seo for today's market · your going to be hearing a lot about google through out this...

SEO For Today’s Market

Welcome!

We’re going to be covering a lot of ground today with a lot of information so we’re going to save a few minutes at the end of our talk to go through some of the questions that will come up. We’ll also have a copy of todays presentation available for you to download and the url for that will be posted on the last slide.

• Mobile Google Updates• Mobile• Content Marketing• Social Media• LocalSEO

We’re going to start by talking about the most recent updates that have been coming out from Google. Then we’re going to talk about the impact that a lot of the other digital marketing channels like Content Marketing, Social Media, and most importantly we’re going to talk about Mobile and it’s impact on search.

Then we’re going to review LocalSEO and talk about what it is, how it’s different from regular SEO and why it’s a really important channel to be using.

Your going to be hearing a lot about Google through out this presentation for one simple reason. They are still the 800 pound gorilla in the room. As goes Google so goes the industry. As of September 2016 Googles Share Of Search was 82.06%! Compare that to the #2 search engine, Bing, who has only 9.71% of the search market. It’s really easy to see why we have to make sure that we are playing by Google’s rules.

82.06%

9.71%

GlobalStats

Your going to be hearing a lot about Google through out this presentation for one simple reason. They are still the 800 pound gorilla in the room. As goes Google so goes the industry. As of September 2016 Googles Share Of Search was 82.06%! Compare that to the #2 search engine, Bing, who has only 9.71% of the search market. It’s really easy to see why we have to make sure that we are playing by Google’s rules.

Every couple of years we start to hear all of the marketing gurus start talking about SEO being dead, irrelevant, and not worth the time or effort. It’s important to stop this rumor once and for all. SEO isn’t dead, it’s just changing.

In the past everyone was focusing on stuffing keywords in Meta Descriptions, paid directory listings, micro-sites for keywords, keyword stuffing on pages, and cloaking, just to name a few. A lot of these tactics are considered spam, by Google, and the on-going updates that they have with their algorithm continues to eliminate these tactics.

In 2015 Google had over 500 major updates or tweaks to its algorithm. That’s almost 2 per day!

Again

Every couple of years we start to hear all of the marketing gurus start talking about SEO being dead, irrelevant, and not worth the time or effort. It’s important to stop this rumor once and for all. SEO isn’t dead, it’s just changing.

In the past everyone was focusing on stuffing keywords in Meta Descriptions, paid directory listings, micro-sites for keywords, keyword stuffing on pages, and cloaking, just to name a few. A lot of these tactics are considered spam, by Google, and the on-going updates that they have with their algorithm continues to eliminate these tactics.

In 2015 Google had over 500 major updates or tweaks to its algorithm. That’s almost 2 per day!

• Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines.

• Don't deceive your users. • Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine

rankings. A good rule of thumb is whether you'd feel comfortable explaining what you've done to a website that competes with you, or to a Google employee. Another useful test is to ask, "Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn't exist?"

• Think about what makes your website unique, valuable, or engaging. Make your website stand out from others in your field.

Here’s what Google says about how to get top rankings on their search engine:1) Create a site with content for your audience. Make sure that the information that you put on your site is valuable to the people that you want to get to your site2) Don’t trick visitors. Don’t run an ad for a product or service that you don’t provide3) Don’t game the search engines! You will be found and the punishments can be harsh4) Distinguish your site with your Unique Value Proposition

In 2015 Google had over 500 major updates or tweaks to its algorithm. That’s almost 2 per day! SEO is an ever changing channel.

The Penguin update was first released in 2012 with the sole purpose of fighting search engine spam. Penguin was running on a periodic basis catching and penalizing sites that we’re trying to spam the system. <click>Some of the things that Penguin looks for is (READ TABLE)As I’ve mentioned, search is a constantly evolving channel and Penguin is no exception. In September of this year, we saw the 4th major release to the Penguin update. The purpose of this update was to • Be more page specific as opposed to being site wide• No longer run periodically. It is now running in real timehttp://searchengineland.com/google-updates-penguin-says-now-real-time-part-core-algorithm-259302

