WebFuel: SEO for Techies 2014 (Canadian Version)
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Helen Faber's presentation at Ottawa Girl Geek April 24, 2014
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WebFuel: SEO for Techies 2014 (Canadian Version)
- 1. T h e S e a r c h R e s u l t s A g e n c y . G e t R a n k i n g s | G e t C l i c k s | G e t C o n v e r s i o n s Ottawa Girl Geek Dinner | April 24, 2014 SEO FOR TECHIES Search in Canada #SEO2014
- 2. T h e S e a r c h R e s u l t s A g e n c y . G e t R a n k i n g s | G e t C l i c k s | G e t C o n v e r s i o n s SEO for Techies (Geeks) #SEO2014 Let’s get started… Learn with WebFuel: For Geeks
- 3. T h e S e a r c h R e s u l t s A g e n c y . G e t R a n k i n g s | G e t C l i c k s | G e t C o n v e r s i o n s The World Wide Web #throwbackthursday Note: The first website (published by Tim Berners-Lee)
- 4. T h e S e a r c h R e s u l t s A g e n c y . G e t R a n k i n g s | G e t C l i c k s | G e t C o n v e r s i o n s Search Engines #throwbackthursday Note: The first Search Engine (tool used for searching the Internet) was Archie (1990)
- 5. T h e S e a r c h R e s u l t s A g e n c y . G e t R a n k i n g s | G e t C l i c k s | G e t C o n v e r s i o n s Search Engines #throwbackthursday Note: Google is the world’s most popular Search Engine (1999)
- 6. T h e S e a r c h R e s u l t s A g e n c y . G e t R a n k i n g s | G e t C l i c k s | G e t C o n v e r s i o n s Search Engine Results Page (SERP) #throwbackthursday Note: Google SERP evolution
- 7. T h e S e a r c h R e s u l t s A g e n c y . G e t R a n k i n g s | G e t C l i c k s | G e t C o n v e r s i o n s Search Engine Results Page (SERP) #SEO2014 Note: The first page of results matters
- 8. T h e S e a r c h R e s u l t s A g e n c y . G e t R a n k i n g s | G e t C l i c k s | G e t C o n v e r s i o n s Website #SEO2014 Note: There are two types of visitors to a website. People & Spiders.
- 9. T h e S e a r c h R e s u l t s A g e n c y . G e t R a n k i n g s | G e t C l i c k s | G e t C o n v e r s i o n s Crawl. Index. Display. #howsearchworks Note: EVERYTHING that a Search Engine crawls & indexes matters
- 10. T h e S e a r c h R e s u l t s A g e n c y . G e t R a n k i n g s | G e t C l i c k s | G e t C o n v e r s i o n s Rankings, Clicks & Conversions #SEO2014 Source: Search Engine Journal
- 11. T h e S e a r c h R e s u l t s A g e n c y . G e t R a n k i n g s | G e t C l i c k s | G e t C o n v e r s i o n s The State of Search in Canada #searchincanada Note: Canadian Stats 2014 • Canadians are leaders in Internet usage • Canada ranks 2nd in Internet penetration (G8 Counterparts) • 86% of Canadians are online (as of Jan 2014) • 98% of Canadian Internet users access it every day • Almost 50% of Canadians shop online at least once a month • Canada ranks # 1 for most web page visits per month • Most Canadians start their search via Search Engines • Google is the number #1 Search Engine in Canada • Canadians search via Google.ca (Google Canada) • Google.ca has its own Canada oriented index
- 12. T h e S e a r c h R e s u l t s A g e n c y . G e t R a n k i n g s | G e t C l i c k s | G e t C o n v e r s i o n s The State of Search in Canada #behindthescenes Note: Google Street View (Ottawa)
- 13. T h e S e a r c h R e s u l t s A g e n c y . G e t R a n k i n g s | G e t C l i c k s | G e t C o n v e r s i o n s The State of Search in Canada #whatscoming Source: GeoDigital - Spatial Search
- 14. T h e S e a r c h R e s u l t s A g e n c y . G e t R a n k i n g s | G e t C l i c k s | G e t C o n v e r s i o n s What is Search Engine Optimization, Really? Search Engine Optimization Definition: Getting results from Organic Search Note: WebFuel’s Definition
