SEO FOR BEGINNERS MSGWORKS.COM
CONTENTS • What is SEO? p3 • Anatomy of a Google search p6 • Paid search (PPC/Adwords/Google Shopping) p11 • Google Ranking Factors p12 • On Page vs Off Page p15 • How long does it take? p16 • Don’t do this! p17 • Do do this! p18 • Getting started - Google Analytics p19 • Getting started - Google Search Console p23 • Getting started - Google My Business p24 • Next steps - beating the competition with Semrush p25 • Semrush overview p26 • Next steps - keyword research using KW Finder p27 • Glossary p31 MSGWORKS.COM
WHAT IS SEO? • Search Engine Optimisation - or the tools you use to get your business found online • It’s not just Google! YouTube and Facebook are huge search engines in their own right - and then there’s smaller engines like Bing or Yahoo • Finally, don’t forget mobile: Nearly 60% of all searches now performed on mobile! And what about Siri, Cortana or Alexa? MSGWORKS.COM
IT’S JUST WHAT YOUR CUSTOMERS DO • There’s a lot of jargon and tech speak in SEO (not to mention the mysteries of Google’s algorithms) • But ultimately, it is about understanding what your customers and presenting answers to their questions easily • Your competitors are already doing this! MSGWORKS.COM
START WITH GOOGLE - EVERYTHING ELSE CAN FOLLOW • Google still utterly dominates the search market - nearly 65% of all searches, and over 90% of mobile searches • Get Google right and chances are, all other platforms will follow (you can still optimise for Bing and Yahoo, but that is for a future session) MSGWORKS.COM
ANATOMY OF A GOOGLE SEARCH • This is a snippet - a bite size chunk of information that Google thinks does a great job of answering a question without the user having to click any further • This is a typical (local) search listing, as seen on a large computer screen. Anybody ranking in position 7 or lower is unlikely to be seen. If you are off page 1 (position 9+) you are really going to struggle MSGWORKS.COM
ANATOMY OF A GOOGLE SEARCH • This is the page title. It is usually (but not always) set by the Title Tag on your webpage • This is the URL • This is the URL, showing breadcrumbs. This means the site has been optimised to show the internal site structure make it easier to navigate - the breadcrumbs are clickable, unlike the basic URL • This is the meta description, a summary of the page contents. It should be around 160 characters in length and next to the title is the most important piece of your search listing MSGWORKS.COM
ANATOMY OF A GOOGLE SEARCH • These are sitelinks - clickable links to pages within your site. Google decides whether to display these depending on the overall quality and structure of your site. You can have up to six, but Google is selective in what it shows. You are most likely to see them if you search for a specific brand or company name. • This is a local listing, determined by MSGWORKS.COM
ANATOMY OF A GOOGLE SEARCH • This is a local listing, which depends on having a Google My Business page, in addition to your webpage. • This is an example of how Google prioritises Google My Business pages in local search queries. Those first three links are not to the companies’ web pages but to the Google My Business listings. You can’t even see the traditional search results on this screenshot, they all fall of the screen. MSGWORKS.COM
ANATOMY OF A GOOGLE SEARCH • This is a local listing, which depends on having a Google My Business page, in addition to your webpage. • This is an example of how Google prioritises Google My Business pages in local search queries. Those first three links are not to the companies’ web pages but to the Google My Business listings. You can’t even see the traditional search results on this screenshot, they all fall of the screen. MSGWORKS.COM
PAID SEARCH (& GOOGLE SHOPPING) • Often, the first three or four results are paid ads (they are labelled to the left of the URL) • Google shopping results are also paid for • Paid search is beyond the scope of this training, but worth bearing in mind, especially if you have very active competitors. MSGWORKS.COM
GOOGLE RANKING FACTORS • So how does Google determine how to rank a website? • The answer is that only Google really knows and they keep it secret • We do know some information, from Google and from research done by 3rd parties • The current Google algorithm is called Hummingbird (They also use an artificial intelligence engine called RankBrain) • Those two use over 200 different ranking signals to determine the quality and rank of a search result • As of 2017, Google has started rolling out ‘mobile first’ indexing, which prioritises the mobile version of a site in search results MSGWORKS.COM
