A high level discussion of what SEO is and a simple summary of three SEO strategies any website owner can use.

2. Overview of SEO:
Effective Strategies
Sean D. Francis / Director of SEO

3. • 1970s – The word Internet is first used.
• 1980s – Domain name system invented.
• 1990s – Tim Berners-Lee creates the World Wide Web.
• 1995 – Yahoo and Alta-Vista are founded.
• 1996 – Danny Sullivan creates Search Engine Watch.
• 1998 – Google is founded.
How did we get here?

4. • Crawl websites
• Parse content from webpages
• Index webpages
• Retrieve webpages in response to a search query
The Function of a Search Engine

5. First
“How to get listed on Yahoo!?”
Then
“How to show up for relevant searches on Alta-Vista?”
Now
“How to rank for keywords on Google?”
Evolution of Search Optimization

6. • MozCon
• PubCon
• Content Marketing World
• ContentJam
• Google Developer’s Blog
• John Mueller’s Webmaster Chats
• Gary Illyes’ Twitter Account
• Moz Blog
• Search Engine Roundtable
• Search Engine Journal
Overview of SEO
Effective On Page & Off Page Strategies
A lot of people are making a lot of
money telling us how to perform
better on the search engines.

7. GOAL
By the end of this session you will know at least one effective SEO
strategy you can implement on your site immediately.
Overview of SEO
Effective On Page & Off Page Strategies

8. What is the purpose of an On Page Strategy?
• Tell the search engines the topic the page is about
• Tell the search engines the breadth of the topic covered
• Tell the search engines the depth of the topic covered
On Page Strategy

9. What is the purpose of an Off Page Strategy?
• Tell the search engine the information on the page is trustworthy.
• Tell the search engine the page is an authority on the topic.
• Tell the search engine the information is current.
• Tell the search engine the page is noteworthy.
Off Page Strategy

10. WARNING!!
DO NOT ATTEMPT ANY
STRATEGY WITHOUT CONSIDERING THESE
FOUR ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS.
The 4 + 1 Caveats of Any SEO Strategy

11. BROKEN SITES BREAK STRATEGIES
• Fix Javascript errors.
• Fix database errors
• Fix broken links.
• Build out or remove thin content.
• Rewrite or remove spun content.
• Rewrite, remove, or use a canonical tag on duplicate content.
The First SEO Strategy Caveat

12. Overview of SEO
Effective On Page & Off Page Strategies
“A page with broken code is like a
store with broken windows, missing
lights, and old signage: sketchy.”
@seandfrancis - Director of SEO
Blue Magnet Interactive

13. UNOPTIMIZED SITES BREAK SEO STRATEGIES
• Every page needs a unique title tag relating to the page topic.
• Every page needs a unique meta description optimized for clicks.
• Every page needs content relevant to the page topic.
• Every page needs headers.
• The site needs to allow search engines access to crawl the site.
• The site needs to implement schema mark-up.
• The site needs to be functional for visitors.
The Second SEO Strategy Caveat

14. Overview of SEO
Effective On Page & Off Page Strategies
“Don’t build on unstable ground.
The first SEO strategy on any site
is to do all the basic optimization.”
@seandfrancis - Director of SEO
Blue Magnet Interactive

15. TECH DEBT STIFLES SEO STRATEGIES
• Use modern web servers (IIS, Apache, Nginx, GWS).
• Use fast, mobile-friendly content management systems.
• Update site architecture to remove parameters in the URL.
• Update site architecture so pages aren’t buried in a long URL.
• Use compression and browser caching whenever possible.
• All the postponed site updates need to be done.
• All the temporary fixes need permanent solutions.
The Third SEO Strategy Caveat

16. Overview of SEO
Effective On Page & Off Page Strategies
“If your CMS doesn’t allow you to
update your title tags,
you might have tech debt.”
@seandfrancis - Director of SEO
Blue Magnet Interactive

17. NO SEO STRATEGY CREATES SEARCH VOLUME
• We provide content to fill searcher intent.
• We don’t provide the searchers for the content.
The Fourth SEO Strategy Caveat

18. Overview of SEO
Effective On Page & Off Page Strategies
“The best optimized site on the
topic of ‘bait shops in Winston MT’
will still have few visitors.”
@seandfrancis - Director of SEO
Blue Magnet Interactive

19. SEO STRATEGY ON BRAND.COM RELIES ON BRAND.COM
• Implementing an SEO Strategy on Brand.com is like
having a tea party on the back of a whale.
• No matter how pretty the teacups and perfect
the finger sandwiches, the determining factor
of whether or not it is a good party depends
mostly on the behavior of the whale.
The Fifth SEO Strategy Caveat [brand.com edition]

20. Overview of SEO
Effective On Page & Off Page Strategies
“A bad website with a set of
perfectly optimized webpages is
still a bad website.”
@seandfrancis - Director of SEO
Blue Magnet Interactive

21. Overview of SEO
Effective On Page & Off Page Strategies
Efficient Conversion Funnel
Strategy #1

22. Direct visitors from the pages with high traffic
to the pages with high conversion.
Efficient Conversion Funnel

23. Step One
What page other than the index page gets the most traffic?
Step Two
What page other than the index page has the best conversion?
Step Three
Link the high traffic page to the high conversion page.
Efficient Conversion Funnel

24. IDENTIFY THE PAGE WITH THE BEST TRAFFIC
Efficient Conversion Funnel – Step One
• In Analytics, set a 6 month date range.
• Behavior > Landing Pages
• Set for Comparison
• Compare Sessions to Sessions.
Comparison option
Best
non-index
page

25. IDENTIFY THE PAGE WITH THE BEST CONVERSION
Efficient Conversion Funnel – Step Two
• Change the comparison from Sessions to
the appropriate Goal Conversion Rate.
Winner!