Bad Backlinks Doorway Pages

Keyword Stuffing Thin content

Duplicate Contnet Top Heavy Ads

Cloaking Etc

Redirects

The Penguin update was first released in 2012 with the sole purpose of fighting search engine spam. Penguin was running on a periodic basis catching and penalizing sites that we’re trying to spam the system. <click>Some of the things that Penguin looks for is (READ TABLE)As I’ve mentioned, search is a constantly evolving channel and Penguin is no exception. In September of this year, we saw the 4th major release to the Penguin update. The purpose of this update was to • Be more page specific as opposed to being site wide• No longer run periodically. It is now running in real timehttp://searchengineland.com/google-updates-penguin-says-now-real-time-part-core-algorithm-259302

Possum is the most recent update that is focused exclusively on Google’s Local Search 3pack. This update happened in September of this year and it’s purpose is actually to help local businesses get found easier.

For example, you might have a Doctors office that has three separate listings (name or suite address) for individual practitioners and then one listing for the practice itself. These separate profiles would all link to the same website and use the same phone number. Usually, only one or two of these would show up in the local results, and the others would be filtered. The possem update is intended to help with this situation.Additionally:• Fix business outside of city limits• Fix shared phone or domain• Filter on address and affiliationhttp://searchengineland.com/everything-need-know-googles-possum-algorithm-update-258900

3-Pack

Possum is the most recent update that is focused exclusively on Google’s Local Search 3pack. This update happened in September of this year and it’s purpose is actually to help local businesses get found easier.

For example, you might have a Doctors office that has three separate listings (name or suite address) for individual practitioners and then one listing for the practice itself. These separate profiles would all link to the same website and use the same phone number. Usually, only one or two of these would show up in the local results, and the others would be filtered. The possem update is intended to help with this situation.Additionally:• Fix business outside of city limits• Fix shared phone or domain• Filter on address and affiliationhttp://searchengineland.com/everything-need-know-googles-possum-algorithm-update-258900

Make no mistake about how serious Google is about Mobile! They’ve told us repeatedly that we have to get our Digital House In Order and make sure that websites are mobile-friendly. The first sign that they were taking this seriously was in April of `15 when they announced an algorithm update that made mobile-friendliness a ranking signal. This update had such an impact on rankings it was and still is referred to as Mobile-Geddon.

Now, Google is back, telling us that they are going to “boost” ranking signals of websites that were mobile-friendly. This means that if your site was mobile-friendly you would see an boost in your ranking against a similarly optimized site that wasn’t mobile-friendly.http://searchengineland.com/google-boost-mobile-friendly-algorithm-coming-may-244941

Ranking signal boost for mobile friendly sites

SERP ChangesAdWords left column gone4 Top ads3 Bottom adsMax of 7 down from 11Increased complexity

No AdWords Column


Organic

No AdWords Column


Mobile’s Impact On SEO

Ok, that wraps up a quick over view of some of the major changes that we’ve seen this year. Now let’s take a look at Mobile’s impact on SEO! Mobile is HUGE. In fact for the first time, there are more searches performed on a mobile device than on a desktop. Kinda tells us why Google is so serious about mobile and why they are now looking at the mobile-friendliness of a webpage as a ranking signal.

There are a couple of areas of mobile that you’ll want to pay really close attention to so that you don’t get hit with a poor mobile score from Google. • Your site’s structure• Your site’s speed• Your site’s usability

So, you’ve been hearing a lot about being mobile-friendly, but you’re probably curious as to what mobile-friendly means.

AMP = Accelerated Mobile PagesA way to build websites that will load faster than currentlySet of standards to fit Google's AMP CacheCode has to be written specifically for AMP

URL Stay The Same HTML Stay The Same

Responsive

Dynamic Serving

Separate URL

Let’s talk about the structure of your site and how to make it work properly on mobile devices. There are 3 structures that Google has identified as mobile-friendly:1) Responsive: Serves the same HTML code on the same URL regardless of the users’ device (desktop, tablet, mobile, non-visual browser), but can render the display

differently (i.e., “respond”) based on the screen size. Responsive design is Google’s recommended design pattern. Google Recommended2) Dynamic Serving: Uses the same URL regardless of device, but generates a different version of HTML for different device types based on what the server knows

about the user’s browser.3) Separate URL: Serves different code to each device, and on separate URLs. This configuration tries to detect the users’ device, then redirects to the appropriate page

using HTTP redirects along with the Vary HTTP header.Google does have a preference <click>

