CEO / President - My Own Three Companies• HQO SEO, LLC – Washington, DC

• SEO / copywriting consultancy for small and medium-size businesses

• Plugin Group – Washington, DC• White-label marketing services / partnership with ad agencies

• Galileo Tech Media – New York, NY• Data-driven marketing for Fortune 500 brands and enterprise companies

> Marketing Director - Multilingual, International Firm• Binary.com – Kuala Lumpur / Cyberjaya, Malaysia

A FEW WORDS FROM OUR SPONSORSpecial Thanks to Binary.com for Hosting This SEO Bootcamp!

KILLER OFFICE SPACE, RIGHT?Now Hiring Like Gangbusters!> Careers Page:

• https://www.binary.com/careers?l=EN

> Open Positions:• https://www.binary.com/open-positions?l=EN

> To Apply: • hr@binary.com

A QUICK CASE STUDY: Search for “White Label Marketing Agency”• PluginGroup.com appears in the top spot /

on the first page?• This is the second company I started, woohoo!• Delivered qualified new leads each week, for

free!

• Sample of finding the SEO sweet spot!• Search volume for the targeted keywords was:

• High enough to deliver steady, relevant traffic to our website

• Low enough to still be “winnable,” from a realistic perspective

• So the process does work!• This workshop will walk you through a basic

framework• So you can start wrapping your head around

getting SEO to work for you

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)Definition:

Process of Improving a Website’s Visibility in the Natural Search Results

WHY DOES SEO MATTER?Do The Math:• 93% of online visits begin with a

search engine• Search Engine Journal

• 64% of website visitors come from organic search

• Conductor

• 50% of consumers who conducted a local search on their smartphone visited a store within a day

• Search Engine Land

• 18% of local mobile searches lead to a sale within a day

• Search Engine Land

WHY DOES SEO WORK SO WELL?It’s All About Creating Win-Win Scenarios

• Ultimately, it’s a matter of connecting:

• Search engine customers actively looking for certain things

• Suppliers who can fulfill those specified needs

• Everybody wins!

• Businesses can thus connect with receptive customers, all for “free”

THEN WHY IS SEO SO DIFFICULT?The Bottom Line: It’s Super-Competitive

• Everybody wants to rank!• Millions of websites,

all vying for attention

• Can’t all appear on the first page• Need to be smart and

realistic in approach

WHAT ELSE MAKES SEO CHALLENGING?Involves Such a Broad Array of Specialties• Left-Brain Skills

• Keyword Research• Back-End Programming• Data Analysis

• Right-Brain Skills• Design / UX• Copywriting• Social Media

• Takes a Small Army to Execute All Aspects Really Well

ANYTHING ELSE THAT MAKES SEO TOUGH?Further Complications• Add the Dimension of Time!

• Constant evolution• Undergoes continuous tweaking, for the purposes of:

• Continual quality enhancement of search results• Preventing “gaming of the system” by spam artists

• Throw in Increasing Personalization of Results! • Search results are now customized to each user,

depending on his/her:• Location• Personal search / site-visitation history• Social connections• Etc.

• No two users see exactly the same search results

GAH! SEO SOUNDS LIKE SHEER MADNESS!Where Do You Even Start?• Just Breathe

• No Need to Lose Your Head

• Take It Nice and Easy• Prioritization of Efforts• “HQO Ripple Effect”:

• Start with a Certain Set of Activities• Increasingly Expand Over Time,

to Rank for:• More Competitive Keywords• Additional Phrases

ONE HELPFUL CONSIDERATIONSome Basic Factors Will Always Signal Strong RelevanceEXAMPLE: If a given page is relevant to a particular keyword, it probably:

• Appears in certain places on the page• Title?• Heading?• Paragraph text?• Images / multimedia?

• Is repeated a few times in the midst of the page• Amid the rich description

• Is surrounded by synonyms and related words• Used in the process of describing the given keyword topic• “Semantic search”

REACHING ACROSS SEARCH ENGINESMany Common Factors to All Search Engines• Each search engine has its own unique

formula for determining rankings• Google dominates the field by far,

in terms of market share

• However, there are common factors to the basic characteristics that tend to signal relevance across the board

• Similar to keyword usage on the previous page

• Stay focused on these constants first and foremost, to keep things manageable

• Cover the basics first• Then move on to the elements that involve:

• Greater complexity• Increased frequency

Google: 65.4%Bing: 15.8%Yahoo!: 8.3%

Baidu: 8.3%Ask: 0.2%Others: 1.9%

GLOBAL SHARE OF USERS: Netmarketshare.com – Jan 2016

ANOTHER HELPFUL SEO FRAMEWORKConsider the Primary Objective of the Search Engines

• Search Engine Objective:• Provide solid, highly relevant

content to satisfy users actively searching for info related to particular keywords

• Therefore, Your Objective Should Be: • Demonstrating to the search

engines that you have solid content with genuine relevance to actively searched keywords

APPLYING REALISMThe Most Critical Element to SEO Success in 2016• The Key Question:

• Realistically, how likely am I to appear on the first page for this keyword?• How does my site stack up against all of the other websites that could be considered relevant to

this term?• Do I legitimately belong on the first page for this keyword, based on the full range of info

available to users related to this phrase?

