Short Introduction to SEO by Kobestarr Digital

Introduction to SEOMake your website work for you

By Kobi OmenakaHead of Digital at Kobestarr Digital

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TODAY’S WORKSHOPWhat is SEOHow SEO Affects your BusinessGoogle and SEOKeywords and the basis of SEOKeyword Analysis and ResearchWho is your “Online” Competition

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TODAY’S WORKSHOPSEO and ContentContent Planning StrategyMeasuring your SEO effectivenessLocal SEOMobile SEO

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Who Am I?Kobi OmenakaHead of Digital at Kobestarr DigitalInbound Marketing and Digital Media AgencyOil and Gas (Process Engineering) backgroundSecond Masters (MA) Degree in Social Media

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Who Are You?What is your name? Do you have a website and what do you hope to get out of today?

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Let’s Define S.E.O.SEARCH ENGINE OPTMISATION (SEO)

“The process of improving your website so that it attracts more visitors from search

engines ”• Why SEO Important?• Setting Expectations

• 200+ factors but it boils down to content

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The Importance of Top Ten

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Is it just Google?

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Ever Changing TargetsGoogle Panda – February 2011, aim to show higher quality sites higher in the searchGoogle Penguin – April 2012, aim was to reduce the focus on un-natural back linksGoogle Hummingbird – September 2013, completely new algorithm, aim was to better understand the natural language people use when searchingFocus on content – “deliver the best content you can and you’ll be fine”

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An SEO Example

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An SEO Example

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An SEO Example

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An SEO Example

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Is your site set up for SEO?Is Google actually allowed to crawl/index your site?

If so Google will with time find, crawl and index your siteBut you can submit it via Webmaster Tools/ Search Console (https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools)“Verify” your websiteFind out what Google knows and then tell it what it should know!

Page loading speedsSmall/optimised image and video sizes embed from Flickr or YouTube etcEnable Caching of Database sites such as Wordpress

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Google Webmaster Tools

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What Are You Optimising For?

Before you can start you need to know what you are optimising for! We can use a structured approach to finding out that keyword data

What Keywords/ search queries people are typingHow often are they searching themHow relevant are they to your businessHow competitive those terms will be

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“Car” as a Keyword?If your company sells cars is “car” the best keyword?

ToysRepairHire Formula1

“Used Volkswagen Golf Mark 3”Not typed in as muchVery relevant and low competition

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Keyword Research Planning - Exercise

“Forget” about your business - get in the mind of your customer1) Brainstorming

What services do you offer – be comprehensiveWhat words would customers use NOT company jargon

E.g. cheap train tickets vs low value fare

In Groups - come up with 3-5 long tail keywords relevant to your business and it’s services

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Keyword Research Planning2) Search Volumes

Find out the demand for those keywordsLow search volumes are not necessarily a bad thing!

3) Collect groups of keywordsTens, hundreds and thousands together to form a “campaign”

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Conducting the Keyword Research

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Keyword AttributesRelevance – the more relevant the better

How accurately does the keyword represent the nature of the products and services that you offer and clients you want

Search Volume – average per monthDon’t be put off if the search volume is low!

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Time for a Break!

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Keyword Attributes - Exercise

Competition – how difficult to rank as “Low”, “Med” & “High”

Who is your competition?Other competing businessesNews and current affairs sitesReference sites such as Wikipedia

In Groups – list 3-5 of your most relevant business competitors

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Optimising for a Keyword

Meta Title

URL Meta Description

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Optimising for a Keyword

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What about Non-Text Content?

Search engines cannot “decipher” themOptimise the text that is surrounding the element

ImagesVideo Audio

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Grading your Site and Pages

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Content is KingNow lets make the contentHaving a content strategy is important for success

This is the planning, creation and management of useable content

These need to align with your company goalsMonitor trends and keep up to date – what worked today may not work tomorrowInvolve everyone in your company and have their full buy in

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Content? Who for? - ExerciseWho is your target audience and what are their needs? Create content for them.

What are their demographics and socio-economic backgrounds?Where do they hang out (Social Media/Online/IRL)?What questions are they asking?What’s important for them?

*Exercise* – select your main target audience and answer the above questions

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Content? Who for?Your Customers Social Technographics?

http://empowered.forrester.com/tool_consumer.html

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Content… what exactly?FAQs – what questions do people always ask you or your competitors? Reddit and QuoraWhat are your competitors tweeting/writing about?Ask your best client – case study and or testimonialsAsk your teamSpeak to your vendors ask them or others for guest/joint blogBe unique make sure it has real value and is of value.

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Content… what exactly?Not just web page text content!

