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Presented by: Chris RaulfInternational SEO | Digital Marketing ExpertFounder of Boulder SEO Marketingwww.boulderseomarketing.comwww.twitter.com/swisschriswww.linkedin.com/in/chrisraulf

Digital Marketing & SEO Strategies for Your Small Business

www.boulderseomarketing.com | 720.263.1736 | www.chrisraulf.com | @swisschris

Data.com WebinarMarch 16, 2017


Chris• Born and raised in Switzerland• Two amazing kids; love soccer, skiing, mountain biking, hiking,

yoga, rock climbing... and crafty Colorado beer• 2 decades in digital marketing, SEO, social media, content

marketing, online lead generation, etc.Boulder SEO Marketing• Affordable SEO Packages for Small Businesses• Site Audits• International and Multilingual SEO• SEO Training• Content Marketing• Social Media Marketing• Pay-per-Click (PPC) and more

[Welcome] Digital Marketing & SEO Strategies for Your Small Business


The Best Place to Hide a Dead Body…

[Search Engine Optimization] Does It Work for Small Businesses?


Starting to Get Excited?


• Why small businesses need to invest into digital marketing and SEO

• What has been working in 2016: Case studies

• What’s new and what will be working in 2017

• What’s new

• RankBrain: Google is getting smarter and smarter

• 600+ updates a year: A look inside Google’s algorithm

• It’s a mobile world: AMP and the importance of mobile-friendly websites

• Outrank your competition with these SEO strategies in 2017

• Questions & Answers


Agenda


[A Quick Disclaimer] This Stuff Changes all the Time

Google’s Webmaster Guidelines: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35769?hl=en


[Always Adhere to the Rules] Follow Google Webmaster Guidelines

Antoine de Saint-Exupery (French writer; 1900 - 1944)


[Remember] “A Goal Without A Plan Is Just A Wish.”

[Search Engine Optimization] Setting (Realistic) Goals in 2017


[Reporting] What and How to Track Data


• Why a small business MUST invest into search engine optimization


Agenda

[New Websites] More Competition


Nearly 140,000 new websites are created every day

[New Websites] More Competition


[Actual Customer Email] Busier Than a One Legged…


[Numbers Don’t Lie] Busier Than a One Legged…


The journey from 314 organic Google search visits per month to 4,204:

1339% increase in Google organic search traffic in 3 ½ years.

[Numbers Don’t Lie] Busier Than a One Legged…


1339% increase in Google organic search traffic=

800% increase in revenues directly related to Google organic search traffic.

[PPC vs. Organic Search Engine Optimization] Rent vs. Own


• What has been working in 2016: Case studies


Agenda

[Start at the End] SEO Is a Buyer-Centric Process


[SEO Project Templates] A Winning Team


1. Onboarding Template: https://goo.gl/zmBLmy

2. Meeting Agenda: https://goo.gl/w8KXLf

3. Marcom Template: https://goo.gl/lKwcZ1

4. Content Development Template: https://goo.gl/YNCcWY

[SEO Project Templates] Overview


www.boulderseomarketing.com/seo-training

[Your 2017 SEO Strategy] The “5 Pillars of SEO” Methodology


1. Technical Health of Website

2. Website Functionality / User Experience

3. On-Page Search Engine Optimization

4. Off-Page Search Engine Optimization

5. Social Media Marketing

Content Marketing

What is SEO? http://www.boulderseomarketing.com/what-is-search-engine-optimization-seo/

200-250 main ranking signals; potentially 1000s of sub-ranking signals.

[Social Media Marketing] Do You Love It?


[Many Ingredients Needed] SEO is Like Cooking a Great Meal


Improve Your 2017 Digital Marketing “Credit Score”


Who: • Machine Shop in Colorado

What:• Redesigned website (again 3 years later to make it mobile friendly)• Keyword research, on-page SEO (meta tags, etc.)• Rewrote website copy• Implemented local SEO best practices

• Business listings (Google My Business, Bing, Yahoo, Yelp, etc.)• Directory listings (Machine shop specific, Yellow Pages, etc.)

