The keys to a successful SEO campaign are establishing a baseline for your current organic authority and visibility, identifying opportunities to improve, applying SEO best practices and then monitoring the progress of your keywords and content. Considering all of the data and level of effort required to perform all of these tasks it is also critical to choose the right tools to help collect data and then analyze, prioritize and automate your SEO efforts. Jeff Riddall is a 15+ year marketing technology industry veteran who has managed the development of an enterprise SEO platform. In this webinar, he discusses what you should look for in the growing list of free and paid SEO and analytics tools to help you get the biggest bang for your buck....

1. SEO Tools, Analytics and Measurement
Jeff Riddall
jeff.r@onelocal.com
October 21, 2021

2. Hello
• Senior Product Manager - OneLocal
• 20+ years of digital marketing experience
• SEO, Content Marketing, Analytics, Social
• Social Media Addict
• Craft Beer Snob
• Boston Terrier Lover - @fionnmcnalty on
Insta
• Sports Fanatic
• Former Hockey Dad - imahockeydad.com
jeff.r@onelocal..com
@Jriddall on Twitter
jeffriddall on LinkedIn
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Jeff Riddall on Facebook

3. ●Isn’t SEO Dead?
●What is a Web presence?
●Search and the Buyer’s Journey
●What does Google want?
●Show me the Data and Tools!
●Focus, Focus, Focus
●Takeaways
●Q & A
What
We’ll
Cover...

4. ● Nope…
● In fact, if anything the last year and
a half has seen a rebirth of SEO as
the whole world has been forced to
go more digital
● However, this is not your father’s
SEO…
● Modern SEO is really Optimized
Content Marketing and Delightful
User Experiences
Isn’t
SEO
Dead?

5. Encompasses all of your brand’s digital points
of presence:
● Your website(s)
● Your GMB page(s)
● Off-site content – external blog posts, articles,
press releases
● Social media accounts and posts
● YouTube and other video networks
● Social local – Yelp, TripAdvisor
● Review sites
● Directory listings
● User generated content
● Influencer content
● Paid Ads
● Dark Social - email, messaging
What is a
Web
presence?

6. Search and the Buyer’s Journey
Search and social play an important role for customers throughout the customer life
cycle. People turn to both search and social channels throughout the stages of their
journey – with over 90% of customers reporting they use search at every stage of their
customer lifecycle and over 85% of customers saying they use social channels for
discovery and consideration or purchase.
Forrester, April 2016

7. What does Google Want?
Current, relevant, authoritative content.
Organizations need to prove to Google they are the definitive source of whatever
keywords (products, services, content) they want to be found for.
Google’s mission has never changed - “to organize the world's information and
make it universally accessible and useful.” In other words, deliver the right content
to the right people at the right time.

8. And it better be Mobile Friendly
Think with Google - Feb 2018
https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/consumer-
journey/consumer-travel-smartphone-usage/
The vast majority of travelers (~75% of
Leisure and ~80% of Business) have
booked and paid for travel on their mobile.
How Travelers Will Use Technology in 2020 - Dec 2019
https://hospitalitytech.com/how-travelers-will-use-
technology-2020

9. Show Me The Data
Which data and tool options do we need to make
actionable decisions?
How do we focus on the data which matters most?

10. ● Review, prioritize and address
recommended website/page fixes
based on SEO best practices.
● Crawlability/Indexability
● Title Tags, Heading Tags
● Meta Descriptions
● Image Alt Tags
● Internal and External Issues
● Duplicate Content
Start
with a
Technical
Site Audit

11. What we’ll
cover…
● Screaming Frog - free up to 500 URLs
● Ahrefs - Free trial - $119/month
● SEMrush - Free trial - $119/month
● Ubersuggest - Free trial - $29/month
● Review in app or download a
.CSV/.XLSX working file.
Tool
Options

13. What we’ll
cover…
● Top 25-50% of ranking or visited pages
depending on site size
● Indexing issues
● Title Tags - Missing, Too Long, Duplicate
● H1 Tags and Meta Description - Same
● Broken Links
● Duplicate Content - Missing canonical
tags
● Image Alt tags - particularly if eCommerce
Focus On

