3. Topics in this Presentation:
Why Invest in SEO?
Keyword Research
Content Creation
Amplification
Link Building
Go Ahead, Break the Rules
Be Wary of Snake Oil
Universal Blogging Truth
Slides 4-10
Slides 11-30
Slide 31-46
Slides 47-54
Slides 55-75
Slides 76-80
Slides 81-86
Slides 87-96
4. Why?
Given the rise of social media,
mobile apps, & content
marketing, why bother with SEO?
6. Distribution of Search Clicks
~20% of clicks go to ads
~80% of clicks
go to organic
results (SEO)
7. Search Intent vs. Social Intent
âDo Thingsâ Mode âBrowseâ Mode
8. The Rise of Mobile Search
Googleâs suggested 2015 will be the year mobile
searches surpass desktop searches (and desktopâs
still growing itself, just slower!)
Source: Statcounter
9. Early Adopter Advantage
Ranking here today
means you earn
traffic, links, brand
awareness, press,
and all the things
that help you rank
better in the future.
10. Get links Grow authority
Grow network Rank for slightly
Turning the SEO Flywheel
Amplify
Publish
more competitive
terms & phrases
Earn search
traffic
11. Keyword Research
When you share a common
language with your audience,
everyone benefits.
12. What Happens Without Keyword Research
How People Search
Ranks #125
(page 13) for
âgreat barrier
reef toursâ
How You Write
13. What Happens With Keyword Research
Hotel we stayed at
nailing their blog
contentâs rankings!
15. But they Will Never Get Here:
No offense intended, but
these are not among the
best travel blogs.
16. Start Research by Brainstorming
What are some words and phrases people commonly use to
describe the broad focus areas of your blog?
What searches, if people performed them and found you, would be
most likely to bring you new lifelong fans?
What searches that are relevant to your posts do you wish you had
the #1 ranking for?
If you had to make new content to reach the largest, relevant
audience to your blog, what would your write about?
17. Use Tools to Expand Your Ideas & Align Them With
How People Search
https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner
21. Eventually, You Want a List of Targets
A spreadsheet like this (or an even simpler one without
difficulty, ranking, or volume) can nudge you to take be mindful
and actionable about your blogâs SEO
22. Some KWs Are Worth Long Term Pursuit
For Moz, this phrase is critical to our thought
leadership and community building efforts
23. Others Are Simply How You Optimize a Post
While Iâm bummed our post didnât rank for
this exact phrase, it does rank for variants
and we can always try again with another
post in the future.
24. When Writing a Post, 3mins is All I Ask
First 60 Seconds Next 60 Seconds Last 60 Seconds
Use tools or suggest to
figure out which KW
phrase to target
Note some of the
additional terms &
phrases that can help
you be relevant for
additional search
queries
Try to employ the key
terms in the title of
your post, and use the
additional queries in
the title and body of
the post in a sensible,
readable way.
25. Letâs say I want to
write a blog post
about the most evil
characters in
Shakespeareâs
playsâŠ
26. Iâd start by looking at how people search for
words & phrases around this topic:
28. Iâd choose a primary phrase to target and
some additional terms to go after as well:
Primary Phrase: âShakespeareâs Villainsâ
Secondary Terms: Evil Characters
List of Villains
Quotes
Shakespearean Villains
Villain Names
29. Then Iâd try to write a headline that maximizes both
reader-appeal and KW-targeting:
Shakespeareâs Villains: The 22 Most Evil
Characters from All 37 Plays
41. Be Aware That Most
SEO Benefit Is
Earned in the First 24
Hours After Launch
42. Updating Old Content? You May Want to Re-
Publish and Redirect Instead:
If the content and value to
visitors is largely the
same, consider
consolidating to a single
resource
43. When it Comes to Optimizing Keyword Use,
Donât Sweat Being Perfect
Donât Do This
45. More Details in
Randâs Visual Guide to
Optimizing Content:
46. If Youâre Prioritizing, I Recommend:
1) Make Yourself Proud â publish content you yourself believe in
and feel confident promoting.
2) Delight Your Audience â empathetically serve their needs.
Launch work they will want to share.
3) Make it Search Accessible â publish in such a way that search
engines can match your content to their searchersâ keywords and
intent.
