Demystifying SEO
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The document discusses the importance of SEO for web developers and marketers, outlining best practices for both on-site and off-site SEO. It emphasizes the need for effective keyword usage, link building, and technical SEO fixes to enhance site traffic and conversions. Additionally, it provides strategies for understanding target audiences, competitors, and the significance of analytics in optimizing website performance.
Demystifying SEO
- 1. DEMYSTIFYING SEO Alex Rascanu Director of Marketing, Wealthsimple Founder, Marketers Without Borders www.alexrascanu.com l @alexrascanu Date: November 15, 2014 Event: WordCamp Toronto 2014
- 2. SEO, WHEN DONE WELL, DRIVES SITE TRAFFIC, LEADS & SALES
- 3. 1. BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO SEO
- 4. Search engines (Google, Baidu, Yahoo, Yandex, Bing, etc.) are now a core resource for people looking for an organization, product or service. It’s important that WordPress web developers adopt SEO best practices, thus ensuring that the brands we’re building are found by their target audiences through Search Engine Optimization (SEO). BACKGROUND ON SEO
- 5. ON-SITE SEO 1. Find the best keywords around which to focus each page Image source: Google AdWords Keywords Planner
- 6. Image source: Rand Fishkin at Moz 2. Make it clear to search engines that the page you’re trying to rank is highly relevant to people searching for that word/phrase
- 7. OFF-SITE SEO “Natural links to your site develop as part of the dynamic nature of the web when other sites find your content valuable and think it would be helpful for their visitors.” (Google) Generate links for your website because: 1. Links increase the authority and trustworthiness of a page to search engines => increased overall authority for the website 2. Links help search engines connect the relevancy of a page with specific keywords (based on the keywords used in a link’s anchor text)
- 8. HOW NOT TO BUILD LINKS: - Directories - Paid links - Article marketing HOW TO BUILD LINKS: - Blog - Visual content - Product/campaign launches - Build a community - Social media Image source: HubSpot
- 9. 2. SEO WINS FOR WEB DEVELOPERS
- 10. 1. SITE SPEED Resources: webpagetest.org developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights Image source: Distilled
- 11. 2. 301 AND 302 REDIRECTS Image source: Distilled
- 12. 3. HTTP HEADER CODES How to find the HTTP header code of a page: Web-sniffer.net, MozBar, Screaming Frog Most common HTTP header codes: • 200 Success (page working fine) • 301 Permanently Moved (search engines will pass link juice) • 302 Temporarily Moved (search engines won’t pass link juice) • 404 Page Not Found (make sure it displays a 404 HTTP header) • 500 Internal Server Error (not helpful, try to minimize these errors) • 503 Service Unavailable (use when about to launch a new site)
- 13. 4. CRAWLER ACCESS Images source: Distilled
- 14. 5. JAVASCRIPT i. Do not place valuable content within javascript (consider using Jquery) ii. Do not place content or links within javascript to intentionally hide it from Google
- 15. 6. WEB DEVELOPER’S CHEATSHEET Image source: Moz
- 19. 3. SEO WINS FOR MARKETERS
- 20. RULES 1. KNOW YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE: what they are looking for, what problems they have or what opportunities they want to take advantage of, their level of awareness about your brand, what online newspapers/blogs they read, what style of writing connects with them 2. KNOW YOUR COMPETITORS: who is targeting the same keywords in organic search, which sites is your target audience most likely to visit when they leave yours 3. KNOW YOUR GOAL FOR THE SITE TRAFFIC YOU’RE ABOUT TO GET. Traffic doesn’t matter, customers do. That’s why you should get them to take action when they’re on your site.
- 21. 1 APPLY TECHNICAL SEO FIXES. THEY CAN MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE IN TRAFFIC. Image source: John Doherty
- 22. 2 USE CUSTOM REPORTS IN GOOGLE ANALYTICS TO UNDERSTAND WHICH KEYWORDS ARE CONVERTING WELL. Image source: Dirty Analytics
- 23. 3 SPOT OPPORTUNITIES TO GET BETTER RANKINGS, CLICK- THROUGH-RATES AND CONVERSIONS.
- 24. 4 CREATE PAGES FOR EVERY KEY ASPECT OF YOUR PRODUCT/SERVICE & YOUR MOST IMPORANT LOCATIONS Remember to add a Call to Action button!
- 25. 5 USE A/B TESTING AND CONVERSION RATE OPTIMIZATION Page A – The Obama team tested several combinations of visuals and CTAs to identify the most effective pair Page B – The winning combination engaged emotion with the image of the Obama family in conjunction with the Learn More button Improvement: 40% increase in sign-up rate, resulting in $60 million additional donations Source: Unbounce
- 26. 6 MAKE SURE ALL YOUR PAGES LOAD IN LESS THAN 1 SECOND Loading time affects your bottom line. Image source: Pingdom
- 27. 7 EVALUATE YOUR BOUNCE RATE AND UPDATE THE PAGES WITH THE HIGHEST BOUNCE RATE Image source: KISSmetrics
- 28. 8 LET THE MEDIA KNOW WHAT YOU’RE UP TO (WHEN YOU HAVE REAL NEWS TO SHARE) Compile a media list yourself, but you may also want to use a PR tool like www.pitchpigeon.com ($49 per pitch)
- 29. 9 SEND TARGETED CONTENT TO USER. WATCH YOUR ENGAGEMENT INCREASE. Image source: John Doherty
- 30. 10 WRITE ONE OR MORE OF THESE TYPES OF CONTENT TO DRIVE TRAFFIC TO YOUR SITE 1. Infographics 2. Memes 3. Videos 4. Guides 5. Book reviews 6. Opinion articles 7. Product reviews 8. How-to articles 9. Lists 10. Link pages 11. Ebooks 12. Case studies 13. Podcasts 14. Interviews 15. Research & original data Source: QuickSprout
- 31. 11 TELL YOUR STORY INSTEAD OF JUST TALKING ABOUT YOUR PRODUCT (PERSOANAL, HISTORICAL OR “MEET THE GURU” STORY)
- 32. 4. ADDITIONAL SEO RESOURCES
- 34. Alex Rascanu Director of Marketing, Wealthsimple Founder, Marketers Without Borders www.alexrascanu.com @alexrascanu THANK YOU