SEO ISN’T DEADON THE EDGE 2015

Andy Williams @andywilliamsseo

A BIT ABOUT ME

11 Years Experience in SEO and Digital Marketing

Industry Award Winner For Best Use Of Organic Search – November 2010

Live and breathe social media and Digital Marketing

I love carrying out online experiments

@andywilliamsseo

…not THAT Andy Williams #OnTheEdge

A BIT ABOUT GUIDE DOGS

Guide Dogs were founded as a charitable organisation in 1934

There are nearly 4,800 Guide Dog owners in the UK

Guide Dogs UK created more than 820 new guide dog partnerships per year

The lifetime cost of a Guide Dog is around £50,000

@guidedogs

The last three years has changed SEO FOREVER

GOOGLE UPDATES…

“I hear what you’re saying, but I’m still ranking for everything”

Google has given enough warnings – do you want to risk it?

POTENTIAL SEO ISSUES

• No previous attention to SEO.

• No knowledge of recent Google updates and how they may affect them.

• Although ranking- were they missing out on any beneficial keyword rankings?

• A lot of sections to a very large website but no real connection between them.

• No longer knew which on page factors were important and which ones weren't.

POTENTIAL TECHNICAL SEO ISSUES

• A new site in the pipeline but the current site has had no technical SEO attention.

• No knowledge of potential issues.

• A lot of areas of the site unattended.

• Old pages not redirected.

• Unknown number of broken links.

• The site isn’t mobile-friendly.

OUR TARGET

• To address all potentially detrimental SEO issues.

• Uncover areas of the site that have been neglected.

• Highlight any areas not being targeted that should be.

• Carry out all the needed housekeeping to start safeguarding the future.

GET OPTIMISING

BACKLINK ANALYSIS

WHAT IS A GOOD LINK?

• From a relevant site.

• Link that brings relevant traffic to your site.

• Natural link.

• Shared link.

• Social link.

• Good PR.

• Citations.

WHAT IS A BAD LINK?

• Reciprocal links.

• Links from a low quality site.

• Paid-for links.

• Sponsored links.

• Poor quality directory links.

• Unnatural log commenting.

• Unnatural forum links.

• Blog roll links.

• Link wheels.

BACKLINK ANALYSIS TOOLS

www.kerboo.com www.majestic.com

BEFORE WE DISAVOWED

7.06% - Good Links35.91% - Suspect Links9.76% - Bad Links43.71% - Neutral Links3.56% - Low Risk Links

AFTER WE DISAVOWED

7.67% - Good Links73.7% - Neutral Links3.56% - Low Risk Links13.97% - Suspect Links1.11% - Bad Links

In Total…

Over 17,000 bad links have been disavowed

ON-PAGE SEO

Back To Basics

All On-Page SEO campaigns should START with keyword research

Google’s Keyword Planner provides valuable information

Google Suggest provides ideas of what people are searching for

Build a list of terms to work with – map them to your pages

GUIDE DOGS META – BEFORE

GUIDE DOGS META – AFTER

WHAT MAKES A GOOD TITLE TAG?

• Maximum length – 70 characters.• Would recommend aiming for around 55 – 60 characters.

• Company name on main landing pages.• Targeted keyterm or theme.• True description of the page.• If a blog post or article – the title of the post is best practice.

WHAT MAKES A GOODMETA DESCRIPTION?

• Maximum length – 155 characters.• Would recommend aiming for around 130 - 145 characters.

• Company name.• Keyterm or theme.• Unique selling point.• Description of the page.• Call to action.

Your H Headings ARE still important – Optimise them

Providing your visitors with a clear point of contact is VITAL

ALWAYS include descriptive Alt Txt for your images

Engage your audience AND create great, relevant content

WHAT SHOULD YOUR CONTENT DO?

• Keep It Simple.• Be Informative and EducateYour Audience.• Showcase Your Expertise.• Address an industry-specific problem or topic. • Tell A Story.• Provide A Call To Action.

BE CREATIVE

KEYWORD STEMMING

Do your pages guide visitors into the actions YOU want them to take?

Google’s Search Console is YOUR FRIEND!

