How SEO works and the impact that social media has on your search engine rankings. This was originally presented at the Remodeling Leadership Conference in May 2013 in Washington DC, a Hanley Wood conference.

1. SEO + SOCIAL MEDIA
Debunking the Lies

2. What we’re going to talk about
• Why SEO is important
• How it works (traditional website SEO)
• Social Media and SEO
#RMLC2013 @aprilewilson
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3. SEO = Getting Leads
IS NOT IS
More accurately describing
your business
Using terms that people are
searching
Qualified leads Getting more leads into
your pipeline
How you would talk about
your products or services in
print
Shorter, simpler, less
descriptive content
The way humans talk to
each other
Being a little redundant
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4. #RMLC2013 @aprilewilson
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5. Before After
Google Searches 22,000 100,000
Land on Website 497 6,719
Complete Form 100 672
New Customers 50 134
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6. Organic Search = SEO
• Search Engine
Optimization
(SEO)
determines
where you rank
on search
engines “natural”
results.
• It’s important
because younger
consumers often
ignore paid
search.
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7. Strength in organic = attention
• In a Q3 study by
User Centric, a
user’s attention is
between 10x to 14x
stronger on the
organic search
results.
• Top 2 search
engines only (Google
and Bing)
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8. What makes you rank well?
• How much traffic you get
• How many people link to you
• What your text actually says
• How often you update your website
And then maybe… (?)
- Your author rank (if you write / blog)
- If you have an active social media presence
- How engaged your social media followers are
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9. I thought I had to know how to code?
• There are many meta tags you may see out there, but just
remember this:
• Meta Description: This tag enjoys much support, and it is well worth using.
• Meta Keywords: This tag is only supported by some major crawlers and
probably isn't worth the time to implement.
• Meta Everything Else: Any other meta tag you see is ignored by the major
crawlers, though they may be used by specialized search engines.
• Title: Pretty darn important.
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10. So what’s important?
• “Natural” use of keywords and phrases in your text
• Hierarchy of information
• Some repetition, but don’t go crazy
Nice to have:
• Phrase in your URL
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11. Never ever…!
Pay people to link to you
Use keywords that have nothing to
do with your business
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12. #RMLC2013 @aprilewilson
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13. So how do I know what words to use?
• Many free tools available, recommend Google Adwords
Keyword Tool to start
• What it tells you:
• How Google reads your site
• How much traffic there is for those terms
• How much competition there is for those terms
• Ideas for related terms
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14. EXAMPLE
http://www.rhdconstruction.com/
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15. #RMLC2013 @aprilewilson
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16. Google AdWords Keyword Tool
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17. Google Keyword Results (Top 20)
Keyword Competition
Global Monthly
Searches
Local Monthly Searches
(United States)
re-modeling 0.64 1,830,000 1,220,000
construction of home 0.72 673,000 368,000
construction of a home 0.72 673,000 368,000
general contractor 0.6 368,000 301,000
home remodeling 0.55 368,000 301,000
remodeling a home 0.55 368,000 301,000
remodeling home 0.55 368,000 301,000
general contractors 0.61 368,000 301,000
bathroom remodeling in 0.92 301,000 201,000
kitchen and remodeling 0.87 246,000 201,000
kitchen remodeling in 0.87 246,000 201,000
home remodel 0.68 135,000 110,000
house remodeling 0.68 135,000 110,000
remodeling a house 0.68 135,000 110,000
remodeling house 0.68 135,000 110,000
remodeling contractor 0.72 110,000 110,000
home renovation 0.6 201,000 110,000
renovations home 0.68 165,000 90,500
home renovations 0.68 165,000 90,500
remodeling ideas 0.84 90,500 74,000
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18. Pick about 3-4 terms you want to do
• Home remodeling / remodeling home (301,000)
• General contractor (301,000)
• Home renovation (110,000)
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19. Example
Current Text
RHD Construction Inc. is a quality, full-
service remodeling and design firm
offering unsurpassed customer
service, integrity, and superior
craftsmanship since 1982.
Having worked extensively with
leading Dallas architects and
designers, our blend of "old school"
craftsmanship and the latest
technology has earned us high
acclaim within the industry as well as
with our clients.
90% of RHD's business is made up of
previously satisfied homeowners and
referrals.
SEO-Optimized Text
We are remodeling home
professionals and general
contractors specializing in home
renovation.
If you live in Dallas, Mesquite,
Garland, Rowlett, or Rockwall and you
are looking for a partner in your home
remodeling project, we would love to
earn your business.
Over 90% of our current clients are
repeat customers, having left
favorable reviews for our work on their
home renovation projects.
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20. Use free tools to measure your rank
• Nothing but opportunity here! They aren’t recognized for
any of those terms.
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Domain Keyword
Google.com
position
Yahoo (United
States) position
Bing
position
www.rhdconstruction.com home remodeling - - -
www.rhdconstruction.com remodeling home - - -
www.rhdconstruction.com general contractor - - -
www.rhdconstruction.com home renovation - - -

21. Results
Case Study
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22. SOCIAL MEDIA
Impact on SEO
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23. Social is
impacting
SEO
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24. Focus for Remodelers
• Must-do:
• Google+
• Houzz
• Pinterest (can be hard but probably worth it)
• Maybe:
• LinkedIn
• Facebook
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25. Just be yourself
Create
Observe
Participate
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26. Google+
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27. Google+ and SEO
• COMPLETE YOUR PROFILE
• Join communities and
participate
• Use Google Hangouts
• Share content in your updates
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28. Houzz
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29. SEO and Houzz
• COMPLETE YOUR PROFILE
• Next:
• Having a photo that is placed in other
people’s Ideabooks
• Reviews- quantity and quality
• Having lots of followers (and possibly
also following others, but not as many as
are following you)
• Number of project photos
• Responding to questions from others
(discussion participation)
• Having a Houzz link from your website’s
homepage to Houzz (can be in the form
of their “badge” or not)- homepage only.
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30. Pinterest
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31. Pinterest and SEO
• Create a Pinterest Page
for Business
• Add the Pinterest buttons
to your website
• Make sure to use your
SEO keywords in your pin
• Use alt text / image for all
your website images
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32. SEO is harder with Pinterest
• Very visual content like
remodeling before / after
does well, but you need to
make sure you leverage
that pin’s description.
• I googled “kitchen
remodeling ideas” and a
Pinterest page is ranked #5
on the first page.
#RMLC2013 @aprilewilson
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33. About LinkedIn and Facebook
• LinkedIn can help get you B2B leads, but won’t do much
for driving traffic to your website.
• It ranks well for SEO, but that traffic will go to LinkedIn
• Facebook. Oh, Facebook.
• Does it help your brand image to have a very engaging Facebook
presence? Yes.
• Will it sell your product? Probably not.
• Can it help you reach new audiences? Yes.
#RMLC2013 @aprilewilson
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34. #RMLC2013 @aprilewilson
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35. QUESTIONS?
If we run out of time, you can always email me:
april@aprilwilson.net
(or get me on social media)
#RMLC2013 @aprilewilson
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