- 15. T h e S e a r c h R e s u l t s A g e n c y . G e t R a n k i n g s | G e t C l i c k s | G e t C o n v e r s i o n s What is Search Engine Optimization, Really? Note: There are two sides to SEO – Technical and Non-Technical. Source: Search Engine Land
- 16. T h e S e a r c h R e s u l t s A g e n c y . G e t R a n k i n g s | G e t C l i c k s | G e t C o n v e r s i o n s When Things Go Wrong Really Wrong. Note: That is when you call in a Search Detective
- 17. T h e S e a r c h R e s u l t s A g e n c y . G e t R a n k i n g s | G e t C l i c k s | G e t C o n v e r s i o n s The Case of the Compromised SERP Search Issue: “This site may be compromised” appearing in the SERP (brand name search)
- 18. T h e S e a r c h R e s u l t s A g e n c y . G e t R a n k i n g s | G e t C l i c k s | G e t C o n v e r s i o n s The Case of the Stolen Web Traffic Search Issue: Web traffic redirected to competitor’s website
- 19. T h e S e a r c h R e s u l t s A g e n c y . G e t R a n k i n g s | G e t C l i c k s | G e t C o n v e r s i o n s The Case of the Canonicalization Search Issue: Website duplication
- 20. T h e S e a r c h R e s u l t s A g e n c y . G e t R a n k i n g s | G e t C l i c k s | G e t C o n v e r s i o n s The Case of the Drop in Rankings Search Issue: Not addressing the Search Engine index during website redesign
- 21. T h e S e a r c h R e s u l t s A g e n c y . G e t R a n k i n g s | G e t C l i c k s | G e t C o n v e r s i o n s The Case of the Bad Links Search Issue: Wrong Google index (.com) and unnatural (spammy) inbound links
- 22. T h e S e a r c h R e s u l t s A g e n c y . G e t R a n k i n g s | G e t C l i c k s | G e t C o n v e r s i o n s Got Questions? Just Ask.
- 23. T h e S e a r c h R e s u l t s A g e n c y . G e t R a n k i n g s | G e t C l i c k s | G e t C o n v e r s i o n s Join Us • Engage with WebFuel on Twitter, LinkedIn & Facebook • Subscribe to the WebFuel Blog “Get Found on the Web” • Follow our series “SEO Wednesdays Canada” • Attend the Ottawa Search & Digital Marketing Meetups Learn with WebFuel Series (Presentations) • Posted on our website
- 24. T h e S e a r c h R e s u l t s A g e n c y . G e t R a n k i n g s | G e t C l i c k s | G e t C o n v e r s i o n s About WebFuel • Search Results Agency (SEO, PPC & GA) • Full Service Search Engine Optimization • Clients are primarily Canadian Brands (or those targeting Canada) • Work with In-house Marketers / Web Developers & Agencies • Expertise in Canadian Search • Specialize in SEO Audits, Consulting, Implementation & Training • Google Credentials (Trusted Google Partner) • Founded in 2004 • Located in Ottawa, Canada
- 25. T h e S e a r c h R e s u l t s A g e n c y . G e t R a n k i n g s | G e t C l i c k s | G e t C o n v e r s i o n s WebFuel is a Search Results Agency Presenter: Les Faber e: info@webfuel.ca | p: 613-692-1030 | w: WebFuel.ca|
Editor's Notes
- Thank you Samantha for the introduction. I’d also like to thank Girl Geek Dinner for asking me to present. I get to talk about my favourite topic Search in Canada & SEO.Anyone remember “Get Smart? The TV series? As a kid, I would watch this show everyday after school. Growing up all I wanted to be was a detective – and solve cases. Well… today, I am a detective. A Search Detective. You’ll see why.Tonight I will focus primarily on the technical side of SEO. I will be sharing tales (true stories) about search related issues, we’ll be doing live searching. I’ll start with the state of search in Canada (along with some history) .On a side note, I recently presented at IABC Ottawa on the topic “SEO for Non-Techies (Marketers & Communicators). They did a great recap on their website (ottawa.iabc.com). This presentation is part of the “Learn with WebFuel” series. I will be posting it on the WebFuel website (WebFuel.ca).
