Take your natural search traffic to the next level. SEO 201: Content Optimization and Strategy was presented on July 30, 2015 as a resource for marketing professionals. The complete presentation may be viewed at http://www.threedeepmarketing.com/blog/next-level-seo-how-to-optimize-strategy-and-content/
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Human readable
Concise
Lowercase (or consistent
capitalization)
Trailing slash (/) consistency
Use dash: –
Not underscore: _
URL Structure
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www.piragis.co
m
Let’s build a URL!
+ /canoes-kayaks/
+ /wenonah/
+ /boundary-waters-17/
www.piragis.com/canoes-kayaks/wenonah/boundary-waters-17/
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Internal links create a
path for users to follow &
helps search engines
find your pages.
Use consistent versions
of URLs. (Avoid
variations in
capitalization & trailing
slashes.)
Internal Linking
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Link strategically to
indicate which pages are
the most important.
Link consistently. (Use the
same URL. Avoid mixed-
case URLs and
inconsistent trailing
slashes.)
Internal Linking
25. | SEO 201 25
1. Sign-up or Sign-in to Google
Adwords.
2. Enter term you want to target.
3. Ensure your targeting is
correct.
4. Get ideas.
5. Select a few keywords to
target based on relevancy and
average monthly searches.
6. Apply terms to page.
Keyword Research How-to:
(Using Google Adwords Keyword Planner)
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Keyword
Research
1. Sign-up or Sign-
in to Google
Adwords.
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2. Enter term you
want to target.
3. Ensure your
targeting is
correct.
4. Get ideas.
Keyword
Research
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Keyword
Research
5. Select a few
keywords to
target based on
relevancy and
average monthly
searches.
29. | SEO 201 29
Keyword
Research
5.1 Selecting the
right keywords.
Things to consider:
1. Relevancy
2. Average monthly
search volume
3. Competition
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Keyword
Research
“sleeping
bags”
Cold Weather
Keyword MS
V
cold weather
sleeping bag
260
winter sleeping bag 210
warm sleeping bags 170
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Applying Keyword Research
What should you optimize?
page title (50-60 characters)
meta descriptions (70-155 characters)
heading tags (have only one H1!)
on-page content (target 2-4 terms per
page)
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Page Title: Unique and descriptive.
Approx. 55 character limit.
Test with Moz tool.
Example:
Keyword 1 | Keyword 2 | Brand
Name
Meta Description: Click-
enticing, unique description
of the page.
Keep within a 70 - 155
character limit.
Off-Page Elements
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H1 Heading:
Unique and
descriptive
Page Copy:
Descriptive,
unique, and
keyword rich
Alt Image Text:
Descriptive and
keyword rich
On-page Elements
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Understanding
who your user
is,
What is a content strategy?
+ =
what problems
they have that
you are able to
solve,
and finding a
way to solve
those problems.
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Personas
Who is your
target audience?
Before you create content, understand…
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Personas
Who is your
target audience?
Get to know your audience!
Age range
Gender
Income
Interests
Dislikes
Pain Points
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Buying Cycle
What steps do they
take in the
conversion
process?
Before you create content, understand…
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Match existing content to
personas and steps in the buying
cycle.
Identify areas that lack content
and fill gaps.
Content Inventory & Gap Analysis
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Content Inventory & Gap Analysis
URL Casual
Camper
Awarenes
s
Interes
t
Considerati
on
Purchase
Intent
www.campingwebsite.co
m/article/how-to-pick-a-
sleeping-bag/
x x
www.campingwebsite.co
m/sleeping-bags/adult/
x x x
Awarenes
s
Interes
t
Considerati
on
Purchase
Intent
Casual
Camper
15 17 10 5
Extreme
Camper
11 2 7 13
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Blog
Video
Product/Service Page
Interactive tool
Graphic
Create the right type of content
for your audience.
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You have an actively
engaged community (or
the potential for one).
You have the resources to
commit to regular content
creation.
You have something great
to say!
You should consider a blog if…
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Content Calendar
http://www.verticalmeasures.com/content-editorial-calendar-template/
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Content Calendar
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsKxtai-
b7NqdGdqODJyd0xwc0xTQ3h4M2I3aUlPSWc&usp=sharing#gid=0
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Content Promotion
Social
Media
PPC
Newsletters Email
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Website Organization
Website Hierarchy/ Organization
URL Structure
Internal Linking
Keyword Research
How to do keyword research
How to apply keyword research
Content Strategy
Personas & the Buying Cycle
Content Inventory & Gap Analysis
Content Calendar & Blogging
Content Promotion
Review
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SEO 101:
Ensure your site
is accessible to
search engines.
SEO 201:
Ensure your site is
relevant and useful
to your visitors.
Content is essentially anything a user consumes on your website.
If you consider what it would cost to rank for these keywords in PPC ads, you are saving $37 per month which is almost $450 per year. Depending on how much the piece of content costs you to make, content pays for itself in no time.
That covers the basics of how users and search engines interact with the pages on your website. Now let’s talk about creating the actual content on your website with data to support it.
Both SEMrush and moz have keyword difficulty tools to help.
Google the term you want to rank for- can you beat those pages? USE INCOGNITO WINDOWS TO AVOID PERSONALIZED SEARCH RESULTS
Identify themes and put together a short list per page.
You can also perform another search to refine your list and find other related terms.
KW Research differs based on the purpose. A product page is more specific, blog ideas can be broader and more of a discovery, etc
You can use keyword research as topical discovery as we just covered.
It should also, however, inform on-page optimization.
Test that your page is clear and concise: have someone else read the page and tell you in a term or two what the page is about.
Now that we’ve covered how to acquire keyword data & how to apply it on a page by page level, let’s take a more high-level, strategic view of the content on your website.
Persona’s: coastal beach campers, extreme campers, family camper
These should be clearly defined people, heck, give em a name!
Persona’s: coastal beach campers, extreme campers, family camper
These should be clearly defined people, heck, give em a name!
Buying cycle:
Gather all existing assets you have. Understand the landscape and move forward.
Not all personas or steps are created equal. You should have content to support all of your personas at each step in the cycle, but you may focus on some areas more than others.
Google ‘create content calendar’ or ‘content calendar template’ to get some great examples.
Essentially, consider overall demand as well as search trends, holidays, and seasonality when planning content.
Don’t expect that users are visiting your site or blog daily for new content. Share your content regularly on channels your customers engage with.