• This Humble Approach Helps You Stay Focused on:• Geographically based terms

• Hyperlocal• Niche terms, geared toward particular:

• Customer segments / audiences• Certain types of products / services• Specific attributes / modifiers• Other characteristics that help to:

• Limit the competition• Increase likelihood of conversion,

through targeted focus

EVOLUTION OF THE SEO WORLDToday, SEO Best Practices Are Digital Marketing Best PracticesPast:

• When I started 15 years ago, the “Venn Diagrams” for SEO and overall marketing practices were not nearly as well-aligned

• Many SEO practices existed solely to appeal to the search engines• Such tactics left much to be desired for human users

• Keyword stuffing• Useless directories and a whole cottage industry of “link farms”• Mountains of pages with weak, mostly duplicated content,

exclusively designed for the purpose of ranking• Etc.

• Google and the other major search engines have been stamping out these malpractices with a vengeance, with each successive update

Present:• Search engines have become increasingly more sophisticated

• Getting closer and closer to being able to assess web content just as a human would

GREY SCALE OF SEOFull Spectrum of SEO Tactics

• White-Hat SEO• Entirely pure and well-intentioned best

practices• The best route for long-term success

• Black-Hat SEO• Dark and sinister tactics• Tend to work only for a short time, until

they are discovered and rooted out

• Grey-Hat SEO• The shady ground in the middle of these

two extremes

SEO MECHANICSExactly How Are Rankings Determined?

• Algorithm• Complex mathematical equation that incorporates

hundreds of different factors

• Indexing• Believe it or not, Google does not actually

search the Web itself whenever a user inputs a set of keywords

• Instead, Google maintains its own copy of the Web, which it can navigate a lot more quickly to process queries

• This copy is known as the “Google Index”

• In order for Google to include your site in its ranked results, it must be “crawled” and included in its index

ANATOMY OF A SEARCH ENGINE RESULTS PAGEDissecting the “SERPs”• Organic Results

• Ten “natural” search listings per page

• Paid Results• Sponsored listings, fueled by AdWords

• Local Results• Tied to the map

• Knowledge Graph• Google’s data warehouse about people,

places, animals, events, history, and topics• Compiled from authoritative sites such as:

• Wikipedia• CIA World Factbook• Freebase

PAID RESULTS

LOCAL RESULTS

ORGANIC RESULTS

SOME OF GOOGLE’S MAJOR UPDATESA Veritable Zoo of Evolutionary Changes to Its Algorithm

• Panda• Low-quality content cleanup

• Penguin• Linking malpractice crackdown

• Hummingbird• Semantic search updates

• Pigeon• Local search updates

RANKBRAINThe Latest Mind-Blowing Enhancement to Google’s Algorithm

• Launched at the end of October 2015• Now all the rage in the SEO world!

• Machine-learning artificial intelligence system• Processes huge volume of queries• Uses AI mechanisms to provide

increasingly better answers

RANKING FACTORSBasic Dichotomy: Onsite and Offsite

• Onsite SEO Factors• Enhancements made to the website itself

• Offsite SEO Factors• Best practices applied to the way the site

engages with the rest of the World Web Web

• Proverbial Metaphor in Effect Here• Analogous to a tree falling in the forest with no

one to hear it• Not just about adjusting the website itself, in its

isolated state• Half of SEO also deals with its interactions with

the larger ecosystem• Need to treat both as equally important

to make an impact

ONSITE RANKING FACTORS• Keyword Research

• Short-tail / long-tail phrases with:• Relevance to your offering• Active search demand

• Google AdWords Keyword Planner• Possibly paired with an SEM campaign

• On-Page Optimization• Title Tag• Meta Description• Header Tags• Descriptive Text• Alt / Image Tags, as Appropriate

• Technical Factors• XML Sitemap• Robots.txt• Google Webmaster Tools & Analytics Setup• Canonicalization / Redirects• Schema & Markup

OFFSITE RANKING FACTORS• Content Marketing & Link Building

• Creation of “Shareworthy” Content• Focus on Content Promotion through

High-Quality, Trusted, Authoritative Sources

• Engaging Prospects with Interesting Content

• Social Media• Interacting with target audiences as real

people• Measures of active engagement and

“likeability”