- Before we begin… How many of you are geeks? Show of hands. How many of you want to be a geek? I don’t think of myself as a geek. However my friends and family do. I am not a coder or developer as mentioned before I’m more like a Search Detective.How many of you are responsible for the search channel? How many of you do SEO? Let’s get started with a look back in time or as I like to call it #throwbackthursday
- Question: How old is the World Wide Web? Answer: It turned 25 years old this year.The World Wide Web went live to the public in 1991. Display screen capture – and note.Note: The first website was just a simple, text based web page with a few links. In 2014, there are at least 1.57 billion indexed web pages (this is an estimate of course) – Source: http://www.worldwidewebsize.comAdditional informationIn August 1991, Tim Berners-Lee (best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web), published the first website.
- Question: What was the first Search Engine? Display screen capture – and noteAnswer: The very first tool used for searching the Internet was Archie launched in 1990. It was founded by two Canadians (who were computer science students at McGill University in Montreal).
- Display screen capture an noteIt’s likely no surprise but Google is the most popular SE in Canada. Depending on how you define SEs - YouTube is number 2 (owned by Google). In 2014, there are thousands of SEs (see Wikipedia for a comprehensive list)
- Display screen capture # 1 How many of you remember Google’s 10 blue links? As in ten listing per results page.Display screen capture # 2 and noteIn 2014, there are multiple SERP layouts depending on search query type
- Question: How many of you go beyond the first page of results.Display screen capture and note.In the early days of search – and SE results, most searchers would dig down three pages of Search Results (or view / scan 30 listings). In 2014, people are better searchers & Google is better at providing more relevant results – now it’s all about ranking on the first page.
- Display screen captures and note.The screen capture on the left is what people see. The one on the right is a search engine view. Note the difference.
- Crawling & Indexing is on the technical side of SEO. First you need content on the web (i.e. a web page). The SEs crawl your page (think of it like accessing it). Then it is indexed (like photocopying). This means it’s in the SE index. The third component relates to display (if it is relevant).Algorithms are used to determine relevancy – and ranking. Google has over 200 ranking factors (that are constantly being update &fine tuned)Display noteFrom a SEO perspective, everything that a SE crawls & indexes matters. Websites, blogs, presentations, videos, images, news, maps, social media, directories, reviews etc… Note: Some of these examples are uniquely Canadian.For more information on how search works – Google has a great site explaining the process. Just Google “How Search Works”.(http://www.google.com/insidesearch/howsearchworks/thestory/) Additional InformationSearch engines’ three major functions are crawling & building an index, and providing answers based on relevancy & serving up results. And…fighting spam. Fighting spam is all about keeping search results relevant for the web searcher. It is important to understand what the SEs consider spam. To learn more about this, visit Google Inside Search or just Google “How Search Works”.Algorithms are used to determine relevancy – and ranking. Google has over 200 factors.Fighting spam is all about keeping search results relevant for the web searcher. It is important to understand what the SEs consider spam. To learn more about this, visit Google Inside Search (http://www.google.com/insidesearch/howsearchworks/thestory/) or just Google “How Search Works”.
- Display screen capture and noteEarly SEO was all about ranking high – and sending web traffic to the site.Today it should be about rankings, clicks and conversionsGet Rankings (high visibility in SEs). Get Clicks (drive relevant web traffic to site). Get Conversions (related to website conversions – generate leads, access information, online donations etc…). This must include measurement of course.
