andy williams seo: seo isn’t dead – a guide dogs case study
TRANSCRIPT
SEO ISN’T DEADON THE EDGE 2015
Andy Williams @andywilliamsseo
A BIT ABOUT ME
11 Years Experience in SEO and Digital Marketing
Industry Award Winner For Best Use Of Organic Search – November 2010
Live and breathe social media and Digital Marketing
I love carrying out online experiments
@andywilliamsseo
…not THAT Andy Williams #OnTheEdge
A BIT ABOUT GUIDE DOGS
Guide Dogs were founded as a charitable organisation in 1934
There are nearly 4,800 Guide Dog owners in the UK
Guide Dogs UK created more than 820 new guide dog partnerships per year
The lifetime cost of a Guide Dog is around £50,000
@guidedogs
The last three years has changed SEO FOREVER
GOOGLE UPDATES…
“I hear what you’re saying, but I’m still ranking for everything”
Google has given enough warnings – do you want to risk it?
POTENTIAL SEO ISSUES
• No previous attention to SEO.
• No knowledge of recent Google updates and how they may affect them.
• Although ranking- were they missing out on any beneficial keyword rankings?
• A lot of sections to a very large website but no real connection between them.
• No longer knew which on page factors were important and which ones weren't.
POTENTIAL TECHNICAL SEO ISSUES
• A new site in the pipeline but the current site has had no technical SEO attention.
• No knowledge of potential issues.
• A lot of areas of the site unattended.
• Old pages not redirected.
• Unknown number of broken links.
• The site isn’t mobile-friendly.
OUR TARGET
• To address all potentially detrimental SEO issues.
• Uncover areas of the site that have been neglected.
• Highlight any areas not being targeted that should be.
• Carry out all the needed housekeeping to start safeguarding the future.
GET OPTIMISING
BACKLINK ANALYSIS
WHAT IS A GOOD LINK?
• From a relevant site.
• Link that brings relevant traffic to your site.
• Natural link.
• Shared link.
• Social link.
• Good PR.
• Citations.
WHAT IS A BAD LINK?
• Reciprocal links.
• Links from a low quality site.
• Paid-for links.
• Sponsored links.
• Poor quality directory links.
• Unnatural log commenting.
• Unnatural forum links.
• Blog roll links.
• Link wheels.
BACKLINK ANALYSIS TOOLS
www.kerboo.com www.majestic.com
BEFORE WE DISAVOWED
7.06% - Good Links35.91% - Suspect Links9.76% - Bad Links43.71% - Neutral Links3.56% - Low Risk Links
AFTER WE DISAVOWED
7.67% - Good Links73.7% - Neutral Links3.56% - Low Risk Links13.97% - Suspect Links1.11% - Bad Links
In Total…
Over 17,000 bad links have been disavowed
ON-PAGE SEO
Back To Basics
All On-Page SEO campaigns should START with keyword research
Google’s Keyword Planner provides valuable information
Google Suggest provides ideas of what people are searching for
Build a list of terms to work with – map them to your pages
GUIDE DOGS META – BEFORE
GUIDE DOGS META – AFTER
WHAT MAKES A GOOD TITLE TAG?
• Maximum length – 70 characters.• Would recommend aiming for around 55 – 60 characters.
• Company name on main landing pages.• Targeted keyterm or theme.• True description of the page.• If a blog post or article – the title of the post is best practice.
WHAT MAKES A GOODMETA DESCRIPTION?
• Maximum length – 155 characters.• Would recommend aiming for around 130 - 145 characters.
• Company name.• Keyterm or theme.• Unique selling point.• Description of the page.• Call to action.
Your H Headings ARE still important – Optimise them
Providing your visitors with a clear point of contact is VITAL
ALWAYS include descriptive Alt Txt for your images
Engage your audience AND create great, relevant content
WHAT SHOULD YOUR CONTENT DO?
• Keep It Simple.• Be Informative and EducateYour Audience.• Showcase Your Expertise.• Address an industry-specific problem or topic. • Tell A Story.• Provide A Call To Action.
BE CREATIVE
KEYWORD STEMMING
Do your pages guide visitors into the actions YOU want them to take?
Google’s Search Console is YOUR FRIEND!
