SEO Analysis

Karen Lawrence Introduction to Web Publishing April 07, 2016
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SEO Analysis & Recommendations for TGW.com
I. Keyword Research– 3 RecommendedKeywords(Cr)
1. The 3 keywords/phrasesI think will drive the most traffic:
1. Golf Balls
2. PersonalizedGolf Balls
3. UsedGolf
2. Current rankings of my 3 keywords
Ranking of Recommended Keywordson TGW.com
Keyword Google Bing Yahoo!
Golf Balls 93 No 45
Personalized Golf Balls 35 No 34
Used Golf Balls 72 29 No
Ranking of RecommendedKeywordson GolfDiscount.com
Keyword Google Bing Yahoo!
Golf Balls 3 No 14
Personalized Golf Balls 8 No 28
Used Golf Balls No No No
3. Explanation ofmy choices:
1. Golf Balls – Thisisthe keywordfocusgiventome bythe client.My researchon
thiskeywordphrase leadsme tobelieve thatit’sreallybroadandgeneral.This

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makesitseriouslycompetitive, andasFigure 2.1 below showsthat,accordingto
GoogleTrends,itisthe toprankingsearchwhencomparedto similarkeyword
searches.This showsthat,alongwithbeingabroad keyword,it’svery
competitive.AndIbelieve thatitwouldn’tbe worthittoinvesttoomuchtime
intooptimizingthe site basedonthiskeywordalone.Timewouldbe better
spentontryingto optimize aroundadifferentkeyword,somethingthat
TGW.com wouldhave a betterchance at gettinga higherrankingwith.
Figure 2.1: GoogleTrends shows keyword "Golf Ball" being the highest ranked
search when compared to similar keywords.

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2. PersonalizedGolf Balls –I choose touse this keywordforafew reasons.The
importantreasonisthat TGW.com offerspersonalizedgolf balls,andevenhas
an entire sectiononthem.Soit’sobviouslyone of the mainthingstheydo.And
also,not manysitesmayofferthe chance for customerstopersonalize golf
balls.Figure 3.1 showsthat,accordingto GoogleTrends,there hasbeenadrop
insearchesfor the keyword“personalizedgolf balls”andthatit’snot searched
as much inrecentyears. AndFigure 4.1, alsofrom GoogleTrends,showsthat
despite the drop,“personalizedgolf balls”hasa highnumberof searches
comparedto similarsearches.Sothismeansthatthiskeywordhasa chance to
be mildlycompetitive,andthatTGW.com has a chance to rank high, or workto
a highranking.
Figure 3.1: GoogleTrends Graph Shows Interest in "Personalized Golf Balls" Search.

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1. UsedGolf Balls– I’ve pickedthisone knowingit willbe competitive.People
aren’talwayswillingtopaya lotfor golf balls,since theyare easilyandoftenget
lost.But TGW.com has a mainsectiondedicatedto“recycledgolf balls”whichis
the same thing.Lookingat the figuresbelow,GoogleTrends hasshownthat
there hasalso beenadecline of interestinthissearched,butthatitis the top
searchwhencomparedto similarkeywords.Sothiswill be competitive for
TGW.com, butthingscan be done togive thema highrank.
Figure 4.1: GoogleTrends compares similar searches of "Personalized Golf
Balls."
Figure 4.2: GoogleTrends shows interest in "Used Golf Balls" keyword search.

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II. Current Traffic
TGW.comMonthly Unique Visitors: 1,099,980
GolfDiscount.comMonthlyUnique Visitors: 118,050
Analysis:Whenresearchingthe currentlymonthlytrafficandnumberof unique visitorsper
month,I foundthatthere was a large spike of trafficinthe monthof April forbothTGW and
GolfDiscount.Anexample of thisisshowninthe figure below.Idon’t findthistobe strange or
alarming.Itmakessense,consideringthatApril isconsideredthe startof the springand nicer
weather,andwhengolf playerstypicallygetbackintothe sport.
Figure 5.1: GoogleTrends compares similar keyword search numbers.
Figure 5.2: Complete's graph of TGW shows a dramatic traffic increase in the spring.

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I also foundthat, while itvaried slightlybetweendifferenttrafficanalyseswebsites,theyall
showedthatTGW.com on average hadmore monthlyunique visitors. Now thisseemsabit
strange,consideringthe factthat,notonlyisGolfDiscountonthe firstpage of organicsearches,
but TGW doesn’tevenmake the topthree pages.Itseemslesslikelythatusersare goingto
searchthat far in to findthe page.There are a few thingsthat couldleadtothislarge difference,
such as usersclickingonthe ads thatTGW has bought,as showninFigure 6.1.
Anotherreasoncouldbe that,as showninthe tablesabove inthe “Keyword
Research”section,thatTGW doesrank higheronGoogle withthe “Used Golf
Balls”keyword.
Figure 6.1: TGW Google Ad
Figure 6.2: StatShow statistics on TGW.com
Figure 6.3: StatShow statistics on GolfDiscount.