- Display bullets and noteCanadians love the Internet. 86% of us are online. Almost all Internet users in Canada go online everyday. We love to search, shop & bank online. Canadians also love videos - and social media (especially Facebook – number one search term in Canada). According to ComScore (newly released data on search), Canadians visit more web pages per month than any other country. The highest in the world. Yes – we rank number one!So… where do Canadians start their search?Most searches in Canada are via SEs. Second most popular is via branded websites – and then branded apps (like Facebook on the iPhone).Canadians use Google, as in Google Canada – and we have our own Google index (different than Google.com).We also have our own country code domain – the .ca (which will be 27 years old next month)Question: Does any of this data surprise anyone?Sidenote: What still remains a challenge is Canadian only data related to searchWhere we are lacking: Canadian businesses are embracing online shoppers – but still have a long way to go.Additional InformationAs of Jan of this year, 86% of Canadian are online. According to CIRA (Canadian Internet Registration Authority) among its G8 counterparts Canada ranks 2nd in Internet penetration just behind the U.K. 98% of Canadian Internet users access it the every day. The Canadian Press recently published an online poll conducted by Price Waterhouse Coopers (Feb. 27, 2014). Guess what? Almost half of Canada’s Internet Users are shopping online at least once a month. Good news for eCommerce in Canada.URL: http://globalnews.ca/news/1176897/half-of-canadians-shop-online-once-a-month-poll/In the early days of the web, people would launch their web browser (like Alta Vista or Netscape / before Google)– and type in the domain name (web address) for websites. Now they often use Search Engines. Why? It’s quick!Sidenote: If you have been tracking your organic keyword data via Google Analytics (or other web analytics program) in the past few years, you would likely have found your website address (and variations thereof) Canadians search via Google.ca (Google Canada)Google.ca has its own Canadian oriented indexGoogle.com searches within Canada redirect you to Google.caCanadians search in English & in FrenchCanadian spelling is different as wellNote: Canadian Search is not the same as American Search. Or Search in other English speaking countries.Canadians are different than Americans. Surprised? Show bulletsWe have our own search engine Google Canada (Google.ca) & our own Google index. Our spelling can be different (sometimes) - and we have to think about French searchers (if relevant / your target audience). Sidenote: Google.com searches from within the USA access a separate indexAdditional Information:Google.com searches within Canada redirects to Google.ca (unless you are searching via a proxy).Think Search Engines.What are the top Search Engines in Canada? Who is number one? Anyone? Which search engine is the second most popular in Canada (Bing) . And… why? Bing is generally used by PC users that have the SE installed on their computer by default (they tend not be as web savvy). Did You Know: There are 1000s of search engines in the world. 16% of daily searches are new (Google)Note: Google ranks number one – and number three.Hitwise Canada just released this data about Search Engines. Google ranks number one – and number three. You will note that most Canadians use Google Canada (rather than Google.com). And… if you define YouTube as a Search Engine. It ranks number #2 in Canada. More popular than Bing. Google owns YouTube.
- Question: What is going on behind the scenes?Display screen capture # 1 – anyone?Display screen capture # 2 & 3 – anyone? Display noteGoogle Street View sightings in Ottawa. On-road (car) – and off road (Google Trekker – a backpack mounted camera system that can leave the street). Google has partnered with Parks Canada, to capture Canada’s National Parks and historic sites (as well as bike paths, hiking trails etc…). See photo 2 & 3The most recent sighting was the Google Street View Car was spotted in Ottawa just before Easter.
- What’s coming? Display screen captureGoogle is investing greatly in maps – and the new changes will be rolling out in Canada in approx. the next two/three months (6 months for the mobile phone version). Google is merging Google Maps and Google Earth. We predict that it will have a great impact on (organic) search in Canada. Display noteAdditional InformationGoogle estimates that 85% of searches are location based.They have recently launched GME (Google Maps Engine). Spatial search is defining a location (i.e. Byward Market) – and points of interest surrounding that location (i.e. restaurant). Including reviews, photos etc… Directions on how to get there… Google is in the testing phases.
- Question: What do you think is the definition of SEO?Get answers It depends on who you ask. Display definition and noteThis is WebFuel’s definition. SEO is not NEW. SEO is not dead. SEO is evolving.Search Engines still drive qualified web trafficSearch Engines are getting better at filtering spam (YA!)Tactics that are NOT considered best practices are dyingThe listings (or results) that appear on a Search Engine Results Page (SERP) without paying to be displayed It is determined by relevancy based on search terms Search Engines always display organic resultsIn terms of organic search, there are three major factors. You don’t pay to be displayed. Relevancy is key. And… there are always organic results.A SEO (Search Engine Optimizer) is responsible for Organic Search results.“SEO (still) isn’t dead and won’t be until the day that SEs can no longer drive significant traffic to a website (which won’t be for along, long time, if ever). SEO is changing primarily to SEs are getting better at enforcing their own rules. What is dead – or dying is short cuts or tactics that are NOT considered best practices”. Search Engine Watch.Sidenote: Search result for “search engine optimization definition” in Google: Noun. The process of maximizing the number of visitors to a particular website by ensuring that the site appears high on the list of results returned by the Search Engine. Outdated. Period.