Slideshows Video Audio ImagesInfographics

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Editorial Calendar

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Keyword Distribution

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Publishing ContentSuccess of a post is often down to visibility rather than quality, don’t “expect people to find it”Spend as much time publishing as creating. Publish on social mediaOnly Fools and Horses

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Content PerformanceCheck your content performance

Google AnalyticsGoogle Webmaster Tools/ Search Console

Can you work out what content does well and why? Look at the following Key Metrics

Pages per visit Average time on site Bounce rate

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LinksEach backlink can be considered a “vote of confidence” for your site.Sites carry different levels of kudos or authority. A link from a high authority site may be worth several from low authority sites.Easy to get backlinks

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Instagram and also social Media Shares

Internal Links are also important

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Getting BacklinksCan submit to business directories. But be selective! Some are spammy. If a website is ranking well for keywords that you are targeting, you can examine their backlinks! (https://moz.com/researchtools/ose)Maybe some sites/ directories that you missed?

Foster, outreach and leverage links from relevant sites

People in your industry, education – try guest blogging.

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Measuring the SEO Performance

Google Analytics (Free)Stay away from “vanity” metricsWhat is the traffic doing when it gets to your site?Is the traffic converting when it gets to your site?Is it helping revenue?Organic Keyword Reports within Google Analytics

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Social Share-abilityContent from social media can appear in SERPs and can generate backlinksUse tool Social Crawlytics

(https://socialcrawlytics.com/)Identify the most sharable content

Learn from the most shareable and the least shareable

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Local SEORelevancy often incorporates distance

Bricks and Mortar – Restaurants, hairdressers, dentistLocal presence – providing local services – personal trainerEven for a “Virtual” businessMore sophisticated than “Restaurants in London”

Kentish Town vs Camden

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Google Local / My Business

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Local Search Factors Relevance

How well your listing matches a users search queryDistance

Based on where Google thinks your are or knows where you are

ProminenceMeasure about how well-known your business is across the web

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Register and Verify with GMB

This process takes around 3 weeks!!!Go to www.Google/business Fill in the details – address has to be accurateWait until they send you a postcard Go to google.com/verifymybusiness

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CitationsEach mention of a business name, address, and phone number of you in the internet is called a “Citation”The more citations a business (from quality sources) gets the more your business is trustedThese should be IDENTICAL Go to Moz.com/Local to check

“Check Listing”Go to “Category Listing” in Moz Local (https://moz.com/local/categories)

Select your category and it suggests the best citation /listing directories

More citation suggestions at Local Citation Finder (https://www.whitespark.ca/local-citation-finder)

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Citations

No Phone Number! On Foursquare

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ReviewsShort Write Up based on an experience

Ask for them!Testimonials can be included in your website – it’s common to write a testimonial for someone and get them to approve itYelp and other review sitesGoogle My Business

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SEO on Mobile PlatformsSince 2014 more people use internet on their phones than on a “fixed” device, and more oftenPeople may be trying to find you on the goContent has to be pleasurable to read on mobile and tablet!Same engagement metrics apply

Time on site, Pages viewedBounce rate

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SEO on Mobile Platforms

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SEO on Mobile PlatformsMake sure that the site is mobile enabled

Responsive is often the best first caseCheck the speed Google Page Speed Insights (https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed)

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SEO on Mobile Platforms

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So You Know SEO – What Next?

Potential clients and customers will come to your website as a result of your SEO workEasiest content is to blog regularly based on your researchMake sure you keep people coming back!

Ask them to sign up to your blog newslettersProduce more contentMake it easy to share your contentProduce eBooks, whitepapers, videos, audio or other large content

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Questions?

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ResourcesMoz – (https://moz.com/) SpyFu – (http://www.spyfu.com/) SEM RUSH – (https://www.semrush.com/)SimilarWeb - (http://www.similarweb.com/)Backlinko - (http://backlinko.com/)

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ResourcesGoogle… ;-)

Webmaster academy (pps://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/6001102?hl=en)Webmaster tools/ Search Console – (https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools)Google Keyword Tool –( https://adwords.google.co.uk/KeywordPlanner)

Matt Cutt’s Blog (Google Software Engineer) https://www.mattcutts.com/blog/type/googleseo/

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Tools to Grading your SiteFree Tools

Yoast SEO Plugin (Wordpress)Google Webmaster Tools – (www.google.com/webmasters)SEO Report Card- (app.upcity.com/free-tools/seo-report-card)HubSpot’s Website Grader (https://website.grader.com)

Paid ToolsMoz Pro (https://moz.com/products/pro)HubSpot (http://www.hubspot.com/pricing/marketing#?currency=GBP)

https://www.google.com/webmasters

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Contact Kobi & Kobestarr Digital

[email protected]

www.kobestarr.io

@kobestarr@kobestarrDigi

uk.linkedin.com/in/kobiomenakawww.linkedin.com/company/kobestarr-digital

www.facebook.com/KobestarrDigital/

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About Kobestarr DigitalWe are an Inbound and Digital Marketing Agency based in London, Sheffield and Manchester in the UK.

Inbound Marketing places your marketing at the core of your overall business strategy. We use data and knowledge to clearly define your buyer persona or target market. This then informs the content that is most relevant to you and your client base.

We produce bespoke content across a number of channels including highly targeted email marketing PR, SEO, Social Media content production, distribution and analysis through to blogging, photography, animated infographics and motion video

We specialise in the strategic production of digital content to ensure that your leads and potential sales find you and keep coming back to you until they first become customers and then your brand advocates.