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III. ContentAnalysis(Cq, Cw, Vt)
TGW.comScore: 6
GolfDiscount.comScore:9
Analysis:TGW doesa good jobwiththe quality andquantity of theircontent,butthere isroom
for improvement.One goodsignisthatthe pagesaren’tfilledwithads,soitdoesn’thave any
violations,whichisone of the SEO SuccessFactorsknownas “Va.”
TGW had a lotof content,andthisisseeninjustthe numberof categoryand productpagesthe
site has.But theyalsosell a lotof well-knownname brands.
On a product-level, TGWdoesoccasionallyhave videosontheirproductsforusersto view,but
theydon’thave that foreveryproduct.AfterlookingattheirYouTube channel,youcansee that
theyhave a lot of videosabouttheirproducts,soitdoesn’tmake sense tonothave videoson
each productpage.It alsodoesn’tmake sense,thaton some productpages,theydon’tlista
price until afterit’sinyourcart. Thiscouldmake possible buyersnotwantto buythe product,
because theycan’tsee howmuch it’ll costthem.
Figure 7.2: TGW
Product Video.
Figure 7.3: TGW Product Price Example.
Figure 7.1: Brands sold on TGW.

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TGW doesdoa goodjobwhenit comesto descriptionsof theirproducts.Andonsome of their
productpages,theyevenhave descriptionsof multipleproducts,givingusersthe chance toread
aboutother productsTGW offers.Anexample of thisisshownbelow inFigure8.1.Theyalso
have a linkwhere userscanask questionsaboutthe productsandgetanswers.Those are then
put intoa Q&A sectiononthe productpage.
Accordingto PlagSpotter.com,TGW’scontentisoriginal,andit’snotsomethingthatthey
duplicate ortake fromother sites.Animage fromthisreportisshowninFigure 8.3.
Figure 8.1: TGW product descriptions.
Figure 8.2: TGW product Q&A.
Figure 8.3: PlagSpotter's report on TGW content.

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Lookingat GolfDiscount,theydoagreat jobwiththe qualityandquantityof theircontent.
ComparedtoTGW, theyprovide alotmore contentona product-level,especiallyinthe case of
personalizedgolf balls.Theygive more optionsforuserstopersonalizegolf balls,fromthe ball
color,the text,howbigof a pack, and eventhe colorof the text.
Theyalsoprovide betterandmore in-depthdescriptionsof theirproducts.WhileTGWoffersa
fewsentencesabouttheirproducts,GolfDiscounthasa small paragraphontheirproducts,as
well asa listof featuresthatthe productoffers,givingthe usersmore informationaboutthe
type of golf ball,andhow itcan affecttheirgame.
Figure 9.1: GolfDiscount personalization options. Figure 9.2: TGW personalization options.
Figure 9.3: Product features on GolfDiscount
products.

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Justlike withTGW, PlagSpottersaysthatGolfDiscounthasoriginal content,andnothingthat
theyduplicate onthe site.Butunlike TGW,GolfDiscountoffersusersachance to see similar
productsor contenton theirsite.Sowhena userislookingatone product,theyare givena
small listof similarproductsthatthe site thinksthe usermightlike too.
Recommendationfor Improvements: While TGWdoeshave good content,theycoulddoeven
betterandrank evenhigherif theywentthe extramile.One thingtheyshoulddefinitelydoisto
add productvideostoeveryone of theirproductpages.Theyhave themon theirYouTube
channel,sotheyneedtoembedthemintothe pagesforusers.
It wouldalsohelpif theyputmore workintotheirproductdescriptions,suchasaddinga listof
featureslike GolfDiscountdoesfortheirproducts.Theyhave asectiononproductpagescalled
“Specs/Sizes”butitdoesn’thave a lotof informationonit that couldn’tjustbe putintothe
description.Soif theywanttokeepthe extrasection,theyshouldputmore contentonthe
section.Theycouldaddthingslike color,brand, andthings like thattoadd more informationfor
the users.
Figure 10.1: GolfDiscount product content.

