The Path to Page One SERPs

A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR ADVANCED SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)1
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THE PATH
TO PAGE
ONE SERPS
A Practical Guide for Advanced Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
by Bryant Tutterow

Pre-assessment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Which SEO guide is right for you? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
What to expect when you’re optimizing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Why the SEO game has changed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
The SEO’s response to Google and its users. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Why SEO matters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Winning the SEO game. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Have a plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Build a strategic plan for SEO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Develop an SEO value chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Graphic: SEO value chain. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Value chain breakdown: Primary activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Graphic: Elements of a link profile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Value chain breakdown: Supporting activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Align the SEO value chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Graphic: Aligning the SEO value chain with your buyer’s journey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
SEO Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Technical tactics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Penalty avoidance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Graphic: SEO Checklist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
SEO Scorecard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Key metrics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Graphic: SEO Scorecard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Additional Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Table of Contents

THE PATH TO PAGE ONE SERPS
A Practical Guide for Advanced Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
By Bryant Tutterow
Copyright 2015 Go Daddy Operating Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Pre-assessment

Which SEO guide is right for you?
BEGINNER
For those new to the subject. Baseline
instructions on how to get started with
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) with
simple instructions to learn fundamentals
and execute sound search optimization
tactics.
Recommended reference:
The Art of Optimizing Your Website:
A Beginner’s Guide to Search Engine
Optimization (SEO)
INTERMEDIATE
For those familiar with SEO but have only
basic experience in executing strategies
and tactics. Reviews the fundamentals and
dives deeper into more complex tactics
with specific examples. After reading it,
you will have confidence in developing
an impactful optimization strategy.
The GoDaddy Garage SEO Archive
ADVANCED
For experts or those wanting to go
deep in SEO. Comprehensive review of
advanced ranking factors and competitive
metrics helping you develop complete
mastery of the subject. Your goal after
reading should be to not only execute
best-in-class strategies and tactics, but
also to teach others how to be successful.
You’re reading it. Keep going!

“SEO is no longer
just a job title; it
has become part
of everyone’s job
description.”
— Rand Fishkin

What to expect when
you’re optimizing
This guide provides a comprehensive Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
checklist that will help you to optimize your WordPress site utilizing industry
best practices, relevant GoDaddy Pro Services and recommended third-
party tools. The checklist consists of multiple sections to provide a flexible,
customizable experience and can be read as needed. Each section is a
compilation of information from more than 50 of the top SEO resources
available today, with additional insights from experts in the fields of SEO,
WordPress, content marketing and conversion rate optimization.
This guide will be most relevant for consumption by those with a website
utilizing several GoDaddy services, including WordPress hosting, our search
engine visibility services and more. It provides a robust set of tips in the
areas of initial site setup, site migration, on-site factors, off-site factors,
and even tactics to avoid.

Let’s Get
Started

Why the SEO game has changed
There is a tremendous amount of noise around search engine optimization
and how it has become “impossible” to utilize this channel as a viable means
for scaling your business. It’s not impossible. But the SEO game has
changed over time with the tidal wave of algorithm updates. Those quick
SEO tricks of yesteryear will no longer provide a large amount of visits to
your site.
The rules of the SEO game have changed and will continue to evolve.
It’s no secret that it was easy to game the algorithm a few years back and
attain rankings that were likely not the most relevant answer to a person’s
search query. You could garner a ton of visits with a handful of blog com-
ment links and some keyword stuffing — but in reality these visits likely
did not deliver the desired outcomes you were tasked to provide to your
organization.

The SEO’s response
to Google and its users
By gaming the system in this way, SEOs produced a lose-lose situation for
Google and its users. The person searching lost, because they had to pogo
stick through SERPs to find the real answer they were searching for. Google
lost because their users were not provided with a desirable customer
experience. (This is just as bad for Google’s business as it is for yours.)
If you are as large and influential as Google has become in the search market,
you obviously have significant influence over how this game is played. So it
was naïve of any of us to think that Google was not going to adapt to losing
and change the rules. Google has made hundreds of changes, including
dozens of major algorithm updates, over the past few years.
A few include:
- Google Analytics no longer provides organic results of keyword text
- SERP Display
- The addition of user experience elements such as site load time, and the
most recent Mobilegeddon for device compatibility
For a comprehensive understanding of publicized
Google Algorithm updates, bookmark Moz’s
Algorithm Change History. Each of these rule
changes are Google’s attempt to change the
game for the betterment of their fans. However,
just because Google has changed the rules,
don’t fall for the misconception that SEO is no
longer viable.

Why SEO matters
The idea that SEO is no longer a viable means of scaling a business is
ludicrous. Are people just not searching anymore? Absolutely not, we are
searching trillions of times each year. Do people click on PPC ads at
incrementally higher rates than organic results? No.
Obtaining organic search engine visits is still one of
the absolute best methods for delivering value with
a high return on investment for the long-term.
In many ways, SEO experts following the new rules have significantly greater
opportunities to market their skills, as many of the pretenders in this space
left and reduced the noise. The exodus of internet marketers out of SEO has
resulted in only two types of SEOs remaining today — which one are you?

Winning the SEO game
The SEO pros who will stay on top of the game’s ever-changing rules, and
adapt to them faster and more effectively than their competition, will win the
game. They’re the professional experts, the winners every company needs
to scale its business. They understand how to obtain organic search engine
visits in very competitive markets. Expert SEOs are winners at the game of
search, and winners have a plan, check all the boxes and know the score.
“Winners have a plan, check all the boxes,
and know the score.”

Have a plan

Build a strategic plan for SEO
There are more than 200 factors to consider when building an elite-level
SEO program in highly competitive markets. Be prepared to implement
a wide range of ranking factors — including mobile, local, content, design,
technical coding and more. In fact, some of the most important factors are
not directly within your control but rather how other websites and trusted
resources promote your value by linking to your site.
This guide was created for pros who don’t have time to debate the nuances
of each category and try to forecast what Google might be thinking next.
It was designed to provide the information in terms you can understand and
in categories that represent the type of effort you’ll need to take in order to
rank well for competitive keyword phrases. And that means executing all
factors described to the best of your abilities.
To learn how others prioritize ranking factors,
see the Moz list of ranking factors and local
ranking factors.

