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Ten Things You Should Know About Google Search and Your Business

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Wendy Emerson
Wendy Emerson

Ten things to give consideration to for building organic search rank in Google from proper page structure and tagging, to measurement and analytics using Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools - and everything in between.

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S 10 Things about Google Search Every Business Show Know (in no particular order) Wendy K Emerson Director of Digital Marketing equaTEK Interactive
A little about me: Wendy K Emerson @socialpmchick
1: Mobile-Friendly is a Must To be blunt… If your website isn’t mobile, don’t bother with SEO. April 21, 2015 – Google Algorithm Update
1: Mobile-Friendly is a Must To be blunt… If your website isn’t mobile, don’t bother with SEO. TWO PRIMARY TYPES OF CONFIGURATION: •  Mobile Responsive Websites (Adaptive) •  Separate Mobile Websites
1: Mobile-Friendly is a Must To be blunt… If your website isn’t mobile, don’t bother with SEO. What would you be willing to give up for a week?
2: Page Titles You get one chance at a first impression. Your Meta Title is more than just language in the top bar of your browser… It is your prospective visitors VERY first interaction with you in Google search results.
2: Page Titles You get one chance at a first impression.
3: Meta Description Remove any doubt about the relevance of your content. Meta Description Is a snippet of code Inside your website’s Html in the header That tells Google (and it’s users) What the page content Is about. Strong, unique meta descriptions will help Google (and your prospective customers) better understand your content.
4: Content is King Achieving good organic search rank is more difficult on a small/static website. Develop an ONGOING Content Strategy. S  More content is good – really good. S  Fresh content is even better! S  More fresh content is the best!
4: Content is King Achieving good organic search rank is more difficult on a small/static website. S  Content Types: S  Blog Posts S  Glossary of Terms S  Frequently Asked Questions S  Press Releases S  Images/Photo Gallery S  Customer Testimonials S  Pod Casts and Audio Clips S  Video Clips S  PDFs & PowerPoint S  Recent News S  Product & Services Info S  Repurpose Other Content
4: Content is King Achieving good organic search rank is more difficult on a small/static website. S  Companies who blog 15 or more times a month generate 5 times more web traffic than companies who don’t. (NewsCred) S  Web users are 94% likely to click on content with images than plain text posts. (NewsCred) S  The use of video in content marketing increased 73% in the last 12 months. (Digital Marketing Philippines) S  Not all content has to be original. 48% of marketers curate noteworthy content form third-party sources regularly. (Design & Promote)
5: Page Structure is Queen Proper tagging of content will help Google better index your website. H or Heading Tags help Google better understand how you rank the priority of content on your page. <h1> through <h6> H1 will be the biggest, boldest and most important content – which Google will detect as its search bots crawl your website. You can customize the appearance through your CSS.
5: Page Structure is Queen Proper tagging of content will help Google better index your website. Image Alt Tags By it’s very name – it gives the search engine’s information about the image contents, and displays this tag content if for some reason the image does not load. It’s more about compliance with the American’s with Disabilities Act, but it also helps Google understand the relevance of your site imagery.
