DFWSEM - March 2016 SEO Update

2016 DFWSEM – March 2016 SEO Update

March 2016 SEO Update


About Me

• Senior SEO Strategist, Globe Runner

• Founder, DFWSEM Association in 2004

• Brand Ambassador, Majestic.com

• Personal Blog: www.BillHartzer.com

• Practicing Organic/Natural SEO since 1996


Overview• SEO Basics

• Google Search Results Changes

• HTTP vs. HTTPs

• New gTLD Domain Extensions

• Google Panda and Penguin

• SEO Audits

• Social Media and SEO

• SEO Factors Often Overlooked


Keywords• Overall topic, then two word and long tail keywords

• Theme pyramid for Site Structure


Use Keyword Tools for Suggestions• Use keyword tools to get content ideas

• SEMrush.com, Google Keyword Planner

• KeywordTool.io, ubersuggest.org

• Your Google Analytics (limited use)

• Your Google Search Console, Search Analytics


Main On-page SEO elements


Title Tag• Keyword at Beginning of Title Tag

• Bad Example:

<Title>DFWSEM – Dallas SEO</title>

• Better:

• <Title>Dallas SEO - DFWSEM</title>


Heading Tags

• One H1 Tag per Page, Multiple H2, H3 tags OK

• Many CMS & themes insert blank H1 tags, multiple tags

• Example for “about” page: <H1>About Us</H1>


Keyword Mentions in Text


Internal Anchor Text Links


Image Alt Attributes


Link Structure and Spidering• Use SEO tools to spider your site

• All pages need internal links to rank well

• Ideally no internal 301 redirects or 404 errors


Inbound Links• All pages needs external links

• Links from other websites, links from social media

• Social media mentions help get links from sites

• Review your links using link tools

• Majestic.com, Google Search Console, Ahrefs.com


Link Development• Use social media to get links (share great content)

• Use media outreach, blogger outreach

• Pitchbox.com, Buzzstream.com

• Competitors' links to find links


Latest SEO Issues



2016 DFWSEM – March 2016 SEO Update2016 DFWSEM – March 2016 SEO Update

Google Search Results – AdWords Ads• No effect Knowledge Graph

• Quality Score bigger role

• Ad must be in top 4

• Too soon to predict impact




Google Spam Reports from Users• Takes Action On 65% Of User Generated Spam Reports

• 35,000 user-generated spam reports monthly

• Prioritize spam reports based on how significant to users

• Some users better at spam reporting, get prioritized

• http://bit.ly/reportgooglespam




HTTP vs. HTTPs• Move ALL websites to HTTPs, not just ecommerce sites

• Fix all internal links, .JS, .CSS, image files, etc.

• Use 301 Permanent Redirects

• All link juice, Domain Authority, etc. passes 100%

• Verify HTTPs version of site in Google Search Console

• Re-upload Google Disavow file for HTTPs version of site

• CloudFlare.com offers FREE SSL certificates




New gTLD Domain Extensions• 800+ New Endings Are Here to Stay

• Sites are Migrating with Success

• Easy to move, use 301s & Google Change of Address

• Take advantage of better domain name

• Keyword in Ending helps AdWords Quality Score

• Plenty of sites going up in organic rankings after moving

• Sites failed are using 302s and mirrors of sites.




Google Penguin• Still waiting for a Google Penguin update

• They say it'll be released when it's ready

• Imperative that you review your links on regular basis

• Most sites have some link issues, low quality links

• Manually review links from using several sources

(GSC, Majestic, Ahrefs, OSE, etc.)

• Link Research Tools to review links, upload disavow

• Remove links if unnatural or if negative SEO




Google Panda• Biggest issue plaguing sites is duplicate content

• Many CMS can generate dupe content, like WordPress

• Use Site Liner www.SiteLiner.com to identify duplicates

• Example: not using "more" tag in WP to split posts




SEO Audits• Use crawlers to review site

• Deep Crawl

• Screaming Frog SEO Spider

• Moz

• SEMRush.com

• Review Google Search Console




Social Media Playing Bigger Role in SEO• Social media marketing & promo is key now

• Get new URLs crawled quickly

• Google looks for real social engagement by real people

• We boosted rankings to first page by only using social




Top 5 SEO Factors Often Overlooked• Use of Schema.org Markup on site

• Page Load Speed, Use of CDN to speed up site

• Duplicate Content Issues

• Link Issues, Lack of Domain Authority and Trust

• Not using social media to boost on-site content


Contact Me

Bill HartzerSenior SEO StrategistGlobe Runner SEOEmail: [email protected]: (214) 236-4378Office: (972) 538-0260

Web: https://globerunner.comBlog: https://www.billhartzer.comTwitter: @bhartzerFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/bhartzer

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DFWSEM - March 2016 SEO Update