Develop an SEO value chain
First, it’s important to understand how value is created within your
organization. Do you have a solid understanding of how your business
provides value to customers and why your business makes money? If not,
developing a value chain is an excellent way to educate you and your team.
Developing a strategic SEO plan that aligns with
how your company provides value is critical to
producing the desired outcomes your business
needs to grow.
Have you struggled in the past with obtaining the funding and resources
needed to successfully produce high-quality organic search traffic?
The strategy that follows can help by directly aligning with your business’s
value chain and incorporating over 200 factors into a systematic plan to
create, execute and measure the performance of your search optimization.

Support ActivitiesPrimary Activities
Content
Development
Promotion
Research
Planning
Audience
Community
Management
Measurement
Analysis
Relevancy
Authority
Tactics
Engagement
Reputation
Promoting content to earn
relevant citations, mentions and
links is one of the most beneficial
activities to increase the value of
your SEO program. Often times,
a company’s best source for
delivering such value comes
from existing customers
and business partners.
SEO Value Chain

Value chain breakdown:
Primary activities
The value chain includes a number of primary and supporting activities with
the aim of maximizing the business value of organic search engine rankings.
We’re going to start by looking at the five primary activities: Authority,
Tactics, Engagement, Relevance and Reputation. These activities will
help you focus attention on those factors that will increase your site’s
rankings with search engines.
Factors that influence keyword rankings in search engines have been
categorized in several different ways, including local, mobile, on-site, off-site,
technical, content, etc. The SEO value chain provides a unique perspective
because its structure is organized to show the benefits you will receive by
executing these tactics. This will help you focus on value-add activities and
should also make it much easier to explain to your non-technical colleagues
how SEO provides value to the organization.
These five primary activities are the main
responsibilities of the SEO leader of your
organization.

Authority (power, ability, influence, clout)
Authority is still the most important set of factors that will determine how
well your site ranks. That’s why the majority of the SEO Scorecard in the
next chapter assists in helping you determine how you stack up compared
to your search competition.
The primary areas of Authority relate to your Domain, Page, Topic model
and Link Profile.
Domain Authority is a measure of the power of your domain name based on
three factors: age, popularity and size.
Page Authority is very similar, with the primary difference being that it
measures the value of a specific page. The key takeaway with page authority
is that you should build an SEO strategy providing a relevant, proportional
amount of authority for all important pages on your site. A site that is too
top-heavy and only focuses on the home page will be at a disadvantage
when trying to grow over time.
Topical Authorities are sites that are well trusted and well cited by experts
within their topical community. Your site can increase its topical authority
by garnering references from experts and communities on the subject.
A topical community is a group of people or websites
that reference many authorities. Examples include:
- the largest brands in your field
- top bloggers talking about your subject
- a Wikipedia page about your topic
Your Link Profile is the most important factor in your
website’s ranking. It’s comprised of two primary
attributes:
1. The clout and relevance of websites linking to you
2. The absence of spammy links pointing to you
See Elements of a Link Profile for an overview of
the factors that figure into your link profile. With regards
to freshness, remember that SEO affects links similarly
to how it impacts keyword phrases. A phrase like
“Expo 2012,” for example, might be really valuable
leading up to and during the event, but it loses rele-
vance and value quickly after the event ends.

Source: Quick Sprout
So a 3-year-old link to your site about a dated event sponsorship is going to
lose value much faster than a 5-year-old link to an evergreen article about
how your specific services helped someone grow her business.
Elements of a Link Profile
ELEMENT SIGNIFICANCE
Quality of backlinks Most important aspect
of link profile
Anchor text Most important quality aspect
of backlinks
Diversity (branded, semantically
relevant diluted anchor text)
Most important quality
of anchor text
Co-occurrence (mention of
your website by another site,
even without an actual anchor/
link between the two)
Catalyst for Engagement
Freshness Link quality declines over time

Tactics
These are the items you need to complete right away and set up good
plans for continued execution over time. These are factors that are
100-percent within your control and will typically be the fastest ways
to increase rankings and traffic to your website.
Engagement
This section describes all the ways in which you interact with influential
people and authoritative websites, what those people say, and how often
are they saying it. You’ll rank better if there are a lot of people talking about
you — and they talk about you often. Your ranking will get even higher if
those talking about you have a positive sentiment in what they say.
Relevance
Yes, you need more traffic from search engines to grow your business,
but really what you need is the right type of traffic interested in buying your
products or services. Let’s say you own a produce stand. At first glance
ranking well for the term “apple” might drive a lot of traffic to your site. That
traffic likely will not translate into sales if most of the people searching for
“apple” are looking to buy a new iPhone.
Focusing your site’s content
on what leads to sales is the
key to not wasting your time
and money on SEO.

Reputation
Similar to your personal reputation, your website can build trust when
associated with other trustworthy entities. Conversely, its reputation can
suffer if associated with less reputable sites. Google’s algorithm has a strong
element of “guilt by association” when evaluating the value of a link. If you’re
getting several links from “bad neighborhoods,” Google will at a minimum
devalue those links. And if it happens enough, your site might get penalized.
To improve your reputation, seek to associate yourself with highly trustworthy
websites like government and educational institutions. Third-party reviews,
citations and positive social sentiment can also boost your reputation.

Steer clear of the bad crowd:
Boost your website’s reputation by
association with highly trustworthy
sites, like educational institutions
and third-party reviews.

Value chain breakdown:
Supporting activities
While the five primary activities of the SEO Value Chain focus on activities
that increase the benefit of SEO to your organization, the following support
activities will assist in aligning effort with a typical business function owner.
These four support activities are the functional roles within your business,
assisting in delivery of high-value SEO aligned with desired business
outcomes.
Each of these areas will be responsible for tactics to influence authority,
engagement, reputation and relevance.

Measurement Analysis
Ever wonder why web analytics is one of highest paid specialty positions in
marketing today? Well, an organization’s ability to measure and improve the
primary activities we just covered is critical to the success of its SEO program.
Through utilizing tools like Google Analytics, SEMRush, Hootsuite and Moz,
you’ll be able to provide the information needed to fill out the SEO
Scorecard below.
But that will be the easy part.
The reason a great web analytics professional is so valuable is because of
the value estimation and recommendations they’re able to provide. You’ll
find very quickly that you will have more opportunities to improve than you
have resources to execute.
Developing strong measurement and prioritization
processes will provide you with the greatest value
for the least amount of effort.