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IV. Architecture (As, Au, Am)
1. Speed(As)
TGW.comScore: 7.671 seconds
GolfDiscount.comScore:13.285 seconds
Explanation: ForTGW, I performedaWebPageTestspeedtestonthe URL
www.tgw.com/golf-balls.The resultsshowedabetterresultforTGW, than itdidfor
GolfDiscount’sURL, www.golfdiscount.com/golf-balls.Infact,as seenabove,GolfDiscount’s
page for golf ballstookalmostdouble the time toloadthanTGW. The biggestproblemTGWhas
whenitcomesto speeddoesn’tactuallyhave todowithimages,whichisacommonproblem
for websites.Infact,ontheirWebPageTestscorecard,theydidbetteron“CompressImages”
than GolfDiscount.Thesetwoscorecardsare shownbelow.
The scorecard for TGW showsthat, while optimizingtheirimageswouldhelptheirspeed,
theirbiggestproblemis“Cache StaticContent.”Thisisthe big factor that addsextrasecondsto
the page’sloadingtime.Below isafew examplesof some of the filesthattake the mosttime to
loadon the page.You’ll notice thatnone of those filesare images.
Figure 11.1: WebPageTest Speed Test Scorecard for TGW. Figure 11.2: WebPageTest Speed Test Scorecard for GolfDiscount.
Figure 11.3: WebPageTest's Flow Chart for TGW.

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Turningto lookat GolfDiscount,we see thattheir only problemis“CompressImages.”
BelowisWebPageTest’scontentbreakdownpie chartforGolfDiscount’s“Golf Ball”page,andit
showsthat imagestake justover70% of the time ittakesthe page to load.
Here are some examplesof the heavyimage filesthatcause sucha longloadingtime for
GolfDiscount,aswell asa picture of one of the images.
Figure 12.1: WebPageTest's Content Breakdown Chart
for GolfDiscount.
Figure 12.2: Example piece from GolfDiscount's flow chart.

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Recommendationfor Improvements: WhencheckingloadingspeedforTGW,I also
consultedwithGoogle Page SpeedInsights.AndtheyratedTGWat 62 out of 100. And justas
WebPageTestsaid,the site saidthatthe biggestthingthatneededtobe fixedwascaching.
Google claimsthisisthe biggestthingthatneedsfixingonTGW in orderto speedupthe loading
time forthe page. AccordingtoGoogle,the problemwithTGW’scachingis thattheydon’thave
an expirationdate ontheirbrowsingcache.If TGW addsan expirationdate tothe HTTP headers
of theirstaticresources,thenitcan instructthe browsertoloadold downloadedresourcesfrom
a local diskinsteadof overthe network.
AnotherproblemthatGoogle claimsisabig reasonfor a longerloadingtime isthere isover
27 blockingresourcesonthe page,andthat causesa delaywhenthe page triesto renderthe
above the foldcontent.Soif TGW can deferorget ridof those blockingresources,thenthatwill
getrid of some of the secondsittakesto loadthe page.
TGW shouldalsoconsideroptimizingtheirimagesbycorrectlyformattingandcompressing
them.While thisisn’tahuge probleminconcerntotheirloadingspeed,itwouldhelptomake it
faster,andwouldbe an easyprocess.
Figure 13.1: Large image file for GolfDiscount.

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2. URLS (Au)
TGW.comScore: 5
URL:
1. http://www.tgw.com/golf-balls
2. http://www.golfdiscount.com/golf-balls
3. http://www.golfdiscount.com/golf-balls/shopby/brand-callaway
4. http://www.golfdiscount.com/titleist-2015-pro-v1-special-numbered-golf-balls
5. http://www.tgw.com/discount-golf-
balls#facet:&productBeginIndex:0&orderBy:5&pageView:grid&minPrice:&maxPrice:
&pageSize:&
6. http://www.tgw.com/bridgestone-golf-balls/bridgestone-2013-e6-white-golf-balls
Explanation: StartingwithTGW, intermsof URL, theycoulduse improvements.Overall,
theydo a goodjob whenitcomesto URLs, and theyuse some of the bestpracticeslistedin
Google’sStarterGuide.Mostof theircategorypagesand product-level pagesare short,concise,
use simple Englishwords,andare simple andeasyforuserstoremember.Theirmainproblemis
whenyouclickon one of the sub-categories,suchasgoingfrom“Golf Balls”to “DiscountGolf
Balls.”These pagescontainlongURLs made up of mostlysymbols,numbers,andwordsand
termsthat mostuserswon’tunderstand.Thisisshowninthe 5th
URL above.
In comparison,GolfDiscountdoesamuchbetterjobwhenitcomesto URLs. Whetherit’s
the home page,categorypages, or product-level pages,theyall have simple andrelevantwords,