- Display screen capture and noteTechnical (our focus tonight) relates more to the work that coders / web developers do - and non technical (relates to content, keywords etc… Marketers / Copy writers) .The periodic table of SEO success Factors was produced by Search Engine Land (needs some updating). Colour codes: Green is good. Red is bad. 3 carries the most weight. No single factor guarantees top rankings. It takes lots of work. TIP:Tactics without strategy doesn’t workWhat matters in 2014? Get rankings. Get Clicks (ranking without clicks have little value). Get Conversions (job of the website).
- This is me.I will share with you a few of our recent cases – most of them technical in nature. All solved. I will not be using the brand names – to protect the client (most often we sign NDA).Ideally you should have a search strategy come in at the start of a digital project before things go wrong.Additional InformationAn unbiased SEO Site Audit is recommended. Audit (what is working / what is not working). Both technical & non technical. Data analysis is important.Strategy (SEO plan) – always address what will have the biggest impact.Tactics (implementation)Measurement (baseline report is where you start)
- This is an example of what happened to a Canadian charity. Like most charities, one of the primarily website goals is to drive online donations. That worked well for many years. Last year, donations were down. Way down (almost 80%). They could not determine the issue. What happened? They eventually discovered that in a search for their brand name in Google, their listing had a warning ” this site may be comprised”. Show Screen Capture 1 & 2The web developer was puzzled. WebFuel was called in to address this search issue. My audit revealed that their website had been hacked. We were able to resolve this issue within a few hours. Then we submitted a Reconsideration Request to Google.Show screen capture #3 & 4This is an example of getting the ranking but not the click. Rankings matter but it’s the click that sends qualified web traffic to your site (this is where the conversion happens).For those of you new to the search channel, the first interaction with a brand is usually a SERP. In Canada, that would be a Google Canada SERP (as you know we have own country specific SE – and Google index)Additional InformationSidenote:If you are in charge of the Search channel – start by reading and understanding the SE guidelines (Google Webmaster Guidelines). Google has started to enforce their rules, especially over the past year. This will, in my opinion, continue.
- Display screen capture # 1We have seen many cases of stolen web traffic. This next story actually took place in Ottawa. The client was not performing well via their search channel (organic search) – no matter what they did. I did an audit and discovered the issue. Their primary website was under a .com. When performing a search using the .ca extension of their domain, the web searcher was redirected to the competitors website (also in Ottawa).Display note What happened next? Our client issued a letter requesting the .ca ownership. No response. It usually works but not in this case. We recommended a lawyer that specializes in search related issues. I provided all the proof. Another letter was issued. No response. It had to go the legal route.Competitors ads via site search – PPC side
- Canonicalization (Duplication)WWW & Non WWW issue.Display screen capture #1This client is Government (here in Canada). My audit revealed that they had a duplicate website issue from a SE perspective. Google had indexed both the www & non www version of their website.Display noteIn other words, Google found two websites. Both could be navigated. This not only causes confusion for the SE – as in which version to display. It also caused an inbound link issue where other sites can link to either version. In most cases, a 301 redirect is the solution (it’s a permanent redirect). A 302 is temporary.Additional InformationURL canoncialization deals with web content that has more than one possible URL. Having multiple URLs for the same web content can cause problems for search engines – specifically in determine which URL should be shown in the search results. SEO FactorYour robots.txt is a SEO factor because it stipulates exactly what on your site the crawl can access – and what it cannot. And… in some cases we have seen Google ignoring the robots.txt file.
