A (Very Brief But) Interactive Introduction To SEO

Thursday 6th March 2014

Steve Morgan

morganonlinemarketing.co.uk

@steviephil SEOno.co.uk

What is SEO?

• SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)

• Increasing your rankingsin search engines

@steviephil SEOno.co.uk

What is SEO?

• SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)

• Increasing your rankingsin search engines

@steviephil SEOno.co.uk

(Fun) Facts

• Google owns 90%+ of searchengine market share in UK

• Searchers are more likely toclick on organic resultscompared to ads

@steviephil SEOno.co.uk

(Fun) Facts

• PPC (Pay Per Click)a.k.a. Google AdWordsc. 25% of clicks

• SEOorganic/natural resultsc. 75% of clicks

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(Fun) Facts

• c. 95% of searchers do not gobeyond page 1 of the search results

• If they haven’t found what they’relooking for, they’ll revise their search(…or give up)

• Comic source: http://xkcd.com/1334/

@steviephil SEOno.co.uk

• Higher rankings

=

more clicks

=

more traffic!

Source: http://moz.com/blog/a-tale-of-two-studies-google-vs-bing-clickthrough-rate

(Fun) Facts

@steviephil SEOno.co.uk

First (important) step?• Keyword Research!

• No point ranking #1 for a keyword that nobody searches for!

• Search volume data obtainable via theGoogle AdWords Keyword Planner tool

• http://www.google.com/sktool/(You need a Google AdWords account)

@steviephil SEOno.co.uk

@steviephil SEOno.co.uk

Interactive Exercise 1 – Keyword Research

• Use the Keyword Planner to see keyword search volumes

• Think about:oYour business idea…?o Is it more popular / less popular than you thought?oSet your country of preference: UK or Global?oTry variations, synonyms, singular vs. plural, etc.o Its specificity: e.g. “shoes” vs. “buy blue trainers online”oBe careful of words with double meanings:

e.g. trainers (type of shoes) vs. trainers (people who provide training)

@steviephil SEOno.co.uk

The Main Factors of SEO

• When Google evaluates a website:

o Is it relevant?

o Is it authoritative?

o Is it trustworthy?

• How does it determine these things?

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SEO – the code of a website

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SEO – the website’s text

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SEO – link building

Your-Site.com

PR

Social media

Guest blogging

Business directories

Industry-specific directories

Blog commenting

Forums Infographics

@steviephil SEOno.co.uk

Interactive Exercise 2 – Link Analysis

• Use Open Site Explorer to see the links pointing to a website

• http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/

• Check one of the following:oYour own website? The website your business idea aspires to be?oA friend or family member’s website? A website you like?ocastlebikes.co.uk / celticseries.co.uk (Steve’s websites!)

@steviephil SEOno.co.uk

SEO resources• Moz’s Beginner’s Guide to SEO

http://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo

@steviephil SEOno.co.uk

SEO resources• Backlink analysis tools:

oMoz’s Open Site Explorer – http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/ (pictured)oMajestic SEO – https://www.majesticseo.com/

@steviephil SEOno.co.uk

SEO resources

• Moz blog (& Whiteboard Friday)http://moz.com/blog

• Search Engine Landhttp://searchengineland.com/

• DistilledUhttps://www.distilled.net/u/($40 per month BUT free demo)

@steviephil SEOno.co.uk

Thank you!

My blog: SEOno.co.uk

Twitter: @steviephil

morganonlinemarketing.co.uk