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and are short.The longerones,suchas URL #4, are onlylongbecause of the product’sfile name.
Overall,theydoagreat jobwiththeirURLs.
Recommendationfor Improvements: The one problemthatTGW needstofix isthe URLs
for theirproductcategoriesof “New Golf Balls,”“RecycledGolf Balls,”“DiscountGolf Balls,”and
“PersonalizedGolf Balls.”Anexample of one of these URLSisshowninURL #5 on the listabove.
The URL shoulddefinitelyhave www.tgw.com/discount-golf-balls,butthe restof the URL at the
endshouldnotevenbe inthe URL. That informationshouldbe movedinsteadtothe site’s
HTML coding. Andwhile itmaynot necessarilyslow downorhurtthe page to have that
informationinthere,itmakesitdifficultforusers.Noone wantstomake a linkthat long,anda
lotof itis informationthatmostusersaren’tgoingtounderstand.Thiscouldmake ita bit
confusingand/orintimidatingforuserstoclickon or use.So itwouldbe bestif TGW movedthis
informationoutof the URL, and intotheircodinginstead.
3. Mobile (Am)
TGW.comScore: 4
Explanation: LookingatTGW, Google’s“Mobile-FriendlyTest”saysthatthe site ismobile-
friendly.Butthe big problemisthatTGW loadsslowly. Infact,Google’s“PageSpeedInsights”
saysthat it ranks a 46 out of a 100 on speed.Thisisbecause theirmobile site hasall the same
loadingproblemsthattheirdesktopsitehas.Anotherproblemisthattheydon’tsize their“tap
targets”appropriately,sometimesmakingitdifficultforuserstoclickon thingsontheir
smartphones.Theyalsodon’tsize all of theirfontsappropriately,whichmake itdifficulttoread
for some users.Belowisare picturesof TGW and GolfDiscountandwhattheylooklike on
mobile phones.

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As youcan see,there isa lotof reallysmall fontonTGW’s mobile site,especiallyatthe top
of the screen.
As forGolfDiscount,theyare notonlya responsive site,buttheydoalsodoa betterjobwith
mobile. Google’s“PageSpeedInsights”givesthema50 out of 100 in termsof mobile loading
speed.Thisismainlybecause theytoohave some of the same problemswiththeirmobile site
that theydo withtheirdesktopsite.Buttheydoa betterjobat sizingthingsliketheirfontsso
that userscan clearlyreadthem.
Figure 16.1: View of TGW's mobile site. Figure 16.2: View of GolfDiscount's mobile site.

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Recommendationfor Improvements: The easierproblemtofix wouldbe the fontsizeson
TGW’s mobile site,especiallyabove the fold.
In the example above,TGWcouldsimplyincrease the size of thatfontto make itmore
legible totheirmobile-users.Also,if theyfix the speedproblemswiththeirdesktopversionthat
were mentionedearlier,thenthose problemswilltranslate totheirmobile site,andmake itload
quickeraswell.
V. HTML: Current KeywordLocation Analysis (Ht, Hd, Hh)
1. Title tags
TGW.comProduct Category Page: <title>Golf Balls| Golf Ball | tgw.com </title>
GolfDiscount.comProductCategory Page: <title>BuyDiscountGolf BallsFrom Top Brands
Online |GolfDiscount </title>
Analysis:I chose the “Golf Balls”page for bothTGW and GolfDiscountbecause“golf balls”is
the keywordtheywantedustotry and optimize.It’salsothe productwe’re focusingonwith
TGW’s optimization.
WithTGW, theirtitle tagisshort, hastheirkeyword,andit’ssimple.Thisisagoodthing,
because thistitle tagiswhat will show uponSERPs. The title tagislike a headline onSERPs,it’s
the firstthingthat grabs users’eyes,sositeswanttheirtitle tagstouse English,be simple,and
Figure 17.1: TGW piece of above the fold mobile
content.