Robots.TXT File Tester Search Analysis

Missing Meta Descriptions

Missing Title Tags

Google's Search Console offers valuable insights into how your site is performing

Crawl Errors

HTML Improvements

Links To Your Site

CRAWLER TOOL

www.screamingfrog.co.uk

TECHNICAL SEO

It is now considered that as much as 50% of SEO is Technical

TECHNICAL SEO – THE BASICS

Robots.TXT File XML Sitemap

Good Internal Linking Canonical Issues Addressed

Duplicate Content

Your site needs to be FAST - Google and your visitors demand it

https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/

There are now more mobile searches than desktop – you NEED to be mobile-friendly

https://www.google.co.uk/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/

Clean up your crawl errors – redirect unfound URL’s to RELEVANT live pages

https://validator.w3.org/

Google want you to use https – be sure you UNDERSTAND what this move could mean

SO WHERE ARE WE WITH GUIDE DOGS?

• A tidy and safe backlink profile.

• Optimised and focused the sites many microsites.

• Improved rankings for untapped fundraising opportunities.

• Noticeable improvement in organic traffic.

• Working with each department to achieve better understanding of SEO and its implications/importance.

• Addressed and fixed over 500 missing title tags.

• Awareness of all technical SEO issues.

SEO is the long game – but the sooner you start the sooner you will see the reward

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING

Website: www.andywilliamsseo.comTwitter: @andywilliamsseo

Facebook: www.facebook.com/andywilliamsseo

Image Credits:

Google Penalty - https://www.flickr.com/photos/india_7/15713478279/

Grind Gears - http://www.upswinginteractive.com/game-planfor-digital-marketing-strategy/

SEO is Evolving - http://www.polepositionmarketing.com/emp/seo-is-dead-again/

Google Updates - http://www.seosolutionsindia.com/blog/2015/06/05/google-algorithms-all-about-google-major-algorithm-updates/

Disavow - http://www.worksmedia.com.au/seo-podcast/ep26-google-disavow-tool-we-answer-the-top-10-listeners-questions/

NAP - http://www.autovitals.com/taking-a-nap-your-local-seo-company-shouldnt/do i miss something - http://www.talklocal.com/blog/

Keep Calm and Buckle Up - http://www.dmasa.org/read.asp?ID=160&title=Don_t_forget_to_buckle_up_when_travelling_over_the_long_weekend!

Back To Basics - http://www.actioncoach.com/Back-to-Basics?pressid=1171

Where To Start - http://blog.lifestyleforhealth.com/where-do-i-start/

Kerboo - http://www.stateofdigital.com/kerboo-guide/

Majestic seo - www.majestic.com

To Be Continued - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n33k5EhSIzY

SEO 101 - http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2123164/basics-seo-101

What If I Told You SEO Wasnt Dead - http://www.rankboost.de/xovilichter/

Dog On The Phone - http://homeinspiration99.ga/photos/dog-on-the-phone-video.html

H Headings - http://www.iblognet.com/importance-of-heading-tags-in-seo.html

NAP - https://nuyella.wordpress.com/tag/name-address-phone-number/

Content is King - http://deeterusa.com/content-is-king/

Image Credits:

Keyword Stemming - http://www.slideshare.net/yaminmalik/keyword-research-basics2

What Do you Want Me To Do? - http://www.purrfectpetsitting.net/pet-sitting/you-want-me-to-do-what-second-edition-of-strange-pet-sitting-requests/

Search Console - http://blog.boostability.com/google-webmaster-tools-gets-rebranded-to-google-search-console/

Screaming Frog - https://www.linkedin.com/company/screaming-frog

Technical SEO - http://lerablog.org/internet/seo/seo-for-beginners-how-to-succeed/

What Are You Looking For? - http://vive-boquete.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/fwd-what-are-you-looking-for_10.html

Site Speed - http://www.websitecamp.com/website-speed-matters-in-google-search-ranking

Mobile Friendly - http://www.e-xanthos.co.uk/blog/google-will-rank-mobile-friendly-websites-higher-starting-april-21st/

Broken Links - http://blog.siteimprove.com/web-governance-blog/the-cost-of-your-websites-broken-links

Redirects - http://sherodesigns.com/magento-301-redirects-and-how-to-properly-implement-them/

Clean Code - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LUNr4AeLZM

http vs https - https://plus.google.com/113964510135174522484/posts

Site Speed Checker - https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed

w3c validation - http://www.shahnetindia.com/w3c-validation-services.html

Homer - http://memegenerator.net/instance/60065161

Alt TXT - https://www.pinterest.com/pin/359443613987214826/

Sit Back And Relax - http://www.facetmarketinggroup.com/2013/11/07/jewelry-consultant-just-sit-back-and-leave-the-logistics-to-us/

Dont ‘Get Left Behind - http://www.gamification.co/2012/11/12/dont-be-left-behind-think-differently-about-loyalty/