A presentation for Chester SEO on how to improve SEO performance with content. I run through a process for a content audit and how to optimise the relevance of your content to improve SEO performance. Tips include finding internal linking opportunities, using custom search engines, understanding seasonal search trends and how to map intent to target keywords.

2. About Me
● 10 years in SEO, PR &
Content Marketing (old)
● Head of Earned Media at We
Influence (employed)
● Relocating to London
(scared)
● First time event speaker
(anxious)
@RoryT11
@RoryT11

3. Part One - Content Auditing:
○
○
○
○
Part Two - Tips To Improve Keyword Relevance Targeting:
○
○
○
○
What We’re Covering
@RoryT11

4. Anatomy Of An SEO Campaign
UX
Relevancy
Authority
Technical Accessible & Crawlable
SEO
PERFORMANCEKeyword & Intent
Useful & Usable
Credible & Trustworthy
@RoryT11

5. To accurately assess content performance you need to audit it.
Start by extracting some data into a spreadsheet.
@RoryT11

6. TARGET URLS ORGANIC LANDS BOUNCE RATE AVG. TIME ON PAGE
PAGES PER SESSION CLICKS IMPRESSIONS AVG. POSITION
CTR BACKLINKS SOCIAL SHARES TRANSACTIONS
ACQUISITION -
ENGAGEMENT - ENGAGEMENT -
ENGAGEMENT -
ACQUISITION - ACQUISITION - ACQUISITION -
ACQUISITION - QUALITY -
QUALITY - TRANSACTION -
@RoryT11

7. Extracted from a
recent crawl or
XML sitemap
Google
Analytics
Google
Analytics
Google
Analytics
Google
Analytics
Google Search
Console
Google Search
Console
Google Search
Console
Google Search
Console
Any Backlink
Checker
BuzzSumo
/ Ahrefs
Google
Analytics
TARGET URLS ORGANIC LANDS BOUNCE RATE AVG. TIME ON PAGE
PAGES PER SESSION CLICKS IMPRESSIONS AVG. POSITION
CTR BACKLINKS SOCIAL SHARES TRANSACTIONS
@RoryT11

8. Start analysing the data - Google Data Studio is your friend. Simple
visualisations make for simple analysis and simple actions.
@RoryT11

9. Use a combination of acquisition, engagement, quality &
transactional metrics to identify performance trends...
The Trick To An Actionable Audit?
@RoryT11

10. GDS - Chart 1 Example
acquisition conversion
@RoryT11

11. GDS - Chart 2 Example
quality engagement
@RoryT11

12. GDS - Chart 3 Example
acquisition conversion
@RoryT11

13. Content Audit - Extra Tips
Extract data from GA and GSC by device type.01
Pull assisted conversion value data from GA.02
Add crawl data into the mix.03
@RoryT11

14. @RoryT11

15. Low sessions AND/OR poor engagement. Do you need to keep it?
Under-performing Content
@RoryT11

16. Impressions / avg. position / organic sessions at product vs
category level. Where are the opportunities?
Page Level Performance
@RoryT11

17. What types of content is proving best for attracting links? Can you
apply that to your outreach strategy moving forward?
Attracting Links & Social Shares
@RoryT11

18. Compare informational vs transactional pages on your website -
which is performing better for traffic acquisition?
Page Type Performance
@RoryT11

19. Are 20% of posts responsible for driving 80% of traffic/links? Can
you apply this to your editorial planning?
Editorial Performance
@RoryT11

20. @RoryT11

21. @RoryT11

22. Internal Linking - Key Points
Setup hubpages to capture traffic for primary
keywords.05
Helps users flow to the most important pages on
your website.04
Watch the Andy Drinkwater presentation.01
Identifies your most important pages to Google.02
Reinforces relevance, and what keywords you
want to rank for.03
@RoryT11

