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SEO for Google in 2016
Hello I'm Dave Taylor
Webmedia trading eight years in Chester
Web design, SEO, digital marketing, training
Visiting lecturer at University of Chester
A little about you
What's your business?
Why are you here today?
What's your experience of SEO?
You can download these slides later today
http://www.davidtaylorwebmedia.com/googleglasdir
What is SEO?
A manipulation process that enables a specific web page to rank highly for a search query or queries that are regularly searched by those persons seeking your type of business
Why does SEO exist?
98% of searchers don't go past page 1 of Google
Position 1 on organic can expect around 30% clicks
Position 10 around 5%
Google's dilema
Imagine 15 websites on a specific subject. All well designed. All informative. All accessible. All provide a good user experience. All give users what they came for.
How does Google design which 10 to put on page 1 and which to leave out?
Why do SEO?
Part of a business visibility strategy
The first stage to making a sale is that your business is 'visible' to your target audience
Steps to a sale
visibility - engagement - relationship – conversion – maintenance
Online Visibility strategy
Organic SEOSocial mediaPaid advertisingEmail marketingReviewsDirectories Which of these is your business visible on?
Why is SEO a good visibility tactic?
Consumers trust organic Google resultsPeople find you, you don't find themPeople have no reason to trust paid advertising
Understanding Google in 2016
Google's job is to return, for any given search query, the most relevant and trusted web pages
It is constantly changing to become better at this and to avoid those trying to cheat it
Your job is to make it easy for Google to put your web page in the top 10
Give Google what it wants
AuthorityRelevanceOriginalityTrustCredibility
How Google used to assess these
AuthorityRelevanceOriginalityTrustCredibility
On-page factorsIn-bound links
What has changed?
Content authority is now highly importantSocial media has grown in importanceMobile responsiveUser behaviour trackingHummingbird – understanding intent
Poor links and poor content quality gets you penalised
Where do you start?
If you want to rank Google page 1 for a specific search query then start by making your website one of the best 10 websites in the UK for that phrase
So let's start with 'keyword phrases'
Keywords are the words or phrases that your target audience are searching on Google
So let's start with 'keyword phrases'
Write a list of the top 10 phrases that you think the average person would search on Google if they were looking for your type of business
Note: Chester web design and web design Chester are two different phrases to Google
Now rank them 1 to 10, 1 being the phrase you think is searched most
Now we have to establish if anyone searches for those phrases you identified and if so in what numbers?
Do a search for 'Google adwords keyword tool'
Demonstration Video
Now put in the keyword phrases you thought were most searched
Were you right?
Using the landing page option to assess your competitor's keywords..
See if you can discover high volume keyword you never expected
This process is called 'keyword research' and companies can take weeks or even months to assess target keywords.
Understanding 'short tail' and 'long tail' keywords
Furniture – short tail
Wooden antique love seat – long tail
Now you have to understand 'competitor analysis'
Let's take the example of thekeyword 'car vacuum'
Open a private window in yourbrowser and go to google andsearch 'car vacuum'
Competitor analysis is about understanding what is required to get your web page onto Google page 1 for a highly competitive keyword.
You can't just target the phrase with the highest search volume....
You have to consider competitor analysis
Domain ageDomain activityContent authoritySocial signals
Choosing the right keyword phrase(s) to target is critical. Do not rush. It can take weeks
Competitor analysis tools....
Domain age
Backlinks
Domain authority
Quantity of content
One method to assess CA is what backlinks are pointing at sites on Google page 1
https://monitorbacklinks.com/seo-tools/free-backlink-checker
Take a website on Google page 1 that is ranking for your chosen keyword and use this tool to assess their backlinks
Another method to assess CA is looking at domain authority
Search 'moz open site explorer'
Demo
Domain Authority is a score (on a 100-point scale) developed by Moz that predicts how well a website will rank on search engines. Use Domain Authority when comparing one site to another or tracking the “strength” of your website over time.
Do a search for a
Domain age checker
Check the domain age of some of the sites on Google page 1 for your primary keyword
Amount of site content
Go to https://www.xml-sitemaps.com/
Put in the url of a competitor and create a site map. This will show you the amount of content on their site
Are those on Google page 1 active on social media with lots of engagement?
