seo for online startups - small business festival victoria 2015
TRANSCRIPT
SEO for Online
Startups
Speakers
James Richardson Co-Founder
Nathan Davies Online Marketing Strategy
Lachlan WellsLink Building & Content Specialist
• Established in 2008• Based in Richmond• Specialise in SEO, Google AdWords, Facebook Advertising, Website
Development & Custom Development Projects• All work handled in-house in Australia
This is not a sales pitch, but...
• Optimising build websites and high end custom development solutions
• From Simple WordPress and Ecommerce Websites, to large scale custom built websites and applications
• Optimising provide Search Engine Optimisation solutions to small, medium and large businesses
• Optimising run Google AdWords Campaigns
• Optimising run Facebook Ad Campaigns
How it Works
• What is SEO?
• How does Google rank websites?
• Google results
What is SEO?
• SEO is about dressing your website up so it’s the best version of itself
• SEO is about highlighting your best features
• SEO is about putting your best foot forward
• Becoming the authority in your niche
• Providing real value• Having a proven online
reputation
● Making your website rank higher● Getting more traffic to your website● Getting more leads, phone calls, sales...
How does Google Rank websites?
• 1000’s of actual factors…
• Great On-Page SEO• Great User Experience• Great Content• Links to your website• Mobile-friendly• Fast load time• Website age• ...and more!
How it works?: Google Results
Paid Ads
Organic Results
Google Maps
SEO
SEO
Choosing Keywords
• Keyword Research is a different beast than it was a few years ago, and requires a different and much smarter approach.
• Should be an ongoing and ever-evolving process.
• From the research itself to the selection and targeting process, I’ll run through how we as an agency go about the process.
Choosing Keywords - The Criteria
1. Search Volume: There’s not much point trying to get found if there’s no-one looking for it.
2. Relevance: The keywords need to align with what you do as a business. Don’t mislead users or Google - you don’t want to annoy either!
3. Conversion/Intent: Are they looking to buy or just looking for information? Match the intent of the searcher as much as possible.
4. Opportunity: Sometimes it’s better to focus on niche, less competitive (long tail) keywords to get quicker results (or at least have them in the mix). Diversify!
5. Consistency with your marketing goals: Are you focusing on the right terms to get the best ROI?
Researching Keywords [ Tools ]
• Google AdWords Tool (still the best tool when looking for search volume)• Competitor sites (the ranking ones!)• SEM Rush (for checking competitor sites). Free site is limited.• Ubersuggest (for brainstorming)• Google Analytics (how are people finding you now?)• Google Search Console (Webmaster Tools) data• Google AdWords campaign data • Google Autocomplete• As an Agency - Try to engage with business and ask staff- what phrases
do they think it would be important to be found for?
Choosing Keywords
Step One: Evaluation/Information Gathering/Brainstorming• What type of visitors do you want to the website? What’s an ideal client?
What language would they use to search?• What is the purpose of the website? (What do you want the clients to do
once they get to your website? ) Buy? Engage with the content? Call?• Analyse previous Google Adwords data to gain insight into user behaviour
of customers• Analyse competitor websites & find what they rank for
Choosing Keywords
Step 2: Make a List• Go to https://adwords.google.
com/KeywordPlanner• You will need a Google AdWords
account to use this tool (can skip the guided set-up to avoid billing details)
Choosing Keywords
Step 2: Make a List• Add a few keywords you think you
would like to rank higher for, utilising the information you previously researched.
• Make sure all the pre selections are made as per screenshot to ensure you get a nice selection of keywords to play with.
Choosing Keywords
Step 2: Make a List
• Go through themed ad groups• Export list as csv. • If needed, re add your refined list to the top and search again for closer suggestions
Choosing Keywords
Step 3: Group & Theme• Group the keywords into themes - especially think of user intent • Prioritise them in order of biz importance 1, 2, 3, 4 etc.• See how the site is currently ranking for each term (manual check best for
location search - and not logged into Google)
Choosing Keywords
Step 4: Edit • Are any of the themed groups irrelevant? Go through the 5 criteria and
consider drop out any that aren't relevant, likely, important etc. Note: they don’t all need to meet all 5 - that’s unlikely.
• Make sure the amount of kw’s is appropriate ot the size of your site• Check out the competition for the main phrases - is it going to be possible
to compete? Is Google even displaying companies like yours? • Consider leaving out single word phrases - not only because of
competition, but Google often has trouble figuring out the intent of the searcher with these phrases.
