semrush webinar: how to audit and fix thin content with no value - stephen kenwright
DESCRIPTION
Stephen hosted an SEMrush webinar, running through the differences between content-related issues and what marketers can do to recover from Panda and manual actions.TRANSCRIPT
How to audit and fix thin content with no value
Stephen Kenwright, Senior Search Strategist@stekenwright
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Time to long click
Time to long click by AJ Kohn:
http://b3.io/BlindFiveYearOld
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Google thinks these aren’t the pages they’re looking for
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Content Inventory
#1 Take a sample of pages on your site and add them to a spread sheet
#1 Add all the pages on your site to a spreadsheet
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Use a crawler…
Try this: http://www.seerinteractive.com/blog/screaming-frog-guide
…and export to .csvStatus Code Title 1 Title 1 Length Meta Description 1 Meta Description Length1 H1-1 Meta Data 1 Canonical Link Element 1 Word Count
404 0 0 0
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Export from Analytics
#1 Behavior > Site Content > All Pages(Remember to change date range!)
#2 Export to .csv and copy into workbook (new sheet)
#3 =VLOOKUP
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Bounce Rate
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Page Views
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Bounce rate improved by 31%Average Time on Site
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Bounce rate improved by 31%Conversions
£
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Audit Content
Add columns to ExcelKeep Needs Rewrite Issues Actions
Y Y Poor copy Rewrite copy
Y Y Poor copy under tabs Rewrite copy under tabs
Y N
Y N No quotes from senior team Add 2 quotes
Y N
Y N
Y N
Y Y Copy is shorter than other pages / no quotes from senior team Extend copy / Add 2 quotes
N N
N N
N N Add paragraph breaks
N N Similar page already exists 301
Y N
Y Y Language too colloquial Formalise copy
Y N
N N
Y Y Thin content Provide additional information about the link
Y Y Irrelevant copy Move copy to relevant page / create new copy
Y N Copy is too dense Create additional paragraph breaks
N N Weak introductory copy
N N Similar page already exists 301
N N Doorway page 301
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ColumnsMust have:• Title 1 (Title tag) Screaming Frog
• URL Screaming Frog
• Status Code Screaming Frog
• Canonical Link Element 1 Screaming Frog
• Pageviews Analytics
• Avg. Time on Page Analytics
• Bounce Rate Analytics
Nice to have:• Title 1 Length Screaming Frog
• Title 1 Pixel Width Screaming Frog
• Meta Description Screaming Frog
• Meta Robots Screaming Frog
• Word Count Screaming Frog
• Social shares www.socialtally.co.uk
• Backlinks Open Site Explorer / Ahrefs / Webmaster Tools
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What is the most important factor in the design of a website?
The website makes it easy for me to find what I want
The website offers a cutting edge interactive experience
The website has a beautiful appearance
Other
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How long do you have to engage a user?
3.8 secondsJacob Nielson – useit.com
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Your content has 3.8 seconds to establish…
Relevance• Are you right for me?• Have you answered my
question?
Trust• Do you look credible?• Can I trust you with my
money?
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Inverted triangle
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Most web content…
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This is how users read web content
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Content
Content
Content
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+2,800%TRAFFIC
INCREASE
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What you should look for
Indexation
How to find out:site:search
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DuplicationAlso watch out for:• Duplicate titles and meta descriptions
• Aggregation pages e.g., tags, categories
• Content that has to be duplicated across pages e.g., disclaimers, “the small print” –make sure it’s up to date!
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Top heavy
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Cite your sources
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Trust signals
#1 Contact information / address clearly displayed on the page
#2 About Us (not just for conversions – Panda too)
#3 Author name / photo
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When was this fresh?
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High quality images =
Higher CTR, more salesEconsultancy
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+5-7%Increase in conversions on pages with user
generated contentSource: CMO.com
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You’re not going to like this…
Exact Match Domains
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Highly regulated sectors
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Doorway Pages ≠
search traffic
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Thank you!Please email any questions to [email protected] or get in touch on Twitter: @stekenwright
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