Robots.TXT File Tester Search Analysis
Missing Meta Descriptions
Missing Title Tags
Google's Search Console offers valuable insights into how your site is performing
Crawl Errors
HTML Improvements
Links To Your Site
CRAWLER TOOL
www.screamingfrog.co.uk
TECHNICAL SEO
It is now considered that as much as 50% of SEO is Technical
TECHNICAL SEO – THE BASICS
Robots.TXT File XML Sitemap
Good Internal Linking Canonical Issues Addressed
Duplicate Content
Your site needs to be FAST - Google and your visitors demand it
https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/
There are now more mobile searches than desktop – you NEED to be mobile-friendly
https://www.google.co.uk/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/
Clean up your crawl errors – redirect unfound URL’s to RELEVANT live pages
https://validator.w3.org/
Google want you to use https – be sure you UNDERSTAND what this move could mean
SO WHERE ARE WE WITH GUIDE DOGS?
• A tidy and safe backlink profile.
• Optimised and focused the sites many microsites.
• Improved rankings for untapped fundraising opportunities.
• Noticeable improvement in organic traffic.
• Working with each department to achieve better understanding of SEO and its implications/importance.
• Addressed and fixed over 500 missing title tags.
• Awareness of all technical SEO issues.
SEO is the long game – but the sooner you start the sooner you will see the reward
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING
Website: www.andywilliamsseo.comTwitter: @andywilliamsseo
Facebook: www.facebook.com/andywilliamsseo
Image Credits:
Google Penalty - https://www.flickr.com/photos/india_7/15713478279/
Grind Gears - http://www.upswinginteractive.com/game-planfor-digital-marketing-strategy/
SEO is Evolving - http://www.polepositionmarketing.com/emp/seo-is-dead-again/
Google Updates - http://www.seosolutionsindia.com/blog/2015/06/05/google-algorithms-all-about-google-major-algorithm-updates/
Disavow - http://www.worksmedia.com.au/seo-podcast/ep26-google-disavow-tool-we-answer-the-top-10-listeners-questions/
NAP - http://www.autovitals.com/taking-a-nap-your-local-seo-company-shouldnt/do i miss something - http://www.talklocal.com/blog/
Keep Calm and Buckle Up - http://www.dmasa.org/read.asp?ID=160&title=Don_t_forget_to_buckle_up_when_travelling_over_the_long_weekend!
Back To Basics - http://www.actioncoach.com/Back-to-Basics?pressid=1171
Where To Start - http://blog.lifestyleforhealth.com/where-do-i-start/
Kerboo - http://www.stateofdigital.com/kerboo-guide/
Majestic seo - www.majestic.com
To Be Continued - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n33k5EhSIzY
SEO 101 - http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2123164/basics-seo-101
What If I Told You SEO Wasnt Dead - http://www.rankboost.de/xovilichter/
Dog On The Phone - http://homeinspiration99.ga/photos/dog-on-the-phone-video.html
H Headings - http://www.iblognet.com/importance-of-heading-tags-in-seo.html
NAP - https://nuyella.wordpress.com/tag/name-address-phone-number/
Content is King - http://deeterusa.com/content-is-king/
Image Credits:
Keyword Stemming - http://www.slideshare.net/yaminmalik/keyword-research-basics2
What Do you Want Me To Do? - http://www.purrfectpetsitting.net/pet-sitting/you-want-me-to-do-what-second-edition-of-strange-pet-sitting-requests/
Search Console - http://blog.boostability.com/google-webmaster-tools-gets-rebranded-to-google-search-console/
Screaming Frog - https://www.linkedin.com/company/screaming-frog
Technical SEO - http://lerablog.org/internet/seo/seo-for-beginners-how-to-succeed/
What Are You Looking For? - http://vive-boquete.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/fwd-what-are-you-looking-for_10.html
Site Speed - http://www.websitecamp.com/website-speed-matters-in-google-search-ranking
Mobile Friendly - http://www.e-xanthos.co.uk/blog/google-will-rank-mobile-friendly-websites-higher-starting-april-21st/
Broken Links - http://blog.siteimprove.com/web-governance-blog/the-cost-of-your-websites-broken-links
Redirects - http://sherodesigns.com/magento-301-redirects-and-how-to-properly-implement-them/
Clean Code - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LUNr4AeLZM
http vs https - https://plus.google.com/113964510135174522484/posts
Site Speed Checker - https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed
w3c validation - http://www.shahnetindia.com/w3c-validation-services.html
Homer - http://memegenerator.net/instance/60065161
Alt TXT - https://www.pinterest.com/pin/359443613987214826/
Sit Back And Relax - http://www.facetmarketinggroup.com/2013/11/07/jewelry-consultant-just-sit-back-and-leave-the-logistics-to-us/
Dont ‘Get Left Behind - http://www.gamification.co/2012/11/12/dont-be-left-behind-think-differently-about-loyalty/