Audience Community Management
Your ability to provide relevant information to your audience will be the key
to converting traffic from search engines into customers for the long-term.
We discussed the need for prioritizing effort as it relates to measurement
and analysis, but it’s an absolute requirement when it comes to audience
and community management.
Check out the Conversation Prism to see all the different types of social
platforms where you could engage with your audience. Is there any chance
you can provide meaningful engagement on all of these platforms? No way.
Plus, you’ll need to develop a
specific strategy for audience and
community management that
would have many elements similar
to this Social Media Compass.
Source: Conversation Prism
Source: Flickr

The point of showing you these two charts is not to scare you away from
building an audience. Instead, it’s to drive home the point that you need
execute your SEO plan’s support activities to drive the greatest business
performance possible with the resources you have available. This is why
creating web personas of your target audience and prioritizing content
marketing efforts is critical to success.
Now, writing to please one person and targeting one person is not the
same thing.
Use your measurement and analysis to find common ground among the
keywords you plan to target. Identify a small set of personas that will likely
engage with that content, and focus on satisfying their needs. Engage on
just the small number of social platforms that are most appealing to your
audience — thus boosting your relevance.
Posting the exact same message across
a ton of social platforms is not engagement;
it’s broadcasting to no one specific and is
unlikely to produce lasting results.
A couple of great tools to identify and listen to
what your community cares about are Spredfast
and Hootsuite. Use these indicators to prioritize
the keyword phrases you plan
to target.

“Write to please just one
person. If you open a window
and make love to the world,
so to speak, your story will
get pneumonia.”
— Kurt Vonnegut

Research Planning
This is one area where it’s extremely important to become an early adopter.
Given the growth of mobile searches and the integration of search into an
ever-expanding array of new media types and devices, it’s vital to stay
up-to-date on SEO trends research to identify new opportunities.
More than ever, you need a comprehensive
content marketing plan that delivers a consistent
message across all channels leading to search.
Developing an integrated content plan based upon search trends will ensure
you stay relevant in the minds of your audience. In addition, it’s important
to understand the SERP display and how Google plans to deliver results on
different device types. To learn more about how old SEO tactics no longer
work and how the latest trends in research will prepare your for the future,
check out Rand Fishkin’s most recent presentation.

Content Development Promotion
Keeping with the systematic approach, develop your content utilizing a
template that accounts for SEO best practices described in the checklist.
My recommendation is to develop an SEO Copy Deck to ensure you have
built content that incorporates good title tags, h1, co-occurrence,
high-end media like infographics, video, etc.
After developing and deploying based on your prioritization model, you
should execute a strong set of content promotion activities to earn natural
links and citations. Those activities include media and influencer outreach,
bylined articles, syndication, social media and email engagement. To learn
more about promoting your content, check out How to Create a Well-Oiled
Content Marketing Machine and the Content Promotion Manifesto.

Align the SEO value chain
with the buyer’s journey
You should now have a pretty solid idea of how to add value to your
organization through SEO. As with any strategy, the biggest challenge is
executing a plan that can deliver that value. When you build an execution
plan that aligns SERP rankings to visits and how those visits will ultimately
lead to more sales for your organization, you’ll build confidence within your
organization that you are on the path to success.
One of the greatest values of SEO relates to its long-term value provided to
a company. It can leverage your past efforts and cultivate those experiences
into future value. The key is to build an SEO strategy that optimizes both
traffic volume and velocity of your buyer’s journey.
True optimization is aligning your search
marketing efforts with your sales pipeline —
the takeaway most critical in delivering
the value your firm demands.
Typical Buyer’s Journey
Once you’ve delivered SERP Ranking through
the execution of activities on the SEO Value Chain,
those rankings will translate into visits to your
site. If your research and planning activities were
sound, you acquired visits from those in the market
for your products and services. The faster you
educate these potential buyers and convert them
into customers, the faster you’ll realize revenue
growth. That’s why, to truly optimize a website,
you must align your efforts to acquire visits with
your ability to produce and close sales leads.
At the end of the day, the funding and resources
you devote to SEO will need to produce expected
outcomes and return on investment.

Support ActivitiesPrimary Activities
Content
Development
Promotion
Research
Planning
Audience
Community
Management
Measurement
Analysis
Relevancy
Authority
Tactics
Engagement
Reputation
SEO Value Chain
Awareness
Interest
Desire
Action
Referral Advocacy
Buyer’sJourney
Promoting content to earn
relevant citations, mentions and
links is one of the most beneficial
activities to increase the value of
your SEO program. Often times,
a company’s best source for
delivering such value comes
from existing customers
and business partners.
Aligning the SEO Value Chain with Your Buyer’s Journey

Another key takeaway …
Outside of converting visits from search engines to sales, another key
takeaway is to understand how satisfied customers can become part of
a cyclical effect to boost SEO rankings. How? By referring your business
to others or becoming advocates who champion your products and
services in the market.
As we talked about earlier, promoting content to earn links is one of the
most beneficial activities to increase the value of your SEO program.
A company’s best source for delivering such value often comes from
citations and referrals from existing customers and business partners.
To think of it another way, your company’s
customer service department might very well
be the best source of links to boost your SEO.
This point directly relates to why Google has
tweaked its algorithm to favor organizations that
are providing a better overall customer experience.
It creates a better user experience with Google
to provide answers that are likely to lead to sat-
isfaction. Google has implemented site speed,
Mobilegeddon, etc., to provide a better end-user
experience.

SEO Checklist

Check all the boxes:
Comprehensive checklist
of SEO tactics
To build a great user experience, you need to do a lot of things right.
The following checklist is a comprehensive list of items that will boost your
score and tactics to avoid so as to not be penalized by Google. Each of
the items within this checklist is completely within your control.
While most of these items will not directly result in a link, they likely embody
those essential “points” you can earn from Google’s algorithm to rank higher
for competitive keyword terms. These factors will ensure that your website’s
search results display in the best way possible to maximize click-through
rates and include Google’s latest breadcrumb display for URLs.

SEO Checklist tactics
The list has been numbered in sequential order and categorized into the
same groups highlighted in the SEO Value Chain. There are three main
sections of the checklist: two sections directly align with primary activities
of the SEO Value Chain (Tactics and Relevance), with the third section
describing activities to avoid in order to prevent losing search engine value.
Avoid penalties and negative action
Avoidance is critical here. There are many ways to get a quick burst
of activity by trying to fool or even just exploit gaps in search engines
algorithms. While these methods have been successful in the past, this
short-term success becomes a nightmare when Google catches on and
updates the algorithm. Don’t attempt these checklist items — and take
care to ensure they don’t happen by accident.
Getting delisted from the search index is never
a good thing for your bottom line.

