21 Tactics That Help you Succeed at Enterprise Mega SEO By John Shehata

#SMX #22D @JShehata

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21 Tactics That Help you Succeed at

Enterprise Mega SEO

#SMX #22D @JShehata

1. Develop Technical Skills

#SMX #22D @JShehata

Develop Analytics/Excel Skills GWT (Search Queries) + Google KWs + GA Traffic + Rankings Screaming Frog + SEOmoz Top Pages + SEOmoz Crawl Test + GWT Errors

#SMX #22D @JShehata

2. Understand Your Technology • CMS • APIs • etc

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3. Build Relationships

Communicate in Person, Emails are not enough

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4. Dev/Tech Language Tech/Dev Teams • Great ally or the worst hurdle • Push Back when appropriate • Your strategy is Dead-On-Arrival without technical resources. • Never say “it is easy” • Never say “is it doable?”

#SMX #22D @JShehata

5. Find Hidden/Shared Resources Sister companies Cross promotions, Talents in other departments Link Building

•  Internal •  Vendors/affiliates •  Sponsorships •  Legal contracts •  Content syndication •  etc

#SMX #22D @JShehata

6. Show Value

17% - 35%

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7. SELL Your Projects Align your Goals with the Company’s Goals i.e. Align your Projects with the Company’s Projects Find a project sponsor

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8. Quick Wins First Don’t do any radical changes in the first 3-6 months Focus on quick wins Start with Solid Winners not Expirments Earn a reputation that your recommendations work

#SMX #22D @JShehata

9. Initiate Big Projects Small Projects Justifies Big Projects Divide Big Projects into smaller tasks Find projects that can include these tasks Focus on quick wins

#SMX #22D @JShehata

10. Choose your Battles Wisely Prioritize / Ask your manager to prioritize your work

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11. Stop Long Emails Tell A Story / Promote your success / Use Numbers

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12. Stop Whatever Doesn’t Provide Value

Task, Reports, Meetings, etc.

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13. Center of Excellence [COE] SEO Ambassadors (across sites, global, editorial, IT, etc.)

Highlight the Champ Badges / Compliance Certificate Train the trainer

#SMX #22D @JShehata

14. Education • Bi-Weekly / Monthly / Quarterly Training • Wiki • FAQ • BPGs

#SMX #22D @JShehata

15. We are Consultants!! We provide recommendations to other teams to implement!!

#SMX #22D @JShehata

16. SEO is Evolving SEO is not dead, it is Evolving, and so must you too!!

#SMX #22D @JShehata

17. Develop A Content Marketing Strategy Editorial calendar Evergreen content Product Reviews Best/Worst Lists Trending topics National vs. Local Content

#SMX #22D @JShehata

18. Mobile SEO Your Platform is no longer just desktop!

Mobile (+social) is a must App/Tablet Optimization YouTube Etc

+94%

#SMX #22D @JShehata

19. Make Them The Hero • Communicate Results to participating teams • Make others great! Focus on making the other people successful,

and you’ll earn their trust. • Make your emphasis how SEO will make them successful. • Make a big deal of giving public acknowledgement of their vital

contribution. • Respect the hard work these folks have to do that has nothing to

do with your SEO needs

#SMX #22D @JShehata

20. Less Is More • Focused recommendations • Focused emails • Focused reports • etc.

#SMX #22D @JShehata

21. Establish an SEO Process Discovery

Understand Project Goals and objectives

Traffic Sources:

Search, Social, Internal traffic?

Top Keywords: what is the

search interest?

Location on site: directory,

subdomain, page, sections,

etc.?

Do we need a CName?

Do we need a landing page (/blogs/) for all

created templates

Content: is it new content, new

content replacing existing content,

removing old content, etc.? Will page content be

delivered via Javascript, AJAX, other un-friendly

SEO technologies? do we need a separate XML

sitemap?

Design

wireframes/design comps review

breadcrumbs placements

text placement

social integrations

H1 heading tags

SEO recommenda

tions for label, layout

and links

Pre Dev.

Meta Date (page titles,

meta description, keywords)

SEO friendly URL formats

Copy Reviews: does the

page need intro/closing

copy?

Canonical tags

Social tags / Other tags

robots.txt updates if

needed

analytics integration

secure 5 links to new

content

Schema Implementati

on

QA

Quick SEO QA

Baseline analytics reports

Content in Feeds

Live

SEO BPG if needed

3,6,9 months reports

Link Building

Ranking Reports

John Shehata 2013

#SMX #22D @JShehata

SEO Roadmap Company Goals

Team/Departments

SEO Challenges & Opportuni:es

Strengths & Weaknesses

Workflow/Process

Analy:cs/Baseline reports

researching / info gathering

Technology, Code

Content, Links, Social Media

Building Targeted Keyword lists

Crawl Errors

Comp. Analysis

PM Process

Training SEO 101 Training SMO 101 Training Tech/Dev Training PM/Product Training Execu:ve Training Best Prac:ces Guides (BPG) SEO/SMO Blog/Wiki Search/Social Media Monthly NewsleQer Answering emails SEO/SMO Compliance Test Content Strategy

Low Effort, Big Wins On Page Op:miza:on Page Titles, Meta Tags HP / Sec:on Pages 302/301 Redirects Robots.txt fixes Error Pages Meta Tags / Social Tags Op:miza:on Rich Snippets Duplicate Content Canonical Tags

