The document is a presentation about how to become a leading SEO mechanic. It discusses assessing websites to diagnose SEO issues, then fixing those issues. It recommends always using free tools from Google and Bing to audit websites. Specifically, it suggests using the Google Search results and features like sitelinks to evaluate a brand's online reputation and visibility. Finally, it provides examples of title and meta tag issues that could be fixed.

1. Assess.
Diagnose.
Fix.
How
to
Become
a
Leading
SEO
Mechanic
Grant
Simmons
Director,
SEO
&
Social
Product
The
Search
Agency
Chicago
•
November
4–7,
2013
•
#SESCHI
@SESConf

2. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
The
Search
Agency
Grant
Simmons
@simmonet
Father.
Marketer.
SEO.
Sailor.
But
not
necessarily
in
that
order
when
there’s
a
fair
wind…

3. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Assess.
Diagnose.
Fix.
Agency
scenario
• Business
Development
• 2
audits
a
week
• No
access
to
historical
data
• No
access
to
analyTcs
• Provide
insights
&
opportuniTes
• Show
value
of
fixing
/
engaging
• Ask
&
inspire
quesHons

4. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
The
Fix
Dilemma
•
•
•
•
Always
ask
Don’t
think
you’re
smartest
guy
in
the
room
There
are
oYen
concerns
or
challenges
Strive
for
“least
imperfect”

5. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Assess
/
Diagnose
tools
@simmonet

6. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
“
Give
me
a
lever
long
enough
and
a
fulcrum
on
which
to
place
it,
and
I
shall
move
the
(SEO)
world.
”
Archimedes
@simmonet

7. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Affordable
is
nice….
☺
…
Free
is
be`er!
@simmonet

8. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
From
the
Horse’s
Mouth

9. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Google
has
great
(free)
SEO
tools!
•
•
•
•
•
•
Webmaster
Tools
/webmasters
AnalyTcs
/analyTcs
Real
Time
Insights
/think/tools/real-­‐Tme-­‐insights.html
Pagespeed
/developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/
Trends
/
Correlate
/trends
/trends/correlate
Keyword
Planner
/adwords.google.com/keywordplanner
…
and
the
Google
search
results!

10. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
But…
Don’t
Forget
Bing*
*Bing = Bing Is Not Google
Content
is
the
reason
Keyword
research
is
the
beacon
Quality
is
your
watch
word
Authority
is
your
goal
Niche
is
your
star8ng
point
User
Experience
is
your
religion…
…and
use
the
free
tools
provided.
Duane
Forrester,
Sr.
Product
Manager
–
Bing
Webmaster
Tools

11. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Okay…
Now
Forget
Bing
☺
@simmonet

12. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Okay…
Now
Forget
Bing
☺
@simmonet

13. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Okay…
Now
Forget
Bing
Sorry
Duane
@simmonet

14. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Google
Search
Results
SERP
@simmonet

15. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Google
SERP
is
great…
…
and
who
is
going
to
argue
with
Google?

16. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Google
SERP
is
great
to
assess:
Key
SEO
Components
• Onsite
Relevance
• Offsite
Authority

17. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Onsite
Relevance
•
•
•
•
•
Core
SEO
elements
Crawl
challenges
Content
issues
Internal
linking
Markup
Image: My Local SEO Guy

18. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Offsite
Authority
• “Digital
Footprint”
• ReputaTon
Image: Travel Research Online

19. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
How
many
of
you…
☺
@simmonet

20. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
How
many
of
you…
Google
yourselves?
☺
@simmonet

21. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
How
many
of
you…
Google
your
brand?
☺
@simmonet

22. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Google
Brand
•
•
•
•
•
Shows
what’s
brand
relevant
Shows
order
of
relevance
Highlights
digital
footprint
Demonstrates
reputaTon
Provides
compeTTve
insights
++
Danger
Will
Robinson!
Sign
Out!
Image: Content Verve

23. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Google
Brand
•
•
•
•
•
Homepage
1st
Title
/
Meta
Knowledge
Graph
Sitelinks
“Digital
Footprint”
– Social,
News,
Universal
• Paid
Ads
• Authorship
• ReputaTon
@simmonet

24. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Examples
@simmonet

25. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Title
/
Meta
(with
caveats)
Google may show brand only | Google decides what to show
Fix?

26. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
ReputaTon
• Results
that
suck
(traffic)
• Assess
difficulty
– Age
/
authority
– Friendly
assets
Fix?

27. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Sitelinks
~
Internal
Linking
Fix?

28. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Digital
Footprint
• Social
visibility
• Universal
results
What
can
you
influence?
What
can
you
control?
Where
are
the
opportuniTes?
Fix?

29. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Markup
/
Authorship
• See
nothing
when
you
should
– RaTngs
/
reviews
– Authorship
headshot
– OpportuniTes
Assess / Diagnose:
www.google.com/webmasters/tools/richsnippets
Learn:
www.schema.org
Fix?

30. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Discoveries
Click
through
min.
3
pages
• Found
old
affiliate
page
• STll
in
index
Fix?

31. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Quick
site:
Tp
Possibly
find
• Robots.txt
• HTML
sitemap
• XML
Sitemap
–
In
robots.txt?
☺
@simmonet

32. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Quick
Fact
>
20%
of
queries
on
Google
every
day
have
never
been
seen
before
☺
38%
are
about
Miley
Cyrus
Twerking
@simmonet

33. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Are
you
tweeHng
this
stuff?
☺
@simmonet

34. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Your
best
friend
-­‐
Site:
• Lists
pages
within
domain
specified
• Generally
lists
rank
order
• Shows
pages
in
index
– DirecTonal
not
exact
• Has
filters
– Advanced
operators
++

35. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Google
Site:
• With
www
&
without
– Subdomain
visibility
•
•
•
•
•
•
Homepage
1st
RelaTve
page
import
URL
structure
CanonicalizaTon
Title
tag
/
meta
pa`erns
#
indexed
pages

36. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Examples
@simmonet

37. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Homepage
Oops
• Would
expect
homepage
1st
So…
@simmonet

38. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Homepage
Oops
• Clicked
to
homepage
• NoTced
redirect
• Site:
desTnaTon
URL
….hmmm
• Ran
redirect
checker
• Oops…
>
1
year
of
“temporary”
Fix?

39. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Subdomains
www
&
without
• Index
page
count
...hmmm
• Click
to
discover
Fix?

40. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Subdomain
Cross
Over
• Site:site
keyword
• IdenTfied:
– ‘dead’
subdomain
– Cross-­‐linking
opps
– Duplicate
challenges
Fix?

41. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Pa`erns
=
Problems
•
•
•
•
Looking
for
spin
Click
through
Zero
engagement
“Thin”
Fix?

42. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Subdomain
Visibility
• Look
for
pages
that
shouldn’t
be
indexed
• QuesTon:
Do
they
deserve
to
rank?
For
what?
Fix?

43. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Content
Issues
• IdenTfy
URL
structure
challenges
– Site:
domain.com/subdirectory
• Look
for
duplicates
with
different
URLs
Fix?

44. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Indexed
Content
Challenges
• Filtered
results
in
index
=
possibility
of
duplicate
or
‘thin’
content
signals
• Challenges
of
faceted
navigaTon
• eCommerce
plaworm
– “Least
imperfect”
Proprietary and
44
Confidential
Fix?

45. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Quick
Tip
-­‐
Content
SyndicaTon
•
•
•
•
•
“Quoted
Content”
16k
results?
Either
scraped
or
given
Which
should
rank?
Ownership
is
key
Fix?
Proprietary and
45
Confidential

46. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Quick
Fact
42%
of
all
metrics
are
made
up
to
illustrate
a
dumb
point
☺
Nuff
said
@simmonet

47. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
It’s
a
Wrap!
@simmonet

48. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Google
SERP
is
great…
…
and
who
is
going
to
argue
with
Google?

49. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
SERP
Assessment
/
Diagnosis
Brand
• Titles
/
Snippets
• ReputaTon
• Sitelinks
• Digital
footprint
• Min.
3
page
result
review
– Discovery
SERP

50. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
SERP
Assessment
/
Diagnosis
Site:
• Order
/
Rank
• Indexed
pages
• Sub
domains
• Pa`erns
• URL
structure
• Robots.txt
/
XML
sitemap
SERP

51. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
SERP
Assessment
/
Diagnosis
Other
cool
stuff
• Content
dupes
• Advanced
searches
– InTtle
etc.
• Google
instant
• Related
searches
• NegaTve
searches
SERP

52. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
The
Fix
Dilemma
•
•
•
•
Always
ask
You’re
not
the
smartest
guy
in
room
There
are
known
unknowns
Strive
for
“least
imperfect”

53. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Last
Fact
43%
are
not
sure
if
I’m
English
or
American
☺
72%
believe
I’m
the
voice
over
for
the
GEICO
lizard
@simmonet

54. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Thank
you!
Grant
Simmons
Father.
Marketer.
SEO.
Sailor.
grant@thesearchagency.com
@simmonet
linkedin/in/simmonet
+GrantSimmons

55. Assess.
Diagnose.
Fix.
How
to
Become
a
Leading
SEO
Mechanic
Grant
Simmons
Director,
SEO
&
Social
Product
The
Search
Agency
Chicago
•
November
4–7,
2013
•
#SESCHI
@SESConf

56. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Quick
Fact
Share
of
Voice
is
an
important
metric
☺
¼
of
all
barber
shop
quartet
singers
believe
they
get
their
fair
share
of
voice
@simmonet

57. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Advanced
Search
google.com/advanced_search
googleguide.com/advanced_operators_reference.html

58. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Robots.txt
Blocks?
•
•
•
•
Indexing
issues
CanonicalizaTon
of
pages
Cause
for
concern
Or
at
least
further
invesTgaTon
Fix?
The
58 Search Agency
| Proprietary and

59. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
InternaTonalizaTon
Faux
Pas
• Subdomains
not
language
localized
Fix?

60. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
URL
Structure
• Can
idenTfy
errant
sub
directories
• CompeTTve
insights
• Inform
new
structures
/
opportuniTes
Fix?

61. Chicago
|
November
4–7,
2013
|
#SESCHI
|
@SESConf
Characters
in
Titles
/
Snippets
• Could
be
more
of
a
future
consideraTon
• Google
is
the
most
discriminaTng
of
users
Fix?