AVOID
1
Your Location has 50+ Referring MyMaps A Google service to quickly and easily share custom maps. This has been used as a tactic in the past to assist with boosting
rankings and if you overuse this it could lead to negative actions on your site. Google’s MyMaps •
2
Ensure NAP is on Location Page,
throughout site can be crawled.
Not including the business’ NAP information on its own website can negatively impact its local ranking. Make sure to include NAP
information as text on the business’ website – not just within graphics. More Info •
3
Avoid Address w/ P.O. Box or similar to
UPS Mail Store addresses.
Local businesses who want to use Service Areas might prefer to list P.O. boxes in various business directories in lieu of listing their
home addresses, but that can cause exclusion from search. More Info •
4
Your Google My Business Page is
associated w/ suppressed listings
Just as you should monitor that your website does not have a ton of links from questionable sources, the same should be said for
your “My Business Page.” Google’s Reconsideration Request •
5 Including Location Keyword in Categories Don’t place location Keywords in your categories. More Info
•
6 Selecting the incorrect business category Take your time and pick the right categories for your business, as your business evolves so should your categories. More Info
•
7
Incorrectly placing your map marker If you see something wrong with the map, like wrong directions or a missing place, you can report it using Google Maps.
More Info •
8 Keyword stuffing in business name Do not try to stuff keywords in your business name to achieve better ranking.
•
9
Keyword stuffing Location info in
My Business page descriptions
Do not try to stuff location keywords in your business description to achieve better ranking.
•
10
Keyword-Stuffing in Title Tag of
My Business Landing Page
Do not try to stuff keywords in your title tags.
•
11
Listing 800 Number as Only Phone
Number on My Business Page
While this streamlines where you will get calls, it can hurt your local results
•
12 Listing detected at false business location Don’t set up false business locations to game local search results.
•
13
Low Numerical Ratings of Place by
Google Users (e.g. 1-2)
Google wants to provide results help with its user’s satisfaction. A strong indicator of satisfaction is the ratings customers give
you. Google offers customers of verified businesses the opportunities to share their experience. The quality of your customer
service is now a ranking factor in search, be kind. More Info
•
14
Low Numerical Ratings of Place
by Third-Party Users (e.g. 1-2)
Google will also look at review scores on 3rd Party sites like Yelp, etc. as well as Google Reviews. Manage your reputation
across the web. •
15
Mis-match Address on My Business
Landing Page
Ensure you execute these tactics with consistency as a signal to Google of legitimacy.
•
SEO Checklist

AVOID
16
Mis-match NAP / Tracking Phone Numbers
Across Data Ecosystem
Ensure you execute these tactics with consistency as a signal to Google of legitimacy.
•
17 Mis-Matched or Private WHOIS Information Ensure you execute these tactics with consistency as a signal to Google of legitimacy.
•
18 Multi-lingual listing for the same place Make sure your multi-lingual support is implemented correctly and does not cause a duplication penalty.
•
19 Presence of malware on site Protect your site, Google doesn’t want to send its users to sites that can harm. Google’s Reconsideration Request
•
20
Presence of Multiple Crawlable NAP
on My Business Landing Page
If your business has multiple locations be sure to set up correctly in your “My Business Page.” More Info
•
21
Presence of Multiple My Business Pages
with Same Phone Number
Do not try to create more than one “My Business Page” for your business.
•
22
Presence of Multiple My Business
Pages with Same/Similar Business
Title and Address
Do not try to create more than one “My Business Page” for your business.
•
23
Reports of Violations on your
My Business page
Monitor and clear up any violations on your “My Business” page. More Info
•
24
Don’t host your site with a host that
allows spammers.
Ensure your website is hosted with a trusted source.
•
25
Don’t host your site with a host that
is down a lot.
Ensure your website is hosted with a trusted source.
•
26 Don’t use 302 redirects Use 301 Redirects instead. More Info
•
27
Be Careful Redirecting to New Domains–
You Could Be Banned
When redirecting old sites, ensure the reputation of those sites will not hurt your main site.
•
28 Multi-lingual listing for the same place Make sure your multi-lingual support is implemented correctly and does not cause a duplication penalty.
•
29
Presence of Multiple Crawlable NAP
on My Business Landing Page
If your business has multiple locations be sure to set up correctly in your “My Business Page.” More Info
•
SEO Checklist

AVOID
30 Domain has Numbers (example123.com) If you plan to use, ensure is matches your brand and is not just an extra character.
•
31 # of Hyphens in Domain Name If you plan to use, ensure is matches your brand and is not just an extra character, when searching most people leave out hyphens.
•
32
Total Length of the Full Domain
(www.subdomain.pld.com)
A smaller domain is more memorable. Google’s new breadcrumb SERP display may remove this as a concern. More Info
•
33
Avoid having more than 10 words
in your URL.
A smaller domain is more memorable, Google’s new breadcrumb SERP display may remove this as a concern. More Info
•
34 Avoid using URL parameters. A smaller domain is more memorable, Google’s new breadcrumb SERP display may remove this as a concern. More Info
•
35 Avoid using dynamic URLs. A smaller domain is more memorable, Google’s new breadcrumb SERP display may remove this as a concern. More Info
•
36 Avoid using session IDs A smaller domain is more memorable, Google’s new breadcrumb SERP display may remove this as a concern. More Info
•
37
Don’t write your content with JavaScript. It is harder for Google to crawl pages where content is in JavaScript, historically site owners have tried to trick search engines by
hiding content in JavaScript and displaying something different to visitors than what is available for search engines. So the chance
for a penality is much higher using this method. Google’s Reconsideration Request
•
38
Don’t omit alt text for images especially
images inside the text.
Check all the boxes, help Google properly categorize your content. Google’s Reconsideration Request
•
39
Never use the meta refresh tag
to redirect users.
Use a 301 redirect instead. A meta refresh may cause an unintended penalty. Google’s Reconsideration Request
•
40
Avoid using robots.txt to ban large
portions of your site.
If you ban large portions of your site, Google won’t crawl and if they don’t crawl your pages won’t be indexed and ranked.
Google’s Reconsideration Request •
41 Don’t write bad or incorrect HTML. Write well formed HTML code. Google’s Reconsideration Request
•
42
Avoid using iFrames. An IFrame (Inline Frame) is an HTML document embedded inside another HTML document on a website. The IFrame HTML
element is often used to insert content from another source, such as an advertisement, into a Web page. More Info •
43
Never create doorway pages. Doorways are sites or pages created to rank highly for specific search queries. They are bad for users because they can lead
to multiple similar pages in user search results, where each result ends up taking the user to essentially the same destination.
They can also lead users to intermediate pages that are not as useful as the final destination. More Info
•
44
Avoid using images instead of text links. The text link allows Google to more easily crawl and identify the relevancy of the link. Be sure to use the img alt text attribute
to describe image links. Google’s Reconsideration Request •
SEO Checklist