Big Projects List Videos / Photos Mobile Content Ver:cal Op:miza:on Universal SERPs Rich Snippets Link Building Crawl Efficiency Social Media Syndica:on

Daily Reports Monthly Reports Author Reports Category/Product

Reports Social Media Reports Project Reports Seasonal Reports

Support ongoing and new projects SEO Recos to seasonal content Provide SEO Recos to Breaking News

Discover Inform Quick Wins

Big Wins Support Report &

Analyze

#SMX #22D @JShehata

#Bonus: Be a Good Person Approachable

Available Share Knowledge Train and Train Again Invest in People, Develop Skills Optimize for Users not SE SEO

#SMX #22D @JShehata

Thanks John Shehata @JShehata

#SMX #22D @JShehata

SEO Roadmap • Discover

What are the main objectives of the site (sales, Pageviews, etc.) Know the Team (Design, IT, Legal, Editorial, Marketing, PM, Technology, Analytics) SWOT Analysis / Challenges and Opportunities Extensive Site Audit (GWT, Screaming Frog, Crawl Errors, etc.) Competitive Analysis (SEO, Social Media, Links, Rankings, etc.) Understand The PM Process / Editorial Workflow Understand Technology & Code Build Targeted KWs lists (KW research, Analytics, etc.) Build Baseline Reports (Setup – Analytics Team)

•  Define your SEO Metrics (Visits, SEO Visits, etc.) •  Identify Conversion Points (Signups, sales, etc.)



Analyze

#SMX #22D @JShehata

Maximize Enterprise SEO • Understand your Weaknesses and Strengths

Media Sites •  Lots of content •  Videos vs. Text? •  Lots of Links •  No Sales

Ecommerce

•  Lots of Products •  Same Product Description across multiple sites •  Little Unique Content •  Duplicate content

#SMX #22D @JShehata

Maximize Enterprise SEO •  Issues

– Content Overlap – Inefficient Crawling (Millions of Pages) – Too much content to optimize – One man department – Tech/Dev/Company has other priorities – Duplicate Content On Site/Off Site – Etc..

#SMX #22D @JShehata

Maximize Enterprise SEO • Questions to ask (before you start):

SEO Budget Resources Legal Tools Usability Previous SEO? Previous link building??

#SMX #22D @JShehata

SEO Roadmap •  Inform “Develop Institutional Knowledge”

Training (SEO 101, Tech/Dev Training, PM/Product Training) Executive Training: C-level executive buy-in is a must (It is not Voodoo Magic!) Best Practices Guides (BPG) / One Sheet Checklist SEO/SMO Blog/Wiki Search Monthly Newsletter Answering emails SEO Compliance Test Customize your training material



Analyze

#SMX #22D @JShehata

Maximize Enterprise SEO • Project Management Process Integration

SEO is not an afterthought (It starts before development) Understand The Process Kick Offs / Traffic Sources Expectations Requirement gathering IT / Development Design Comps Content / Internal Links Do your own QA Reports Check Changes to the site [changedetection.com]

#SMX #22D @JShehata

SEO Roadmap • Quick Wins “Low Hanging Fruit: Low Effort, Big Wins”

– Site Level Optimization –  Duplicate Content –  302/301 Redirects –  Robots.txt fixes –  Canonical Tags –  Crawl Errors, Error Pages –  Link Building (partners, affiliates, widgets, etc.)

– Template Level Optimization –  On Page Optimization (layout, Heading Tags, etc.) –  Page Titles, Meta Description, SEO Tags –  Inline Linking / Deep Linking –  Pagination



Analyze

–  Page Level Op:miza:on

–  Money Terms

–  Top 10 Paid Keywords -‐ PPC

–  Top Keywords

–  2nd Page Rankings

–  Top Exit Pages (Bounce rate)

#SMX #22D @JShehata

Low Hanging Fruits 2nd Page Rankings 1 KWs = 1,000,000 Total Local Volume

If #11 generates 2% CTR

And #10 generates 4% CTR

Moving 1 KWs from page #2 to page #1 will generate 20K more clicks

Low CTR-High Ranking Terms

#SMX #22D @JShehata

SEO Roadmap • Big Wins “Big Projects”

Rich Media Optimization: Videos, Photo Galleries, Etc. Mobile SEO Content Verticals Optimization (entertainment, tech, etc.) Universal SERP Optimization (News, Videos, Shopping, Local, Google+, etc.) Rich Snippets Link Building Campaigns Crawl Efficiency / Duplicate Content / URL Architecture Syndication Social Media



Analyze

#SMX #22D @JShehata

SEO Roadmap • Support

Support ongoing and new projects SEO Recos to seasonal content Provide SEO Recos to Breaking/Trending News SEO Recos to all new design and tech projects



Analyze

#SMX #22D @JShehata

SEO Roadmap • Reports & Analysis “Tell A Story”

Executive Summary is a Must Daily/Monthly Reports YOY, Seasonal Reports Author/Content/Product/Vertical Reports Social Media Reports Project/Event Reports Content Reports Lag/Lead Reports Promote your work //// Track traffic changes for all work done



Analyze

#SMX #22D @JShehata

Thank You @JShehata