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Presentation for members of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board wanting to take their SEO to the next level.
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Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2014 Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2014
SEO; Beyond the Basics Barry Adams NITB ICT Masterclass 30 January 2014
Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2014
Barry Adams
• Digital Services Director at Pierce Communications
• Built my first website in 1995, started my career in all
things online in 1997
• Specialisation in SEO
• Dutch (yes, really)
• Lecturer on SEO & Digital Strategy for UU, QUB, DMI
Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2014
Agenda
SEO Basics
Google+Local
Schema.org Structured Data
Content Strategy for SEO
Linkbuilding
Google Webmaster Tools
Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2014
SEO Basics
Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2014
Definition of SEO:
Wikipedia: Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the "natural" or un-paid ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results.
Getting more relevant traffic to websites via search engines' organic results.
Search Engine Optimisation
Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2014
Why is SEO important?
Search Engine Usage
89% of all online purchases in the UK begin with a search
95% of all UK Internet users choose Google as their preferred search engine
Organic search results receive over 75% of all clicks
91% of users do not look past the first page of search results
Worldwide Internet Usage
Over 2 billion users online
150 billion searches a month (that’s more than 49,000 searches/second)
51.4 milion users (82.5% of the population)
In April 2010, Google received 4.1 billion search page views in the UK
The UK internet economy is worth £121 billion = 8.3% of UK gross domestic product
UK Internet Usage
Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2014
http://www.nitb.com/businesssupport/growyourbusiness/onlinemarketing.aspx
Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2014
SEO is about two things:
Relevance Authority
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Relevance & Authority:
Keywords Links
Keywords match a search query to a webpage.
Links determine which webpage ranks highest.
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The SEO process:
Keyword Research
On-Page Optimisation
Linkbuilding
Find the right keywords to optimise for
Implement those keywords on the website Make the website search-engine friendly
Build links to the website to increase its authority
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The Long Tail of search words
Source: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/illustrating-the-long-tail
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Google+Local
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Google Hotel Finder
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Local Results
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Google Maps = Google Places = Google+
• Claim your Google+ page
• Ensure all information is correct
Incl opening hours, categorisation, contact details, etc
• Add/update photos
• Get reviews
• Get some more reviews
• Get lots & lots of reviews…
Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2014
Outside of G+, you need ‘citations’
• Citations:
A mention of your business on a 3rd party website (ideally with address & contact details)
• Citation sources:
Local directories (Yelp, 192, Scoot, Hotfrog, etc)
Mentions in news articles / blog posts
Roundup lists are great for this (e.g. “Top 10 Maritime Themed Places to Visit in Belfast”)
Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2014
Schema.org Structured Data
Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2014
Schema.org structured data
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Structured data / microdata
“On-page markup enables search engines to understand the information on web pages and provide richer search results in order to make it easier for users to find relevant information on the web. Markup can also enable new tools and applications that make use of the structure.”
Quoted from schema.org
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What does it do?
It turns this:
…in to this:
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Google currently supports:
• Reviews
• People
• Products
• Businesses and organizations
• Recipes
• Events
• Music
• Videos
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Content Strategy for SEO
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Content Strategy
“A content strategy for a website is a plan for the creation, publication, distribution, and management of content in various formats – text, video, images, interactive – that helps establish the online brand as a leader in its industry.”
Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2014
Content Strategy for SEO
• Optimised content will contain the right keywords in the right places, thus increasing the website’s relevance.
• Engaging content will be shared and linked to, thus increasing the website’s authority.
Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2014
Aspects of a Content Strategy
1. Set Objectives
2. Define Your Audience
3. Create a Content Calendar
4. Plan Your Content Promotion
5. Engage With Your Readers
6. Measure & Refine
Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2014
Linkbuilding
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Linkbuilding
• Content alone is not enough to build authority.
• Approximately 60%-70% of Google’s ranking algorithms are link-based.
Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2014
But… Google doesn’t like linkbuilding
“Any links intended to manipulate PageRank or a site's ranking in Google search results may be considered part of a link scheme and a violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.”
Source: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/66356?hl=en
Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2014
So what’s a SEO to do?
• We have to tread carefully and ensure that we acquire only ‘natural’ links.
• That means we have to earn them.
• Earned links are (or appear to be) entirely valid recommendations from one website to another.
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Linkbait
• Content published on your own site that…
… is informative;
… is entertaining;
… is inspiring;
… has viral potential;
• So that it naturally attracts links.
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Linkbait types
• Definitive guides / resources
• Top 10 lists
• Infographics
• Controversy
• Quirky angles on old topics
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Outreach Linkbuilding
‘Outreach’ is basically PR for SEO purposes;
1. Research link prospects
2. Approach them with a personalised message
3. Offer to write guest content for their website/blog
4. Include a link in that guest article
It’s a lot of manual effort - exactly what Google intends.
Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2014
Google Webmaster Tools
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Google Webmaster Tools
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Structured Data
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Search Queries
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Sitemaps
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Crawl Errors
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SEO; Beyond the Basics
Google+Local
Schema.org Structured Data
Content Strategy for SEO
Linkbuilding
Google Webmaster Tools
Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2014 Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2014
Questions?
[email protected] http://www.piercecommunications.co.uk http://twitter.com/badams