1.
Pubcon SFIMA 2014
2014 SEO Basics

2.
2014 SEO Basics - Overview
About Me
• Senior SEO Strategist, Globe Runner
• Brand Ambassador, Majestic SEO
• Personal Blog: www.BillHartzer.com
• Practicing Organic/Natural SEO since 1996

3.
2014 SEO Basics - Overview
Overview
• Current Ranking Factors
• On Page SEO Factors
• Off Page SEO Factors
• Social Media and SEO Factors
• Latest Google Algorithm Changes
• Future SEO Ranking Factors

4.
2014 SEO Basics – Current SEO Ranking Factors
Current Ranking Factors
• Over 200 search engine ranking factor today, maybe more.
• Latest list of ranking factors: http://moz.com/blog/ranking-factors-2013
• Important ranking factors:
- Page Authority, Domain Authority
• - Social Signals
- Anchor Text of Links
- Schema.org, Structured Data
- External Links, Keywords, Exact Match Domains

5.
Page Authority
Social Signals
Anchor Text of Links
Schema.org, Structured Data
External Links, Keywords, Exact Match Domains
2014 SEO Basics – SEO Ranking Factors
Google Algorithm Break-Down
• The important factors according to the Moz survey.

6.
2014 SEO Basics – On Page Factors
On Page Factors
Several basic page elements are important:
• Proper Title Tags (keyword usage towards beginning of tag)
• Meta Description Tag (keyword usage in tag)
• Headings (One H1 tag per page, multiple H2, H3 okay)
• Image Alt Attributes (keywords describe each image)
• Local Biz? Schema.org markup

7.
2014 SEO Basics – On Site Factors
On Site Factors
Several on site factors are very important in 2014:
• Good site structure
• Internal linking (text within sentences as well as navigation)
• Minimal amount of footer links to other pages
• Content Readability / Usability / Site Design
• Google Panda Algorithm Issues
• Google Page Layout Algorithm Issues

8.
2014 SEO Basics – Social Media and SEO Factors
Social Media and SEO Factors
• Social Posts and Shares count
• Google Authorship (AuthorRank), and Publishership
Think of social pages, shares, and profiles as web pages.
• Get links from those pages.
• How to get good links? Network socially with influencers.
• PageRank is passed from social profile to social profile to site.

9.
2014 SEO Basics – Latest Google Algorithm Changes
Latest Google Algorithm Changes
• Recent Major Google Updates
- Panda, Penguin, EMD, Page Layout, Authorship
• Google Knowledge Graph
• Manual Actions
• Sample Manual Actions - Revoked
• Future Google Algo Updates.

10.
2014 SEO Basics – Google Panda
What is Google Panda?
• Ranking factor added to the Google algorithm
• Filter designed to identify ‘low quality pages’.
• Provides better rankings for high-quality sites
• Panda is integrated into algorithm, after two years
• Named after Google engineer Navneet Panda

11.
2014 SEO Basics – Google Panda
Google Panda History
• Rolled Out to US sites on February 24, 2011
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/finding-more-high-quality-sites-in.html
• Rolled out Globally to English language users on April 11, 2011
• Also began to roll out data from sites that users block
• Latest update Panda #25 — March 14, 2013
- Panda updates now on rolling update schedule
• Panda Dance, Panda Recovery, June and July 2013

12.
2014 SEO Basics – Google Panda
Google Panda Update History
• Panda/Farmer — February 23, 2011
• Panda 2.0 — April 11, 2011
• Panda 2.1 — May 9, 2011
• Panda 2.2 — June 21, 2011
• Panda 2.3 — July 23, 2011
• Panda Goes Global (2.4) — August 12, 2011
• Panda 2.5 — September 28, 2011
• Panda "Flux" — October 5, 2011
• Panda 3.1 — November 18, 2011
• Panda 3.2 — January 18, 2012
• Panda 3.3 — February 27, 2012
• Panda 3.4 — March 23, 2012
• Panda 3.5 — April 19, 2012
• Panda 3.6 — April 27, 2012
• Panda 3.7 — June 8, 2012
• Panda 3.8 — June 25, 2012
• Panda 3.9 — July 24, 2012
• Panda 3.9.1 — August 20, 2012
• Panda 3.9.2 — September 18, 2012
• Panda #20 — September 27, 2012
• Panda #21 — November 5, 2012
• Panda #22 — November 21, 2012
• Panda #23 — December 21, 2012
• Panda #24 — January 23, 2013
• Panda #24 — March 14, 2013
• Panda Dance — June 11, 2013
• Panda Recovery — July 18, 2013
See the Google Algorithm Change History:
http://moz.com/google-algorithm-change

13.
2014 SEO Basics – Google Panda
Were You Hit by Panda?
• Look at your web analytics
• Sites affected had traffic loss starting in February, 2011.
• Google Analytics for your site (Web Trends, Omniture, etc.)
• SEM Rush for most sites (SEMRush.com)
• How many sites recover?
http://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/google-panda/

14.
2014 SEO Basics – Google Panda
Recovering from Google Panda
• Make sure all content on site is “high quality”
• Review Google’s List:
23 Questions to assess quality
http://bit.ly/1gHZzQb
• Identify and remove least-visited pages
• Take out the trash, so to speak.
• Prevent Pogosticking from SERPs.
• Wait until next Panda update to see recovery (about a month)

15.
2014 SEO Basics – Google Panda vs. Google Penguin
Panda vs. Penguin
• Panda focuses on sites providing a bad user experience
- Sites with low quality content
• Penguin focuses on spamdexing and link bombing.