AVOID
45
Avoid misspelling keywords in your content. Again, Google wants to provide the best experience for their users. A misspelling takes away from that experience.
46
Don’t optimize for more than 2-3 keywords
and phrases per page.
Each page should have a very specific focus in order to be considered the most relevant source on the web. If you target too
broadly, another source can more easily come along and rank higher if they are more focused on a particular term.
Google’s Reconsideration Request
•
47
Don’t keyword stuff (use your keyword
phrase too much).
You wouldn’t want to read a keyword stuffed page so don’t expect others to feel differently. Google’s Reconsideration Request
•
48
Never violate copyright or other laws. Share the credit, we have all learned something for other people and the risks far outweigh the rewards when it comes violating
copyrights. With the level of sophistication in detecting copyright infringement, it is more important than ever to ensure you give
credit when due. Google’s Reconsideration Request
•
49
Avoid duplicating large sections of
content on your site.
Duplication of content penalties can happen very easily. Besure you understand canonicalization as well. Canonicalization
is the process of picking the best url when there are several choices, and it usually refers to home pages. More Info •
50 Never include invisible text on your pages. This will cause you to encounter a big time penalty, Google sees this as malicious behavior. Google’s Reconsideration Request
•
51 Never Hide Text This will cause you to encounter a big time penalty, Google sees this as malicious behavior. Google’s Reconsideration Request
•
52
Never display different content
to a spider than customers.
This will cause you to encounter a big time penalty, Google sees this as malicious behavior. Google’s Reconsideration Request
•
53
Don’t create pages of links Google is about providing the best answer possible in the fastest amount of time. If they are sending their users to a page of links,
it requires their users to take more actions before they can find the answer. Google’s Reconsideration Request •
54 Don’t link to link farms This will cause you to encounter a big time penalty, Google sees this as malicious behavior. Google’s Reconsideration Request
•
55
Don’t link to and from the same
site repeatedly.
The link juice is not worth the squeeze and can end up getting your site penalized if you abuse. Google’s Reconsideration Request
•
56 Don’t get into link circles (cross-linking). The link juice is not worth the squeeze and can end up getting your site penalized if you abuse. Google’s Reconsideration Request
•
57
Don’t have broken links on your site. Broken links create a bad user experience. Google wants to provide its users with the best experience possible.
58 Never link invisible images. This will cause you to encounter a big time penalty, Google sees this as malicious behavior. Google’s Reconsideration Request
•
59 Never Link Single Pixel Images This will cause you to encounter a big time penalty, Google sees this as malicious behavior. Google’s Reconsideration Request
•
SEO Checklist

TACTICS
60 Bulk Owner-Verified My Business Page A Google service to verify ownership of a business location. There can only be one owner of a specific location. More Info
•
61
Individually Owner-Verified
My Business Page
If you are an Individual practitioner (e.g. doctors, lawyers, real estate agents) and not part of a business you should use this
option. More Info •
62
Loadtime of Landing Page URL Having a faster site load time provides a better experience for Google’s users, and Google’s algorithm goal is to provide
the best search experience possible. •
63 HTML NAP Matching My Business Page NAP Consistency is an indicator of quality and legitimacy. Ensure you execute this fundamental task.
•
64
Schema.org: Using Name, Address and
Phone (NAP)
Utilize the Schema.org Local Business Attributes especially name, address and phone. More Info
•
65
Numerical Percentage of Completeness
for My Business Page
Check all the boxes. Ensure that you completely fill out your “My Business” Page.
•
66
Matching Google Account Domain
to Landing Page Domain
Make sure to set up Google Accounts with an email address using the domain of your website.
•
67
On Your Google My Business Page:
Selecting Service Area or In-Location
If customers come to your store or office for service, select “In-Location”; If customers never visit your business and you serves
customers at their locations, you should list it as a service area business on Google. “Service Areas” have limited visibility in
certain types of local search. More Info
•
68
Choosing to Hide Your Address in Google
My Business Page.
If you select “Service Area” on Your Google My Business Page, you must hide your address. “Service Areas” have limited visibility
in certain types of local search. More Info •
69
Location Keyword in Business Title
or Title Modifier
To increase relevancy for local search consider adding location information to the Business title but be careful not to keyword stuff.
•
70
Total # of Characters in the HTML Code
Body Copy
There is no magic number of characters or words of content. Be sure your content is the most complete and relevant to Google’s
users and your page efficiently loads quickly. •
71
# of Links on Your Page Ensure that you are not trying to abuse the number links on a page and provide links that are relevant to the topic you are
discussing. In my opinion there is no magic number of links as long as there is a legitimate reason to have those links on the page.
A page with just a list of links and no real content is unlikely to be the most relevant SERP.
•
72
# of Internal and External Links on Page
(followed and unfollowed)
Pay attention to how you are passing link juice to other pages and sites.
•
73
# of Img Tags on Your Page An image is worth a thousand words and more often than not having a relevant image on the page that adds to the user experi-
ence correlates to higher rankings. Be sure to not overuse images if it does not add to the experience as it can slow down load
time of page.
•
SEO Checklist