47. Amplification
Great bloggers make publishing
neither the beginning nor the end of
their process. They put it smack dab
in the middle.
48. The Publishing Process:
Content
creation
Pre-publication
outreach
Publish
Social media
amplification
Post-publication
outreach
53. Which Social Networks?
Choose the
platforms your
audience is
using!
Source for this graphic
54. Donât Ignore the Power of Engagement
Thereâs lots of anecdotal
evidence that greater
engagement on social
leads to future
amplification & support
55. Link Building
The best links are not built, but
earned. Thankfully, thereâs lots of
ways to nudge ï
56. What to Look For in a Link:
Can Send Relevant Trafficâ linking sites donât have to be âon-topicâ to drive
relevant traffic, but the links themselves should be tied to potential visitor interest,
i.e. someone might actually click them
Editorialâ the link should be given because the publisher/author truly wants to
endorse your site or the content of a page and not due to an exchange of
goods/services/money
Trustworthy Sourceâ if the site(s) regularly links to low quality sites, is itself
sketchy, or can be influenced by anyone (open to link drops), the links you get
there may come with serious risk of a Google penalty
57. Links to Avoid:
Generic directories
probably arenât worthwhile
for most blogs (even
Yahoo! and DMOZ, though
your mileage may vary)
58. Links to Avoid:
Most blog directories likely
arenât worthwhile either (and,
like generic directories, some
could even be risky)
59. Links to Avoid:
In case the 80âs business people didnât give it away,
blog carnivals, blog rings, blog link wheels, & all similar
schemes are very high risk
60. On the Borderline:
Be thoughtful and
cautious about sites
that openly solicit
guest posts
61. On the Borderline:
Moz actually offers this! But we have
an extremely tight editorial review
process, and only publish highly
relevant, quality stuff
62. On the Borderline:
Social profiles can be valuable if youâre
using the network, but if youâre simply
trying to get profiles that will have
âdofollowâ links for SEO rankings, there
may be risks
63. On the Borderline:
Forum profiles and posts are similar â if youâre
really contributing, itâs OK. If youâre just there for
the link, trouble may follow.
64. Links to Chase After:
Most links to the content I publish online are
from building up a social following of
interested folks and sharing
65. Links to Chase After:
Blogrolls and endorsements from friends,
colleagues, and people who read and love
your site make great links
66. Links to Chase After:
Places like HARO & Profnet
(10 sources here) can help ID
journalists in need of an expert for
their story â they often love
including bloggers
67. Links to Chase After:
You donât even need tools â
find the names of the
writers who publish
interviews/coverage of sites
like yours and find ways to
help them
68. Links to Chase After:
Following social accounts of
writers, journalists, bloggers,
and anyone who regularly
produces web content can put
you in front of the right people at
the right time
69. Links to Chase After:
Sometimes itâs
easier to connect
with the sources the
pros listen to then to
influence highly-followed
social
accounts directly
(this Followerwonk
report can help)
70. Links to Chase After:
Boom! These less-popular accounts are
followed by hugely influential people. They
might be great targets.
71. Links to Chase After:
If you produce visual or embeddable content of any
kind, use attribution licensing so sites can share
your stuff and link back to you
72. Links to Chase After:
Using this query format
can bring up loads of
potential link
opportunities
73. More Link Building Resources:
Link Building from the Moz
Blog
Paddy Mooganâs Link Building
eBook
Expertsâ Favorite Link Building
Tactics
How to Leverage PR for
Link Building
The Future of
Link Building
74. Donât Worry About Spam You Donât Control:
If you see spammy links in your profile
that you didnât create, donât worry about
them. If you see a lot and want to take
action, you can use Google Webmastersâ
disavow tool.
75. DO WORRY About Spam You Created
If youâre guilty, fess up, disavow, try to
remove the links, and send an honest
reconsideration request
76. Go Ahead.
Break the Rules.
Donât let SEO constrain your
creativity. Use it as a tool when
you need it.
86. SEO Plugins for Blogs Can Be a Good Start,
But Arenât the End All of SEO
Yoastâs Wordpress SEO is
a great tool, and it can
help you avoid problems
and capture opportunities,
but itâs not a silver bullet!