26. BUILD A LINK
Efficient Conversion Funnel – Step Three
• Create a strong call to action on the high traffic page to send
visitors to the page that converts the best.
/building-history /alamo

27. RESULTS
Efficient Conversion Funnel – Results
• The connection brings more traffic to the best converting page,
increasing the amount of potential reservations.
/building-history /alamo
$

28. What Happens Next?
Efficient Conversion Funnel – What Happens Next?
• Analyze each page on the site to determine it’s function.
• Some pages have the job of bringing in traffic.
• Some pages have the job of converting the traffic.
• Build more pages to attract additional relevant traffic.
• Improve conversion on action pages.

29. Overview of SEO
Effective On Page & Off Page Strategies
Buried Treasure
Strategy #2

30. Where is the best place to hide a dead body?
Buried Treasure

31. On the second search engine results page.
Buried Treasure

32. Buried Treasure
Identify keywords the site is ranking
for in positions 11 through 20 on Google
and make alterations to move them to the 1st page.

33. Step One
Get a list of the keywords your site is ranking for.
Step Two
Identify the relevant keywords on the 2nd SERP.
Step Three
Add or change the copy on the related pages to target those
keywords.
Buried Treasure

34. GET A LIST OF KEYWORDS FOR THE SITE
• Google’s Search Console for Webmasters
(www.google.com/webmasters)
Buried Treasure – Step One
Note: this strategy works better with paid tools like SEMRush.

35. IDENTIFY RELEVANT KEYWORDS
• Sort the query list by position, then analyze the keywords in
positions 11 through 20.
Buried Treasure – Step Two
Query Impressions CTR Position
hotels near the Alamo in San Antonio TX 124 0% 11.2
hotels near the Alamo and Riverwalk 182 .55% 12.5
historic hotels in San Antonio 166 .6% 16.4
San Antonio romantic hotel 11 0% 16.4

36. ADD OR CHANGE COPY ON TARGETED PAGE
• Go through all the optimization elements (title, headers, page
copy, image alt tags) and tweak what is there to go after additional
traffic
Buried Treasure – Step Three

37. RESULTS
• Focus only on keywords most likely to improve in 3 months.
• SEMRush Search Volume for all keywords per year was 7,680.
• Just a 3% click through rate is 228 additional visitors.
Buried Treasure – Results

38. ON GOING SEO EFFORT
• Monitor keyword rankings and keep making adjustments.
• Add additional content to attract new traffic on relevant topics.
• Test descriptions to increase click through rates on the SERP.
• Improve conversion rate throughout the site.
Buried Treasure – What Happens Next?

39. Overview of SEO
Effective On Page & Off Page Strategies
Get Social
Strategy #3

40. What is the SEO value of Social Media?
Get Social

41. The SEO PowerSuite team performed a survey of 628 SEO
professionals on the topic of “How SEOs Do Link Building in 2017”
The most popular and most efficient method was social sharing.
Get Social

42. “How Does Social Media Affect SEO?”
Mark Traphagen, June 7, 2016
1. Social signals do not affect ranking.
2. Matt Cutts, Gary Illyes, John Mueller all have said, multiple
times, social signals are not ranking signals.
3. BUT… Google treats Facebook and Twitter posts like any other
webpage for search.
4. THUS… social sharing is an effective and efficient Off Page
strategy.
Get Social

43. Get Social
SEO Agencies
In-House SEO
SEO Consultants
SMBs
All use Social Sharing

44. Get Social

45. Use social media to send signals of
trust and authority to search engines.
Get Social

46. Step One
Create an active presence on Facebook and Twitter at least. Other
social platforms may be effective, but don’t over extend.
Step Two
Follow the 60/30/10 content ratio.
Get Social

47. ACTIVE PRESENCE ON SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS
• Facebook
Helps with Local SEO as well as being a source of links.
• Twitter
Link in the profile, links in tweets.
Get Social – Step One

48. 60 / 30 / 10 CONTENT RATIO
60% of shared content should be curated from other sources.
30% of shared content should be your own content.
10% of shared content should be promotional content.
Example:
6 Tweets about city wide events.
3 Tweets sharing photos of property, linking to About Us page.
1 Tweet about hotel packages, deals, or amenities.
Get Social – Step Two

49. RESULTS
Links from social channels may have
low value but do send signals of trust,
especially when reshared.
Social engagement puts your content
in front of more prospective guests.
Visitors from social channels can now
be targeted with remarketing on
Facebook and Adwords.
Get Social - Results
Additional Results
Courtesy of Orbit Media Studios

50. INTEGRATED MARKETING
• Add new content to the site.
• Link to new content through social channels.
• Enlist relevant social media influencers to amplify social reach.
• Promote new content through paid channels.
• Link to new content in email campaigns.
Get Social – What Happens Next?

51. Overview of SEO
Effective On Page & Off Page Strategies
CONCLUSION:
Before implementing any strategy, make sure the basic SEO of the
site and pages have been done and there are no technical issues.

52. Overview of SEO
Effective On Page & Off Page Strategies
CONCLUSION:
Understand what needs to be achieved before picking a strategy.
The SEO strategy needs to be tied to specific goals so the results
can be put into proper context.

53. Overview of SEO
Effective On Page & Off Page Strategies
CONCLUSION:
If at first you don’t succeed, try try again.
Strategies will have different effectiveness depending on your
market, and the only true way to succeed is through continued
effort.