TACTICS
74
URL starts with ‘www’ There is a slight correlation to URLs with a www. In front of them as having a higher ranking. If you are able to pick a standard go
with this option as opposed to no leading www. •
75
Page Has Schema.org Markup Use Schema.org to better organize your site and if your competitors are not using it may be that tiebreaker you are looking for
to rank higher. •
RELEVANCE
76
Keyword Usage and co-occurrence
in Title Tag
Ensure the targeted keyword phrase(s) for page a used in this element. Consider developing an SEO Copy Deck to ensure it is
executed for each new page you create. More Info •
77
in Meta Description
78
Keyword Usage and co-occurrence in H1 Ensure the targeted keyword phrase(s) for page a used in this element. Consider developing an SEO Copy Deck to ensure
it is executed for each new page you create. More Info •
79
in H2 Tag
80
in Body Text
81 Keyword Matches in Full URL Execute for ideal relevancy.
•
82
Business Title in Anchor Text of Inbound
Links to Domain
Google favors strong brands, ensure external sources reference your company brand it is a signal to Google of your strength.
•
83
Business Title in Anchor Text of Inbound
Links to Landing Page URL
Google favors strong brands, ensure external sources reference your company brand it is a signal to Google of your strength.
•
84
Ensure Photos are associated with
My Business Page
Setting your page’s identity photos help Google+ users find your page. More Info
•
85 City, State in Landing Page H1/H2 Tags Prominently add city and state information to pages you want to rank for local search.
•
SEO Checklist

RELEVANCE
86
City, State in Landing
Page Title
Prominently add city and state information to pages you want to rank for local search
•
87 City, State in Most/All H1/H2 Tags Prominently add city and state information to pages you want to rank for local search
•
88 City, State in Most/All Website Title Tags Prominently add city and state information to pages you want to rank for local search
•
89
Click-Through Rate from Search Results Google wants to provide its users with the most relevant results and Click-Through Rate (CTR) is one excellent measure
of relevancy. See the More Info link to track your SERP CTR. More Info •
90
Consistency of Structured Citations The consistency of your Citations has direct correlation to quality. The quality of your Citations matters to Google as a sign
of legitimacy. •
91
Driving Directions to Business Clicks If many people are seeking Driving Directions to your business in search, you are more likely to maintain or increase your rankings.
•
92 Geographic Keyword in Website URL Prominently add geographic information to pages you want to rank for local search including the URL itself.
•
93 Local Area Code on My Business Page Make sure you use local area codes to assist with local search relevancy.
•
94
Location Keywords in Anchor Text of
Inbound Links to Domain
For those wanting to improve local search rankings. Earning links with location keyword text (intersection, city, state, etc.) will
boost search results from that geographic location. •
95
Location Keywords in Anchor Text of
Inbound Links to Landing Page URL
For those wanting to improve local search rankings. Earning links with location keyword text (intersection, city, state, etc.) will
boost search results from that geographic location. •
96
Primary category matches a broader cat-
egory of the search category (e.g. primary
category= restaurant search=pizza)
As mentioned before it is important to carefully select your categories. Broad categories provide more opportunities
in number of local keywords but more specific categories can show greater relevance.
•
97 Product / Service Keyword in Business Title Ensure your products and services are highlighted in key areas.
•
98
Product / Service Keyword in My Business
Page Description
Ensure your products and services are highlighted in key areas.
•
99 Product / Service Keyword in Website URL Ensure your products and services are highlighted in key areas.
•
100
Product/Service Keywords in Anchor Text of
Inbound Links to Domain
If someone is talking about a specific product or service of yours, it would make sense for that type of information to be
in the link text. •
SEO Checklist

RELEVANCE
101
Product/Service Keywords in Anchor Text of
Inbound Links to Landing Page URL
If someone is talking about a specific product or service of yours, it would make sense for that type of information to be
in a review. •
102
Product/Service Keywords in Reviews If someone is talking about a specific product or service of yours, it would make sense for that type of information to be
in the link text. •
103 Proximity of Address to Centroid Especially with the evolution of mobile search, your rankings for keyword phrases in local search will vary based on proximity.
•
104
Proximity of Address to Centroid of Other
Businesses in Industry
Especially with the evolution of mobile search, your rankings for keyword phrases in local search will vary based on proximity.
•
105
Proximity of Address to the Point of Search
(Searcher-Business Distance)
Especially with the evolution of mobile search, your rankings for keyword phrases in local search will vary based on proximity.
•
106
Exact Match Domain (ideally .com) It is important for the domain to exactly match the branded company term they most often search via Google. Exact match
domains for general keywords that are not a known brand are becoming less and less impactful over time. •
107 # of Partial Matches in Domain Name It can be one of those tie-breaker factors that pushes your site to the top.
•
SEO Checklist

SEO Scorecard

Know the Score:
SEO Scorecard outlines
key metrics
If SEO were a sport, this section would be the scoreboard. The factors
we’re measuring are typically the most influential for increasing your rankings
— and you must have a firm understanding of how you stack up against
your other “search competitors” for the most important keyword phrases.
The metrics provided in the scorecard below will help you manage three pri-
mary activities in the SEO Value Chain: authority, reputation and engagement.
You will, by far, spend the most time and resources in this area — and the
process is ongoing. A key takeaway from this section is to understand that
you not only have the play the SEO game well, but you’ll need to develop
superior content and promote it better than your competition in order to
succeed. The end result is to earn natural links and citations about your
website and brand while providing a great experience for visitors to your site.

“The objective is not
to make your links
appear natural; the
objective is that your
links are natural.”
— Matt Cutts, Google

In order to understand how to achieve a page one ranking with Google,
you will need to measure not only your results but also those of your search
competitors. This scorecard will assist in providing that comparison.
The metrics included in the scorecard will measure the authority, engagement
and reputation of your site as described in the SEO Value Chain. For brevity,
we’ve combined references to internal and external linking factors while also
combining measurements for followed and unfollowed links. Again, as you
read through these measurements you will conclude some metrics to be
more important than others to track. This is an exhaustive list to assist you
with hitting the highest score possible for SEO.

