Preparing An SEO Strategy

Preparing Your SEO Strategy

A step-by-step guide by

leading SEO Consultant

Ben Norman

Contents Why You Need An SEO Strategy Yesterday’s SEO Tactics To Avoid Understanding Google’s Algorithm Updates Backlink Analysis Reconsideration Requests Backlink Analysis Tools Competitor Analysis Content Marketing Meta Social Media Responsive Web Design Customer Reviews More Useful SEO Tools Why Is SEO Long Term? Contact Me References & Image Sources


Why You Need An SEO Strategy Drive relevant traffic to your site

Increase brand reach

Extend the exposure of your products and services

Rank highly for page one domination: 75% of users [*1] do not scroll past the first page of Google results


Yesterday’s SEO Tactics To Avoid SEO is always evolving and

many tactics of the past could now negatively affect your site’s search engine rankings.

Here are just a few examples of what to avoid…


Yesterday’s SEO Tactics To Avoid Purchasing links

Overusing keywords within your content and link anchor text. Read my blog post on keyword optimisation

Spammy, irrelevant or meaningless comments

Low quality and/or thin content

Duplicate content, either on your site or externally. Learn more about getting rid of duplicate content

Listing on generic link directories


Understanding Google’s Algorithm Updates

To tackle these sorts of ‘black hat’ SEO techniques, Google regularly updates its search engine algorithm to improve the relevancy and quality of its search results.

The Google Panda and Google Penguin algorithm updates are the two most well known and high-impact updates of recent years…


Google Panda (2011) Google devalued websites with thin, low quality

content and a high concentration of on-page advertising.

The update also targeted sites with duplicate content issues and other types of spam later that year.


Google Penguin (2012) Launched to combat unnatural link profiles.

Penguin penalises sites with links from poor quality sites that have been set up to manipulate search rankings rather than benefit users.


A new search algorithm which improved the way Google understands conversational and long-tail search queries.

Hummingbird uses aspects of the old search algorithm which worked well, including the Penguin and Panda updates, but includes new aspects

Google Hummingbird (2013)


Backlink Analysis The process of reviewing websites that are

currently linking to yours and judging them on their quality and relevance to your business.

Useful for monitoring competitor backlinks and identifying strong links for your own site.

An essential process if a site has suffered a manual spam penalty for unnatural links


Low Quality Links Low quality links often result in a penalty to your

site, particularly if they don’t comply with Google’s recent algorithm updates.

When undertaking backlink analysis, watch out for these low quality links including links that are paid for, are unrelated or are not from a genuine or reliable source that points to your site.

Read more about finding and eliminating bad links here


Building Good Quality Links Building a rigid link profile is vital to a successful

SEO campaign and ranking higher in Google’s search results.

Having high-quality websites linking to you promotes your site as a solid and reputable source of information over your competitors.


Building Good Quality Links

High-quality links should:

Be non-reciprocal (not based on an exchange)

Drive relevant referral traffic back to your site

Not necessarily be easy to obtain – links that are difficult to obtain are normally the most valuable

Come from a site with other good quality links. Beware that too many links on a page can indicate suspicious activity to Google


Reconsideration Requests To overturn a Google penalty, you need to submit

a successful Reconsideration Request to Google.


Reconsideration Requests When applying for reconsideration, be sure to

make the strongest case by including:

Steps taken to remove and disavow unnatural links

Any past unethical techniques used to generate links

Confirmation that you now understand and fully adhere to Google’s best practice guidelines

Records of any corrections made or issues that need to be rectified in a spreadsheet sent along with your request


Backlink Analysis Tools

There are a large number of powerful Backlink Analysis Tools available, including:


Majestic SEO Majestic SEO is a great

tool for compiling details of a site’s referring backlinks.

It is particularly useful for analysing sites to remove, nofollow or disavow.

Majestic SEO can also be used to analyse the links of your competitors.


LinkRisk LinkRisk is a paid

service that colour codes and scores backlinks by their health and risk.

It helps highlight particularly unnatural links in need of removal.


Competitor Analysis In order to better understand

the online strategies of your competitors, analyse the following activities:

Monitor their social media presence – do they have an active following and are they engaging with their audience?


Competitor Analysis Review their backlinks – who is linking to them?

Are there opportunities for you?

Is their content regularly updated and of good quantity, quality, variety and usability?

Are they effectively targeting keywords using ethical practices? Or are they still using poor tactics that will cost them later on?


Content Marketing Content marketing is essential for successful link

building and to keep your site refreshed with new information on a regular basis.


Content MarketingSome of the types of content to consider include:

High quality and informative blog postsGuest posting on strong and relevant sitesPress releasesInfographicsIndustry/subject whitepapers Case studies Video

Here’s how to make your content marketing strategy more effective


Meta As well as building valuable links, you need to

make sure your site is up to scratch.

This includes both on-page and technical aspects of your website.

An important starting point is to look at your page titles, Meta descriptions and H1 header tags to make sure they are accurately describing the content of your page.


Meta Descriptions These are short paragraphs

that appear in SERPs thatdescribe the nature of yoursite and content.

Descriptions should be nomore than 155 characters, including spaces, and should effectively describe the content of the page.

If a page does not have its own unique Meta description, the search engines do it for you. This is rarely a good description of your actual site or page.


Social media is a great resource for promoting your content and directing traffic back to your website.

Key channels include:

Social Media


Responsive Web Design Google recommends the use of responsive design

which enables your site to adapt to any device (computer, smartphone or tablet).

The performance of a website on mobile and tablet devices now contributes to search engine rankings.

Read more about Responsive Design here.


Customer Reviews Add your site to some of the main listing sites for

customer reviews and set up a localised Google+ page.

This way you can gather insight on what people are saying about your brand.


Customer Reviews Here are some of the sites to sign up to:

Read more about reviews and listing sites here.


More Useful SEO Tools Google Analytics

Generate reports on website traffic and popular content/pages –build on this by setting new goals to increase conversions.

Google Webmaster ToolsUpload your sitemap to check its compliance with modern day SEO practices.


More Useful SEO Tools Screaming Frog

Free for 500 pages software that analyses your site’s SEO efforts and highlights areas for development.

Google Keyword Planner Useful tool to use when carrying out keyword research; provides a list of strong keyword around a topic and their average number of monthly searches.


So Why Is SEO Long Term? SEO is not a one-time fix; it is an ongoing process

to ensure that your website ranks above your competition and that you are always discoverable to customers and potential customers alike.

Google regularly updates its algorithm, so you need to ensure you are abiding by the rules to continue ranking well.


Contact Me Find out more about Ben Norman today.

Telephone: 0845 485 1291

Connect with Ben:


References 1. http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/14416/100-Awesome-Mark

eting-Stats-Charts-Graphs-Data.aspx


Image Sources Do Not logo courtesy of Bigstock Hummingbird image courtesy of Bigstock Magnifying Glass image courtesy of Bigstock Panda image courtesy of Bigstock Penguin image courtesy of Bigstock Search Engine Marketing image courtesy of Bigstock Star Rating image courtesy of Bigstock

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Preparing An SEO Strategy