• Local Directories & Review Sites• Play a particularly important role in the

Local Search section

Field Practice with Go-To-Market SEO StrategiesONSITE TACTICS

SEO AUDITTechnical Tactic #1• Use a few different audit tools

to examine your site• Open Site Explorer & Moz Tools

• https://moz.com/tools

• SEM Rush• https://www.semrush.com/features/

site-audit/

• Screaming Frog• http://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/

seo-spider/

• Look at a few competitors • Grab some benchmarks from:

• Local competitors• Industry competitors

WEBMASTER TOOLS FOR GOOGLE, BING, ETC.Technical Tactic #2• These tools enable you to:

• Identify any issues that may adversely affect search performance for your website

• Optimize all aspects of your site from a technical perspective

• Excellent tutorial guides:• Search Engine Watch –

Google Webmaster Tools: An Overview:• https://searchenginewatch.com/

sew/how-to/2191991/google-webmaster-tools-an-overview

• Search Engine Watch –Bing Webmaster Tools: An Overview:

• https://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2195777/bing-webmaster-tools-an-overview

ANALYTICS TOOLS FOR GOOGLE, BING, ETC.Technical Tactic #3• Google Analytics enables you to:

• Start tracking all aspects of performance for the website

• Examine what works, and continue to evolve your SEO efforts over time

• Excellent tutorial guide:• ClickZ – An Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Setting Up

Google Analytics for Your Website:• https://www.clickz.com/2016/01/20/an-absolute-beginners-

guide-to-setting-up-google-analytics-for-your-website

• Note that for Bing:• Analytics are incorporated into:

• Bing Webmaster Tools• Bing Ads (for paid search ads)

SOME OF THE TECHNICAL TACTICS

• XML Sitemap• A special file that lists all URLs for a site, enabling Google and

other search engines to crawl it more intelligently

• Robots.txt• A file that instructs the search engines which pages not to index

• Canonicalization• Redirects set up to show the search engines that the www and

non-www version of your site are the same, preventing duplicate content issues

• Schema & Markup• Special labels that can be added to particular types of

information, enabling the search engines to pick up and use these details in various applications

Addressed During this Phase

BUILD A CHART OF POTENTIAL KEYWORDS

• Use Google AdWords Keyword Planner to research demand

• Put together a chart of various keywords with active demand related to what you offer

• Focus particularly on search phrases that incorporate:

• Geographic areas• City (e.g., “”kuala lumpur”)

• Neighborhood (e.g., “bukit bintang”)

• Best approach for first starting out• Once dominated, go broader

• Niche phrases• “Best” / “Top”• Focus on a certain type of customer • Specific types of products / services• Particular modifiers (“affordable,” “effective,” etc.)

Keyword Tactic #1

SAMPLE KEYWORD RESEARCHA Few Sample Screenshots from Google AdWords

You can explore demand for specific keywords under the “Keyword ideas” tab

Google will also suggest additional possibilities …some more relevant than others

ASSIGN SPECIFIC KEYWORDS TO EACH PAGE

• Map keywords with active demand to each page of your website

• Determine one or two primary themes to keywords chosen for full site

• Identify specific keywords for each page

• One main keyword per page

• “Long-tail” variations thereof

• Identify additional pages that need to be created

Keyword Tactic #2

TITLE TAGS

• Title Tag• The most influential factor

signaling relevant keywords for the page

• 55 characters or less

Meta Data Tactic #1

META DESCRIPTIONS

• Meta Description• Call to action to visit the page,

incorporating keywords• 155 characters or less

Meta Data Tactic #2

ALT TAGS FOR IMAGES

• Alt / Image Tags• Brief description of subject matter for photos• Incorporate keywords only if appropriate• Five words or less

Meta Data Tactic #3

Alt Tag 1: Pet store in Bukit Bintang

Alt Tag 2: An adorable selection of cats

Alt Tag 3: Two dogs at our store

ON-PAGE OPTIMIZATION

• Incorporate keywords into your page text naturally• Do not force keywords

• “Keyword stuffing”• Try to add them in a

perfectly conversational way

• Aim for at least 300 wordsper page• Websites / pages with too

little text content are penalized by “Google Panda”

Content Development Tactic #1

DEVELOP CONTENT IN DIFFERENT FORMATS

• Identify themes to keywords that can be covered with content• Blog posts• Ebooks• Videos• Infographics• Etc.

• Create an editorial calendar• Map out development and

distribution of content for keyword groups

Content Development Tactic #2

Field Practice with Go-To-Market SEO StrategiesOFFSITE TACTICS

DEVELOP A PAID SEARCH CAMPAIGN• Set up ad campaigns

• Map keywords to most appropriate landing pages

• Launch campaign, and closely monitor results

• Tweak as necessary, for optimal results

EVOLVE BOTH CAMPAIGNS IN TANDEMSEO v. SEM: The Yin & Yang of Search Marketing• SEO

• Search Engine Optimization• Positioning a website to rank in

the natural search results• “Free” but placement is not

guaranteed

• SEM / PPC / Paid Search• Search Engine Marketing /

Pay-Per-Click Marketing• Positioning a website to appear in

the paid results / sponsored ads section

• Paid but placement is guaranteed

SEO

SEM

LINK BUILDING TACTICS• Search for places to promote

content to be created• Check which sites are ranking

well for keywords you plan to target

• Look for article directories, relevant forums, social-media groups, etc.