URL Stay The Same HTML Stay The Same

Responsive

Dynamic Serving

Separate URL

Google Likes This

Let’s talk about the structure of your site and how to make it work properly on mobile devices. There are 3 structures that Google has identified as mobile-friendly:1) Responsive: Serves the same HTML code on the same URL regardless of the users’ device (desktop, tablet, mobile, non-visual browser), but can render the display

differently (i.e., “respond”) based on the screen size. Responsive design is Google’s recommended design pattern. Google Recommended2) Dynamic Serving: Uses the same URL regardless of device, but generates a different version of HTML for different device types based on what the server knows

about the user’s browser.3) Separate URL: Serves different code to each device, and on separate URLs. This configuration tries to detect the users’ device, then redirects to the appropriate page

using HTTP redirects along with the Vary HTTP header.Google does have a preference <click>

Design For Mobile1. Rethink the “fold” Mobile users scroll, its what they do! The people over at marketing experiments tested the theory of above the fold CTA’s and actually had a 20%

increase in conversions just by moving the form below the fold (the bottom of the page) actually http://www.marketingexperiments.com/blog/marketing-insights/call-to-action-errors.html

2. Recognize that mobile is changing the way that people are using the web and make sure that your site is fulfilling what they have come looking for and make it really easy for them to find it.

1. Increase the site of your buttons2. Minimize large files (images)3. Make it easy to get back to the home page4. Keep menus short5. Use site search!!

Instant. Everywhere.

Google’s Accelerated Mobile Project (AMP) project is focusing on delivering mobile content in a near immediate format. The focus of AMP is a way to optimize both content and code to deliver a better user experience. Because AMP uses the infrastructure of a website to accomplish the speed of loading, how your site’s are built are going to be more important than it ever has been in the past.

This is going to bleed over to your search rankings as mobile signals increase in importance, making sure that your site is AMP optimized will go directly to your SEO rankings.

A recent survey by Kiss Metrics found that for every 1second delay in a page loading on a mobile device, a 7% decrease in conversions is possible!

Instant. Everywhere.

A 1sec delay can cause a 7% decrease in conversions!

Google’s Accelerated Mobile Project (AMP) project is focusing on delivering mobile content in a near immediate format. The focus of AMP is a way to optimize both content and code to deliver a better user experience. Because AMP uses the infrastructure of a website to accomplish the speed of loading, how your site’s are built are going to be more important than it ever has been in the past.

This is going to bleed over to your search rankings as mobile signals increase in importance, making sure that your site is AMP optimized will go directly to your SEO rankings.

A recent survey by Kiss Metrics found that for every 1second delay in a page loading on a mobile device, a 7% decrease in conversions is possible!

Content Marketing & SEO

Content marketing is a term that has really caught hold over the last couple of years, but it’s been around for a very very long time.Like PB&JOriginal and Quality ContentAre you an authorityDo people find your content valuableContent/KeywordsContent FreshnessInternal Linking

Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable,

relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to

drive profitable customer action.{ }

Content Marketing Institute

Here’s how the Content Marketing Institute has defined content marketing. Basically, Instead of pitching your products or services, content marketing means you are providing truly relevant and useful content to your prospects and customers to help them solve their issues.

Content Marketing SEO

So, when we look at SEO through the content marketing prism we find all kinds of ways that content marketing impacts SEO. Both content marketing and SEO intertwine. By writing great valuable content, you are in fact increasing the likelihood that your site will get ranked higher.• SEO states the requirements. Content marketing fulfills them.• SEO Requires original and quality content. Content marketing makes it happen• Content marketing shows you to be the authority. SEO requires you to be an authority• Because of content marketing people find your content valuable. SEO requires engagement.• Content/Keywords• Content Freshness• Internal Linking•

The next best way to use content marketing in support of SEO is to develop linkable content. These are content pieces like blog posts, knowledge base articles, product pages, how-to videos, virtually any type of content that people will find interesting enough to put a link to. This does 2 things1) It creates great quality content that will educate and inform your audience about your service, products or industry.2) It will create back-links which are one of the strongest SEO signals that there is.

http://searchengineland.com/content-seo-building-linkable-content-259166

Social Media & SEO

Does social media impact SEO? You bet it does!