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be obvious.Youwantusersto know what that yoursite’spage haswhat theysearchedfor.
TGW’s “Golf Balls”page doesa goodjob of that. Figure 18.1 showswhat the title taglookslike
inSERPs.
GolfDiscount’stitletagisa little longer,buttheyhave afew more keywordsintheirtag,
such as “discount,”“golf balls,”and “topbrands.”Havingmore keywordslike thatallows
GolfDiscounttobe foundinmore searchesthanjust“golf balls.”
Recommendationfor Improvements: TGW couldimprove theirtitle tagbymakingita little
more unique.While itdoesletusersknow whatthey’reclickingonbyhavingsucha simple title
tag, itdoesn’treallymake themstandout.Theycouldalsoadd anotherkeywordortwointothe
title tag.A possible example isshowninFigure 18.2,whichisstill concise andsimple,butwitha
newkeyword,anda little more tomake itdifferent.
2. DescriptionMeta Tag
TGW.comProduct Category Page: <metaname= “description”content=“TGW sellsgolf
ballsbytop brandslike Titleist,Callaway,SrixonandNIKEas well aspersonalizedballs,team
logoballs,recycledandcoloredballs.”/>
Figure 18.1: SERP for TGW.
Figure 18.2: Potential new TGW title tag.

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GolfDiscount.comProductCategory Page: <meta name = “description”content=“Save on
a wide selectionof Golf BallsfromTopBrands like Titleist,Bridgestone,Callaway&
TaylorMade withGuaranteedLowestPrices&Free Shipping."/>
Explanation: TGW doesa great jobwiththeirdescriptionmetatag.It’san appropriate
length,andalsohas a decentamountof keywords,especiallysincewe’re optimizingaround
theirgolf ball products.Theyhave the differentkindof golf balls,aswellasdifferentname
brandsthat are well-known.Thisisimportantbecause the descriptionmetatagisshownin
SERPs,and it’ssomethingthatthe Googlebotreads.Thisisaway that TGW can advertise
whattheyhave,and gainthe attentionof users.InFigure 19.1 below,we see how TGW’s
descriptionmetatagappearsin SERPs.
GolfDiscount’sdescriptionmetatagisgood,but ismostlyfilledwithdifferentbrandnames.
It’snot reallytailoredaroundthe keyword“golf balls.”
Recommendationfor Improvements: My one concernwithTGW’s descriptionmetatagis
that itmay be inviolationfor“keywordstuffing.” Theyuse the word“ball”a lot,andI would
be concernedthat Google couldtake thatas “keywordstuffing.”Togetaroundthis
Figure 19.1: TGW description meta tag in SERPs.

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problem,Iwouldwrite atag that wasn’tso repetitive,andshortenitupa little,asshown
below.
3. IMG Names and ALT Text
Image File Name = Logo.png
AltText= “ ”
Image File Name = MulliganSideBar.jpg
AltText= “ ”
Image File Name = 59783_medal.gif
AltText= “See TGW.com - The Golf Warehouse ReviewsatBizrate.com”
Explanation: I chose the image filesof “Logo.png,”“MulliganSideBar.jpg,”and
“59783_medal.gif” to examine.Ichose the company’slogobecause that’sobviouslyan
importantimage.Itappearson everypage andletsusersknow whatsite they’re on.They
Figure 20.1: Example of new TGW description meta tag.

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evenputit inthe top left,whichusers’eyesnaturallylookfirst.The image hasnoalt text,
but doeshave a simple titlethat’sbrief andperfectlydescribesthe image.
The secondimage,“MulliganSideBar.jpg”Ichose because it’sanotherimage that’son
almosteverypage,especiallythe categorypagesandproduct-levelpages.It’saguarantee
for theirproducts,andsomethingthatusersare goingto lookat and see onjustabout every
page.Like the logo,ithas a name thatgivesita brief description,butithasno alttext.
Because itis a biggerimage onthe page,I wentto WebPageTesttoperformanotherteston
TGW, and checkedoutthe waterfall chart.The chart showedthatthe image hadbeen
optimizedtonottake up a lotof time toload,as showninFigure 21.1.
Finally,Ichose the image “59783_medal.gif”because it’sanotherimage thatappearson
everypage onTGW. It doesappearat the bottomof the page,but it’sanotherwaythat they
try to gainusertrust, by showingcertification.Thisone isalmostthe opposite of the other
twoimages.Itsname doesn’tat all describe whatthe image is,anddoesn’tuse plain
English.Butit doeshave alttext,tellingusersthatuse the alttext,and the Googlebot,that
theycan findcustomerreviewsforTGWat Bizrate.com.
Recommendationfor Improvements: One simple recommendationisthattheygive all of
theirimagesbrief titlesthatuse Englishanddescribe the image.GoogleBestPractices
recommendsnotusinggenerictitles,orautomatingthe namesof images,whichmightbe
whathappenedtothe “59783_medal.gif” image.
The big recommendationIhave isthat TGW shouldtry and take advantage of alttext.Very
fewof theirimagescontainalttext.Sonot onlydoesthismake itimpossibleforuserswith
Figure 21.1: Load time for MulliganSideBar.jpg.

