WTF is SEO? As a follow up to my popular "How to Start a Kick-Ass Blog Post" Skillshare class, I dive deeper into the fundamentals of onsite SEO, touching on things like technical SEO and backlinks and what you can do to be effective with SEO—even as a beginner. During this class, I'll teach you about how to find the best keywords for your audience, how to use popular keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner (free) and Ahrefs (paid), and how to implement keywords and other onsite SEO best practices when creating content. Finally, I'll share my recommendations for tools to audit your efforts and ensure that you rank in search! Skillshare class (use my affiliate link to grab 2 FREE months): https://skl.sh/2FLCoJs

1. SEO FOR
BLOGGERS &
SOLOPRENEURS

2. HELLO!I am Maddy Osman
I create content for industry leading digital marketing publications like Search
Engine Journal, Sprout Social, and WPMU DEV.
You can find me at @MaddyOsman on Twitter
And www.the-blogsmith.com on the web
@MaddyOsman

3. HOW CONTENT
MARKETING GREW
THE BLOGSMITH
BACKLINKS
∎ Contributing to expert
roundups through
HARO
∎ Paid blogging
assignments
∎ Unpaid guest blogging
on high-authority
websites
AUTHORITY
∎ Association with high
quality publications
∎ Making friends in high
places
∎ Moving into
teaching/course
creation
STAYING TOP OF MIND
∎ Weekly content roundup
newsletters
∎ Daily branded posts on
social media
∎ Local networking group
involvement
@MaddyOsman

4. SEO TERMS:
the #basics

5. WHAT IS SEO?
∎ SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.
∎ SEO is a conscious effort by marketers, bloggers and other online entities to be
found through search engines.
∎ What do you want to be found for?

6. ONSITE SEO vs
OFFSITE SEO∎ Onsite SEO includes the SEO factors that can be affected on your site, without
outside intervention.
∎ Offsite SEO includes the SEO factors that can ONLY be affected offsite and
includes things like:
□ Generating backlinks
□ Social media activity
□ Online reviews
□ For the purposes of this presentation, we’ll focus primarily on ONSITE SEO
factors.

7. KEYWORDS:
how to find ‘em

8. KEYWORDS
∎ The hot buzzword in SEO, for good reason
∎ Keywords are the foundation of great Onsite SEO
∎ Keywords are the descriptive elements you want to rank for on search engines
∎ Use keywords to target for intent:
□ Navigational
□ Informational
□ Transactional

9. KEYWORDS (pt 2)
∎ What are the most common keywords on your blog?
∎ Don’t just guess what a great keyword will be… do your research
∎ Use Google Keyword Planner
∎ Input your search terms
□ Start vague
□ Look at search volume (Based on historic trends)
□ Competition refers to PPC campaigns, but can be useful for your blogging
purposes
□ Aim to rank for low/medium competition keywords
Take what you’ve learned to refine your search!

10. ∎ Ex/ Food Recipes
□ Too Vague
∎ Healthy Food Recipes
□ Still Pretty Vague
∎ Healthy Gluten-Free Bread Recipe
□ Better
∎ Healthy Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip
Banana Bread Recipe
□ The best!
LONGTAIL vs
SHORT TAIL
KEYWORDS

11. USER INTENT
NAVIGATIONAL
Looking for a website/certain
part of a website.
Example searches: Facebook
login, Gmail
INFORMATIONAL
Looking for an answer to a
question, or to learn something.
Example search: how to
TRANSACTIONAL/COMMERCIAL
Ready to buy.
Example searches: Get a quote,
coupon, discount, reviews

12. SEMANTIC
KEYWORDS

13. GOOGLE
KEYWORD
PLANNER:
how to use it

14. USING GOOGLE KEYWORD PLANNER

15. ...but I’m obsessed with Ahrefs

16. KEYWORDS:
how to use ‘em

17. THE URL (or “slug”)
∎ There’s a hierarchy of importance in using keywords
∎ The keyword should be a part of the URL, like so:
http://www.YOURBLOG.com/KEYWORD
∎ Eliminate categories and dates in your URL structure so it’s easier to rank for your
specific keyword.

18. TITLE/HEADING
∎ Add keyword to H1 heading tag. There should only be one per page.
∎ H1 heading tags signify relevance to search engines.
∎ Usually, the H1 heading tag and Meta-Title tag are the same, when it comes to
blog posts.
∎ The meta description is a the description that displays under the title in a search
engine results page. Add your keyword and a compelling reason for someone to
click through.

19. SUBHEADINGS
∎ Add keyword to the H2 tag, and as many other headings as possible.
□ H2 headings signify sub headings to search engines
∎ H3-H6 tags are additional sub-sub heading tags you can use.
∎ You can use multiple H2-H6 tags on every page.

20. TEXT CONTENT
∎ Add keyword to content as many times as possible, but don’t overdo it to the point
that it sounds weird.
∎ Add keyword to content at least 4 times per 500 words (though everyone has their
own opinions about ideal keyword density).
∎ Use different text decorations to draw additional relevance to keyword in text,
including underlining, italicizing, and bolding the keyword.

21. IMAGES
Add keyword to images:
□ Title
□ ALT tag
□ File name
Make sure to do this for every image on the page.
Plugin suggestion: WP SMUSH

22. SEO SLAM DUNKS
∎ Social share buttons & Click to Tweets (Don’t forget Pinterest)
∎ Internal Links
∎ External Links
∎ Post Length

23. BLACK HAT SEO
∎ Paid Links
∎ Spam Comments
∎ Duplicate Content
∎ Article Spinning
∎ Cloaking
∎ Keyword Stuffing
∎ Invisible Text
Source: http://positionly.com/blog/seo/black-hat-seo-techniques

24. RECOMMENDED TOOLS
BLOGGING
& SEO
● PLATFORM:
WordPress
● SEO PLUGIN:
Yoast
● SEO SELF
AUDIT: SEO
SiteCheckup &
Google
Pagespeed
Insights

25. HELPFUL LINKS
BLOGGING
& SEO
● HOSTING: Siteground
● SEO Articles:
http://www.the-blogsmith.com
/portfolio_category/seo/

26. IDEATake inspiration from your world:
∎ Podcasts
∎ Books
∎ Conferences
∎ Blog Articles
∎ Colleagues
GENERATION

27. Always have something to
write on - Your phone or a
small notebook will do. It
would be a shame to lose a
good idea.

28. AUTHORITY/SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT
∎ This is Search Engine Journal for
SEO.
∎ Or, Social Media Examiner for
Social Media Marketing.
∎ If unsure, check for a Domain
Authority (DA) above 30.
EXPERT
SOURCES
TIMELY
∎ Some industries change fast.
∎ Look for a publish date of 1-2 years
ago at most
LINKING
∎ A lot of people link to them.

29. WHAT TO
INCLUDE:

30. BONUS TIPS
DON’T COPY/PASTE
Take the time to rephrase it.
SHORT BULLET POINTS
You’re not writing the article,
yet.
DON’T CALL OUT THE OBVIOUS
It’s a wasted effort.

31. SlidesCarnival icons are editable shapes.
This means that you can:
● Resize them without losing quality.
● Change line color, width and style.
Isn’t that nice? :)
Examples:

32. Now you can use any emoji as an icon!
And of course it resizes without losing quality and you can change the color.
How? Follow Google instructions
https://twitter.com/googledocs/status/730087240156643328
✋ ❤
and many more...