• Content marketing: Bi-weekly blog posts, press releases• Created and optimized social media profiles / strategy

• Daily tweets, LinkedIn and Facebook status updates

Results: • The machine shop grew from two part-time employees to 10 full-time employees• Owners now work again part-time… because they can afford it J


[Case Study] Customer I - Monthly SEO Budget $1,250

Who: • Office supplies eCommerce website

What:• Keyword research, optimized meta tags, optimized product descriptions / website

content• Applied Google Markup (Schema) to product pages• Off-page optimization:

• Business listings (Google My Business, Bing, Yahoo, etc.), directory listings, backlink strategy

• Content marketing: Weekly blog posts, monthly press releases via paid distribution service

• Implemented social media marketing strategy• Involved in website redesign to make site more conversion friendly and optimized

for mobile searches

Results: • Increased Google organic search traffic 1339% in 3 ½ years.• 800% increase in revenues directly related to Google organic search traffic.


[Case Study] Customer II - Monthly SEO Budget $2,000

• What’s new in 2017


Agenda

• Google Algorithm updates

• Brand Name Patent, etc.

• Feed Google with data

• Google My Business: NAP, Reviews, etc.

• Take advantage of the data that Google shares with you

• Google Search Console and Google Analytics

• Position 0

• Q&A section on your site

• Thought-leadership

• Be an expert in your industry and make sure Google knows

• SEO is becoming more technical

• Schema, Google Markup, tags, etc.

• Mobile

• Mobile-friendly and AMPwww.boulderseomarketing.com | 720.263.1736 | www.chrisraulf.com | @swisschris

[Search Engine Optimization] What to Look Out for in 2017

• [Google’s Algorithm] Let’s take a look under the hood:

• Backlinks

• Brand Name Patent

• RankBrain: Google is getting smarter and smarter (it’s actually scary)

• 600+ updates a year: A look inside Google’s algorithm


Agenda

[Google] The Algorithm That Rules the Web (World)


…and monetize…

[The Best Kept Secret] Google’s Algorithm


And at the beginning there was… PageRank:

• PageRank is an algorithm used by Google Search to rank websites in their search engine results.

• According to Google: PageRank works by counting the number and quality of links to a page to determine a rough estimate of how important the website is. The underlying assumption is that more important websites are likely to receive more links from other websites.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PageRank

[PageRank] In a Nutshell


[Backlinks] (Still) The Backbone of SEO


Source: http://searchengineland.com/search-illustrated-google-pagerank-explained-11167

[Don’t Try to Game the System] Black Hat vs. White Hat SEO


Black Hat SEO

Illicit techniques that manipulate search engines to try to rank a site higher are considered black hat techniques that violate our Webmaster Guidelines. Do not pay for links pointing to your site to be placed on the internet with the intent of passing PageRank and manipulating Google Search. These links may be called sponsored links or paid advertising, hidden in HTML, or inserted as optimized anchors in articles, comments, and footers.

White Hat SEO

These techniques aim to improve a site by focusing on the visitors instead of on ranking higher. Examples of good, white hat techniques include creating organic, high-quality content and adding good descriptive tags covered in the previous module. They adhere to Webmaster Guidelines, which your site should follow to rank well and organically in Google Search.

Source:https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/6001181?hl=en

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5RZOU6vK4Q

[Google Algorithm] Important Updates


[Google Algorithm] On the Move Toward One Software Script in 2017


• It’s a mobile world: AMP and the importance of mobile-friendly websites


Agenda

[A Quick Word About Mobile Usage] We’ve Gone Mobile


Sourcehttp://www.gummicube.com/blog/2015/05/mostly-mobile/

[A Quick Word About Mobile] Mobile-Friendly Sites, Apps and AMP


[A Quick Word About Mobile] Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) Project


Sourcehttps://www.ampproject.org

• Outrank your competition with these SEO strategies


Agenda

[Keyword Research for SEO] Pick Your Destination for 2017


• Review and update your target SEO keywords for 2017

[Keyword Research for SEO] Pick Your Destination for 2017


[Meta Content Optimization in 2017] Tips and Best Practices


ü Title tag: 50 - 60 charactersü Description tag: 150 - 160 charactersü Keywords tag: 2-4 target SEO keywordsü Include a keyword in the URL

