creating a seo strategy

Creating a SEO strategy (with Google Webmaster Tools!)

Maile OhyeDeveloper Programs Tech LeadGoogle

Target audience level● Beginner SEOs or online strategists

● Familiarity with Search and industry tools○ Google Webmaster Tools○ Web anaytics, like Google Analytics

Agenda

● Using Webmaster Central as mock company

● Building an SEO and online strategy1. Understand searcher persona workflow2. Determine company and website goals3. Audit your site to best reach your audience4. Execute and make improvements

● Overcoming obstacles

Pretend company: Google Webmaster Central

Pretend SEO for Webmaster Central Blog

Google Webmaster Central Blog

Webmaster Tools

Webmaster Forum

Monitored in 12 languages

Webmaster Help Center

20 languages

Google Webmasters YouTube Channel

Pretend SEO for Webmaster Central Blog

Your situation may look different

Creating a SEO strategy

1. Understand searcher persona workflow

2. Determine company and website goals

3. Audit your site to best reach your audience

4. Execute and make improvements

Searcher persona workflow*

Vanessa Fox. "Marketing in the Age of Google" (Wiley, 2010).

http://marketingintheageofgoogle.com

Capture workflow for various searcher personas

How Webmaster Tools helps

Business department responsibilties

Roles whether a big company or a one-person shop

Seamless searcher experience

Departments work together :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfQKh7yW_LA

Care about the big picture

Think beyond individual roles or responsibilities

Create seamless searcher workflow

Verify components are seamlessly integrated


1. Understand searcher persona workflow, users’ needs, and creating a seamless experience




Cohesive company goals

● What's our business goal?

● What can our product/service do that no one else can?

● What does success look like?

Similar checklist from Vanessa Fox. "Marketing in the Age of Google" (Wiley, 2010).




Cohesive company goals (cont.)

● What components are involved?

● How does our website play a part in this success?

Similar checklist from Vanessa Fox. "Marketing in the Age of Google" (Wiley, 2010).




Company goals

● What's our business goal?○ Help all site owners.

● What can our product/service do that no one else can?○ Act as the official Google source of information.

● What does success look like?○ Increased webmaster community and higher

participation in products/services.

Company goals (cont.)

● What components are involved?

● How does your website play a part in this success?○ WMC Blog: Provide webmasters the latest

information and announcements

Competitors

● What do our online competitors do well?

● What are they missing?

● Is there a market need for the things we could do better than our competitors?

Webmaster Central company goal #1: Increase webmaster community

Metrics for WMC Blog ● Unique users with pageviews

○ From Search○ From referrals (links/shares)

■ External sites and YouTube channel or Help Center

○ From direct traffic● Subscribers

With goals, define metricsBelow is a pretend situation.

Audit site for audience-focused content● What groups are you targeting?

○ Where are they located?○ What devices are they using?

Webmaster Tools’ Search Queries > Filters feature shows a large audience for the blog from Canada and New Zealand.

Audit site for audience-focused content (cont.)

● What are their objectives?

● Do any/some of their objectives match why your company is special?

● Do their query terms match your content?

Audit: Check that content matches your audience’s queries

Our blog often uses the term "search friendly." Unfortunately, it’s not a query we’ve ranked for in the last

three months.

Audit: Check if content matches queries

We write "search-friendly." Unfortunately people search

for [seo].

Monitor and optimize with Webmaster Tools

Track every stage of the search-engine pipeline

1. Crawling2. Indexing3. Search results

Increasing conversions/business

Better marketing can lead to more searchers

Good content can upsell

Great experience and remarketing can bring repeat customers

Not just about improving ranking -- improve all steps in the searcher persona workflow.

Obstacles in creating an SEO or online strategy● But I'm not the person responsible for all of

this. I just run department X.


this. I just run department X.● I need to know the keywords my competitor

is targeting.



is targeting.● I need to know what sites are linking to my

competitor before I know who to target.




competitor before I know who to target.● Is my competition planning to have a social

media presence?




competitor before I know who to target.● Is my competition planning to have a social

media presence?● Search engine algorithms change so much I

can’t keep up.

Go for it!

● Understand the searcher persona workflow and create an integrated strategy inclusive of all components

Go for it!


● Determine goals, define metrics

Go for it!



● Audit your site to best reach your audience. Maximize existing search traffic by optimizing the crawl, index, and search results pipeline.

Go for it!● Understand the searcher persona workflow

and create an integrated strategy inclusive of all components


● Audit your site to best reach your audience. Maximize existing search traffic by optimizing the crawl, index, and search results pipeline.

● Work with the entire team when improving your online business. Success is much more than ranking.

Thanks for your time!

As you’re well aware, more information can be found at www.google.com/webmasters