- Display Screen Capture # 1The inquiry call we get (very often) goes something like this… We have noticed a drastic drop in website traffic . And… we don’t know why. There are several possible reasons – and sometimes it’s a combination of issues. The most popular however (still today – which is stocking to me) is related to redesigning a website without addressing what is in the SE index. For example, if you have a thousand web pages indexed, upon redesign (in most cases) the URL structure changes (these are the web addresses) - and in some cases the domain name as well. What do you think happens to the web pages from the old site that are still appearing in the SERPs? They disappear (or if a redirect is in place web traffic is directed to the home page instead of the most relevant web page on the new site. No good.). Display noteSidenote: Other common scenariosDrastic drop in web traffic (change in algorithms)Disappearance from the Search Engine Index (penalty)Note: Clean up is time consuming - and expensive. Graphic: Search Engine Land
- Display screen capture # 1Links are SEO fuel. Inbound links from the wrong sites can hurt your positioning in SERP it can also hurt your rankingsClient: August HollingsworthA Canadian firm that provides services in the province of Ontario hired a SEO agency in the USA. US search is not the same as Canadian search. Different strategy is required. They were not getting good rankings for their website – even for very relevant search queries.Hiring a US agency when you are targeting Canada. We have many, many examples of their scenario. Bottom line – our audits revealed that they were depositioned in a Canadian search (remember we have our own index). Most of it was related to link building / other off page tactics – or strategies that work in the US but not in Canada. This of course is a problem when you offer a service in Canada only – and not in the USA.I was called in to perform a SEO Site AuditThe audit revealed that they were ranking in Google.com rather than Google.ca. Google Canada has it’s own index. Bottom line – a geo-targeting issue (very common). In addition, digging further into the link data, I discovered that there was link spam (i.e. article marketing). This client was at risk of receiving a Google penalty (known as Penquin). Google updated their algorithms specifically to address this issue.Display noteCleaning up the links (also known as link removal) was a very time consuming task (expensive of course) and also required a Google reconsideration request. IAlso use FCI example (purchased a domain name with inbound links not related to their business)Launch Google Canada (Google.ca)Perform a search for your domain with the link command (i.e. link:domainname) Analyze the resultsDo you have inbound links from the wrong sites?
- All questions are good questions. Everybody’s understanding is different.If you prefer, I can give you real life examples based on Canada (what we have discovered via our SEO audits, inquires we have received (challenges in search) as well as search issues). What SEO cannot doIt cannot save a failing business. Products that don’t work. Services that nobody cares about anymore. Information that is not relevant (to web searchers).Provide a quick fix. SEO takes time. From a search perspective, the PPC (Google ads) is likely a better strategyWork in a silo. It requires client involvement. You need to be working together.When Things go wrong, really wrong! An independent school in Canada, had their website build by their print company. The goal was to improve enrollment (this was critical has boarding was their bread & butter). In other words, a global recruitment tool for new students. They spent over $100,000 on this new website. What happen? The opposite of what they expected. Inquires were down. Enrollment was down. Way down. I was hired to do a SEO Site Audit. The result? Search Engines were not taken into consideration during the build. Not only did they site not work in getting visibly from a global perspective (no geo-targeting) – the major of the website could not be crawled by the SEs. A law firm rebranded. Rather than working under one brand – they built four brands (for the four types of law services). Each had their own name, logo, phone number & website. The expectation was that inquires would improve. What happen? Inquires went down (except for offline marketing). Why? No consideration of what was in the SE index. Their biggest online competitor was themselves. Search Engines were confused – it hurt their rankings – and of course traffic to their website(s). Hiring a US agency when you are targeting Canada. We have many, many examples of their scenario. Bottom line – our audits revealed that they were depositioned in a Canada search (remember we have our own index). Most of it was related to link building / other off page tactics – or strategies that work in the US but not in Canada. This of course is a problem when you offer a service in Canada only – and not in the USA.Content. Yes content rules. Another example. This company considered it’s self as number one in their geographic location. They had been around for 30 years. The website however wasn’t generating any leads. Their GA data show few visitors to the website (red flag). They were told content rules. They made a major investment in new content. What happened? Visitors to their website didn’t increase. Why? Again – website that was built without taking SEs into consideration. How people search. What was relevant to the target audience. No geo-targeting etc…This is an example of what happened to a Canadian charity. Like most charities, one of the primarily goals on their website was to drive online donations. They worked well for many years. Last year, donations were down. Way down (almost 80%). They could not determine the problem. What happened? They eventually discovered that in a search for their brand name in Google, their listing had a warning – this site may be comprised. The web developer was puzzled. We were called in to address this search issue. It was an honest mistake. Changes made by the web developer that violated Google’s Guidelines. We were able to resolve this issue within a few hours.
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