seo: winning the google search wars
TRANSCRIPT
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SEO:Winning the Google Search Wars
Digital DNA
15 October 2015
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About Barry Adams
• Founder of expert SEO consultancy Polemic Digital
• Dutch (yes, really)
• Twitter ranter: @badams
• Lecturer on SEO, UX & Digital Strategy
• Editor & blogger for StateofDigital.com
• Also blogs at PolemicDigital.com/blog
• 2014 DANI Digital Industries Person of the Year
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The Value ofSearch Engine Optimisation
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UK Online Market
• UK internet economy to make up approximately 10% of GDP in 2015 (± £160 billion)
• 93% of online purchases start with a search engine query
• 81% of consumers will research products online before making a major buying decision
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Search Engine Market
• UK Search Engine Market:
Google: 90%
Bing: 6%
Yahoo: 3%
Other: 1%
• Google handles 115 billion searches a month
That’s over 44,000 search queries every second
Bing
YahooOther
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Search Engine Results Page
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Search Engine User Behaviour
70%+ of clicks on search results are on the organic listings
30% of users click here and on the right (Paid listings)
70% of users click here (Organic listings)
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SERP* Click Through Rate
In Google’s search results, first place matters.
*SERP = Search Engine Results Page
Source: http://bada.ms/ctrstudy
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The Three Pillars of SEO
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The Three Pillars of SEO
Technology
Relevance
Authority
Relevance
Technology Technology
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Technology: Website & Server
• HTML code quality
• Site indexing
• Mobile Friendly
• Load Speed
• Structured Data
Technology
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Relevance: On-site Optimisation
• Keyword Focus
• Navigation Structure
• Title tags
• Meta descriptions
• Body content
• Blog content
Relevance
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Authority: Links
• Number of links & linking domains
• Quality of links
• Anchor texts
• Link relevance
Authority
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Authority
TechnologyRelevance
Overlap
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Content Marketing
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Content Strategy
“A content strategy for a website is a plan for the creation, publication, distribution, and management of content in various formats –text, video, images, interactive – that helps establish the online brand as a leader in its industry.”
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Content Strategy for SEO
• Optimised content will contain the right keywords in the right places, thus increasing the website’s relevance.
• Engaging content will be shared and linked to, thus increasing the website’s authority.
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Aspects of a Content Strategy
1. Set Objectives
2. Define Your Audience
3. Create a Content Calendar
4. Plan Your Content Promotion
5. Engage With Your Readers
6. Measure & Refine
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Matching Content with Search Intent
Write content to match search intent at various stages of the sales funnel
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Content Marketing Case Study
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DigitalPrinting.co.uk
• Online print on-demand
• New brand, new website, no history
• Competitors:Moo.com
Vistaprint
Printed.com
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The Strategy
Solid Technical SEO
Great on-page optimisation
Content marketing:1 blog post (almost) every day
Bi-monthly infographics
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Blog Posts
• Focused on the concerns of print buyersWhat are their issues?
What would they search for?
How can we help them?
• Examples of blog articles: “5 tips for designing a roll up banner stand”
“How to survive your first ever exhibition or trade show”
“Top 10 things to remember when designing an A4 poster”
“Using printed brochures to tell a story”
“From design to print: how your leaflets are made”
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Infographics
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Social Sharing
• Content is useless of no one sees it
• Share abundantly on relevant social networks
• Use paid promotions to win extra audience
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The Results
• Visitors from organic traffic increased 1300% year-on-year
• Transactions from organic traffic increased 20-fold
• Conversion rate from organic traffic increased 98% from 1.44% to 2.84%
• Top 10 ranking on Google.co.uk for 5 targeted keywords including 1st for
“digital printing UK” and 2nd for “digital printing” (behind wikipedia)
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Linkbuilding
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Links are crucial
• Content alone is not enough to build authority.
• Approximately 50%-60% of Google’s ranking algorithms are link-based.
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But… Google doesn’t like linkbuilding
“Any links intended to manipulate PageRank or a site's ranking in Google search results may be considered part of a link scheme and a violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.”
Source: http://bada.ms/googleguidelines
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So what’s a SEO to do?
• We have to tread carefully and ensure that we acquire only ‘natural’ links.
• That means we have to earn them.
• Earned links are (or appear to be) entirely valid recommendations from one website to another.
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Outreach Linkbuilding
‘Outreach’ is basically PR for SEO purposes;
1. Research link prospects
2. Approach them with a personalised message
3. Offer to write guest content for their website/blog
4. Include a link in that guest article
It’s a lot of manual effort – exactlywhat Google intends.
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Outreach Linkbuilding Case Study
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TargetDry.com
• Manufacturer of outdoor waterproof clothing
• Competitors:Regatta
Cotswold
Mountainwarehouse
• Limited link authority on targetdry.com
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The Strategy
Targeted blogger outreach;
Outdoor bloggers
Fashion bloggers
Lifestyle bloggers
Send free product in return for a review + link
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The Results
• Visitors from organic traffic have grown by 42%
• New visitors grown by 45%
• Transactions from organic traffic have grown by 40%
• Conversion rate from organic traffic improved by 5%
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www.polemicdigital.com
twitter.com/polemicdigital
twitter.com/badams