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visionproblemsthatuse programsto“read” imagestodo so,it almostmakesitso that the
Googlebotcan’ttell whatthe image iseither.Andusingalttextisanotherplace where
possible keywordslike “golf balls,”“personalizedgolf balls,”or“usedgolf balls.”Bynot
usingalttext,TGW ismissingoutona lotof opportunitiestobetteroptimize themselvesto
try and receive ahigherrankingonGoogle andotherSERPs.
VI. Trust
1. Authority (Ta)
TGW.comScore: 6
Analysis:TGW couldbe consideredanauthorityonthe topicof golf and golf balls,butthey
have room forimprovements.Theydotheirbesttomake usersand potential customersfeel safe when
usingtheirsite.Theypostimagesof 30-dayguarantees,how they’re “customercertified,”andthatthey
are Digicertsecure.
At the bottomof everypage,TGW alsooffersa“CustomerCare” section,
withdifferentlinks.Thishelpsusersfeelcomfortableusingthe site,because theycanclick
any of these linkstoreceive helporanswers.Theyalsoofferalinkfora live chat,which
can set upa relationshipof trustbetweenthe site andusers.
Figure 22.1: TGW Digicert
and Bizrate links.
Figure 22.2: TGW 30-Day
guarantee.
Figure 22.3: TGW
Customer Care section.

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Justabove the “CustomerCare” section,TGWalso hasa sectionof large textthatstates
TGW is“AuthorizedDealerof the BestBrands”witha longlistof name brands below it.
While it’squestionable whatmakesthen“authorized”itdoesbuildupthe trustand
potential authorityof the site.
GolfDiscountdoesn’thave asmuch“authoritysignals”asTGW does,buttheydo have some
bigsignals.Firstof all,theytoooffera sectionforcustomerconcerns/cares,andalsooffera
live chat.Theyalsopromote oneach page that theyhave certifiedcustomerreviews,trying
to buildtheirlevel of trustwiththeirusers.
Theyalsooffera numberof well-knownbrands,althoughthe listtheyshow tousersisn’tas
extensive asTGW’s.
The one bigtrust factorthat GolfDiscounthas,one thatdoes make themlooklike an
authorityonthe subject,isthat theyhave oneverypage,a box that claimstheyare a
“Google TrustedSite.”Thisisa big thing,forusersandfor GolfDiscount.Because if Google
considersita trustedsight,they’ll obviouslydo greaton the subjectof Authorityandranking
inGoogle SERPs,and userswill trustGoogle.
Figure 23.1: GolfDiscount live chat and phone number.
Figure 23.2: GolfDiscount
certified reviews.
Figure 23.3: GolfDiscount brands.
Figure 23.4: GolfDiscount Google
Trusted.

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2. Engaging Content(Te)
TGW.comScore: 7
Site
Bounce
Rate
Page Views/
Visitors
Daily Time
on Site
Product-Level
Share Tools
Product-Level
Ratings Product-Level Reviews
TGW.com 30.50% 4.80 5:20 Yes Yes Yes
GolfDiscount.com 41.60% 3.70 3:39 Yes Yes Yes
Analysis:Lookingat the resultsfromAlexa,TGWhas a lowerbounce rate,a highernumberof
page viewspervisitor,andusersspendmore time onthe site.Bounce rate isa percentage of unique
visitorsthatleave the site afterlookingatonlyone page.The average bounce rate for websitesis
approximately50%,soby that standard,TGW isnot onlydoingbetterthanGolfDiscount,butisalso
doingbetterthanmostsitesingeneral. GolfDiscountisalsodoingbetterthanthe average,buthasa
higherrate than TGW.
TGW has a lotof differentengagingcontent,some of whichhasbeenmentionedbefore.Suchas
havingreviewsforuserstoread,andlinksto write reviews.Theyalsohave Q&A sectionsforusers.They
can ask theirownquestionsforTGW to answer,ortheysee if theirquestionhasalreadybeenasked.
On some of theirproduct-level pages,TGWevenhasvideosfromtheirYouTube channel that
talk/demonstrate the product.Theyalsoallow userstorate theirproducts.Theyalsoallow usersto
engage withthe site byplacingshare toolsoneach product-level page.Thisgivesusersthe chance to
Figure 24.1: TGW Q&A and Review tabs.
Figure 24.1: TGW Review and Questions
links.