• Determine key influencers in your industry• Make friends / powerful alliances

with these folks• Figure out cool ways to

collaborate, for benefit all

SEARCH FOR RELATED RESOURCES AND POTENTIAL PARTNERS

LOOK FOR RELATED BLOGSAsk About “Guest Blogging”

SOCIAL MEDIA TACTICS

• Build social-media campaigns around content to be created

• Look for all sorts of different ways to find others with related interests

• Gather positive signals of engagement with the content

• Look for local authorities with whom you can collaborate

Interact with Real People!

BE A SOCIAL BUTTERFLY• Look for opportunities to

share your content with people who can benefit from it

• Don’t push it• All must be approached naturally

• Look for local “influencers” in your industry• Who talks the most about your

industry in the area?• Who do your customers rely on for

advice and entertainment?

SEARCH FOR RELEVANT SOCIAL GROUPS• Look for related groups on

Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social sites that relate to:

• Your industry• Your target audience• Your geographic area

CHECKLIST FOR LOCAL SEO

• Many Local SEO factors overlap with the traditional SEO factors• However, some factors are given

particular emphasis in this section

• A great Local SEO tutorial guide:• Moz Local SEO Checklist

• https://moz.com/blog/local-seo-checklist

Local SEO Tactic #1

OPTIMIZE YOUR BUSINESS LISTINGSLocal SEO Tactic #2• Optimize your local business

listing for your website in Google’s local directory• Be sure to complete all fields as

fully as you can• Be consistent about name,

address, and phone number EVERYWHERE!

• Otherwise, Google may not recognize the listings as belonging to the same business

• “Name, Address, and Phone Number” are often referred to as “NAP” in Local SEO guides

DIRECTORY & REVIEW TACTICS

• Submit your site to all major local directories• International • By area• By industry

• Set up profiles on major review sites for your industry• Encourage customers and

partners to post reviews

Local SEO Tactic #3

SAMPLE LOCAL DIRECTORIES

Go-To-Market SEO StrategiesCONTINUAL TESTING & ENHANCEMENT

DATA SCIENCE TACTICS• Establish a regular schedule of

reporting• Weekly• Monthly • Quarterly

• Determine key metrics • Traffic by source• Revenue / conversion rate• Keywords delivering traffic• Customer demographics

• Identify takeaways from each campaign

• Continue to evolve all efforts • Based on your findings

SOLID SEO RESOURCES TO EXPLOREDeeper-Dive Sites• Guides

• Moz• Beginner’s Guide to SEO

• https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo

• Google• Search Engine Optimization Guide

• http://static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.google.com/en//webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf

• Blogs• Use an RSS reader to track news from:

• Search Engine Land• Search Engine Journal• Search Engine Watch• SEO Book• Marketing Land

HANDFUL OF SEO EXPERTSJust a Few Kings of Content in this Realm• Matt Cutts

• Former Head of Web Spam for Google

• John Mueller• Webmaster Trends Analyst for Google

• Rand Fishkin• Founder, Former CEO, and “Wizard” of Moz

• Danny Sullivan• Co-Founder of Search Engine Land

• Neil Patel• Founder of CrazyEgg, Kiss Metrics, QuickSprout

• Josh Bachynski• Self-Made SEO Consultant & Documentarian

SEO BOOTCAMP SIGN-OFFWhat Have We Learned Here Today?• Before getting bogged down

in the details, take a step back• Cover the basic low-hanging fruit first• Then move onto the tougher stuff

• Use a realistic approach• To start, focus on keywords that are:

• Geographically based• Niche-centered

• Then expand your focus to incorporate:• More competitive keywords• Additional phrases

• Above all, relax, knowing that:• Following “white-hat” SEO best practices

helps you do better marketing as a whole

• Questions?

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR YOU From Your Friends at Kuala Lumpur Marketing Meetup

• Join Us for Lots More Free Workshops!• Many More Marketing / IT Subjects:

• Check the Calendar: • http://www.meetup.com/

Kuala-Lumpur-Marketing-Meetup/

• Follow Us!• Facebook:

• https://www.facebook.com/Kuala-Lumpur-Marketing-Meetup-203684033319402/

• LinkedIn: • https://www.linkedin.com/company/7591769

• Peatix: • http://kuala-lumpur-marketing-meetup.peatix.com/

Thanks for AttendingToday’s SEO Bootcamp!See You Again Soon! Bring Some Friends!