Fueling the SEO Engine
Alyson Harrold
UC Berkeley Extension
April 12, 2014
Who I Am
• Agency, media, corporate marketing background
• Online Marketing Agency
o Collaboration of Technical & Creative
o SEO
o WordPress Websites
o Online marketing audits
o PPC
o Content marketing
o Etc, etc, etc....
Today's Takeaways
1. SEO Terminology
2. Buying Cycles & Keywords
3. Real-World Practices
• Keyword Research
• Free Tools
• Hiring SEO Practitioner
• SEO Writing Template (Bonus if time)
It’s a SECRET
JARGON
SEO Definition
Keyword
• Misnomer
• Actually a search phrase or string
• “red patent leather shoes”
• “Thai restaurant Palo Alto”
Indexed
• A web page, image, or
other piece of content
that a search engine
has added to it’s
database
SERP
• Search Engine Results Page
• Serves up possible answers to a search phrase,
query, keyword, and now… search intent
Organic SEO
• Fuel is Content
• Quality
• Quantity
• Recency
• Relevancy
• Excludes anything Paid
• Changes ALL the time
Two audiences
• Human
• The most important
• Pays the bills
• More complex
• Spots fakes
• Pays the bills
• Machine
• Constantly changing
• Very predictable
• Very important
CYCLE
SEO Cycle
Billions of Searches
Keywords
Indexed Content
SERP
Web Visits
Conversions
Search Engine Spiders & Bots
Blindly Harvest Content
Index Content at HQ
Search Engine Results Page
Search Engine Results Page
Title & Meta Description
• Mini Ad
• Psychology Behind It
• Caution against defaults
#1 Goal of Search Engines
• Deliver positive experience for the Human Searcher
• Most current content
• Most relevant content
• Fast & responsive sites
• On Topic – clear & focused message
• Authority
• Other quality sites linking = votes of confidence
KEYWORDS
Keywords
“An effective Web marketing plan requires an
understanding of the ways your buyers speak and the
real words and phrases they use. This is not only
important for building a positive online relationship
with your buyers, but also for planning effective
search engine marketing strategies.”
David Meerman Scott
Author, The New Rules of Marketing & PR
EXERCISE 1
Keyword Brainstorm Exercise
• Groups of 3
• Three Roles:
• Timekeeper
• Note Taker
• Receiver
• GOAL: come up with as many keywords in 5 minutes
(Quantity vs. Quality)
The Buying Cycle
More About Keywords
•
Research
• Website Architecture
• Optimized Content
Keywords & Buying Cycle
} Informational
} Phases
} Looking For Benefits
} Comparing Features
} $$$
The Buying Cycle
EXERCISE 2
Long Tail Keyword Exercise
• Return to Groups of 3
• Review Keyword List
• Assign Keywords to Buying Stage:
• Problem / Need Identified
• Research
• Benefits
• Features (Risk Alleviation)
• Buying Decision
• GOAL: Assign a buying stage to each keyword on
your list in 5 minutes
Keywords & Buying Cycle
} Informational
} Phases
} Looking For Benefits
} Comparing Features
} $$$
Website Architecture
Analytics
Blog
WordPress
Content
Marketing
SEO
Elements of Keyword Research
• Similar Sites
• Customer Search Behaviors
• Trend Analysis
• Map Keywords to Buying Stage
Brainstorm
•
•
•
•
Colleagues
Friends
Vendors
Customers
AdWords Keyword Planner
AdWords Keyword Planner
Repeat for every keyword
you have
Google.com/Trends
Index
of 83
Holiday
Season
Google Insights for Search
More suggestions
Can Drill Down to State & Metro Area Levels
... and in Perfect World
• Analyze by benefit (# searches)
• Benefit-to-Opposition Ratio
• Sort by Topic
• Map to Buying Cycle (Sales Funnel)
• Create Website Architecture
Keywords & Buying Cycle
} Informational
} Phases
} Looking For Benefits
} Comparing Features
} $$$
Keyword list and site
Take the list,
your site’s
architecture
and create the
columns we
talked about.
ONE keyword
per page.
Real World SEO
• Typical to have a website built without SEO structure
• Do Research Anyway (abbreviated)
• Be Realistic About Competition
• Use Keywords in Content
OPTIMIZATION
A Word About Optimized Content
• Optimized Content = Purposeful Use of Keywords
• No Stuffing
• Natural – human first, bot second
Optimization Rule of Thumb
• A word once
on a page is…
• A Word on a Page
• A word twice
on a page is…
• A Mention
• A word three times
on a page is…
• A Keyword
Another Word About Optimization
• Optimize each web page & blog post
• ONE keyword per page / post
• Use keyword research
• No Default Meta data
• Internal links to support SEO architecture
INSPIRATION
Inspiration Tools
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Flickr & Other Image Repositories
Rockzi
Feedly
News360
HootSuite Monitoring
TED 3 Min Videos
Mind Mapping
YouTube
DISCIPLINE
Sustainable Writing Tips
• Get clear on how you’ll add value
• Regularly troll for ideas
• Organize ideas for easy retrieval
• Establish a consistent publishing schedule
• Create an editorial calendar
• Train your brain
• Just Do It
Not Just for Websites
Other SEO Elements
• Site Speed
• Google Authorship
• Links Author and Google+ and Search
• Google Plus Local (evolving from Places)
• Reviews
• Social Media
• Low Bounce Rates
Tools We Use
• Free
o Google AdWords Keyword Planner
o Google Insight for Search (Trends)
o Google Analytics
o Webmaster Tools
o WordPress SEO by Yoast
• Paid
o SEO Ranking Tool (SEOmoz)
o Majestic SEO
o Content Optimization Tool (Scribe)
White Hat vs. Grey Hat SEO
Interview Questions
• Who owns data
• White Hat or Grey Hat techniques
• Is any work outsourced (if so, where)
• What’s the content strategy (who does what)
• What’s included (training, status meetings, etc)
• Benchmarks & measurements
SEO Cycle
Billions of Searches
Keywords
Indexed Content
SERP
Web Visits
Conversions
Bonus: SEO Writing Template
• Focus Keyword before Writing
• Title Tag (aka SEO Title)
• Meta Description
• Limited characters, keywords upfront
• Mini ad that sets up expectation
• URL
• Relevant to title
• Include keyword
Bonus: SEO Writing Template
• Page Title (H1)
• First Paragraph
• Keyword near beginning
• Summary
• Subheading
• Quality Content
• Brand Voice
• Scan-able
• Visual Appeal
Writing Assignment
• Choose 1 Keyword
• Write a Headline (H1 Title – 50-70 characters)
• Create:
• One paragraph with keyword in the first sentence
(preferably at the beginning) or
• An outline for 3 paragraphs
• Write meta description with keyword at the beginning
(156 characters)