The List
1. example
Choosing Keywords
Step 5: Map• Map the keywords to relevant landing pages. What is that page about? Tty
to Group by searcher intent, not by the exact phrase. • Have your most important phrases higher up on the sites hierarchy (home
page strongest). This should probably happen naturally - how would you sum up your company and it’s offerings?
• Try to keep 2-3 to each - if there aren't any relevant pages with good content - ask yourself why? Build the required page if needed. DON’T try to build a page for every key word.
• Insert into page titles, URLs, headers, content, alt tags - but write ‘naturally’ and aimed at your audience, not to Google! Compelling, relevant content will be rewarded.
On-Page SEO
On-Page SEO
• Meta Data• Heading Tags• Content• Navigation• Advanced On-Page SEO
Meta Data
Meta Description: 150 CharactersMeta Title: 65-70 Characters
Meta Data
Great Resources• http://moz.com/learn/seo/title-tag• http://moz.com/blog/new-title-tag-guidelines-preview-tool• http://moz.com/learn/seo/meta-description
Header Tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.)
<h1>
<h2>
Content
Content
What kind of content should my website have?• About us, Products, Services, Testimonials, FAQ, Case Studies, Locations,
Careers…• Blog (maybe)• Downloadable documents (PDF’s, manuals, recipes)
Navigation
• All main navigation should be text based
• All main navigation should be logical & provide the correct user experience
• No image based or flash menus• Google cannot index and
crawl these• Main Navigation should be above
the fold
Advanced Practices
1. Install Google Analytics 2. Setup Google Search Console (formally Webmaster Tools)3. Have a location and local phone number present4. Make it load fast!5. Have a great mobile & tablet experience - make it responsive!
On-Page SEO: Essential Tools
• Google Search Console (Webmaster Tools)• Google Analytics• MOZ• Ahrefs• Pingdom• Google Page Speed Analysis• Google Structured Testing Tool (Checking Schema)
Local SEO - Maps
How to rank locally
• Have a local address and phone number
• Have this number and address listed on your website
• Have a Google My Business (Maps) Listing
• Have listings on other credible review websites
• Have reviews on your Google Maps listing
• RANK
Google+ Local (Google Maps)
• Complete & Verified Listing
• Reviews from Customers
• Citations/Mentions of your business address
Citation Link Building
Google use what they call a ‘NAP’ system to local businesses.By achieving regular recurrence of your Name, Address and Phone number,
your local trust will improve.• Consistency
• Recurrence
• Trusted Sources:• www.truelocal.com.au• www.startlocal.com.au• www.hotfrog.com.au• www.dlook.com.au• www.aussieweb.com.au
Off-Page SEO - Link Building
Link Building in 2007
What mattered to Google and SEOs in 2007….
QUANTITYquality
PageRank
Anchor Text
Link Exchanges
The industry was a race to the bottom, until...
2011...
2012
Penalties for...
• Paid links• Reciprocal links• Link Schemes (Link Wheels, Private Blog Networks)• Links on low quality sites
2015 - Link EARNING
What’s Google looking for?
QUALITYquantity
RelevanceSame Industry?Same Locality?
NATURAL
Link Building Strategies
1. Content
2. Affiliations
3. Existing Relationships
4. Donations
5. Gold Mining
1. Use Your Content to Earn Links
Create something to entertain, inspire or assist:
• Tutorial• Review/Preview• Resource• Online Tool• Opinion Piece• Industry Research• Host an Event
2. Join a Group
Companies that rank are active members of their industry.
• Marketing Bodies• Trade Associations• Accreditation Schemes• Lobby Groups• Award Programs
3. Look at your existing relationships
• Suppliers• Retailers• Distributors• Affiliates
• ‘Our Clients’ Lists• Case Studies• Testimonials• Store Locators
4. Donate your product/services
• Reviews• Giveaways• In-kind Sponsorship• Partner with a Charity/NFP
(as long as it’s not conditional…)
5. Mine Your Existing Mentions for Gold
• Unlinked URLs
• Unlinked logos
• Incomplete directory listings
• Links to old businesses/broken pages
• Reverse image search your product shots
Finally, some handy tools….
• Moz - SEO Tutorials• Ahrefs - Competitor Analysis• Meetup - Find groups to partner with• Source Bottle - Be a journalist’s source• Collabosaurus - Find brands to partner with
