Off-Page Search Engine Optimization

6. Successful SEO Requires Off-Page Activity Are you a trustworthy website or blog? Are you considered an authority over speciﬁc subject matter, topic,or industry? Do you provide high quality content that will make users happy? 6 Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved 1 2 3 Good SEO includes a variety of factors that help search engines understand the quality, authority,and trust of your website or blog.This is the nature of off-page SEO. Off-page SEO factors help search engines answer those questions!

8. Off-Site Data Points v  Brand men)ons and cita)ons v  Social media profiles v  Social media ac)vity v  User reviews and recommenda)ons v  Referring domains and backlinks (inbound links) v  Local directories and individual profile lis)ngs v  Domain registra)on data v  Hos)ng informa)on Below is a sample list of off-site data points. While these are not all of them,they are the most important. 8 Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved Pro Tips for Optimization Build off-site data points to the main URL plus indivdiual pages, posts, and products.

10. Prepare a Cheat Sheet v  Website name v  URLs – main and cornerstone content v  Contact informa)on v  Phone number – local area code for small geographical focused sites v  Top search terms – your top five search terms v  Short descrip)on that uses these search terms (25-50 words) v  Long descrip)on that uses these search terms v  Logo files – various sizes and file types v  Images used in main website branding or for products and services When working on off-page SEO,it is best to consider the relevant data points and make sure you have these ready so you keep yourself on-task and on-target. 10 Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved

11. CONSISTENCY IS VERY IMPORTANT TO SEARCH ENGINES Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved This is why you create a cheat sheet. It keeps you on-track and on-target!

13. What is a Backlink? A backlink,also referred to as an inbound link,is created when a third party website or blog links over to your content.Backlinks help in driving brand awareness,website trafﬁc,and help improve your organic search ranking. 13 Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved The major search engines use a lot of diﬀerent metrics to determine the value of external links. Some of these metrics include: v  The trustworthiness of the linking domain v  The popularity of the linking page v  The relevancy of the content between the source page and the target page v  The anchor text used in the link v  The amount of links to the same page on the source page v  A number of domains that link to the target page v  The amount of varia)ons that are used as anchor text to links to the target page v  The ownership rela)onship between the source and target domains

14. Backlink are Important How do I truly know backlinks matter? Google tells me so in Google Search Console. If Google is giving you data in Search Console,you know it matters to Google and SEO. 14 Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved

16. What is Link Building? The process of link building is basically collecting these inbound links.There are a variety of ways to achieve link building,but please be cautious in doing so! 16 Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved Some key points on link building: v  Today’s consultants and website owners have to be very careful about link building. Doing it wrong will put you in a Google penalty box. v  Play it safe and focus on basic link building via quality content and engagement. v  Build links into the home page. v  Build links into individual pieces of content: v  Pages v  Posts v  Products v  Don’t stress about do follow and don’t follow. If you’re ac)ons are legit, you rarely have to worry about if a link is do follow or not.

17. Legit Sources of Link Building 17 Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved v  Social media proﬁles v  Social media shares v  Blogs v  Guest blog posts – be careful v  Press release distribu)on – be careful v  Local lis)ngs v  Local directories v  News or bookmarking websites v  Review websites v  Sponsorships v  Groups v  Forums v  Associa)ons v  Event lis)ngs v  Presenta)ons v  Document sharing v  Speaking engagements v  Webinars v  Videos v  Podcasts Pro Tips for Optimization Google has clearly deﬁned rules on guest posts, press releases, and sponsorships. Before you proceed on any of these, review Google’s webmaster guidelines for quality content.

18. My Tactics of Link Building 18 Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved v  Write quality content people want to read and share v  Be ac)ve in social media and play nice with those around you v  Aend and/or sponsor local and online events v  Sponsor local sports teams (yep you get lots of local backlinks this way) v  Speak at conferences (WordCamp websites and WordPress.tv are the bomb) v  Appear as a guest on podcasts (you’ve seen me all over podcasts this last year) v  Write guest blog post on select sites v  Publish good stuﬀ (YEP I’M SAYING IT AGAIN) Pro Tips for Optimization If you produce quality content and par)cipate in the community around you, people will naturally link to you, men)on you and your website, and share your content. You think I’m here today because Cory Miller is my BFF and I love all of you. I’m really here for the backlinks! Ok and you and Cory. But also the backlinks.