SO WHAT IS GOOGLE LOOKING FOR? • Above all, Google wants its search results to be relevant and do a great job of answering queries. It does its best to guess people’s intent and show only the best results. • Out of the 200-odd ranking factors, here are the ones that make the most difference (and which you can influence yourself: • Site traffic and user engagement. If you have lots of people visiting your site, clicking through to multiple pages, spending a long time on your site or buying products, you are probably a trustworthy source that your customers value • High quality content. This means in-depth, well written content that answers the search query. You should be looking at an absolute minimum of 300 words (and as high as 2000 words - which is what the world’s top ranking sites have on average) if you want to rank for content. • High quality backlinks from reputable, relevant sites • A well structured, easy to navigate site MSGWORKS.COM
SO WHAT IS GOOGLE LOOKING FOR? • A secure site (https:// instead of http://) • A mobile friendly site • Page structure (e.g. use of Title Tags, H1 and H2 tags and schema markup) • Page speed (Google needs your pages to load in under 3 seconds. So do your customers) • Optimised images (clear titles, captions and alt tags) • Dynamic (i.e. regularly updated) content • Social signals (mentions, links and interactions from social media, review sites, etc.) MSGWORKS.COM
ON PAGE VS. OFF PAGE • On page SEO is largely the technical stuff: the site structure, tags and markups that enable Google’s bots to crawl your site and deliver results. Only needs to be done once (or whenever new content or pages are added) • Off page SEO is everything that happens away from your site: the backlinks you build, your social media presence, content published by third parties, PR mentions, customer reviews… it doesn’t take technical knowledge, but does require an investment in time. It should be thought of as an ongoing process that never stops - and ideally should occupy a budget line in your marketing plan. MSGWORKS.COM
HOW LONG? • SEO takes time. A lot of time. It can take several months before you start to see the rewards • It also needs to be thought of as an ongoing process - Google algorithms change, your competitors change and your business changes. Every time something new happens, it could affect your rankings. • Build SEO into your overall marketing plan and budget - and don’t trust any agency that says they can get you to no.1 in a few weeks. MSGWORKS.COM
DON’T DO THIS! • Unnatural inbound links. If your site has lots of links from dubious sources (for example a Private Blog Network / PBN - in which lots of very similar sites point to each other) • Keyword stuffing or hidden text. • Incorrect, misleading or spammy page markup (e.g. marking the site up for shoes but selling life insurance…) • Thin, low value content • Duplicate content - easier said than done sometimes, but problems can be dealt with, e.g. with noindex tags on the duplicate pages, or by setting the duplicate pages to redirect to the main ( canonical ) version • Slow site speed • Letting your site get hacked / having a low security site • Non mobile responsive site MSGWORKS.COM
DO DO THIS! • Provide clear, well written content • Have a clear, easy to navigate site structure • Get quality backlinks from respected sources • Optimise your images (title, caption, alt tags) • …and your videos • Have a mobile responsive site that loads fast • Optimise for mobile search • Use https:// MSGWORKS.COM
GETTING STARTED - GOOGLE ANALYTICS • Google Analytics won’t give you much information about specific keywords, but it will give you important insights into your customers’ behaviour. • By understanding Google Analytics, you can work out who your current customers are (demographics, location), how they reached you (acquisition) and what they do on your site (bounce rate, time on site, no. of pages browsed, behaviour flow) • You might also find out where your weaknesses are (e.g. hardly any traffic from organic search, high bounce rates etc.) • Importantly, it provides the best benchmark for performance over time - allowing you to see whether the changes you make are working. MSGWORKS.COM
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