The net result of keyword research and competitor analysis is to reach a conclusion about what keywords you are going to target
Now from this process you should have
1 primary keyword phrase for your home page
3 secondary keywords for the website
Let's take stock
So far we have looked at
What is SEO?
Why do SEO?
Keyword and competitor analysis
Now we need to apply our keywords to the pages of our website
Page titleMeta keywordsMeta descriptionH1 tagNarrative textQuality contentNo code errors (webmaster tools)
Worktops by Crown
We are letting Google know exactly what this home page is about
If your #1 target keyword is 'orange buckets' then your site needs to reflect this
Look at the sites that rank top 10 for 'your target keyword'. What can you learn from them?
Note down what you are going to do to change and improve your site.
Page titleMeta keywordsMeta descriptionH1 tagNarrative textQuality contentNo code errors (webmaster tools)
Rewrite your home page with your target keywords in mind
Or note what changes you need to make
If your business offers a 'local' product or service then these are important:
Contact details in footer and body of pageEmbed Google mapCitationsGoogle My Business
Using Google webmaster tools to check your page performance
Video
Let's talk about user experience
Google now takes much more notice of how people react to your content
Click backs from search resultsTime on siteTime on pageBounce rate
What does it mean?
It is the experience the user has when they land on your web pages
Did they see what they expected?Did they understand?Could they find what they wanted?Did they look around?Did they stay a while?Did they convert to your goal?
2 videos good and bad UX
When someone lands on your home page for the first time this is what they do.. the F scan
You need to deliver on the home page
… professional look and feel… scannable content… headlines of key messages… content that overcomes barriers… content that engages… call to action
The key to good User Experience is understanding your target audience
Let's take an example of www.helpingyousettle.co.uk
What I'd like you to do is note down some bullet points of your audience's needs and how your website currently meets them
Video
Psychology of the web
Look..at the top 20 organic ranking sites for your target phrase
Is your site one of the 10 best?
What do competitor sites have that yours doesn't?
Make some notes about what you are going to change
Power words
NewNowFreeYouBecause
The power of 3
Where is 'user experience' going?
By the end of 2018 75% of all content consumed online will be video
Using Google Analytics to improve user experience
Video
Benchmark your site for your target keywords
https://www.serplab.co.uk/
What else is Google interested in?
Content authority
ie. indicators around the web that you are an expert authority in relation to a specific subject
How to build content authority
1. Publishing regular high value content
Article sitesBlogsVideo sitesSocial mediaEmail marketing
Show Google new content by linking to it from your homepage
Which of these do you do?
How to build content authority
2. Citations
Free indexHotfrogYell.comYelp
Which of these are you on? Why not add your business to one now.
How to build content authority
3. Reviews
Google+YellFree index
Ask a customer for a review now. Send them a link to make it easy.
How to build content authority
4. Social media
LikesCommentsShares
What's the last social post you did that got the above?
Exercise - video
Create a Google My Business profile
Create yours now
Exercise
Write a high value blog post targeted at your audience's needs
How you build content authority with email marketing
Video
Let's take stock again
What is SEO
Why do SEO
Keywords and competitor analysis
On page factors
User experience
Benchmarking SERP
Building content authority
Next
Links
Video
Page load speed
Crafting your Google search snippet
Now let's look at Links
What Google wants to see:
Good quality linksRelevant linksNo spammy low level linksDo follow and no followA natural link landscape
Search Google for free backlink checker
Look at the backlink results to your site
Look at the backlink results to competitor sites
Can you replicate any of these links?
Create a Channel on YouTube
Create a video tour of your website http://www.atube.me/video/
Add your full url in the description box of the video
Add you url in the channel settings
Use your primary keyword in the title, description and tags
Embed the video in a blog post on your site
How to get more links
Getting quality relevant links is hard
Ask for themUse sources like Chamber of CommerceGet someone to build them
Page load speed
https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/
Or search 'Google page insights'
Test your home page and your competitors
What else gives your page Google points?
Embedded videoEmbedded mapEmbedded reviewsInternal site linksLinks out to other authority sites
Get active on Google+
Post value content with links back to website
Encourage sharing of your content by providing a social share tool
How Webmedia brings these elements together on its home page
Summary
What is SEO
Why do SEO
Keywords and competitor analysis
On page factors
User experience
Benchmarking SERP
Building content authority
Links
Page load speed
Share tools
Google+
So what are you conclusions about SEO?
What are you going to do?
