local and traditional seo training guide

SEO Best Practices and ToolsLocal SEO & Beyond

Brad Smith June 2015

Overview

• SEO Strategy Basics

• Increasing Local Business Visibility Online (Local SEO)

• Maximizing Online Leads & Sales (Traditional SEO)

• SEO Tools & References

SEO Strategy Basics

Key Terms“SE” Search Engine

“Spider” & “bot” Search Engine indexing robot

“SERP” Search Engine Results Page

“CTR” Click Through Rate (percentage of clicks/exposure)

“Inbound Links” External links to site pages

“Anchor Text” Text anchor display of a link

“PageRank” Google page quality score

SEO Strategy Basics

Current Search Market Shares

Source: karmasnack.com

SEO Strategy Basics

Align SEO strategy with business strategy

Brick & Mortar Local SEO

Pure E-Tailer Traditional SEO

Bricks & Clicks Local & Traditional SEO

Local Search

Local SEO

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Local Search Intro•Critical focus for Brick & Mortar businesses•Tight geographic relevance•Increasing representation in SERPs•Increasingly including social/reputation elements•Core to capitalizing on Mobile search trends

Local SEO

8

Local Search Intro•Critical focus for Brick & Mortar businesses•Tight geographic relevance•Increasing representation in SERPs•Increasingly including social/reputation elements•Core to capitalizing on Mobile search trends

Local SEO

9

Local Search Intro•Critical focus for Brick & Mortar businesses•Tight geographic relevance•Increasing representation in SERPs•Increasingly including social/reputation elements•Core to capitalizing on Mobile search trends

Local SEO

Optimizing Online Representation for Local SearchClaim Google Places/Google+, Bing Places pages

Enrich Google+ Business PageName, Address, PhoneWebsite AddressBusiness Images, VideosHours

EventsVideosBusiness Categories

Only 37% of businesses have claimed local search listings- MDG Advertising

Local SEO

Optimizing Online Representation for Local SearchClaim Google Places/Google+, Bing Places pages

Enrich Google+ Business PageName, Address, PhoneWebsite AddressBusiness Images, VideosHours

EventsVideosBusiness Categories

Only 37% of businesses have claimed local search listings- MDG Advertising

Local SEO

Top Local Search Levers•Consistent Name, Address, Phone Number, and website listing across all online directories

•Listings/websites with as much detail as possible

Top Local Search Information Desired by Shoppers

Courtesy Local Search Association/Burke Inc.

Local SEO

Top Localized Organic Ranking Factors (2014)

Source: https://moz.com/local-search-ranking-factors

Local SEO

Key Places to Establish Business Profiles

View the complete HubSpot Top 50 List:http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/10322/The-Ultimate-List-50-Local-Business-Directories.aspx

Local SEO Don’t Forget Social as a valuable Local Signal – set up and optimize business page on key social networks

Traditional “On Page” SEO

SEO Strategy Basics

Ensure the target website is crawlable

FLASH ALL GRAPHICS PURE JAVASCRIPT

RICH HTML HIERARCHICAL MARKUP

Basic Crawlability Smoke Test

Turn off JavaScript in browser and navigate website to check website degradation without JavaScript, as Spiders will view by default

Chrome Web Developer Extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/web-developer/bfbameneiokkgbdmiekhjnmfkcnldhhm?hl=en-US

Basic Crawlability Smoke Test

GOOD

Traditional “On Page” SEO

Product Search Engine Optimization Process

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3

Traditional “On Page” SEO

Self-AssessmentHow

Sample Searches

What to researchCurrent rankings and presentationKeyword traffic trendsInbound Links

Measuring with Webmaster Tools

Key Webmaster Tool Reports & TestsKeywords / Rank / Impressions Report

Content Keywords Report

Fetch as Googlebot

Crawl Errors Report

Structured Data Report

HTML Improvements Report

Mobile Usability Report

SEO Strategy Basics

Sample Reports

SEO Strategy Basics

Sample Reports

SEO Strategy Basics

Sample Reports

SEO Strategy Basics

Keyword ResearchHow

Competitive Keyword ReviewGoogle TrendsGoogle AdWords Keyword Planner

What to researchDesired Keyword Traffic / CTRKeyword Search Volumes & TrendsKeywords Targeted by Competitors

SEO Strategy Basics

Sample Keyword Research

SEO Strategy Basics

Sample Keyword Research

SEO Strategy Basics

Sample Keyword Research

Traditional “On Page” SEO SEO ExecutionHow

Core SEO ElementsAdvanced SEO Elements

Traditional “On Page” SEO

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Core SEO Elements

Traditional “On Page” SEO

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Core SEO Elements

Page TitlePage Title

Page Description

Page Description

Traditional “On Page” SEO

Best Practice Keyword & Content Flow

Traditional “On Page” SEO

SEO Execution GuidelinesDO DON’T

Create rich, differentiated product content with natural keyword references.

Artificially “stuff” a desired keyword into content repeatedly.

Work with partners and associations to build up in-bound links from industry authorities.

Purchase in-bound links or take part in generic “link circles”.

Regularly review site analytics & reports to check results of efforts; adjust accordingly.

Set minimum search engine optimization in place and move on (set & forget).

Establish and nurture profiles and a social presence to increase visibility of your site and products.

Try to fool the search engines by adding hidden content or presenting other content to Spiders only (“cloaking”).

Advanced SEO

Advanced SEO ElementsHow

Structured Data Markup / Schema.org TagsGoogle Shopping Product FeedsResponsive Web & Mobile SearchPage Load SpeedKnowledge Graph / Entity Search

Structured Data IntroPromote Your Content with Structured Data Markup"Structured data markup" is a standard way to annotate your content so machines can understand it. When your web pages include structured data markup, Google (and other search engines) can use that data to index your content better, present it more prominently in search results, and surface it in new experiences like voice answers, maps, and Google Now.

Source: Google https://developers.google.com/structured-data/

Structured Data (Reviews)

Structured Data (Reviews)

Shopping Product Feeds

Shopping Product Feeds

Structured Data References

<span itemprop="name" itemprop="name">Fly14 F-16 Gloves</span>

<span itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Product" itemref="_image2 _description3 _offers7">

Google Structured Data Markup Tool: https://www.google.com/webmasters/markup-helper/

SEO Tools

SEO ToolsTool Use URL

SEO Quake Browser plugin to review key on-page SEO stats http://www.seoquake.com/

SEM Rush Keyword and link analysis tool for competitive and self-analysis

http://www.semrush.com

Google AdWords Planner

Keyword search volume and competition analysis tool https://adwords.google.com/

Google Trends Keyword trend analysis tool http://www.google.com/trends/

Google Analytics Free website analytics http://www.google.com/analytics/

Google Webmaster Tools

Website index and Google search trends analysis tool http://www.google.com/webmasters/

Lynx Web Browser Text-based web browser – useful for viewing site content as seen by a spider

http://lynx.isc.org/

SEO References

Ongoing Education: SEO Reading & References

•Search Engine Land SEO Guidehttp://searchengineland.com/guide/seo

•Google SEO Starter Guidehttp://static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.google.com/en/us/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf

•Web Developer SEO Cheat Sheethttp://s3.amazonaws.com/static.seomoz.org/user_files/SEO_Web_Developer_Cheat_Sheet.pdf

•Moz Local Search Ranking Factors Reporthttps://moz.com/local-search-ranking-factors

•SEOMoz Blog http://moz.com/blog