SXSW Search Camp: Search Engine Optimization

Search Camp
#SXSW201
6
SXSW 2016
Andy Crestodina Ryan Johnson
@crestodina @rsj8000
Orbit Media Studios Digitas

1. Technical
2. Authority
3. Relevance
4. Local SEO
5. Social Media &
SEO
6. Metrics and ROI
Welcome to Search Camp
@crestodina #ROIofSEO

64% of website visitors start with search
@crestodina
source: Conductor
#SEOforROI@crestodina #ROIofSEO

Google
Market Share
(desktop)
@crestodina
source: Search Engine Land

@crestodina
Google
Market Share
(mobile)
#SEOforROI
source: Search Engine Land

Click-Through Rate by Search Position
@crestodina
source: https://www.advancedwebranking.com/ctrstudy/

@crestodina
source: https://www.advancedwebranking.com/ctrstudy/
Click-Through Rate by Search Position

Search fills
the funnel
@crestodina #SEOforROI@crestodina #ROIofSEO

@crestodina
Social vs. Email vs. Search

Initial spike from
email marketing
and social promotion
(one week)
20 to 40 visits per day
from organic search
(months or years)
The Spike and the Long Tail

Social Media Traffic vs. Search Traffic

@crestodina

Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels
@crestodina
#ROIofSEO

1. URLs... vs. tabs, popups, separate domains
2. Discoverable, crawl-able
3. sitemap.xml, robots.txt
4. Duplicates
5. Site speed
6. Errors
7. Sitelinks
Technical SEO
@rsj8000 #SEOforROI@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO

Sitemap.xml

Robots.txt
• Tells search engines what they should
and shouldn’t crawl
• Be careful of how you set it up, or you
may not get any crawl!
• Disallow: / = no crawl!!

Robots.txt
Test your robots.txt file in Google Search Console (Webmaster Tools)

Duplicate Content
Use canonical URLs to avoid penalties for duplicate content

Self-Referencing Canonical URLs
Avoids the appearance of duplicate content for multi-page articles

Keeps multi-view pages from looking like duplicates to Google

Keeps print-version pages from looking like duplicates to Google

Keeps URL variations from appearing as duplicates
<link rel=canonical
href=http://rsj8000.com >
http://rsj8000.com
http://rsj8000.com.htmlhttp://www.rsj8000.com

Site Speed
https://developers.google.com
/speed/pagespeed/insights/

Make Content Discoverable and Crawlable
• Limit the amount of
content in PDF format
• Don’t put text in image
format
• Make sure important
content isn’t blocked
from crawl

Site/Crawl Errors

Tabs are not URLs

@rsj8000 #SEOforROI
Why Do We Need Schema?
@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO

@ crestodina #ROIofSEO
Brand Search, Stripper Picture?

Report
Problem

One hour later...
#yay

Essential to
Local Search
@rsj8000
Why Do We Need Schema?
#SEOforROI@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO

@rsj8000 #SEOforROI
Snippet vs. Rich Snippet
@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO

• Product
• Location
• Organization
• Recipe
@rsj8000
Structured Markup

@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO
Does Your Website Have It?

Structured Data Tester
Schema Creator
schema.org/
@rsj8000
Schema Tools

Sitelinks

@rsj8000
Sitelinks
#SEOforROI
Add screenshot
@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO

@rsj8000
Sitelinks

@rsj8000
Search Console

@rsj8000
Domain Strategy: Where to blog?

@rsj8000
#SEOforROI@ crestodina #ROIofSEO

@rsj8000
...good

@rsj8000
...better!

@rsj8000
...bad

@rsj8000
URL Structure Best Practices
1. Short
2. Few slashes
3. Includes target phrase

links are authority
@crestodina #SEOforROI

Correlation between links and rankings
@crestodina
Source: MOZ Search Ranking Factors 2015

more links = more authority

links from credible sites =
much more authority

many outgoing links =
less authority per link

Link Popularity and Domain Authority
#SXWsearch

Anchor Text
Words and phrases used as text
in the links to a website

It’s good when the link text
includes the target keyword.

but if all the links include the
target keyword, that’s bad.

