A basic overview of SEO and the top 3 places to get started

1. Search Engine
Optimization
and you
@PGARITCK / @VoltageKC

2. Table Of Contents
SEO Overview
• and you
Site Structure
• Google Indexing
• and you
On-Page Factors
• Optimize For Understanding
• and you
Backlinks
• Getting Street Cred
• and you
@PGARITCK / @VoltageKC

3. SEO Overview
Why search engines exist
@PGARITCK / @VoltageKC

4. How Google Search Works (from the source)
• Before Google (and a few other search
engines), sites were only accessible via
direct visits.
• Google created spiders to find sites and
index them into their proprietary
“database”.
@PGARITCK / @VoltageKC

5. How Google Search Works (from the source)
• Google then continually adds programs to
their algorithm which do their best to
match user query intent with the sites in
their index.
• All while fighting spam.
@PGARITCK / @VoltageKC

6. How Google Search Works (and you)
• Outside of providing great user
experiences, our goal for SEO is to help
Googlebot better understand our site.
• Resulting not only in higher rankings on
targeted topics, but also higher visibility
across related topics.
@PGARITCK / @VoltageKC

7. Site Structure
First, get Googlebot to crawl your whole site
@PGARITCK / @VoltageKC

8. Site Structure (from the source)
• Googlebot crawls your site by jumping
from page to page.
• While moving between pages and
indexing, Googlebot attempts to make
inferences about your site structure while
deciding how many pages to crawl.
• Two big questions:
• “Is it easy to navigate?”
• “Is the content worthwhile?”
@PGARITCK / @VoltageKC

9. Site Structure (from an authority) (and you)
• Facilitate navigation through siloing.
• Most sites end up being siloed through top
navigation menu. But users see your site
differently than bots
• Download screaming frog (it’s free), crawl
your site, and view results in tree mode to
see how bots structure your site.
@PGARITCK / @VoltageKC

10. On-Page Factors
Next, optimize forGooglebot understanding of page content
@PGARITCK / @VoltageKC

11. On-Page Factors (from an authority)
• While moving between pages and
indexing, Googlebot attempts to make
inferences about your site’s content.
• Two big questions:
• “What is this page about?”
• “What search queries would it be
relevant for?”
@PGARITCK / @VoltageKC

12. On-Page Factors (what’s this page about?)
• TitleTag
• Include exact keyword phrase, near
the beginning if possible.
• Max 60 characters
• Meta Description
• Include exact keyword phrase.
• Max 160 characters
@PGARITCK / @VoltageKC

13. On-Page Factors (what’s this page about?)
• URL
• Includes exact keyword phrase
• Excludes stop words / numbers
• H1
• Includes exact keyword phrase
• Body Copy
• Ensure keyword phrase fits into the
blog post organically around two
times.
• Preferably in the first paragraph.
• Shoot for 300 words total.
@PGARITCK / @VoltageKC

14. On-Page Factors (what’s this page about?) (and you)
• Images
• Ensure alt text for image features
some (non spammy) version of the
keyword phrase.
• Ensure image has a useful title (not
DSC0012.jpg)
• Screaming Frog will also analyze these
factors
• (other software includes majestic,
moz, ahrefs, etc.)
@PGARITCK / @VoltageKC

15. Backlinks
Finally, get some street cred
@PGARITCK / @VoltageKC

16. Backlinks (from an authority)
• Once Googlebot finishes crawling your
site, it looks for links (to and from) other
sites.
• Google sees links to your site as a vote of
confidence.
• Kind of like recommending a friend
your favorite restaurant.
@PGARITCK / @VoltageKC

17. Backlinks (from an authority)
• There are a cornucopia of ways to build
links to your site. Some of the more
passive ways include:
• Link to any pre-existing social
accounts to your site.
• Ensure your content is easily shareable
(with social share buttons / pinterest
share optimization).
@PGARITCK / @VoltageKC

18. Backlinks (from an authority) (and you)
• Submit your business info to online
directories (via natively or with Moz
Local).
• If you had to pick one native listing, I’d go
for Google My Business.
@PGARITCK / @VoltageKC

19. FIN
and you
@PGARITCK / @VoltageKC

20. Patrick / Voltage (the source)
thanks for listening. Feedback / Questions AreWelcome!
@PGARITCK / @VoltageKC