23. Finding Targeted Internal Linking Opportunities
Internal Link Placement
Go to the pages you have
identified and place an
internal link, where it makes
sense to do so.
Custom Search Engine
Use a custom search engine
to identify the pages Google
thinks are relevant to the
keyword you are targeting
and extract the results. Simple Search Operators
Use Google to do a search
structured like this & extract
the results:
Search Console - Page
Use search console to
identify an avg. pos. 2
landing page, generating
good impressions.
Search Console - Query
Extract the page 2 queries
from search console for that
landing page.
01
05
04 03
02
Site:[YOUR DOMAIN] -site:[TARGET LANDING PAGE]
“QUERY IDENTIFIED IN SEARCH CONSOLE”
@RoryT11

24. @RoryT11

25. Use a custom search engine to help you understand how Google is interpreting relevance
on your website.
@RoryT11

26. Custom Search Engine (CSE) - Key Points
Engineer results in a CSE, and watch the impact
in the live SEPRs...05
Use findings to help better optimise landing
pages.04
Understand relevance in an environment more
controlled than a SERP.01
See how Google is interpreting relevance within
your website in isolation.02
Analyse relevance against a select set of
competitors.03
@RoryT11

27. Setting Up A CSE
1. Go to cse.google.com
2. Enter the sites you want to
monitor (your domain alone,
or your domain &
competitors)
3. Give it a name
4. Hit create...simple!
@RoryT11

28. How To Use A CSE For SEO
● Internal linking
● Structure of the copy
● Use of keywords
● Use of synonyms
● Freshness of content
● Product naming
conventions
● Schema
● Metadata
@RoryT11

29. Quirks Of A CSE & Bonus Tips
Do you need to optimise relevance, authority or
intent?05
Use ‘SERP Redux’ to extract CSE results -
compare them to the live SERPs.04
Results don’t (appear) to take into account
intent.01
Results don’t (appear) to take into account
authority.02
Content freshness seems to be an important
relevance factor.03
@RoryT11

30. @RoryT11

31. Use seasonal search trends to plan your SEO and content work.
@RoryT11

32. Seasonal Search Trends - Key Points
Refresh seasonal data regularly.05
Plan your work ahead of seasonal peaks.04
Understand intent & trends in search behaviour.01
Do transactional and informational keyword
search trends differ?02
Plot seasonal keyword trends against target
landing pages.03
@RoryT11

33. How To Work With Seasonal Search Trends
Segment search volume by month when you extract data for a
targeted list of keywords and format it to help you clearly see
trends in search behaviour.
@RoryT11

34. @RoryT11

35. Understanding Intent
● Know
○ The goal is to find an
answer to a question
● Do
○ The goal is to download,
to buy, to obtain or to be
entertained
● Site
○ The goal is to find a
specific site or page
● Visit
○ The goal is to
visit-in-person a business
or organisation
SITE
KNOW
DO
VISIT
USER
INTENT
@RoryT11

36. Development in consumer, search engine & web technologies
have put intent at the forefront of SEO.
Why does understanding intent matter?
@RoryT11

37. Mapping Intent To Keywords - 1
MAPS / LOCAL PACK Visit (visit-in-person) “Places to eat”
IMAGE PACK Know “Inspirational Quotes”
FEATURED SNIPPET Know (know simple) “Put up a tent”
PEOPLE ALSO ASK Know “Do I need car insurance?
MOBILE APP Do / Site “Just Eat”
NEWS BOX Know (know simple) “Prince Harry”
GOOGLE SHOPPING RESULTS Do “Toasters”
KNOWLEDGE CARD Know simple, Site “Windsor Castle”
GOOGLE CAROUSEL Know “Project Management Software”
@RoryT11

38. @RoryT11
Page titles & descriptions can also help you map intent to
keywords. This is a good tactic, but not easy to scale:
Mapping Intent To Keywords - 2

39. @RoryT11

40. Custom SERP Extraction
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=co+working+space+london
Page Title:
Description:
You can use this to pull titles and descriptions from SERPs for target
keyword - assign intent with this data.
@RoryT11

41. Custom SERP Extraction
@RoryT11

42. Custom SERP Extraction
@RoryT11

43. Three Key Takeaways
1. Use a combination of metric types to get
actionable takeaways from content audits.
2. Use internal linking, CSEs and seasonal
search trends to plan content and
optimise for relevance.
3. Target the keyword, but optimise the
intent.
@RoryT11

44. @RoryT11