14. ● A wealth of SEO specific information
● Crawlability/Indexability
● Upload Sitemap(s) and URL Inspection Tool
● Performance
● Impressions/Clicks/CTR
● Keyword Queries
● Pages
● Countries
● Devices
● Page Exp, Core Web Vitals and Mobile
Usability
● Inbound Link Audit
● Product Structure/Schema
Google
Search
Console
Review

16. What we’ll
cover…
● Uploading current XML sitemap(s)
● Drop in crawled or indexed pages
● Page Experience, Core Web Vitals or
Mobile Usability errors
● Unique non-branded keywords to
optimize for
● Top pages to be optimized and/or linked
to e.g. high impressions, but low clicks
indicates something’s not working
Focus On

17. ● Access via Developer Tools in Google
Chrome at individual page level
● Comprehensive scoring on:
● Performance
● Progressive Web App
● Best Practices
● Accessibility
● SEO
Google
Lighthouse
Audit

18. Source: https://developers.google.com/web/tools/lighthouse#devtools

19. ● Top ranking or visited pages
● Relatively low scores and specified
underlying issues for each
Focus On

20. ● Start with a core set of keywords
(branded and unbranded) you would like
to be found for by your customers
● Group keywords by topic
● Review keyword rank, ranking content,
search volume and keyword difficulty
data
● Identify related and complementary
keywords
● Consider search intent and question -
based keywords
● Monitor group and individual
keyword/content rank
Keyword
Research
and
Tracking

21. ● Ahrefs
● SEMrush
● Ubersuggest
● Answer the Public - free but limited
● Review in app or download a
.CSV/.XLSX working file.
Tool
Options

23. ● Topical groups of keywords
● Content pages ranking between positions
3 and 20
● Relative search volume - *take all search
volume data with a grain of salt
Focus On

24. ● Identify what content your customers
want and/or what content is trending in
organic search and social media
Content
Research

25. ● BuzzSumo - Free trial, Free limited
option or $79/month for unlimited
searches
● Hootsuite keyword/#hashtag/author
search - 30 day trial, $49/month
● Native social media
keyword/#hashtag/author search
Tool
Options

27. ● Building optimized content in support of
(i.e. linked to) your existing, ranking
content
● Incorporate strong Calls to Action to
encourage clicking and sharing
● Monitor engagement to see what’s
working and what’s not
Focus On

28. ● Review your own backlinks/inbound links
for potential issues
● Discover new backlinking opportunities
● Piggyback on your competitors backlinks
Backlink
Analysis

29. ● Google Search Console
● Ahrefs - Backlink and Search Engine
Results data
● Google Analytics Referral sources
● Majestic SEO
Tool
Options

31. Existing backlinks
● Spammy, irrelevant domains
Backlink discovery
● Relevant, authoritative potential link
sources
● Non-competitive domains in the SERPs of
your target keywords
● Links from relevant sites your primary
competitors are on which you are not
● Link to appropriate pages on your site -
not just the homepage
Focus On

32. ● Key to local SEO/visibility
● Monitor and respond to reviews on GMB,
Facebook, Local review sites (e.g. Yelp,
TripAdvisor)
● Request reviews from satisfied customers
● Ensure your local directory listings are
accurate and up-to-date
Reviews
and
Listings
Management

33. ● OneLocal
● Manually monitor and request
reviews
● Manually identify and update local
listings
Tool
Options

35. ● Responding to all reviews and particularly
any negative reviews ASAP
● Ensuring accurate contact information
across all relevant local listings
Focus On

36. ● Validate organic traffic vs. other channels
● Identify top organic entry pages
● Identify top referral sources for potential
backlinking opportunities
Analytics

37. ● Google Analytics
● Google Search Console
Tool
Options

39. ● Dramatic fluctuations in organic or referral
traffic
● Key metrics on organic landing pages,
which may signal issues or opportunities
● Pageviews
● Time on Page/Session length
● Bounce rate
● Conversion rate
Focus On

40. ●SEO is not dead, but different
●Start with a Site Audit
●Leverage free Google tools
●Focus on keyword topics and
content with existing
authority/momentum
●Practice optimized content
marketing
●Monitor and react accordingly
Key
Takeaways

41. Thanks
Download a OneLocal Reviews Whitepaper
https://info.onelocal.com/white-paper/the-importance-of-online-reviews
Contact me anytime
jeff.r@onelocal.com