Social media has become one of the fastest if not the fastest adopted channel we’ve ever seen.• 86% of marketers chose Facebook for their marketing ads• 90% of marketers said that social media is important to their business~2016 report by Social Media Marketing

YES!

Ok, so social is really popular right now, but does social impact SEO? Well, let’s answer this directly from Google’s very own Matt Cutts. In a 2010 video Matt told us that Yes, social does impact search signals. In fact Matt stated specifically, “yes, we do use Tw & Fb links in ranking…”<click>Then, in 2014 Matt came back to tell us that Nope, don’t use social for SEO rankings. So, does social media impact SEO? This time Matt said "…you have this many followers on twitter or this many likes on Facebook, to the best of my knowledge, we don’t currently have any signals like that in our web search ranking algorithms. – Matt Cutts, Google Webmasters YouTube Channel, 1/2014"

YES!

NO!

Ok, so social is really popular right now, but does social impact SEO? Well, let’s answer this directly from Google’s very own Matt Cutts. In a 2010 video Matt told us that Yes, social does impact search signals. In fact Matt stated specifically, “yes, we do use Tw & Fb links in ranking…”<click>Then, in 2014 Matt came back to tell us that Nope, don’t use social for SEO rankings. So, does social media impact SEO? This time Matt said "…you have this many followers on twitter or this many likes on Facebook, to the best of my knowledge, we don’t currently have any signals like that in our web search ranking algorithms. – Matt Cutts, Google Webmasters YouTube Channel, 1/2014"

Rather than thinking of social as having direct impact on SEO, it’s better to think of it as the correlation between social activity and SEO. • a mutual relationship or connection between two or more things: research showed a clear correlation between recession and levels of property crime.• Does social sharing directly impact rankings? NoGoogle: "…you have this many followers on twitter or this many likes on Facebook, to the best of my knowledge, we don’t currently have any signals like that in our web search ranking algorithms. – Matt Cutts, Google Webmasters YouTube Channel, 1/2014"

Sharing can lead to links, links lead to higher rankings•

Social Correlation

The number of social shares a page accumulates tends to show a positive correlation with that page’s SEO rankings.

Although there is strong reason to believe Google doesn’t use social share counts directly in its algorithm, there are many secondary SEO benefits to be gained through successful social sharing.

LocalSEO

LOCAL SEO

Local SEO is focused on providing results that are relevant to a searcher based on their current locationAny business that gets some or all of its customers or clients locally should consider local SEO.

Same on-page as reg SEOPlusNAPReviewsOverall postive avgProbably trumps citationsCitationsConsistentQuantity

8.50%

9.50%

5.00%

8.40%

20.00%20.30%

13.60%

14.70%

My Business SignalsExternal Location SignalsOn-page SignalsLink SignalsReview SignalsSocial SignalsBehavioral/Mobile SignalsPersonalization

Moz: Sept 2015

Top Ranking Factors

What to do nextWhat Next?

1) Get your team together and start developing a plan for how to use the digital channels that will work best for your business or company2) Analyze where you are, currently, in terms of search visibility (enter tool here)3) Make sure that your site is mobile-friendly (enter tool here)4) Commit to quality and consistent content (what can we give them here)5) Use the right social channels with a plan (tool)

What to do nextgoogle.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly

Mobile-Friendly Test

SEO Rankings

SEMRush.comSpyFu.com

Content Marketing

Feedly.com - Content ideas

Visual.ly - Infographics

3SixtyInteractive.com/SBAM-Webinar

1) Analyze where you are, currently, in terms of search visibility (enter tool here)2) Make sure that your site is mobile-friendly (enter tool here)3) Commit to quality and consistent content (what can we give them here)4) Use the right social channels with a plan (tool)

Questions?

Questions?

seo for today's market · your going to be hearing a lot about google through out this...

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