Topics
Which topics have a
natural advantage in search?

Help your audience
make a buying decision.

Your website is the mousetrap.
Your content is the cheese.
Barry Feldman
Feldman Creative

1. Keywords
2. Q&A Sites
3. Listening
Sources of Topics

@crestodina
Topics from Google Suggest

source: Keywordtool.io

source: sg.serpstat.com

Google
Keyword
Planner

@crestodina@crestodina #ROIofSEO

#SEOforROI
Google Trends

Competitor Sites
source: SEMrush

Topics from Analytics

Topics that
are getting
shared
source: buzzsumo.com

Topics That Your Readers Like

Acquisition > Search Engine Optimization > Queries
Topics You’re Already Ranking For

@crestodina
Topics from Q & A websites

source: Quora.com
Topics from Quora.com

1. Sales Team
2. Customer Service Team
3. Client Stories
Topics from Listening

Your outbox is filled with topics

source: Moz, BuzzSumo
What gets
shares and
links?

source: Moz, BuzzSumo
Most Content Gets Few Shares and No Links

...if you want to create content that
achieves a high level of both shares and links
then you should concentrate on
opinion forming, authoritative content...
or well researched and evidenced content.

The Power of Strong Opinion

List of Your Strongest Opinions
LOYSO

Why Create Research?
1. Numbers are credible
2. Owned by you, making your site the
primary source
3. The outreach can grow your network
4. Support the sales pitch
5. Research gets more links and shares
than other content

Types of Research
1. Experimentation
2. Observation
3. Aggregate
4. Online Survey
5. Phone Survey

• Four options
• “∞ emails”
• CTA: “Sign Up”
Before

• Three options
• “Unlimited emails”
• CTA: “Get Started Now”
After

+500% Increase in conversions
source: Copy Hackers

source: MOZ
Aggregate

Online Survey
Source: GroupHigh

Don’t take shortcuts;
they take too long.
Sonia Simone
CCO, Copyblogger Media

Find the “Missing Stat”
It’s often asserted.
It’s rarely supported.

Research & Marketing

Choosing Keywords
Do people search for it?
Do I have a chance of ranking?

CENTRAL HUB
Main topic, business category
RELATED SUB-TOPICS
Answers to the main questions,
“how to” articles
SUPPORTIVE BASE
Broad range of helpful, related
topics
Topics and Structure

PRIMARY KEYPHRASE
Home page targets the most
competitive phrase
SECONDARY KEYPHRASES
product categories, services pages
TERTIARY KEYPHRASES
Phrases related to the problem,
not the solution
Keyphrases

PRIMARY KEYPHRASE
Home page targets the most
competitive phrase
SECONDARY KEYPHRASES
product categories, services pages
TERTIARY KEYPHRASES
Phrases related to the problem,
not the solution
$
$
?
Keyphrases

The Home Page: just one of many landing pages

Using Keywords
Indicate the relevance.

1. Once at the beginning of the title <title>
2. Once in the first header <h1>
3. Four to six times in the body of the page
Visible Elements = Important Factor

1. Title: Once in the beginning
…and it’s the link in Google search results!
It appears above the address bar in your browser…

2. Header: Once, anywhere

3. Body: four to six times

STRONG
Importance of a Primary Keyword
@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO

WEAK
Importance of a Primary Keyword
@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO

Primary Keyword Activity: 2 Minutes

• Every page should have one H1
• H1 should be the page’s primary keyword
• Your homepage H1 should tell me:
– Who you are
– What you do
– Where you are (if applicable)
Rules to Remember
@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO

@crestodina
source: BuzzSumo dataset: OrbitMedia.com
Long Content Gets Shared More

@crestodina
source: Curata
Long Content Generates More Leads

@crestodina
source: HubSpot
Word Count vs Average Linking Domains
> 2500
2250 – 2500
2000 – 2249
1750 – 1999
1500 – 1749
1250 – 1499
1000 – 1249
750 – 999
500 – 749
250 – 499
0 - 249
Long Content Gets Linked To More

@crestodina
source: Moz, Buzzsumo
Article Length Avg Shares Avg Referring Links
< 1,000 2,823 3.47
1 - 2,000 3.456 6.92
2 – 3,000 4,254 8.81
3 – 10,000+ 5,883 11.07
n = 489,128 articles (over 85% had less than 1,000 words)
Length, Shares and Links

@crestodina
source: CoSchedule
Long Content Tends to Rank Higher

Semantic SEO
Target the topic, not just the phrase.