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share content,or justsimple “like”the content.Theyalsohave alinkto theirYouTube channel,sothat
userscan watch more videosanddemonstrationsof their products.
GolfDiscountfallsbehindTGWonthe ideaof engagingcontent,aswell asall the Alexaresults.
Theytoo offerdifferentshare toolsforuserstoengage with,andalsooffersectionstoreadandleave
reviewsonproducts.Whattheydon’thave are videosonproduct-level pages,orplacestoask
questions.Theydohave alive chatoption,as mentionedbefore.Theywoulddobetterif theyadded
videosontotheirpages,itcouldhelpincrease theiramountof engagingcontent.
Recommendationfor Improvementsto Trust: A definitelyimprovementforTGW wouldbe to
add videostoall of theirproduct-level pages,insteadof justa few.Thiswouldnotonlymake themlook
like more of an authorityonthe topic of golf and golf balls,butwouldgive userssomethingtoengage in.
AnotherideaforimprovementisthatTGW couldmove their“CustomerCare”sectionintoan
actual tab,insteadof all the way at the bottomof the page.Thisis a goodsectionwitha lotof linksto
letusersfeel like theycanask questions,getanswers,andtrustthe site,butit’sat the bottom.It would
be betterto move itto near the top,or as a sidebar.Somethingmore visibletousers.
VII. Links (Ln, Lq)
1. Link Number(Ln)
TGW.comNo. of ReferringDomains: 1,126
GolfDiscount.comNo.of ReferringDomains: 961
Figure 25.1: TGW product-level share tools.
Figure 25.2: TGW social media
links.

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2. Link Quality (Lq)
TGW.comNo. of ReferringDomains: 5
GolfDiscount.comNo.of ReferringDomains: 7
Explanation: I wouldgive TGWa score of 5 out of 10. Theydefinitelyhave ahigher
numberof domainslinkingtotheirsite,comparedtoGolfDiscount,butnone of them
are fromrestricteddomains.Restricteddomainsare domainsthatnotjustanyone can
use,suchas edu.,gov.,mil.,etc.Youmust be affiliatedwiththese organizationstohave
one of these domains,whichputsabit more trust intothose sites.Butaccordingto
MajesticSEO.com,TGWhas no restricteddomainslinkingtothem.Sowhenanalyzing
TGW’s linkquality,Ilooktothe quality of some of the sports/athleticsitesthatare
linkingtothem.Because if alotof knownandtrustedsportsand brand sitesare linking
to them,TGW must be doingsomethingright,whetheritisqualitycontent,trusted
equipment,etc.
TGW doeshave some well-knownsiteslinkingbacktothem.Theyaren’thuge and
popularsites,like NIKE,Adidas,orESPN,butsiteslike QuickFixGolf.comand
TaylorMadeGolf.comlinkbacktothem.Below are afew examplesof referringdomains,
accordingto MajesticSEO.com.

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The third columnof these linksiswhatMajesticSEO.comcalls“TrustFlow,”whichis
one of theirownmetrics.It’sa weightednumberof clicksona linkordomainfroma
setof trustedsites.We see fromthe three examplesabove numberslike36,31, and
58. Comparedtosome of the sitesthatare linkingtoGolfDiscount,these numbers
are aboutaverage,with58 beingprettyhigh. These links,theirMajesticSEOtrust
flow,andtheirlackof restricteddomainsreferringbacktothemgivesme the idea
that TGW isaverage whenitcomesto the qualityof theirlinksandthe site’s
popularity.Theyaren’tbad,buttheyaren’tgreat.
In comparison,Iwouldgive GolfDiscountasolid7 outof 10. Thisif for a numberof
reasons.Nowwhile theydohave afew hundredlessdomainslinkingbacktothem,I
have seena higherqualityinthose domains.UnlikeTGW,GolfDiscountdoeshave 3
educationdomainslinkingbacktothem.And,again,because it’sarestricted
domain,there’sabitmore trust giventothose sites.
Figure 27.1: Referring Domain for TGW Example.
Figure 27.2: Referring Domains for TGW examples.

28
Whenlookingatthe other sitesthatMajesticSEOlistsasreferringdomainsfor
GolfDiscount,while theydohave some of the same domainslinkingtothemas
TGW does,theyalsohave siteswithamuchhighernumberforthe “trust flow”
metric. Examplesare shownbelow.
So takingintoaccount all of these factors,I wouldsaythat GolfDiscountisabove
average whenitcomesto theirpopularityandthe qualityof theirreferring
domains.Theycouldimprove some things,butoverall they’re doinga betterjob
than TGW.
VIII. Social Analysis
1. Social Signals:Reputation (Sr):
TGW.comScore: 8
Figure 28.1: Number of Education Domains Referring toGolfDiscount.
Figure 28.2: Referring Domain for GolfDiscount.
Figure 28.3: Referring Domain for GolfDiscount.

