This document provides an overview of a training session on search engine optimization (SEO) fundamentals. The session aims to help attendees understand what SEO is, how it can drive business to websites, how to identify important keywords, what Google looks for in websites, how links can help with rankings, and where to get links. The document discusses SEO myths and truths, how search engines work, how to identify problems on websites, the importance of links and link building strategies, and how smaller businesses can compete against larger competitors through SEO without big budgets.

1. WELCOME BACK
Digital Eyes Media Academy

2. IT’S BEEN A MONTH….
What have you implemented in your
business since the last session?

3. THE SECRETS THAT SEO PROFESSIONALS
DON’T WANT YOU TO KNOW!

4. AIMS OF THE SESSION
By the end of the session we’ll all have an understanding of the following:
• Know what SEO actually is
• How it can help to drive business to my website
• The keywords I care about
• What’s Google looks for in a website
• Links and how they help
• Where and how to get links
• It’s not just about web pages….

5. Who’s had experience of being
involved with SEO before?

6. There is
answer!

7. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is simply
understanding how search engines rank content
and using this understanding to ensure a website
or some other digital asset ranks well.

8. Myth buster

9. TRUE OR FALSE?
You need to submit your website to Google and
every search engine that you want to appear in

10. FALSE

11. TRUE OR FALSE
If I buy webdesignerstoke.co.uk I will rank number
1 for “web designer stoke”

12. FALSE

13. TRUE OR FALSE
Social media will help build my search engine
visibility

14. TRUE

15. A FEW OTHER MYTHS
• Keyword density is important
• What worked last year works now
• SEO can be automated
• Google page rank influences your rank

16. ANATOMY OF A SEARCH RESULTS PAGE (SERP)

17. WHY IS SEO IMPORTANT FOR YOUR BUSINESS
• 70% of users click organic search results – HubSpot
• 60% of clicks are for the top 3 search results –
HubSpot
• 75% of users NEVER go to page 2 of results –
HubSpot
• 93% of online activity starts with a search – Search
Engine Journal

18. BUT IT’S NOT JUST WEBSITES

19. Findability
Focus
Standards
Cost
Effective
Why?
High ROI
Targeted
Brand
Visibility

20. What are your thoughts about
using SEO for your business?

21. “MY MARKETPLACE IS TO CROWDED AND I
CAN’T COMPETE”
BOLLOCKS!

22. HOW DO SEARCH ENGINES WORK?
Simply put, search engines crawl the web to
understand what web-pages are about in order to
serve relevant pages to people searching the web

23. YOU AND I SEE THE WORLD DIFFERENTLY
• Location personalisation
• Device personalisation
• History personalisation
• Circles preference
• Intent personalisation

24. THE GOOGLE BEAUTY PAGEANT
Relevancy
• Content
• Website
structure
Popularity
Behaviour
• Inbound Links
• Social Signals
• User Profiling
• Searcher
Intent

25. KNOW YOUR MARKET
Google is NOT the king of the world, be sure you
understand that you focus on search engines your visitor
and target market use

26. How can small and newer businesses beat the
competition?

27. IT ALL STARTS HERE

28. SHORT TAIL VS LONG TAIL

29. IT’S NOT GUESS WORK
Don’t guess what your potential customers are searching
for, find out!

30. USEFUL TOOLS
• Google keyword planner
• adwords.google.com
• (free with an account)
• Google analytics
• Other useful keyword tools

31. Spend the next 10 minutes thinking of the 5 most
important keywords for your businesses website.
Write them into your notebook

32. BREAK

33. MAKING SURE YOUR WEBSITE IS SHIP SHAPE
• Keywords in your pages
• Page titles
• Content headings
• Page URL’s
• Internal links
• Images and other media correctly labeled
• Page speed
• Broken links

34. COMMON PITFALLS AND HOW TO SPOT THEM
• Multiple versions of a domain and or homepage
• Duplicate content
• Poor internal links
• Bad titles and headings
• Broken links
• Missing image descriptions

35. How to identify a problem?

36. Links make the web go around

37. NUMBER OF LINKS
Most
Authoritative
Least
Authoritative
Generally the more links a page has the more authoritative it will be

38. AUTHORITY OF LINKS
Small
blog
forum
Least
Authoritative
Article
site
Major
News
Website
Industry
Blog
Most
Authoritative
However the authority of each page linking through also matters.

39. RELEVANCY OF LINKS
Money
Advice
Blog
Accountancy
site
Most
Authoritative
Golf
Website
Music
Website
Least
Authoritative
The relevancy of the inbound links also plays a large part of
establishing authority

40. RULE OF THUMB FOR LINKS
If it’s easy to obtain by anyone, it’s low value
The harder a link is to get, the more valuable

41. SOME USEFUL LINK BUILDING TOOLS
• DMOZ – dmoz.org
• Submit your information and hope for the best
• Industry specific directories
• Don’t spend lots of money to be in them!
• Leverage supplier contacts
• Get links back from customers websites
• Check your competition
• Social media profiles
• Google places verified listing

42. AVOID….
• Reciprocal linking
• Blog commenting with links back
• Forum links
• Paying someone in China, India or some other country to give
you thousands of links to your site

43. SHHHH….. IT’S A SECRET!
How to compete with £million SEO budgets
without spending a penny!

44. EVERYONE KNOWS THEY NEED TO BUT DON’T!

45. EXAMPLE: MEET PAUL
Business:
Spin Less Plates
Sector:
Business management software
Competitors in search:
Small companies like Sage, Kashflow &
Microsoft
Time in business: 18 months

46. Where does Paul rank for
“small business software”?

47. Overall if it’s good for users
it’s good for search engines

48. Measuring progress

50. Questions?