We’ve been working on an intelligent model...
that understands real-world entities and their
relationships to one another:
things, not strings.
Amit Singhal
Google

website copyright
copyright text
website footer examples
header and footer
website footer definition
at the bottom of the page
designing a website footer
fat footer
guidelines
standards
best practices
Semantically linked to “footer design”
usability
content
ideas
inspiration
links SEO
sitemap
social media
navigation
purpose of
responsive
template

website copyright
copyright text
website footer examples
header and footer
website footer definition
at the bottom of the page
designing a website footer
fat footer
guidelines
standards
best practices
usability
content
ideas
inspiration
links SEO
sitemap
social media
navigation
purpose of
responsive
template
Semantically linked to “footer design”

1. Find the words and phrases that are
semantically linked to the phrase you
are targeted
2. Use those phrases within your content
Adapt to Semantic Search

Writing For
Natural Language
Search
Digital assitants are coming...

1. Use sentences that include the
complete meaning
2. Include full questions and full answers
Adapt to Natural Language Search

Internal Linking
Interconnected pages

Internal Linking Opportunities
@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO

Let’s Review
Which keywords are helpful?
Which links are helpful?

blog post
guest post
research
post on another site
keyphrase
keyphrase

blog post
guest post
research
post on another site
keyphrase
keyphrase
@crestodina
Which of these links and keywords affect your rankings?

These 3 Questions
pretty much explain SEO...

@crestodina
“People looking for me
are searching for what?”
#ROIofSEO

@crestodina
“Which page on my site
is relevant to that phrase?”
#ROIofSEO

@crestodina
“Why would Google believe
that page is the best page
on the internet for that topic?”
#ROIofSEO

@crestodina
“Will people searching for X
be happy that
they found this page?”
#ROIofSEO

Common Myths
...or at least, misunderstandings

1 Part Local Optimization
& Proximity
1 Part Reviews 1 Part Schema
Local Search Recipe
@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO

2239 Business Categories
... Gazebo Builders, Ghost Towns,
Helium Gas Suppliers, Hot Tub Repair,
Pinball Machine Suppliers, Pumpkin
Patches, Taxidermists, Truck Stops
source: http://blumenthals.com/Google-Categories.html
@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO

Local
Optimization
and Domain
Authority
@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO

@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO
Local NAP Optimization

Everything in marketing is
based on relationships.

lead

lead
traffic
conversions

lead
traffic
conversions
search
email
social

lead
traffic
conversions
search

lead
traffic
conversions
rank

lead
traffic
conversions
rank
content
links

lead
traffic
conversions
rank
content
links
content
relationships

Source: MOZ Search Ranking Factors 2013
The Social, Search Correlation

sources: CDC, IMDB and tylervigen.com
Number of people who drowned in pools and...
Number of films Nicolas Cage appeared in.

How Social Media
Helps Rankings
Often...

Social Actions, Search Outcomes

There are two kinds of people on the internet
Creators
Contributors
And “lurkers”

• Journalists
• Authors
• Podcasters
• Academic Researchers
• Event Producers
And of course...
• Bloggers and blog editors
Who makes content?

Two Types of Social Media

How to Connect with
Content Creators
Find. Connect. Collaborate.

