The document provides a summary of 10 actionable tips for search engine optimization (SEO) including conducting keyword research, optimizing title tags and meta descriptions, creating engaging content, benchmarking key performance indicators (KPIs), building links, outreach best practices, using Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools, conducting competitive audits, technical SEO best practices, and recommended SEO tools.

1. Top 10 Actionable Tips to SEO
Your Site Like a Pro
Judith Lewis

2. ➡ Run DeCabbit Consultancy doing SEO, PPC, Social Media and integrated
marketing campaigns - working with bloggers for link building
➡ Got on the Internet in 1986 at my school lab
➡ Working online with search since 1996
➡ Worked in-house within e-Commerce, Publishing & High Tech
➡ Have worked with Google (SEO for product sites), Orange, COI,
NatWest/RBS, National Gallery, CIPD, Fidelity, GalaCoral, NBC Universal,
Readers Digest, Bayer, Family Search, Amadeus, AMD, AmEx, TotalJobs,
Virgin.com, Virgin Startup, Zopa, Inspire Malibu & more
➡ Chosen as a founding Modern Muse, contributed to book “Pimp My Site”,
judge of the UK, US & European Search Awards, one of the SEO Chicks, blog
on Huffington Post & run MostlyAboutChocolate.com food blog
AM I
Who Obligatory slide !
Judith Lewis
@JudithLewis
@MostlyAboutChoc

3. 3
@JudithLewis
@MostlyAboutChoc
If you have a question please and you
will be rewarded with chocolate (and an
answer).
There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers

4. Agenda
Keyword Research for Your Vertical
Designing Title Tags & Meta Descriptions
Content Secret of Success
Benchmarking
How to Win Links and Influence People
Outreach Do’s and Don’ts
Google Search Console
Competitive Audit
Technical SEO Like a Pro
Your New Best Friend Toolkit
@JudithLewis
@MostlyAboutChoc

5. Keyword Research

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9. Designing
Title Tags &
Meta
Descriptions

10. It’s Your Advert – Make it Count
@JudithLewis
@MostlyAboutChoc

11. Optimising Title Tag
Implementing best practices for title tags:
Be Careful With Length
Search engines will truncate titles in search results over 50-60 characters, or 512 pixels
wide. Get you message in concisely
Place Important Keywords Close to the Front of the Title Tag
The closer to the start of the title tag a keyword is, the more helpful it will be for ranking
Leverage Your Brand
If a brand is well-known enough, the brand name should be first. If the brand is less known or
relevant than the keyword, the keyword should be first.
Consider Impact
Creating a compelling title tag will pull in more visits from the search results. It's vital to
think about the entire user experience when you're creating your title tags.
@JudithLewis
@MostlyAboutChoc

12. Optimising Meta Descriptions
Write Compelling Ad Copy
The meta description tag draws readers to a website from the SERP. Crafting a readable, compelling
description using important keywords can improve the click-through rate.
Recommended Length
Meta descriptions generally truncate at 160 characters.
Avoid Duplicate Meta Description Tags
It is important that meta descriptions on each page be unique or left blank.
Not a Google Ranking Factor
Neither meta descriptions nor meta keywords are used by ranking algorithms.
Quotes Cut Off Descriptions
Any time quotes are used in a meta description, Google cuts off the description. Remove all non-
alphanumeric characters.
Sometimes it is Okay to Not Write Meta Descriptions
If the page is targeting between one and three heavily searched terms or phrases, go with a meta
description that hits those users performing that search.
@JudithLewis
@MostlyAboutChoc

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Content
Secret of
Success

14. 10 Tips for Content Success
Understand your audience
Think big (data)
Create engaging content
Map your sales cycle (or use an editorial calendar)
Write powerful/engaging titles
Evergreen content rewards in constant traffic
Focus on emotional, controversial or useful original content
Simplicity and clarity in articles wins readers
Socially promote all content (don’t expect it to work alone)
Measure results
@JudithLewis
@MostlyAboutChoc

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Benchmarking

16. KPIs & Benchmarking
Rankings of keywords can be a KPI but what is the value
of that keyword ranking? Is that the right KPI? What
about just traffic from organic search?
CTR can be checked in Google Search Console
Check impressions for search variance – is there
seasonality in search volume?
Keyword rankings can be tracked in Google Search
Console
@JudithLewis
@MostlyAboutChoc

17. What Are You Tracking?
@JudithLewis
@MostlyAboutChoc

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How to Win
Links and
Influence
People

19. Easy Linkbuilding
Off-Site Link Placement
Industry bodies
Government partners
Charities that your company
supports
RSS Feed for a blog (with
caveats)
Traditional press activities
Articles for trade press/be an
expert
Guest articles
@JudithLewis
@MostlyAboutChoc
Content Designed to Attract Links
White papers
Expert research papers
Newsjacking
Lists
Interviews/Egobait
Surveys

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Outreach
Do’s &
Don’ts

21. DO: Research Your Targets
@JudithLewis
@MostlyAboutChoc

22. DON’T: Exact Match Anchor Text
@JudithLewis
@MostlyAboutChoc

23. DON’T: Exact Match Anchor Text
Link Anchor Text
@JudithLewis
@MostlyAboutChoc

24. Google Search Console
&
Bing Webmaster Tools

25. 25@JudithLewis
@MostlyAboutChoc

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Competitive
Audit

29. SEMRush
@JudithLewis
@MostlyAboutChoc

30. Competitor Insights for Any Domain
@JudithLewis
@MostlyAboutChoc

31. Technical
SEO

32. Screaming Frog
Site Diagnosis
This tool checks multiple technical points:
URI file type (CSS, JS, HTML, IMG, etc)
Page Status (404, 200, 301, 302, 307, etc)
Meta data such as title, description
Links out from a page
Image alt text
etc
@JudithLewis
@MostlyAboutChoc

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34. Essentials
Ensure you do not have duplicate content (could be from www
to non-www redirects or case sensitivity)
Ensure critical pages have bespoke titles and descriptions
(you can see that on main console as well as within an export
of HTML pages)
Check that 404 pages have links to them removed (Bulk
Export > Response Code > 4xx)
Remove redirect chains
Check server response time
@JudithLewis
@MostlyAboutChoc

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36. Tools
@JudithLewis
@MostlyAboutChoc

37. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME
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