seo fundamentals - a look under the hood of google serps in 2014
DESCRIPTION
A presentation I did on the fundamentals of SEO in 2014 (so far). This presentation takes a look under the hood of Google and the positioning of its organic search results. What Google search used to be, what it is today and where Google are heading in the future. If you're after an overview of SEO in 2014, or even just a high level overview of the basics of SEO in general, then this presentation is a pretty good place to start. Hope you enjoy.TRANSCRIPT
SEO FundamentalsGoogle, SERPs, & all the fun stuff
Introduction to Next Digital
Offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Manilla and Shanghai
Full service digital strategy & execution
180 employees
Integrated marketing solution experts
Dedicated search marketing team
A little bit about Google
The Google of Yesterday
The Google of Today
The Google of Tomorrow
Let’s talk SEO
SEO Pillars
Effective SEO can be broken down into 4 key elements
Technical Content
Offsite / Promotion Search Ecosystem
Technical
Technical SEO aims to ensure your site has a solid foundation that allows for optimal crawling and user interaction.
There are many signals search engines use relating to your site, including but not limited to :
DomainHostingTaggingInternal linkingBroken links and errorsDuplicate contentXML sitemapsSub-domainsSSL and secure configALT tags
Robots.txt fileJavaScript integrationRich SnippetsSchema mark-upSite speedHeader configURL structureMeta RobotsAccessibilityMobile accessibility
Analytics Tag managementWidgets and PluginsImage linksBacklink profileTitlesGeo-TargetingImage optimisationCanonical TagsRedirects
Provide Answers
Titles & headlines
Conversational content
Utilise audience voice and intent
Overall domain authority for the topic
Sub headings that address specifics
“Google is an answers engine. SEO is about finding what questions are being asked, and providing a better answer than anyone else”
Research & Targeting
Internal searches
Trending conversations
Competitors
Have an idea? Google it first.
Google Keyword Planner
“Locate opportunities from your data and your competitors”
Titles & Meta
56 characters for Page Titles (incl spaces)160 characters for Meta description (incl spaces)
Meta Keywords is a dead field
“Old school fundamentals are still important for SEO”
Imagery
Image file names
ALT text
Title tags
Surrounding content
Original imagery
Avoid Stock Imagery
“Images are the 2nd most popular search results. Capitalise on this audience”
Authorship
Personalisation
Influence & authority
Branding
Association
Measurable
“Authorship is expected to play a key role in the direction of search in the future”
Video Integration
Verify YouTube page
Optimise YouTube Channel
Tagging of videos
In depth descriptions on YouTube
Video Sitemaps on site
Encourage comments
Engage with comments & on videos
“Integrating video into search increases CTR/conversion by 160%”
Evergreen Content
Make content work harder for longer
• Catering historical content to trends• Re-promote when relevant• Refer to older articles when relevant
“Updating older content can reinvigorate conversations and sharing”
Penalties
Major updates have major impacts on the internet
“Algorithm updates occur almost daily, following the rules is vital forlong term success. ”
The Don’t Do’s of SEO
Spam or create irrelevant press releasesUse article submission software or servicesPop-ups, pop-under’s and malwareJump on every social networkCreate nonsense contentOverdo exact match anchor textSpammy title tags
Buy linksKeyword stuffTry to game the algorithmBuy editorialCloak functionalityCreate gateway sitesDuplicate / clone contentSpam commentsParticipate in link exchangesHide text
“Whatever you do online, do it for readers – not robots. ”
Editorial vs Advertorial
“Please be wary if someone approaches you and wants to pay you for links or "advertorial" pages on your site that pass PageRank. Selling links (or entire advertorial pages with embedded links) that pass PageRank violates our quality guidelines, and Google does take action on such violations.”
Google Feb 2013
“Un-cited paid advertorial will now result in penalties. ”
Linking“Outbound links are the greyest area of SEO at present. NoFollowing isthe safest bet for outgoing links”
User Generated Content
Add user voice
Increase freshness
Increase relevance
Increase engagement
“User generated content can have massive benefits for sites, as longAs implementation is correct”
Social Sharing
Direct influence Indirect influence
“Encouraging sharing and conversation via search has both direct and indirect benefits to SEO”
Google“Google is increasing providing their own answers to questions, optimisingwith and for their services is vital or search engine survival”
Q&A
http://daylandoes.com
@daylandoes
Plus.google.com/+daylanpearce
Thank youwww.nextdigital.com