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HOW TO BEAT YOUR COMPETITORS: THE RACE FOR SEARCH TRAFFIC
CASIE GILLETTE DIRECTOR OF ONLINE MARKETING
10 YEARS
SEO
casiegillette.com
@casieg
@komarketing
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
• WTF – search result screenshot
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
It’s always a bummer to do a search and find that your site is nowhere to be found! What can you do? Why? You wonder. This is what I like to call competitive denial and there are three stages.
Compe4tor Denial
• WTF – search result screenshot
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
COMPETITIVE DENIAL: WTF
W#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
HY? The first stage of competitive denial is the why. Why are they showing up and I’m not? Why are they doing better than me? Symptoms of this stage include curiosity, intrigue, and wonder.
T #SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
HEY AREN’T BETTER THAN ME!
The next stage usually consists of phrases like “They aren’t better than me” and “This is bulls##t.” A little less calm than the Why stage and tends to include anger, confusion & sadness.
F #SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
INE - EXCITABILITY
Lastly, we have the “Fine” stage. You come to accept it is what it is and you are ready to move on and fight the good fight.
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
STEP 1: SEARCH RESULTS
• WTF – search result screenshot
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
RESOURCE RESULTS
COMPANY RESULTS
Before we get to the competitors themselves, we must understand the search results. We need to understand the what vs. the who. What is showing up? What type of content?
• WTF – search result screenshot
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
BLOG POST
WHITE PAPER
SERVICE PAGE
What content is ranking? Blog posts? Internal company pages? What is that you need to be targeting to get your site to show up here?
I #SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
NTENT All of this comes down to understanding the intent of the user. Or at least what Google thinks the intent is.
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
WARNING THERE’S ABOUT TO BE SOME TRUTHINESS
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
• WTF – search result screenshot
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
WE MUST UNDERSTAND THE WHAT
• WTF – search result screenshot
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
SEM RUSH
There are some great tools that can help us with the WHAT. When you put a keyword phrase into SEMRush, it will give you related terms, phrase match terms, and the full set of results and URLs.
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
SERP STAT
SERPstat will give you the suggested search terms but also questions. With the hummingbird algorithm and Google’s dedication to answering the user query, it’s important to know what your audience is actually looking for when they search a keyword.
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
AD WORDS
One of my favorite tricks – place the search result URL into the AdWords keyword planner tool. Hat tip: @aimclear
• WTF – search result screenshot
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
YOUR SITE HERE
The bottom line is, if you want your site here, you need to understand what type of result the search engines actually want to put there.
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
SEM RUSH
The second part of this is understanding the content actually ranking. With SEMRush, we can put the URL in and get all sorts of amazing data. We can see traffic, links, related keywords, and much more.
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
RAVEN
RavenTools also has a great feature, Research Central, that gives you some meaty information on a specific URL. It pulls link data, keyword data, design data, and more.
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
RAVEN Backlink data includes both Moz and Majestic information.
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
MOZ Of course Open Site Explorer also can provide link data on a specific URL.
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
RAVEN
One of the most interesting features of Raven’s tool is the Semantic Analyzer which looks at what the page is about. This information is invaluable because we can look at all the sites rankings to understand the semantics involved.
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
BUZZ SUMO
Perhaps the URL doesn’t have many back links. What about shares? BuzzSumo gives us the number of shares for a particular URL by network.
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
BUZZ SUMO
We can begin to understand the value of those shares by looking at who is sharing the content. Are these people influential? Do they have a decent reach?
• WTF – search result screenshot
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
WE WANT TO IDENTIFY TRENDS IN THE WHAT
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
STEP 2: COMPETITORS
THIS IS THE BELMONT.
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
The Belmont is the longest race of the Triple Crown. You aren’t going to perform a competitive analysis and suddenly be killing it. It takes time, patience, and understanding of the competition. It also means ensuring your horse is the best.
All the components
• It’s not that easy though. • Chart of all Online marke4ng components
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
ONLINE MARKETING ISN’T JUST SEO.
I love this map from Gartner that looks at the online marketing landscape. Messy? Yup. Online marketing is more than just SEO and all of these factors play a role in how your site performs.
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
We have to look beyond the simple piece of content. Beyond just links or title tags. We have to look at the big picture.
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
We want to look at all the data associated to not only the URL, but the site.
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
We want to look at social engagement and the effort involved.
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
We want to look at newsletters or events and anything that else that is playing a role in a companies online presence.
• WTF – search result screenshot
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
BRAND LINKS
CONTENT
SOCIAL PR
We must understand how these factors help a site and we want to know if our competitors are using one, many, or all of them.
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
PLEASE EMAIL [email protected] FOR THIS WORKSHEET
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
PPC
SEO
SOCIAL
YOU
RETARGETING
PPC
SEO
SOCIAL
PR
TESTING
COMP 1
PPC
SEO
SOCIAL
PR
COMP 2
PPC
SEO
EVENT
A/B
COMP 3
SOCIAL
What makes this data gathering important is we can then take a side-by-side look at our competition. We need to know the whole playing field to understand where we need to be spending our time and money.
