Download - 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).
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 :)
Care about the big picture
Think beyond individual roles or responsibilities
Create seamless searcher workflow
Verify components are seamlessly integrated
Creating a SEO strategy
1. Understand searcher persona workflow, users’ needs, and creating a seamless experience
2. Determine company and website goals
3. Audit your site to best reach your audience
4. Execute and make improvements
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.
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
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].
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
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.
Obstacles in creating an SEO or online strategy● But I'm not the person responsible for all of
this. I just run department X.● I need to know the keywords my competitor
is targeting.
Obstacles in creating an SEO or online strategy● But I'm not the person responsible for all of
this. I just run department X.● I need to know the keywords my competitor
is targeting.● I need to know what sites are linking to my
competitor before I know who to target.
Obstacles in creating an SEO or online strategy● But I'm not the person responsible for all of
this. I just run department X.● I need to know the keywords my competitor
is targeting.● I need to know what sites are linking to my
competitor before I know who to target.● Is my competition planning to have a social
media presence?
Obstacles in creating an SEO or online strategy● But I'm not the person responsible for all of
this. I just run department X.● I need to know the keywords my competitor
is targeting.● I need to know what sites are linking to my
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!
● Understand the searcher persona workflow and create an integrated strategy inclusive of all components
● Determine goals, define metrics
Go for it!
● Understand the searcher persona workflow and create an integrated strategy inclusive of all components
● Determine goals, define metrics
● 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
● Determine goals, define metrics
● 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