Protecting & Improving Search Ranking in 2015 Steve Wiideman, Search Strategist

SEO Relevancy Keyword-Themed Content Usefulness of Content 2.Popularity Mentions, Links, & Social Signals 3.User Behavior Similar to Real User Monitoring (RUM) Search, Click, and Return Behavior

“Dangerous SEO” involves manipulating search engine ranking signals. Relevancy + Popularity + User Choice = Higher Ranking SEO 101

Which Search Engines Matter? SEO 101 Ref:

Your Search Department

SEO Strategy & Audits

Audits to Run You or your SEO consultancy should run the following audits: Obstacle Analysis Report (OAR) Competitor Analysis Report (CAR) Link Analysis Report (LAR) Keyword Discovery Report (KDR)

On-Page Audits 1.Check for duplicate content 2.Add long-tail semantic keywords to web copy 3.Run surveys to improve title and meta data 4.Differentiate “intent” and “interest” copy 5.Make navigating easy for search engines & users 6.Encourage sharing and engagement 7.Improve the user experience (think load time) 8.Make mobile a priority in 2015

Strategy Focal Points You or your SEO consultancy should create a plan for each of the following: How to Handle Mobile Optimization Video & Social Media Campaigns Link & Ego “Bait” Strategies Collegic & Government Strategy Content Marketing Calendar

The Effect of Design & Usability on Ranking

Real User Monitoring (RUM-ish)  Most users click this result  Users who click don’t return  Returning users end here

What Effects User Behavior?

Avoid Over-Optimizing  Bad for Users  Bad for Search Engines What’s the Industry “Norm” for Links and Social Media Activity?

Protecting Your Search Engine Rankings

Which Updates Matter?  Panda – Low Quality Content  Penguin – Spam Links  Hummingbird – Matching User Intent Google Updates

Google Panda Panda Updates – Began in February 2011 Removing Duplicate and Low Quality Content Reduced Ranking on Similar Content Pages Goodbye PR & Article Distribution Goodbye Blog & Ping Techniques

Google Penguin 1.0 Penguin Update - April 24, 2012 Too Many Links with Explicit Anchor Text Webpages without Authoritative Links to Them Goodbye Web 2.0 “Micro-Sites” Goodbye Profile Links Goodbye Web Directories

Google Penguin 2.0 Penguin Update – May 22, 2013 Advertorials and banner ads without a rel=“nofollow” attribute, unnatural link networks, hacked domains, and a high allocation of non- authoritative links. PR is the New SEO

Free Tools SEO’s Use 1.Google Analytics 2.Google & Bing Webmaster Tools a)Crawl Errors b)Linking Websites (Google Penguin) c)Parameter Handling 3.WebsiteTest.org 4.MobilePhoneEmulator.com 5.Google Structured Data Testing Tool 6.Google PageSpeed Insights Tool 7.Siteliner.com (Duplicate Content – Panda)

Links, Links, Links

7 Powerful Link Building Strategies 1.Be Found Where Competitors Are 2.Joint Content Contribution 3.Advanced Tutorials & How-to’s 4.Conduct Research & Discuss the Results 5.Establish Yourself as an Authority (Author Rank) 6.Create a Free Tool, Product, Plugin or Extension 7.Recognition & Interviews

Link Building vs. Link Baiting What is the difference between link building and link baiting, and which one is better?

4 Powerful Link Baiting Strategies 1.Frequently Updated Survey Results 2.Be a Source for Industry Data 3.Provide Free Training & Tutorials 4.Answer Commonly Asked Questions

Be THE Source for Industry News Authoritative Content SearchEngineJournal.com (150,811 root, 326,108 total) WSJ.com (1,231,513 root, 1,782,454 total) PizzaMarketplace.com (76,405 root, 80,651 total) ModernWoodworking.com (400 root, 573 total) Anyone can become an authority on what they specialize in or what people they know specialize in.

2015 Link-Building Strategy Pre-2015 Linking Building – Fuggedaboutit Research hot topics, resources, and authors  Engage for opinion, quotes, survey, poll & feedback  Publish WITHOUT mentioning your service  Perform outreach to authors of content in your vertical Try this Google operator: site:*.edu “your topic here” Set the date to the last 30 days  Have your content used as “Additional Reading”  Perform outreach to those mentioned or featured

Social Media’s Impact on SEO

Social Media Signals Correlation Authoritative Mentions Authoritative Followers / Subscribers Authoritative Shares and Recommendations Causation Brand Prominence Sharing & Engagement (referral traffic) Natural/Organic Linking Behavior Use in place of authoritative: Influencers, Thought Leaders, Celebrities

Wiideman has been working with Search Engine Optimization Since 2003 and authored several eBooks on the topic while working with Fortune 100 & 500 organizations. He has been featured in Entrepreneur Magazine, Response Magazine, National Journal, Visibility Magazine and many industry blogs, including the Marketing Sherpa Blog. In 2015, Wiideman is consulting for well-known brands and working on his latest version of “SEO in a Day”, which will likely be published after the summer of Steve Wiideman Facebook.com/stevewiideman P. (562) E. Connect with Steve Wiideman