Social media is the
world’s greatest phone book

Source: FollowerWonk.com
Follower Wonk

Build a List

Source: Groove HQ

 Subscribed to blog by feed / email
 Use Talkwalker, Newsle and Brand24
 Google+: Add to circle
 Twitter: Follow
 Twitter: Add to a “radar” list
Part One: LISTEN
source: Online Networking Guide, Orbit Media

Feedly

 Favorite their tweets
 +1 their posts
 Like comments on other blogs
 Comment on their blog
Part Two: ENGAGE

 Connect on LinkedIn
 Like LinkedIn posts, mention them
 Endorse on LinkedIn
 Write a recommendation on LinkedIn
 Send friend request on Facebook
 Like Facebook posts, mention them
Part Three: CONNECT

 Follow on Quora, Medium,
Instagram, Yelp, MeetUp, Storify,
Listly, Coursera
 Follow on apps like Spotify,
Runkeeper, FitBit, etc.
 *REVIEW PODCAST on iTunes
 *REVIEW BOOK on Amazon
Part Four: EXTRA MILE

Cross the Streams
…the strength of weak connections!

1. Publish…
2. Share here…
3. Say thanks there!

 Mention them in your content
 Get a contributor quote
 Include them in an expert roundup
 Deep dive interview
Part Five: COLLABORATE

Contributor Quotes

 Phone call, Skype or Google+
Hangout
 Face-to-face meeting
 Mastermind Group
 Hand-written thank you note
Part Six: FRIENDSHIP!

If you’re not making friends,
you’re doing it wrong.

1. Weekly Outreach Calls
2. Coffee, Lunch, Beer
3. Mastermind Groups
4. Office Hours
5. Attend Events
5 Ways to Build Your Network
source: 5 Ways to Produce Better Web Content, Orbit Media

Office Hours
source: YouCanBook.Me

Content Marketing Mastermind
1. 59 minutes on Skype, Hangout or Blab
2. Once per month for one year
3. Agenda:
“What are you doing that we can promote”
“What are you writing that we can collaborate on”
“What are you doing to be more productive?”
“Anyone I know that you want to meet?”
4. Bring a guest each month
5. Miss it twice and you’re out!

Get Out There!
...events are the best shortcut

 Sit in the front row
 Ask a question during Q & A
 Thank them in person after the
session
 Have them sign a book
 Ask if you can email them to get a
contributor quote later...
Tips for attending events

The Big Ask
It’s all built up to this...

YOUR SITE
OTHER SITES
WHERE to publish

WHO does the writing
CREATED BY YOU
CO-CREATED WITH
INFLUENCERS

Blogging vs. Guest Blogging
Content = 2
Links = 0
Friends = 0
Content = 3
Links = 1
Friends = 2

Round Two...
Content = 4
Links = 0
Friends = 0
Content = 6
Links = 2
Friends = 4
(better links + real connections)

Nice blog, but… This is what great
content marketing looks like.
Round Four...

source: Skyrocket’s Link Building Survey: 2014
Which link building tactics are most effective?

GroupHigh

Tap Influence

Which posts have
ranking potential?
Low hanging fruit is delicious!

@crestodina
Acquisition > Search Engine Optimization > Queries

1. Find the pages. Confirm the
rankings.
2. Improve the page by adding
detail, keywords, video,
internal linking, etc.
@crestodina
Actions

@crestodina
Top Content

@crestodina
Find your traffic champions

Initial spike from
email marketing
and social promotion
(one week)
20 to 40 visits per day
from organic search
(months or years)
@crestodina
How can we make more of these?

How high are you
ranking?

Current rank for
target keyphrase: #9

@crestodina
This stuff really works...

The Report of
Broken Dreams
How is your website unsatisfying?

1. Optimize your own pages for
your own search tool.
2. Publish more content on
those topics.
@crestodina
Actions

Building an SEO
Report
For Clients or C-Suite

@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO
Keyword Rankings

• Awesome - #1
• Great - #2-3
• Very Good –
#4-9 (page 1)
• No Good -
everything else
@rsj8000@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO
Keyword Rankings

@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO
Click-
through
Rates

Filtering queries helps make sense of complex information.
@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO
Keyword Ranking Families

@rsj8000
Keyword Family Avg. Position Avg. CTR
karate 1.1 1.48%
kids 1 0%
Kenpo 1 5.71%
Martial arts 1.9 0.0%
#ROIofSEO

