Search Engine Optimizationand you

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Table Of ContentsSEO Overview

• and youSite Structure

• Google Indexing• and you

On-Page Factors• Optimize For Understanding• and you

Backlinks• Getting Street Cred• and you

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SEO Overview

Why search engines exist

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How Google Search Works (from the source)

• Before Google (and a few other search engines), sites were only accessible via direct visits.

• Google created spiders to find sites and index them into their proprietary “database”.

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How Google Search Works (from the source)

• Google then continually adds programs to their algorithm which do their best to match user query intent with the sites in their index.

• All while fighting spam.

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How Google Search Works (and you)

• Outside of providing great user experiences, our goal for SEO is to help Googlebot better understand our site.

• Resulting not only in higher rankings on targeted topics, but also higher visibility across related topics.

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Site Structure

First, get Googlebot to crawl your whole site

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Site Structure (from the source)

• Googlebot crawls your site by jumping from page to page.

• While moving between pages and indexing, Googlebot attempts to make inferences about your site structure while deciding how many pages to crawl.

• Two big questions: • “Is it easy to navigate?”• “Is the content worthwhile?”

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Site Structure (from an authority) (and you)

• Facilitate navigation through siloing.

• Most sites end up being siloed through top navigation menu. But users see your site differently than bots

• Download screaming frog (it’s free), crawl your site, and view results in tree mode to see how bots structure your site.

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On-Page Factors

Next, optimize for Googlebot understanding of page content

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On-Page Factors (from an authority)

• While moving between pages and indexing, Googlebot attempts to make inferences about your site’s content.

• Two big questions:• “What is this page about?”• “What search queries would it

be relevant for?”

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On-Page Factors (what’s this page about?)

• Title Tag• Include exact keyword phrase,

near the beginning if possible.• Max 60 characters

• Meta Description• Include exact keyword phrase.• Max 160 characters

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On-Page Factors (what’s this page about?)

• URL• Includes exact keyword phrase• Excludes stop words / numbers

• H1• Includes exact keyword phrase

• Body Copy• Ensure keyword phrase fits

into the blog post organically around two times.

• Preferably in the first paragraph.

• Shoot for 300 words total. @PGARITCK / @VoltageKC

On-Page Factors (what’s this page about?) (and you)

• Images• Ensure alt text for image

features some (non spammy) version of the keyword phrase.

• Ensure image has a useful title (not DSC0012.jpg)

• Screaming Frog will also analyze these factors• (other software includes

majestic, moz, ahrefs, etc.)

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Backlinks

Finally, get some street cred

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Backlinks (from an authority)

• Once Googlebot finishes crawling your site, it looks for links (to and from) other sites.

• Google sees links to your site as a vote of confidence.• Kind of like recommending a

friend your favorite restaurant.

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Backlinks (from an authority)

• There are a cornucopia of ways to build links to your site. Some of the more passive ways include:

• Link to any pre-existing social accounts to your site.

• Ensure your content is easily shareable (with social share buttons / pinterest share optimization).

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Backlinks (from an authority) (and you)

• Submit your business info to online directories (via natively or with Moz Local).

• If you had to pick one native listing, I’d go for Google My Business.

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FINand you

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Patrick / Voltage (the source)

thanks for listening. Feedback / Questions Are Welcome!

@PGARITCK / @VoltageKC