29
TGW Facebook GolfDiscount Facebook
Likes 19,500 15,035
Talking About 75 people 1,205
Year Joined 2009 2009
Most Recent Post April 4th
, 2016 April 6th
, 2016
TGW Twitter GolfDiscount Twitter
Tweets 5,473 3,927
Followers/Following 3,785/336 3,240/2,957
Most Recent Tweet April 6th
, 2016 April 6th
, 2016
Comments/Favorites/Retweets On average, less than 5 On average, less than 3
TGW Google Plus GolfDiscount Google Plus
Followers 668 221
Most Recent Posts April 6th
, 2016 August 26th
, 2015
Comments on Posts 0 Approximately 3
TGW YouTube GolfDiscount YouTube
Number of Videos 500+ 30+
Number of Subscribers 773 280

30
TGW Pintrest GolfDiscount Pintrest
Number of Boards 45 57
Number of Pins 583 3.2k
Number of Likes 70 18
Followers/Following 355/103 1.6k/414
Analysis:TGW has a reallygoodstandingonsocial media,especiallyYouTube.Theirweakpoint
isPintrest.Withtheirothersocial mediaaccounts,theydoa greatjob of postingsomethingnew daily,
and sometimesmore thanonce aday. Theirpresence onYouTube istheirbest,astheyhave over500
videos,andare alwayspostingnewones.Inalot of areas,theyare doingbetterthanGolfDiscountin
social media.
GolfDiscountisveryfaraheadof TGW withtheirPintrestaccount,butfall a little behindon
othersocial mediasites.Theyfall waybehindonYouTube,havingjustover30 videos,comparedto
TGW, whichhas more than 500.
Recommendationfor Improvements: Withsocial mediapresence,TGW’sweakpointistheir
Pintrestaccount.Sowhile notrelaxingonanyof theirotheraccounts,theyneedtoput some more
focusintoPintrest.TGW wouldalsobenefitfromembedding theirYouTube videosontotheirproduct-
level pages,asmentionedbefore.Bydoingthis,more userswill have the chance tosee the videos,and
couldthenbe interestedonclickingontheirYouTube linktosee more.
2. Social Signals:Sharing (Ss):
TGW.comScore: 6

31
Analysis:TGW has share toolsforFacebook,Twitter,Google Plus,andPintrestonevery
product-level page.GolfDiscounthasthe same,alongwith share toolsforTumblrand Reddit.
Recommendationfor Improvements: TGW couldimprove the amountof sharesthey
getif theywere toslightlyincreasethe size of the tools,aswell asplace themdifferently.
While theyare visible underthe image of the product,theycouldbe betterseenand
noticedmore if placedsomewhere like the “addtocart” button,or nearthe price.
IX. Conclusions& Priority Recommendations:TGW doesdo some thingswell,butthey
obviouslyhave roomforimprovementwithsuchalow SERPranking.Now the firstand most
importantone to focuson is“Cq” whichisthe qualityof theircontent.Addingvideostoall
of theirproduct-level pagescouldreallyaddmore totheircontent.Itwouldalsohelpthem
to add more to theirproductdescriptions.Theirdescriptionsandspecsare almostthin,so
addingmore featureswouldmake itbetter. Itcouldalsohelptoincrease the ideathatthey
are an authorityonthe topic of golf/golf balls.
It wouldalsobe beneficial forthemtoworkon theirHTML, more specificallytheiralttext.
Theyrarelyuse alt text,whichnotonlymakesitdifficultforanyvisionimpairedusers,but
makesitimpossibleforthe Googlebotto“read”the imagesonthe page.
Figure 31.2: GolfDiscount
share tools.
Figure 31.1: TGW share tools.
Figure 31.3: Current TGW share tool placement.
Figure 31.4: Example of new TGW share tool
placement.

32
Anotherimportantthingtofocusisto optimize the site towardadifferentkeywordthan
just“golf balls.”Withsuch a general andhighlycompetitivekeyword,it’ll be difficultfor
TGW to rank highenoughtomake it to the firstpage.The keywords“personalizedgolf
balls”or “usedgolf balls”wouldbe easiertooptimizetoward.
While all the recommendationsmade throughthispaperare definitelythingstolookover
and perhapsfix,those listeddirectlyabove are thingsthatare more importanttofocus on.
Qualitycontentisa +3 on the SEO PeriodicTable,asis“Ta” or Trustand Authority.So
focusingonthese thingsfirstwill goalongway to helpingTGWgeta higherrankingon
Google SERPs.

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