6: Back Links Matter Having other sites link back to yours shows Google that you are relevant. Google wants to see that other websites all think your content is relevant. S  Quantity and quality BOTH matter. S  Google Webmaster Tools can identify harmful links. S  Websites with explicit content such as pornography, gambling and weapons - be on the lookout.
6: Back Links Matter Having other sites link back to yours shows Google that you are relevant. Review your backlinks regularly.
7: Paid Search is NOT SEO. Google should not replace SEO efforts.. Paid Ads always show first and will always be noted as an advertisement. Paid search engine Marketing is a good Tactic to use when You are working on Building rank. Or to drive traffic to a Specific area on your website.
8: Google Webmaster Tools You get one chance at a first impression. Google Webmaster Tools is your Friend: Titles & Meta Description Errors
8: Google Webmaster Tools You get one chance at a first impression. Google Webmaster Tools is your Friend: Demoted Site Links Tell Google what NOT to index.
8: Google Webmaster Tools You get one chance at a first impression. Google Webmaster Tools is your Friend: Fetch & Render Testing how Google renders individual pages, and then resubmit.
8: Google Webmaster Tools You get one chance at a first impression. Google Webmaster Tools is your Friend: Fetch & Render (PREVIEW)
8: Google Webmaster Tools You get one chance at a first impression. More of Google Webmaster Tools: •  Site map management •  Robot.txt settings •  Crawl stats and errors •  Search analytics •  Backlinks stats •  Primary keywords (Google defined)
9: Always Analyze & Adjust You can’t improve if you don’t measure. You can’t fix what you don’t know isn’t working. Trust your analytics. There is power in the data. S  Know where your traffic is coming from (referral sources) S  Know what pages are being viewed most. S  Know what pages have high bounce or exit rates. S  Know what keywords people are entering your website on. S  Know how social media is impacting web traffic. S  Measure goal conversions (sales, quotes, leads) S  Know where your traffic is coming from geographically. S  Look at “on-page” analytics to see what people are clicking on.
9: Always Analyze & Adjust You can’t improve if you don’t measure. On Page Analytics
9: Always Analyze & Adjust You can’t improve if you don’t measure. Referral Traffic
9: Always Analyze & Adjust You can’t improve if you don’t measure. Top Content
9: Always Analyze & Adjust You can’t improve if you don’t measure. Exit Pages
9: Always Analyze & Adjust You can’t improve if you don’t measure. Conversions
10: SEO is Ongoing You don’t just “do SEO” and then move on to the next project. Your website SEO strategy should evolve just as the Google Algorithm continues to evolve. SEO is not a once and done project. Your competitor’s websites are being re-indexed all the time along with yours. If they are producing new and relevant content, they may out rank you. You should continue to: •  Add new and interesting content. •  Update and improve existing content. •  Measure the effectiveness of your content through Analytics. •  Keyword Entry, High Bounce Rates, High Exit Rates, Top Content •  Network the right way to grow your back links. •  Monitor Google Webmaster Tools. •  Cleanup and adjust site code/tagging. •  Always keep an eye out for algorithm updates that could impact you.
Questions? Wendy K Emerson Director of Digital Marketing wemerson@equatekinteractive.com @socialpmchick

