2. I wish diagnosing SEO
issues was easy.

3. But it’s
never
easy...

4. We need more data, less opinion.

5. Someone told him
this was a good
idea.

7. data

8. How to debug SEO

9. I even went to the length of
understanding the process of
elimination by building my own
php app.

10. Caveat : You need to have a
certain level of knowledge.

11. Rand
said this
in
2011, an
d it was
already
a big list

12. The debugging process.
The following is based on real life events.
I’ve always wanted to say that.

13. Here’s the overall organic graph for
2012 versus 2011. Seasonal
fluctuation seemed unlikely.
2012
2011

14. If this was programming, we’d get an error
message telling us where the problem is.
Looking for problems in SEO
isn’t as straightforward.

15. You can use the Content > Content
Drill down report, but it only shows
pageviews, not visits.

16. If you’re using
GA, set up a
custom report
using these
settings.

17. /product/
When folders are not
constant /city/,
segment by number
/product/region/
of slashes (/) using
regex to see the full
/product/region/city/
picture.

18. It turns out that it was the
/region/ city pages.

19. These are
top
converting
revenue
pages!

20. Step 1:
Explain the problem clearly
with specific details.

21. /product/region/city/
dropped 50% organic visits
comparing from June to
May.

22. Step 2:
Gather data and investigate.

23. Data Gathered Tool(s) used Double check with:
Before / After traffic metrics (visits, Google Analytics Server logs imported into Splunk.
bounce rate etc..)
Response codes, link architecture, Screaming Frog, IIS crawler Chrome inspect element, manual
On page elements (titles, robots inspection.
directives etc..)
KW rankings, Backlink analysis Authority Labs, Searchmetrics, Custom scripts, manual Google
Open site explorer, Majestic checks.
Indexation, PageRank Scrapebox Custom scripts, SEOstats
Googlebot activity Server logs – with Splunk Google webcache (not perfect!)
Source code similarity (scrape) ImportXML + Excel Manual checks, Text comparing
online (Diffnow)
Environmental activity SEOmoz Algorithm updates, Webmaster forums, other SEOs,
Development queue / logs, SEO articles.
Holidays, world events

24. The process of elimination, think
of it as Logger.log();

25. Navigation Same Navigation
Heading 10% Different Heading 10%
Same
Lead generation Form Lead generation Form
Sales text Same Sales text
Same
Footer Footer

26. Now I know what the
problem is, and I have data
to explain.
http://www.diffnow.com/

27. These pages were 90%
identical to each other AND
Panda 3.8 & 3.9 updates
rolled out around the time
of loss.

28. Step 3
Form a hypothesis that might
explain the problem

29. If we make these pages at
least 50% unique, they
won’t be considered
duplicate and will regain
traffic after a Panda refresh.

30. Step 4
Conduct an experiment to test
the hypothesis.

31. Without
proof..

32. Don’t expect
anyone to do
the work.

33. We created content to make
a small sample set of pages
50% unique (5k).

34. We conducted the experiment and we
now have proof (data) that it worked

35. Step 5:
Based on your experiment
results, revise or validate
hypothesis.

36. It’s ok to
fail – but
try to
minimize
the
damage.

37. We can make SEO a
My client

38. Keep testing, keep
breaking stuff, be a
My client
GREAT SEO

39. DAVID SOTTIMANO
Lead Consultant, Distilled
David.sottimano@distilled.net
@dsottimano

40. Image credits
http://eastcountyoralsurgery.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/kid-diver.jpg
amateurexpert92.deviantart.com
http://www.tommyzor.com
http://www.nouse.co.uk/2012/12/28/5-films-that-make-my-christmas/home-alone/
www.amommyismade.com
http://www.failepicfail.com/gymnast-fail-gymnast-parallel-bars-epic-fail-229.html