DAYTA's internal training for search engine optimization basics. Covers the basic of technical site needs, link building, content optimization, and rankbrain. Learn more: daytamarketing.com

1. WTF is SEO
And how do I do it

3. fin.

4. OK, so there’s more to it
300-500 web
pages created
per minute
Over 2 trillion
searches per
year (Google
alone)
200+ (likely
thousands) of
ranking factors

5. Main ranking factors:
Valuable Content
You understand what your audience is
searching for, and you’ve built content that
answers their questions or provides
education.
You’ve formatted and used content
appropriately, including in your meta
information.
2
Technical Setup
Google can find and index your website.
Your website is not harmful to the user.
Your website is not hopelessly broken.
1
Rankbrain
Uses AI to predict the best search results,
based on what the AI knows about the
connection between links, content, and
your behavior.
4
Links
Your content is linked to from trustworthy
websites. Your information is accurate
across the web.
3

6. Technical Setup
Google can find and index your website.
Your website is not harmful to the user.
Your website is not hopelessly broken.
1

7. ● Can Google find my site to begin with?
● Can Google effectively crawl my site?
● When Google crawls my site, does the site work?
○ Content lives at only one URL
○ Links work
○ Things don’t redirect too much
● Is the site mobile-friendly?
● Is the site secured?
● Is the site slow or fast to load?
● Is there a bunch of excess worthless content that’s getting
indexed?
Technical Setup

8. Google Webmaster
Tools
Similar to Google Analytics, but to
gauge how healthy Google thinks
your site is.
Alerts the owner if:
● There is a page error (like a 404
error)
● Anything isn’t mobile friendly
● Hacking occurs
● Site isn’t indexed well

9. Our basic website
audits
● Start with a crawl (goes through
all pages for on-site errors)
● Speed test
● Mobile friendly test
● SSL test (Secure Socket Layer)
● Google site search
(“site:daytamarketing.com”)

10. Valuable Content
You understand what your audience is
searching for, and you’ve built content
that answers their questions or provides
education.
You’ve formatted and used content
appropriately, including in your meta
information.
2

11. DAYTA Loop it!
AWARENESS RESEARCH COMPARISON CHOICE
“How much should I
save for
retirement?”
“How a roth IRA
works”
“Best financial
advisor near me”
“Directions to
Charles Schwab”
Potential keyphrases:
“Retirement savings”
“How to save for
retirement”
“Retirement planning”
“How much should you
save for retirement?”
Potential keyphrases:
“Roth vs. simple IRA”
“Roth IRA explained”
“Why Roth IRA”
“Roth IRA information”
“Financial advisors in
Wayzata, MN”
More of a GMB play at
this point.
Not much SEO here
besides making sure
you show up
appropriately.

12. ANOTHER EXAMPLE!
AWARENESS RESEARCH COMPARISON CHOICE
“How to prevent
acne”
“Chemical exfoliants
BHA”
“CosRX vs. Paula’s
Choice BHA”
“Paula’s Choice
coupons”
Potential keyphrases:
“Acne prevention”
“Acne medication”
“Cystic acne
prevention”
“How to prevent acne”
“How to cure acne”
Potential keyphrases:
“What is a BHA vs an
AHA”
“How do chemical
exfoliants work”
“Why use chemical
exfoliants”
“Chemical vs.
mechanical exfoliants”
Potential keyphrases:
“Paula’s Choice BHA
review”
“BHA products
compared”
“Best BHA exfoliants”
Potential keyphrases:
“x% off Paula’s Choice”
“Paula’s Choice
Coupons & Codes”
“Paula’s Choice Promo
Code”

13. AWARENESS
“How to prevent
acne”
Potential keyphrases:
“Acne prevention”
“Acne medication”
“Cystic acne
prevention”
“How to prevent acne”
“How to cure acne”

14. RESEARCH
“Chemical exfoliants
BHA”
Potential keyphrases:
“What is a BHA vs an
AHA”
“How do chemical
exfoliants work”
“Why use chemical
exfoliants”
“Chemical vs.
mechanical exfoliants”