@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO

• Quantity
• Diversity
• Relevance
@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO
Backlinks

@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO
Backlinks – Quantity, Diversity

• Industry Publications
• Relevant Bloggers
• .edu and .gov links
• Major Publications
@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO
Backlinks – Relevance

@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO
Backlinks – Relevance

Activity – Two Minutes
What kinds of websites
would you want to link
to you?
• Authoritative
• Brand Appropriate
@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO

Organic Traffic Analytics
• Growth in
organic traffic
• Behavior of
organic
visitors
• Goal
Completions
@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO

ROI
• Paid Search Equivalent value for captured traffic
• KPIs – put a price on goals. What is a lead worth
to you?
@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO

@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO
Paid Search Equivalents

22 X $2.26 = $49.72 organic payoff in September for “car wraps”
@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO
Paid Search Equivalents

Paid Search Equivalent
Determine how much you are spending now (or
could be spending) on paid search:
• What KWs are most expensive?
• What KWs have the most clicks?
• What KWs have the highest CTR?
@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO

Example: Lead Generation Best Practices

500 Pageviews/month
$45 per Pageview
$22,500 / month in free traffic
Add it Up!

1.Related Topics
2.Variety of Keyphrases
3.Many Formats
4.With Relevant Collaborators
5.Lots of Locations
Great Marketers Publish

Quality and “User Interaction Signals”

The Time on Page / Ranking Correlation

Anatomy of the “Long Click”

1. Format for Scanners
2. Add Multiple Images
3. Add Video
4. Internal Linking
5. Go Deep
5 Ways to Keep Your Visitors

• Header and Subheaders
• Bullet Lists and Numbered Lists
• Bolding and Italics
• Internal Links
• Multiple Images
Types of Formatting

source: How Little to Users Read? NN Group
Users have time to read at most 28%
of the words during an average visit.
20% is more likely.
Types of Formatting

source: 2015 Blogger Survey
What Media are Bloggers Adding?

Google’s Search Quality Guidelines!
source: Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines

1. Content is “Front and Center”
2. EAT: Expert, Authoritative, Trustworthy
3. “Highly Meets” vs. “Fails to Meet”
3 Ways to Meet Google’s Guidelines
source: Brian Dean

“Is the content is at the top of the page?”
Put information high on the page, so visitors
can read without scrolling.
Content is Front and Center

"Can you trust the source of this content?”
• Expertise
• Authoritativeness
• Trustworthiness
Prove that you’re an expert, or "borrow"
authority by citing sources and other
experts.
E-A-T the Results

“Does the content succeed at meeting the
goals of the visitor?”
Page should provide a comprehensive
answer, truly meeting their needs.
Create long, in-depth content that covers
every angle of your topic.
Highly Meets vs. Fails to Meet

Make the best page on the Internet for your
topic. Be the best answer.

What action is valuable to your business?
• Awareness/Thought Leadership
• Newsletter signup
• Social share
• Article comment
• Lead
• Talk to an agent
• Schedule a visit
• Download a whitepaper
• Ecommerce Sale
@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Activity – Two Minutes
What would your brand consider
to be a “completed goal” for a
visit?
@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO

@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Your Pages.
Your Funnel.
Let’s break it down.

Loyola University Chicago
Quinlan School of Business

Conversions > Goals > Funnel Visualization

Bottom Line

• Keyword ranking families
• Average ranking
• Average CTR
• Backlinks
• Quantity
• Diversity of sources
• Quality of newly discovered links
• Organic Traffic
• Goal Completion
• Paid search value
• Quality signals
• Time on site/Time on pages
• Pages per visit
What’s In The SEO Report? (recap)
@crestodina@rsj8000 #ROIofSEO

Let’s rank!
#SXSW20
16
Andy Crestodina Ryan Johnson
@crestodina @rsj8000

These might help...
http://bit.ly/orbitfutureSEO http://bitly.com/contentchem

Implicit signals
@crestodina

Implicit signals
Search history
Language
Social connections
Location
Browser
Time of day
Device
Wearables (activity recognition API?)

SXSW Search Camp: Search Engine Optimization

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