ß Snippet

[Business Listings] Google My Business è An Absolute Must


https://business.google.com/create

[Local Business] Google Markup Tool / Data Highlighter


https://www.google.com/webmasters/

[Rich Snippets] Google Markup Tool / Data Highlighter


[Directory and Business Listings] Only High-Quality


[So Awesome But…] Never Again


[Think Outside of the Box] It’s Free and Can Work Wonders


[Online Review] Free Endorsements


[Business Listings] Claiming and Updating Your Listings


https://moz.com/local

[Business Listings] Strategies


1. Consistency matters: Name, address, phone number (NAP)

– Do a Google search for your company name

– Use tools such as Moz Local or Yext.com

2. No mass production; try to manually claim and update your listings

3. Claim, update and optimize your listings (target keyword based)

[Technical and Functional SEO Audit] Audit Your Site At Least Twice in 2017


[SEO Website Audit] Your Checklist for 2017


The Big Picture:• Screaming Frog: http://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/• Moz: https://moz.com/home• Woorank: www.woorank.com/en/www/[your-website.com] • Iwebchk: http://iwebchk.com/reports/view/[your-website.com]• Google PageSpeed Insights: https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/• Barracuda: http://barracuda.digital/panguin-tool/

[Google Search Console] Check on a monthly basis: • Messages: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/site-message-list• Html Improvements: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/html-suggestions• Links to Your Site: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/external-links• Manual Actions: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/manual-action• Mobile Usability: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-usability• Index Status: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/index-status• Blocked Resources: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/roboted• Crawl Errors: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/crawl-errors• Crawl Stats: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/crawl-stats• URL Parameters: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/crawl-url-parameters• Security Issues: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/security-issues• robots.txt Tester: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/robots-testing-tool• Sitemaps: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/sitemap-list

Keyword Rankings:• Google Search Console Search Analytics:

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/search-analytics• Moz Rank Tracker: https://moz.com/home• SwissMadeMarketing Rank Tracker: https://www.swissmademarketing.com/apps/

[What’s Your SEO Score?] Use Our Complimentary Site Audit Tool


www.boulderseomarketing.com/free-seo-audit

[2017 SEO Audit Checklist] Functionality and User Experience


• How would you rate the overall look and feel of the website?• Index page is easy to digest and the company’s purpose is identifiable in 5 seconds or less.• Company logo / branding is prominently placed.• Company logo is linked to index page.• The About Us and Contact Us pages are easy to find and get to.• Main navigation is easily identifiable and navigation labels are clear and concise.• Site search is available and easy to find• Consistent use of fonts.• Font size/spacing is easy to read.• Important text has not been hardcoded into images. Search engines are currently not able to read

hardcoded text. • Have a clear hierarchy and make use of text links.• Hyperlinks are consistent and easy to identify.• Check for broken links.• Keep links on each page to a reasonable amount (one link per ~80-100 words)• Every page should be reachable from at least one other page on your site.• Make sure your website has a sitemap (.xml and webpage) or multiple sitemaps for large websites if

appropriate.• Overall reasonable amount of buttons, images and other visuals.• Most important content is above the fold.• H1, H2, H3, etc. are consistent and descriptive.• Colors and styles are consistent throughout the website.• Bold, underlined, and cursive is used sparingly and only when appropriate.• If applicable, ads, pop-ups, etc. are unobtrusive and only used when appropriate.

[2017 Content Creation and Optimization Checklist]


• Target audience• AIDA Stage or main purpose• Which higher level page(s) will it support• Optimized meta tags:

• Title [50 - 60 characters: Include main target SEO keyword]• Description [150 - 160 characters: Include one or two target SEO keywords]• Keywords [2-4 target SEO keywords]• Alt / Images

• Use keywords in the URL• Blog post: At least 350 - 500 words | In-depth article: 1,000+ words | Press release: 350-450 words• Try to include an important target keyword in the first paragraph as well as a variation of that keyword in the

last paragraph and hyperlink to an applicable internal page• One internal hyperlink per 100 words; try to include at least one high-quality external link to a relevant

website• If possible, add an image and include an alt tag with a target keyword • Place keyword(s) in applicable H1, H2 & H3 heading• Don’t forget to include a call to action!

• Share on social media• Click / call to request a quote• Download a white paper / view webinar, etc.

• Share via Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.• Submit to Google’s database:

• https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/googlebot-fetch• https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/submit-url

• Apply Schema or Google Markup: • https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/data-highlighter

[What’s Next?] Self-paced, Non-technical, Online SEO Training Course


Learnmoreandregisterat:www.boulderseomarketing.com/seo-training

UsecodeDA316 for50%offtheregistrationfeebyApril15,2017.

[Thank You] The Future of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)


Data.com WebinarMarch 16, 2017

Thank You!

Questions?

Chris RaulfInternational SEO | Digital Marketing ExpertFounder of Boulder SEO Marketingwww.boulderseomarketing.comwww.twitter.com/swisschriswww.linkedin.com/in/chrisraulf