C#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
ODE One of the first places I like to look for this information is in a site’s source code.
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
The code can provide an inside look at the various marketing efforts occurring on site.
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
Along with SEO tags or PPC tags, we can look for A/B testing tags, Remarketing tags, Live chat code and more.
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
TRACKED CONTENT
Want to check up on your competitor without constantly have to visit their site? Tracked Content will do it for you.
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
CHANGE DETECTION An oldie but a goodie – Change Detection will email you when the content on a page changes.
C#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
ONTENT Along with the code, we also want to understand the type of content competitors are creating.
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
WHICH HORSE SHOULD YOU PUT YOUR MONEY ON?
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
SCREAMING FROG
One of the best ways to figure out what type of content is on a site is to scan it. Screaming Frog will crawl all the URLs of a site, giving you insights into competitive content.
ARTICLES • BLOG POSTS • RESOURCES
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
Look for things like articles, blog posts, resource sections and more. Note: Change your user agent to Google. Some sites block SF and we want to most accurate picture.
OSE
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
Back to our tools – these can help us determine how specific pieces of content perform. OSE can show you the top linked pages on a site.
SEM RUSH
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
SEMRush will also show us the top indexed pages along with backlinks for each of those pages.
RANK TRACKER
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
Moz also has rank tracker, that will let you see if a site is ranking for a particular keyword. You can save that search and keep an eye on it.
BUZZ SUMO
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
Lastly, BuzzSumo can show us the top shared content on a domain. What is that your audience really likes? What is it they share with their friends? You can even set date ranges.
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
With all of the information, you can start putting together the pieces of the puzzle and figure out where you really should be spending your budget.
L #SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
INKS One of our favorite subjects – where the heck are your competitors getting their links from?
• WTF – search result screenshot
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
BRAND LINKS
CONTENT
SOCIAL PR
We know that links are still a pretty big factor in how a site performs. But we don’t want to just know how many links. We want to know what type of links are helping the site.
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
OSE If you haven’t noticed, many of our tools do a lot of things. Moz’s OSE lets us see who is linking, from where, using what anchor text and more.
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
MAJESTIC Majestic has a ton of great information. It will show you new links, old links, link profiles, when a link was created, and when a link is no longer active.
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
MEDIA
BLOGS
PARTNERS
YOU PRESS RELEASES
MEDIA
BLOGS
SPAM
COMMENTS
COMP 1
SPAM
COMP 2
MEDIA
BLOGS
COMP 3
PARTNERS
PRESS RELEASES
BLOGS
COMMENTS
SPAM
By looking at the overall picture, we can begin to understand why a site who maybe doesn’t have a ton of links does better. We can also start to see how they are obtaining links.
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
WE WANT TO IDENTIFY TRENDS IN THE LINK PROFILE
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
MEDIA TARGETS AUTHORS
& EDITORS
INFLUENCERS
GUEST OPS PARTNERS We want to leave that link audit with a portfolio of potential media targets and partnership opportunities. We want to know who the editors and authors are that we should be talking to.
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
Ok…now we’ve seen their source code, we’ve looked at their content, we’ve looked at their links…it’s time to get creepy!
• SEO PLUGINS • A/B TESTING CODE • SCHEMA MARKUP • OPEN GRAPH TAGS • ADWORDS • ANALYTICS
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
BUZZ SUMO
Remember how BuzzSumo will show you shares? It will also show you who shared the content (on Twitter).
• SEO PLUGINS • A/B TESTING CODE • SCHEMA MARKUP • OPEN GRAPH TAGS • ADWORDS • ANALYTICS
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
BUZZ SUMO You can break individual accounts down by companies, bloggers, journalists,
regular people, and influencers.
RIPPLES
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
Google+ ripples are also an excellent way to find specific people who are sharing content. AJ Kohn Ripples. Did you know you can email people when you post an update?
• SEO PLUGINS • A/B TESTING CODE • SCHEMA MARKUP • OPEN GRAPH TAGS • ADWORDS • ANALYTICS
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
One of Facebook’s “newer” features, allows you to watch other pages. Keep in mind, those pages are notified that you are watching them.
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
FOLLOWER WONK
Company employees can give you some inside tips on what’s happening Followerwonk allows you to search Twitter bios by keyword. Searching a company can give you an easy list of employees to follow. Create private lists so you don’t look like stalker.
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
TOPSY Topsy Influencers can give you both employees and even non-employee influencers for a brand.
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
And of course there is LinkedIn. Along with general queries, you can use advanced search queries to find specific positions within a company.
• WTF – search result screenshot
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
BRAND LINKS
CONTENT
SOCIAL PR
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
NO MORE WTF!
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
YOU JUST WON.
THANK YOU!
Slideshare.net/casieg
#SEMNE • @CASIEG • @KOMARKETING
@casieg
@komarketing
casiegillette.com