SEO METRIC
YOUR
DOMAIN
SEARCH
COMPETITOR 1
SEARCH
COMPETITOR 2
SEARCH
COMPETITOR 3
ENGAGEMENT
Overall Velocity of Reviews
(Native + Third-Party)
Google will notice if the number of reviews spike at a significantly higher level than what
is normal and too many at once is a signal of someone trying to game the review system.
Don’t participate in gaming the system but do encourage customers to submit reviews in
your email distribution, in-store, etc.
Velocity of Native Google Maps Reviews Google will notice if the number of reviews spike at a significantly higher level than what
is normal and too many at once is a signal of someone trying to game the review system.
Don’t participate in gaming the system but do encourage customers to submit reviews in
your email distribution, in-store, etc. Google’s Reconsideration Request
Velocity of New Inbound Links to Domain Google will notice if the number of links spike at a significantly higher level than what is
normal and too many at once is a signal of someone trying to game the review system.
Don’t participate in gaming the system but do encourage customers to submit reviews
in your email distribution, in-store, etc. Google’s Reconsideration Request
Velocity of New Inbound Links to Landing
Page URL
Google will notice if the number of links spike at a significantly higher level than what is
normal and too many at once is a signal of someone trying to game the review system.
Don’t participate in gaming the system but do encourage customers to submit reviews
in your email distribution, in-store, etc. Google’s Reconsideration Request
Diversity of Inbound Links to Domain It is important to have reviews from a wide variety of sources as it shows your brand
engagement with many different sources.
Diversity of Inbound Links to Landing
Page URL
Especially with the evolution of mobile search, your rankings for keyword phrases in local
search will vary based on proximity.
Diversity of third-party sites on which reviews
are present
It is important to have links from a wide variety of sources as it shows your brand
engagement with many different sources.
Page Links: # of Links in the Last 30 Days
to the URL
Obtain a greater number of these links than your search competitors.
# of Google +1’s Obtain a greater number of these +1’s than your search competitors.
Sum of Facebook Shares, Likes, Comments Obtain a greater number of these than your search competitors.
# of Facebook Shares Focus on garnering a higher volume of Facebook Shares than your search competitors.
# of Facebook Comments Focus on garnering a higher volume of Facebook Comments than your search competitors.
# of Facebook Likes Focus on garnering a higher volume of Likes than your search competitors.
SEO Scorecard

SEO METRIC
YOUR
DOMAIN
SEARCH
COMPETITOR 1
SEARCH
COMPETITOR 2
SEARCH
COMPETITOR 3
ENGAGEMENT
# of Tweets from Topsy Topsy is a measurement tool. Focus on garnering a higher volume of Tweets that your
search competitors. More Info
Page is Topsy Influential Topsy Influence measures the likelihood that, each time you say something, people will
pay attention. More Info
# of Links to the Sub-Domain in Last 30 Days Obtain a greater number of these links than your search competitors.
# of Links in the Last 30 Days to
the Root Domain
Obtain a greater number of these links than your search competitors. More Info
# of Indexed Pages on the Site in the
Last 30 Days
Stay current to stay relevant .
REPUTATION
Volume of Testimonials in
hReview / Schema.org
It is important to not have too many or too few reviews on your site if you plan to offer
on-site reviews. On-site reviews can offer a more prominent Search Result for your site.
High Numerical Ratings
of Business by Google
Users (e.g. 4-5)
Google wants to provide results help with its user’s satisfaction. A strong indicator
of satisfaction is the ratings customers give you. Google offers customers of verified
businesses the opportunities to share their experience. The quality of your customer
service is now a ranking factor in search, be kind. More Info
Age of your My Business Page If you have had a My Business Page for a long time, it can be a positive advantage in
ranking for Local Search. Conversly, if you have a new My Business Page, it may take
a while to enter local search rankings if your competitors are well established.
Authority of Those Sharing your Brand on
Google+
Getting high authority sources to share your information on Google+ can be a strong
factor to boost rankings.
Authority of 3rd Party Sites Where Your
Business is Reviewed
Reviews are references to your business, if your business is reviewed on sites with high
authority it is a strong signal to Google of your legitimacy.
Quality/Authority of Structured
Citations
A structured citation is the most common type of citation and are found on business listing
sites like yellowpages.com, yelp.com, superpages.com, etc.
Quality/Authority of Unstructured Citations Citations from newspaper articles, blog posts, etc.
SEO Scorecard

SEO METRIC
YOUR
DOMAIN
SEARCH
COMPETITOR 1
SEARCH
COMPETITOR 2
SEARCH
COMPETITOR 3
AUTHORITY
Quantity of Citations from Industry-
Relevant Domains
Obtaining citations from those in your industry will increase relevancy for industry
related keywords.
Quantity of Citations from Locally-
Relevant Domains
Obtaining citations from local sources will increase your relevance for local keywords.
Quantity of Native Google Maps
Reviews (w/text)
Obtain a greater number of reviews than your search competitors.
Quantity of Reviews by Authority Reviewers
(e.g.Yelp Elite, Multiple Maps Reviewers, etc)
Obtain a greater number of reviews than your search competitors.
Quantity of Structured Citations
(IYPs, Data Aggregators)
Obtain a greater number of citations than your search competitors.
Quantity of Third-Party Traditional Reviews Obtain a greater number of reviews than your search competitors.
Quantity of Unstructured Citations
(Newspaper Articles, Blog Posts)
Obtain a greater number of citations than your search competitors.
# of Mentions in the Last 30 Days
of the Domain Name
Obtain a greater number of mentions ( blog, social) that your search competitors but
do not try to artificially boost mentions Looking for a Tool to Monitor. More Info
Page Authority of Landing Page URL Page Authority is a score (on a 100-point scale) developed by Moz that predicts how well
a specific page will rank on search engines. More Info
Page MozTrust Your MozTrust is scored is based upon how your site receives links from sources with
inherent trust. Sites such as the homepages of major university websites or certain
government web pages are strong trust endorsements. More Info
Page Links: MozRank of the Page
portion from internal and external links.
MozRank represents a link popularity score. It reflects the importance of any given web
page on the Internet. More Info
Page Links:Page MozRank Portion
Coming From External Links
Page Links: # of Links to the Page Obtain a greater number of these links than your search competitors.
Page Links: # of External Links to Page
(followed and unfollowed) w/ Exact Match
Anchor Text
SEO Scorecard

