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Jessica Severson – About Us

Jess is a:

• Blogger at Don’t Mind the Mess

• Speaker and Writer

• Digital Media Relations Strategist at Wayfair

Alex is a:

• SEO professional w/ 5 years experience

• Worked with United Airlines, Vodafone and now Wayfair

• Fungi

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Syllabus

1.What is SEO?

2.What to Optimize

3.How to Optimize

4.Pro Tips

This deck will be emailed to you!

What is SEO? (and why do we care?)

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What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

1. (n) the process of increasing unpaid rankings in search

engines to drive relevant “free” traffic to the site.

2. (n) a state of being filled with awesomeness

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Why do I care?

1) You get more readers

2) New Readers = More Ad Revenue &

Sponsorship Opportunities

3) Internet Domination

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This is a search results page:

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PAID

RESULTS

Natural Search

Results

Some results are paid, others are not:

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Google 3 Main Ranking Factors

Topicalilty

Authority User

Signals

Zone of Awesome:

1st page ranking!!!

Ranking Factor #1:

Topicality

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Topicality

Topicality asks:

Is the page relevant to search query?

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This page is NOT topically relevant to “blue sofas”. This page is about

George Clooney.

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This Week’s Picks: Loving This Color!

This page is NOT topically relevant to “blue sofas” because it doesn’t use the

phrase “blue sofas” anywhere. Google isn’t great with images.

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This page IS topically relevant to “blue sofas” because it has text about “blue

sofas”.

Ranking Factor #2:

Authority

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Authority

Authority is the most important factor: there are millions of topically relevant pages

Authority comes from other sites linking to your site.

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Authority Factors

• Links to the site in general

• Links to the specific page

• Links from many different

sites

• Links from more

authoritative sites

• Links from topically

relevant sites

• Links from the article text.

Links are the secret sauce to ranking:

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It’s hard to beat sites with HIGH authority.

Ranking Factor #3:

User Metrics

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User Metrics

Google tracks some user behavior

• Click Through Rates

• Length of time on page

• Bounce rate

• Returning to the page later

• and so on.

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Even if you have significant topicality and authority, if users hate your site

Google will stop showing it.

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What makes a blog good?

What’s the difference

between a blog you leave

after 3 seconds and one

you read for 3 hours?

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User Metrics

Everything that improves the site, improves user behavior

metrics and can help you rank in search results:

1.Strong visuals

2.Strong content

3.Few distractions (ads, pop-ups)

4.Site Reliability

Let’s talk about YOU What to Optimize and What Not to

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3 Kinds of Posts on Your Site

Posts w/ Basic SEO

Posts w/ Strategic

SEO

Posts w/ No SEO

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Not every page needs SEO:

No SEO

• Personal Stories

• Funny Pictures

• Outfit of the Day

Example

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Basic SEO Posts

Basic SEO = Most Posts

• Recipes

• DIYs

• Reviews

• Gift Guides

• How to __________

Example

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Supercharged Strategic Posts

Strategic SEO = Super Awesome

Amazing Articles

More on this later…

What to Optimize Stick with us!

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Let’s Start with a Post Idea…

Topic: Gift Guide for Twentysomethings

You have 3 kinds of readers:

Regular

From Social

From Search

What are you doing for each reader?

What matters to each reader?

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Let’s search for “twentysomething gift guide”

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3 Main Parts of Each Search Result

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Let’s Evaluate SEO Titles

The top two

results have

very clear and

concise SEO

titles that took

into account the

types of phrases

people might

use to search.

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URLs

The bottom

three URLs all

use my search

phrase.

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Meta Descriptions

None of these

results have a

great meta

description.

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But this blog could be more clickable

If OneLittleMinute had taken a little bit of time to optimize her

Title, URL and Meta Description they might have ranked better.

Let’s click through and take a look to see what she’s doing to

get good user metrics…

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Wordpress

Plug-ins! We recommend:

All-in-One SEO Pack

Wordpress SEO by Yoast

Blogger

Set Description and URL in Post Settings

How to Optimize Title, URL and Description

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PSA: SEO Title Doesn’t Have to Be the Post Title

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Final Points

Use Your Target Keywords:

1. If you’re writing a post with your Mom’s Thanksgiving pie, don’t title it

“Thanksgiving with Mom”, call it “Pumpkin Pie Recipe”

2. If you’re upcycling a dining table, don’t title it “My New Dining Table”, call it

“How to Upcycle a Dining Table”

Word Count Word Count Word Count:

1. Use your words: 500 to 1,500 word posts are the bread and butter of SEO.

2. Helps Google determine that your site is topically relevant.

Read more about SEO 101, Plugins, Images and more HERE

Strategic SEO

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Strategic SEO Checklist

Strategic SEO will help grow your brand!

Will post have incredibly high levels of awesomeness?

Will your post will be better than others in the

blogosphere?

There are people who care about the topic?

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Strategic SEO

Step 1: Keyword Research

Before you settle on a topic, make sure that people are searching for it by using

tools like Google Keyword Tool, Uber Suggest and Keyword Tool IO.

For example, what keywords should you use if you’re writing a post about

refinishing a chair? Type in some ideas and see what has higher search

volume:

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Strategic SEO

Step 2: Check Out the Competition

Do a search for “How to Refinish a Chair” to get an idea of who currently ranks

#1 and identify areas for improvement?

The Family Handyman “How to Refinish Furniture” guide has a lot going for it.

http://www.familyhandyman.com/woodworking/furniture-repair/how-to-refinish-furniture/view-all

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Strategic SEO - Step 2: Check Out the Competition

The article has:

• 2,200 words

• 12 step by step pictures

• 1 video

• a list of materials needed

With links from authoritative

sites like Young House Love,

this result has Topicality and

Authority which gives it the #1

spot for the term.

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Strategic SEO - Step 2: Check Out the Competition

How can you improve upon this post?

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Strategic SEO - Step 2: Check Out the Competition

How can you improve upon this post?

A) Compare/Contrast: Rocking chair vs. Dining Chair, Oak vs. Pine,

etc.

B) Lists: Different kinds of chairs, different kinds of wood, different kinds

of stain, etc.

C) How to do it _______: Eco-friendly, On a Budget, In One Day, etc.

D) Creative Assets: Add video, audio, images, infographics.

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Strategic SEO

Step 3: Amplify your Content

Once you’ve made your article, you need to make an effort to reach out beyond

your current readership and network. Tell other bloggers, niche bloggers and

local news sites.

There is no reward for pushing “Publish”

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Strategic SEO – Amplification Strategy

SEO Tip – Try Link Parties

A lot of you are already participating in link parties. It’s a great way to reach

beyond your existing audience and drive traffic to your posts. It’s also great for

SEO because it can help your post get links from other sites!

http://www.servingjoyfully.com/2125-2/

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Strategic SEO – Amplification Strategy

Make Link Parties Better by Bringing in New Blogs

Value of a new link from a new site:

Value of a new link from an old site:

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Link Parties and SEO

Regular 5 Blogger Link Party

Week 1:

Week 2:

Week 3:

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Rotating Link Parties = Awesome

Rotating 5 Blogger Link Party

Week 1:

Week 2:

Week 3:

Try changing the topic of the link up every week and hosting it on

a new blog!

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3 Key Takeaways:

1) Don’t waste time on posts that don’t

need SEO

2) Basic optimization is fast and easy

3) Write the best possible post to

supercharge your SEO

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The SEO Challenge!

If you write a supercharged SEO post,

you can email it to us!

Our team of SEO pros will give you

feedback and relevant posts will get

linked by our Content team.