19. Old Tactics I No Longer Use 19 Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved v  Footer links in client websites or blogs v  Keyword rich links inside press releases v  Guest blog posts with links inside author bios v  Duplicate pos)ng of content across mul)ple websites with keyword rich links v  Link exchanges v  Anything automated Real Life Confession At one point I had my employer’s website removed en)rely from the Google index. It was because I was doing black hat SEO without knowing it. I didn’t get ﬁred and I eventually did get us back in the index, but damage was done and we had to launch a new URL to regain rank. If you are going to link build, know the rules before you start! PS – That was over well 10 years ago. I’m way older, smarter, and totally white hat now.

21. Google’s List of No No’s and Cautions 21 Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved v  Automa)cally generated content v  Sneaky redirects v  Link schemes v  Cloaking v  Hidden text and links v  Doorway pages v  Scraped content v  Aﬃliate programs v  Irrelevant keywords v  Crea)ng pages with malicious behavior v  User-generated spam

22. Link Schemes According to Google Any links intended to manipulate PageRank or a site's ranking in Google search results may be considered part of a link scheme and a violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.This includes any behavior that manipulates links to your site or outgoing links from your site. 22 Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved The following are examples of link schemes which can nega)vely impact a site's ranking in search results: v  Buying or selling links that pass PageRank. This includes exchanging money for links, or posts that contain links; exchanging goods or services for links; or sending someone a “free” product in exchange for them wri)ng about it and including a link. v  Excessive link exchanges ("Link to me and I'll link to you") or partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking v  Large-scale ar)cle marke)ng or guest pos)ng campaigns with keyword-rich anchor text links v  Using automated programs or services to create links to your site

23. Link Schemes According to Google Additionally,creating links that weren’t editorially placed or vouched for by the site’s owner on a page,otherwise known as unnatural links,can be considered a violation of our guidelines. 23 Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved Here are a few common examples of unnatural links that may violate our guidelines if PageRank is passed: v  Text adver)sements v  Advertorials or na)ve adver)sing where payment is received for ar)cles links v  Links with op)mized anchor text in ar)cles or press releases distributed on other sites. v  Low-quality directory or bookmark site links v  Keyword-rich, hidden or low-quality links embedded in widgets v  Widely distributed links in the footers or templates of various sites v  Forum comments with op)mized links in the post or signature

27. Why Social Media Matters Social media activity is a ranking factor for Google,so it will directly impact how your content is presented in search engine results pages.Saying this a different way –you cannot have good SEO without being active on social media. 27 Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved Important points about social media and SEO: v  Social media ac)vity has replaced some value of tradi)onal (non-social) link building v  Social ac)vity counts at a website and individual URL level v  Types of social ac)vity that maers: v  Followers and likes to main account v  Individual URL shares, likes, and comments v  Your social clout counts (who follows, shares, and interacts with you) How Do I Know Social Media Really Matters? I’ve tested it with my own theme products, blog posts, and pages. There is a direct correla)on between social ac)vity and )me to rank and posi)on on page one of SERPs.

29. Common Mistakes to Avoid 29 Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved Completely Ignoring Off-Page Factors You’ve launched your new website and you wrote oodles of content and you’re done. Right? Nope. That is just the beginning. You have to follow that up with off-site ac)vity. Good SEO requires both on and off-site ac)vity. That means the content is just the beginning. Jumping into Link Building Link building can work great, but it can also be very dangerous. Before you start, make sure you understand what is legal and what isn’t accepted by search engines. If you hire an SEO consultant, make sure you have a clear understanding of what they are doing so they don’t get in trouble. Selng Up Social Media Profiles and Forgelng Them “I have social media accounts and have had them for years” is something I omen have told to me. The problems if they set up the accounts and forget all about them. Social media only works if you are ac)ve on them. Ignore social media and it will ignore you too.

30. Common Mistakes to Avoid 30 Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved Only Sharing Other People’s Content on Social Media There are a lot of people I talk to that tell me their very ac)ve on Facebook, but it just isn’t conver)ng into revenue for them. When I look at the profile, they are pos)ng content, but none of it routes back to their actual website. Social media is great, but remember the goal is to route people back to your website or blog and build links for your content. Feel free to share content of others, but don’t forget your own content. Talking to No One Another social media blunder I see is people are ac)ve with posts but have no one following their profiles. That means they are broadcas)ng informa)on to virtually no one. Successful at social media efforts means to be interac)ve. You can only do this if you interact with others and have other people interested in you and your account.

32. Thanks for Coming Today! Rebecca Gill Founder of Web Savvy Marketing Instructor at DIYSEOcourses.com @rebeccagill on Twitter 32 Web Savvy Marketing & iThemes Media LLC Copyright © 2016, All Rights Reserved