SEO METRIC
YOUR
DOMAIN
SEARCH
COMPETITOR 1
SEARCH
COMPETITOR 2
SEARCH
COMPETITOR 3
AUTHORITY
Page Links: # of Internal Pages Linking
to Page w/ Exact Match Anchor Text
Ensure your internal linking is optimized for keyword targeting. More Info
Page Links: # of Root Domains Linking
to Page w/ Exact Match Anchor Text
Page Links: # of External Links to Page
(followed and unfollowed) w/ Partial Match
Anchor Text
Page Links: # of Internal Pages Linking
to Page w/ Partial Match Anchor Text
Ensure your internal linking is optimized for keyword targeting. More Info
Page Links: # of Root Domains Linking
to Page w/ Partial Match Anchor Text
Page Links: # of Unique IPs Linking to
the Page (followed and unfollowed)
Page Links: # of Subdomains Linking
to the Page
Page Links: # of Unique Domains
w/ Followed Links to a Page
Page Links: # of Juice-Passing Links
(Internal Or External) to the Page
Link Juice is the amount of positive ranking factors that a link passes from one page
to the next. If a site does not externally link to many sites and has a high authority, it
will provide more link juice than a site of equivalent authority linking to many external
locations. With Internal link juice, the links from your home page typically pass the
the most juice. This is why it is important to have a good internal linking plan.
Subdomain MozTrust Be sure to evaluate the Authority of any subdomains. See MozTrust factor for
more information.
Subdomain Links: MozRank of the
subdomain portion from internal
and external links
MozRank represents a link popularity score. It reflects the importance of any given
web page on the Internet. More Info
Subdomain Links: # of Unique Domains
w/ Followed Links to the Subdomain
SEO Scorecard

SEO METRIC
YOUR
DOMAIN
SEARCH
COMPETITOR 1
SEARCH
COMPETITOR 2
SEARCH
COMPETITOR 3
AUTHORITY
Subdomain Links: # of Subdomains
w/ Followed Links to the Subdomain
Subdomain Links: # of Root Domains Linking
to the Subdomain
Subdomain Links: # of Subdomains Linking
to the Subdomain
Subdomain Links: # of External Links
(Followed And Nofollowed) to the Subdomain
Subdomain Links: # of Juice-Passing
External Links to the Subdomain of the URL
Domain Authority of Website Domain Authority is a score (on a 100-point scale) developed by Moz that predicts how
well a website will rank on search engines. More Info
MozTrust of the Root Domain Your MozTrust is scored based upon how your site is Receiving links from sources with
inherent trust—such as the homepages of major university websites or certain government
web pages—is a strong trust endorsement. More Info
Domain Links: # of Followed Linking Root
Domains to the Domain
Domain Links: # of Unique IPs w/ Followed
Links to the Domain
Domain Links: # of cblock w/ Followed Links
to the Domain
Domain Links: # of Root Domains Linking
to the Domain
Obtain a greater number of these links than your search competitors
Domain Links: # of Unique IPs Linking
to the Domain
Domain Links: # of Unique cblocks Linking
to the Domain
SEO Scorecard

SEO METRIC
YOUR
DOMAIN
SEARCH
COMPETITOR 1
SEARCH
COMPETITOR 2
SEARCH
COMPETITOR 3
AUTHORITY
Domain Links: MozRank of the Root Domain
portion from internal and external links
Domain Links: MozRank Passed by External
Links w/ Exact Match Anchor Text
Obtain a higher rank than your search competitors. More Info
Domain Links: MozRank Passed by all Links
w/ Exact Match Anchor Text
Domain Links: MozRank Passed by External
Links w/ Partial Match Anchor Text
Domain Links: MozRank Passed by all Links
w/ Partial Match Anchor Text
Domain Links: # of Total External Links
to the Root Domain
Domain Links: # of Juice-Passing External
Links to the Domain
Domain Links: Total Links (including Internal
And Nofollow Links) to the Domain
Domain Links: # of Followed Links
(Both Internal And External) to the Domain
Domain Links: Total Links (including Internal
And Nofollow) to the Subdomain
Domain Links: # of Unique Subdomains
w/ Followed Links to the Domain
to Domain w/ Exact Match Anchor Text
Obtain a greater number of these links than your search competitors but be careful to not
overdo it to the point exact match as too high of a % of total links. More Info
Domain Links: # of External Pages Linking
SEO Scorecard

SEO METRIC
YOUR
DOMAIN
SEARCH
COMPETITOR 1
SEARCH
COMPETITOR 2
SEARCH
COMPETITOR 3
AUTHORITY
Domain Links: # of Pages Linking to Domain
w/ Exact Match Anchor Text
Domain Links: # of Internal Pages Linking
to Domain w/ Partial Match Anchor Text
Domain Links: # of External Pages Linking
Domain Links: # of Pages Linking to Domain
w/ Partial Match Anchor Text
Domain Links: # of Internal Pages Linking
overdue it to the point exact match as too high of a % of total links. More Info
Domain Links: Quantity of Inbound Links
to Domain from Locally-Relevant Domains
Obtain a greater number of links than your search competitors.
Domain Links: Quantity of Inbound Links
to Landing Page URL from Locally-Relevant
Domains.
Obtain a greater number of links than your search competitors.
SEO Scorecard

The only constant is change
The only thing we can be assured of is that Google will continue to provide
a better search experience for its users. As witnessed through our observa-
tions with algorithm updates, if you are not preparing for these changes,
then you are preparing to fail. To develop an SEO strategy that truly is as
future-proof as possible, and ensure that you’re also providing your users
with the best possible experience from search engines and all channels.

“The only
thing constant
is change.”
— Heraclitus
Source: Welcome Images

Reference

Stay up-to-date with SEO trends, tips and tricks with
educational resources, including:
QuickSprout’s Advanced Guide to SEO
http://www.quicksprout.com/the-advanced-guide-to-seo/
Pardot - Buyers Journey
http://www.pardot.com/buyer-journey/
The Definitive Guide to Higher Rankings for WordPress Sites
https://yoast.com/articles/wordpress-seo/
Technical SEO Site Audit Checklist 2015:
http://moz.com/blog/technical-site-audit-for-2015
Web Developer’s SEO Cheatsheet 3.0
https://moz.com/blog/seo-cheat-sheet
Google Algorithm Change History
http://moz.com/google-algorithm-change
Search Engine Ranking Factors
http://moz.com/search-ranking-factors
Local Ranking Factors
http://moz.com/local-search-ranking-factors
Mobile Optimization - Great Resource
http://www.goinflow.com/mobile-optimization/
SEO Glossary
http://www.matthewwoodward.co.uk/jargon-buster/
OnPage SEO Infographic
http://backlinko.com/on-page-seo
48 Phenominal seo Guides - 2015
http://webbiquity.com/search-engine-optimiza-
tion-seo/48-phenomenal-seo-guide-tips-tactics/
For more information on the latest findings around SEO:
The GoDaddy Garage SEO Archive

The End

LOCKUP EXAMPLES
This page shows the acceptable lockup
combinations. There are six: two each for
white, grey, and black.
Use the master lockup files instead of
making new lockups from scratch.

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