15. COMPARISON
“CosRX vs. Paula’s
Choice BHA”
Potential keyphrases:
“Paula’s Choice BHA
review”
“BHA products
compared”
“Best BHA exfoliants”
��

16. CHOICE
“Paula’s Choice
coupons”
Potential keyphrases:
“x% off Paula’s Choice”
“Paula’s Choice
Coupons & Codes”
“Paula’s Choice Promo
Code”

17. DAYTA Loop
Use the DAYTA Loop to determine what your audience will be
looking for at each stage.
Prioritize
Determine which stages are most critical and realistic to
create content for.
Brainstorm
Brainstorm many different keywords/keyphrases
around that stage’s questions/needs/problems.
Evaluate
Plug your brainstormed list into Google’s Keyword
Tool or similar. Figure out which keywords are smart
to pursue (search volume vs. competition).
Write
Content
Write content that incorporates your new
keyphrase/keywords list (multiple per piece of
content) and answers your audience’s needs.

18. How do you “optimize”
content for Google?

19. Write like a college
textbook
● Headers
○ H1 - one per page
○ H2s, h3s, h4s - hierarchical
order
● Bold/italic text
● Image alt text, image names
● Metas
○ Titles
○ Description
● And then your actual content.

20. Don’t forget to E-A-T
● Expertise, Authority,
Trustworthiness
● Who owns the website?
● Can you contact someone
easily if you need to?
● Can you tell who wrote the
article and why they’re an
expert?
● Does it look like a scam?
● Google’s Algorithm is just
trying to be as smart as you.

21. Links
Your content is linked to from
trustworthy websites. Your
information is accurate across
the web.
3

22. Why Did
Google Win?
● Larry Page invented
PageRank: the “quality”
of a web page is based in
part on the number of
links pointing to it
● Based on academic
citations - more cited,
more better.

23. ● Authority vs. Relevance
○ Whitehouse.gov is authoritative, but might not be relevant
○ ErinsPuppyAdvice.com is relevant, but might not be
authoritative
● Cheap/bad links:
○ Directory sites or link-exchange sites
○ Comment links, spun/generated content, forum signatures
○ Links from bad sites
● Internal links
○ Linking from one page to another in your website
○ Helps Google understand how your website topics relate
Not all links are equal

24. ● “Natural” links
○ Someone finds your content and links to it naturally
○ You sponsor something or receive media attention
somehow, etc
● Manual outreach
○ You find someone who is linking to your competitor or who
writes content that you would be relevant to, and ask them
to link to you
● Social media/Listing sites
○ Helps, but is not quite as impactful
Link Building

25. Google knows that Eich Mazda won’t be able to
compete for rankings with Mazda Corporate. So for
local rankings, it weighs things a little differently:
● Google My Business
● NAP consistency (Name, Address, Phone)
● Reviews (on Google and elsewhere)
● Links still help and can be the difference
Links & Local

26. ● Google wants to see natural
looking link profiles
○ Who would naturally link to
you
○ What’s a normal amount of
links to accrue naturally
○ Google Webmaster Tools will
warn you if you are penalized
● Avoid jumping on fads - Google
rolls out updates to penalize
anything that catches on
Links & Penalties

27. Rankbrain
Uses AI to predict the best
search results, based on what
the AI knows about the
connection between links,
content, and your behavior.
4

28. Shamelessly stolen from backlinko.com

29. Shamelessly stolen from backlinko.com

30. How it impacts SEO
● Build for humans
● Give your content context
● Make your SERP listing stand out
○ Think like an advertiser!
○ Increase brand awareness
so people automatically
trust you more
● Make your website friendly
Shamelessly stolen from backlinko.com

31. What is Google doing now?

32. ● Enhanced maps showing building entrances and physical
features
○ Self-driving cars
○ Augmented reality
● Booking of hotels, airlines, sports through Google
○ Transaction broker
○ Pay-for-results advertising
● Rich snippets, knowledge panels, and Google My Business
○ Cut out the content creator (so you don’t need to pay them
ad revenue)
○ Make Google the business homepage, so they have to
ensure data accuracy (compete with Yelp, FB, etc)
Google’s future endeavors

33. Find this presentation: -___