16.
2014 SEO Basics – Google Penguin
What is Google Penguin?
Google: “algorithm change targeted at webspam.”
http://insidesearch.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/another-step-to-reward-high-quality.html
Goal is to “decrease rankings for sites that violate Google’s
Quality Guidelines”.
http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35769#3
Examples:
• Keyword Stuffing, Over Optimization
• Unusual linking patterns (outgoing links)

17.
2014 SEO Basics – Google Penguin
Google Penguin Update History
• First reported April 24, 2012
• Penguin #2 — May 25, 2012
• Penguin #3 — October 5, 2012 (0.3 percent of queries)
• Penguin 2.0 (#4) — May 22, 2013
• Penguin 2.1 (#5) — October 4, 2013

18.
2014 SEO Basics – Google Penguin
Were You Hit by Google Penguin?
• Look at Google Analytics, Google Webmaster Tools, review dates
of Google Updates.

19.
2014 SEO Basics – Google Penguin
Recovering from Google Penguin
• Perform a full SEO Audit of web site
- Identify and fix problem areas on site that violate Google
guidelines (keyword stuffing, over optimization, etc.)
• Review Google Webmaster Tools for messages, suggestions
• Perform full link analysis of site
- Download links from Majestic SEO, Moz Open Site Explorer, a
hrefs, etc.
- Review anchor text, clean up links to site
- LinkResearchTools.com for further cleanup
• Disavow Links to Site, Ping, force crawls of disavowed links
• Link Research Tools’ Link Detox Boost claims quick recovery
• Work on Authority, trust of site
• Wait until next Penguin update to see recovery

20.
2014 SEO Basics – Exact Match Domain Update
EMD Update
• Exact-Match Domain (EMD) Update — September 27, 2012
Should be called the “Commercial Phrase” Update. But for PR purposes, I realize why
Google calls it the “EMD” update.
• Google targeted “commercial phrases” with this update.
• AdWords CPC Cost + # Searches Per Month = Commercial Phrase
Example:
$5.00 CPC + 20,000 Searches Per Month = Commercial Phrase
• Valuable Domain Names include Keywords (commercial phrases)
• Not all keyword rich domains affected
• Sites without keyword rich domains were affected
• Recover by cleaning up your link profile, especially anchor text
• Link Profiles should have 70 percent or more “brand” anchor text,
company name, URL as anchor text.

21.
2014 SEO Basics – Page Layout Update
Google Page Layout Update
• Page Layout #2 — October 9, 2012
• Targets pages with too many ads “above the fold”
• Algo proof: content above fold, minimal ads above fold.
• Page Layout #3 — February 6, 2014
http://selnd.com/1qNV6DE

22.
2014 SEO Basics – Knowledge Graph Update
Knowledge Graph Update
• Knowledge Graph Expansion — December 4, 2012
• Added KG functionality to non-English queries
• Get your site, business into the Knowledge Graph.
• TIP: get listed in Freebase.com, part of KG.

23.
2014 SEO Basics – Google Manual Actions
Manual Actions in Webmaster Tools
• Partial Match – affects certain pages
• Full Match – affects whole site
• Unnatural links – both require link cleanup, review

24.
Algo Chaos – Manual Actions
Manual Actions – Unrelated to
Penguin
• Unnatural link warnings are not related to Google Penguin
• Sites affected by Penguin should clean up links
• Manual actions more severe, require reconsideration request

25.
Algo Chaos – Manual Actions
Getting Manual Actions Revoked
Unnatural Links? Clean up links, document everything.
• Identify all links to site
• Combine GWT, Majestic SEO, Ahrefs, OSE links
• Manually review links (Link Research Tools can help)
• Identify links to remove
• Contact site owners, document emails, contact dates, etc.
• 3 attempts to contact site owners
• Disavow links not removed
Request Review: include letter, spreadsheet with data proof

26.
Algo Chaos – Manual Actions
Sample Manual Action Revoked
• 52,252 Total Links to Site
• 217 referring root domains
• 693 Healthy Links
• 709 Inorganic Links
• 569 “live” inorganic links to get removed (including nofollow links).
After three attempts over 3 weeks to contact site owners via email:
• 296 site owners responded
• 12 sites refused to remove the links
• 257 links were successfully removed based on our email requests
• 27 links – site owners requested payment to remove the links
• 2 links – we were unable to contact site owners
• 274 links – site owners were completely unresponsive after 3 contacts
• 256 links were removed as a result of our link removal efforts

27.
Algo Chaos – Manual Actions
Sample Manual Action Revoked
• Kept track of all URLs, Status of URL, Dates, and emails
• Added all data into spreadsheet
• Uploaded spreadsheet to Google Docs
• Wrote letter explaining process, linked to Google Docs spreadsheet

28.
2014 SEO Basics – Google Authorship Update
Google Authorship Shakeup
• Technically, not a Google algorithm update, but verified by G.
• Authorship Shake-up — December 19, 2013
• Authorship results in search are being intentionally reduced
Authorshippocalypse
http://bit.ly/1fUQ2Jk
Authorship Photos in SERPs Reduced
http://bit.ly/1d8TfGe

29.
2014 SEO Basics – Google Future Updates
Google Future Updates
• Google Panda Updates are monthly
• Penguin Updates are 6 months between roll-outs
• Manual Actions - Severity of infraction can affect length of time
a site will be penalized
• Manual Actions – Average site is looking at 6-12 months to
recover from a penalty even after cleaning it up
• If you get hit by Panda or Penguin you HAVE to wait to for data
refresh of that filter

30.
Social Search and Beyond – Thank You
THANK YOU
Contact Me
Bill Hartzer
Senior SEO Strategist
Globe Runner SEO
Email: Bill@GlobeRunnerSEO.com
Mobile: (214) 236-4378
Office: (972) 538-0260 Ext. 7076
Direct: (469) 645-1231
Web: http://www.globerunner.com
Blog: http://www.billhartzer.com
Twitter: @bhartzer