More Related Content

Ten Things You Should Know About Google Search and Your Business

  • 1. S 10 Things about Google Search Every Business Show Know (in no particular order) Wendy K Emerson Director of Digital Marketing equaTEK Interactive
  • 2. A little about me: Wendy K Emerson @socialpmchick
  • 3. 1: Mobile-Friendly is a Must To be blunt… If your website isn’t mobile, don’t bother with SEO. April 21, 2015 – Google Algorithm Update
  • 4. 1: Mobile-Friendly is a Must To be blunt… If your website isn’t mobile, don’t bother with SEO. TWO PRIMARY TYPES OF CONFIGURATION: •  Mobile Responsive Websites (Adaptive) •  Separate Mobile Websites
  • 5. 1: Mobile-Friendly is a Must To be blunt… If your website isn’t mobile, don’t bother with SEO. What would you be willing to give up for a week?
  • 6. 2: Page Titles You get one chance at a first impression. Your Meta Title is more than just language in the top bar of your browser… It is your prospective visitors VERY first interaction with you in Google search results.
  • 7. 2: Page Titles You get one chance at a first impression.
  • 8. 3: Meta Description Remove any doubt about the relevance of your content. Meta Description Is a snippet of code Inside your website’s Html in the header That tells Google (and it’s users) What the page content Is about. Strong, unique meta descriptions will help Google (and your prospective customers) better understand your content.
  • 9. 4: Content is King Achieving good organic search rank is more difficult on a small/static website. Develop an ONGOING Content Strategy. S  More content is good – really good. S  Fresh content is even better! S  More fresh content is the best!
  • 10. 4: Content is King Achieving good organic search rank is more difficult on a small/static website. S  Content Types: S  Blog Posts S  Glossary of Terms S  Frequently Asked Questions S  Press Releases S  Images/Photo Gallery S  Customer Testimonials S  Pod Casts and Audio Clips S  Video Clips S  PDFs & PowerPoint S  Recent News S  Product & Services Info S  Repurpose Other Content
  • 11. 4: Content is King Achieving good organic search rank is more difficult on a small/static website. S  Companies who blog 15 or more times a month generate 5 times more web traffic than companies who don’t. (NewsCred) S  Web users are 94% likely to click on content with images than plain text posts. (NewsCred) S  The use of video in content marketing increased 73% in the last 12 months. (Digital Marketing Philippines) S  Not all content has to be original. 48% of marketers curate noteworthy content form third-party sources regularly. (Design & Promote)
  • 12. 5: Page Structure is Queen Proper tagging of content will help Google better index your website. H or Heading Tags help Google better understand how you rank the priority of content on your page. <h1> through <h6> H1 will be the biggest, boldest and most important content – which Google will detect as its search bots crawl your website. You can customize the appearance through your CSS.
  • 13. 5: Page Structure is Queen Proper tagging of content will help Google better index your website. Image Alt Tags By it’s very name – it gives the search engine’s information about the image contents, and displays this tag content if for some reason the image does not load. It’s more about compliance with the American’s with Disabilities Act, but it also helps Google understand the relevance of your site imagery.
  • 14. 6: Back Links Matter Having other sites link back to yours shows Google that you are relevant. Google wants to see that other websites all think your content is relevant. S  Quantity and quality BOTH matter. S  Google Webmaster Tools can identify harmful links. S  Websites with explicit content such as pornography, gambling and weapons - be on the lookout.
  • 15. 6: Back Links Matter Having other sites link back to yours shows Google that you are relevant. Review your backlinks regularly.
  • 16. 7: Paid Search is NOT SEO. Google should not replace SEO efforts.. Paid Ads always show first and will always be noted as an advertisement. Paid search engine Marketing is a good Tactic to use when You are working on Building rank. Or to drive traffic to a Specific area on your website.
  • 17. 8: Google Webmaster Tools You get one chance at a first impression. Google Webmaster Tools is your Friend: Titles & Meta Description Errors
  • 18. 8: Google Webmaster Tools You get one chance at a first impression. Google Webmaster Tools is your Friend: Demoted Site Links Tell Google what NOT to index.
  • 19. 8: Google Webmaster Tools You get one chance at a first impression. Google Webmaster Tools is your Friend: Fetch & Render Testing how Google renders individual pages, and then resubmit.
  • 20. 8: Google Webmaster Tools You get one chance at a first impression. Google Webmaster Tools is your Friend: Fetch & Render (PREVIEW)
  • 21. 8: Google Webmaster Tools You get one chance at a first impression. More of Google Webmaster Tools: •  Site map management •  Robot.txt settings •  Crawl stats and errors •  Search analytics •  Backlinks stats •  Primary keywords (Google defined)
  • 22. 9: Always Analyze & Adjust You can’t improve if you don’t measure. You can’t fix what you don’t know isn’t working. Trust your analytics. There is power in the data. S  Know where your traffic is coming from (referral sources) S  Know what pages are being viewed most. S  Know what pages have high bounce or exit rates. S  Know what keywords people are entering your website on. S  Know how social media is impacting web traffic. S  Measure goal conversions (sales, quotes, leads) S  Know where your traffic is coming from geographically. S  Look at “on-page” analytics to see what people are clicking on.
  • 23. 9: Always Analyze & Adjust You can’t improve if you don’t measure. On Page Analytics
  • 24. 9: Always Analyze & Adjust You can’t improve if you don’t measure. Referral Traffic
  • 25. 9: Always Analyze & Adjust You can’t improve if you don’t measure. Top Content
  • 26. 9: Always Analyze & Adjust You can’t improve if you don’t measure. Exit Pages
  • 27. 9: Always Analyze & Adjust You can’t improve if you don’t measure. Conversions
  • 28. 10: SEO is Ongoing You don’t just “do SEO” and then move on to the next project. Your website SEO strategy should evolve just as the Google Algorithm continues to evolve. SEO is not a once and done project. Your competitor’s websites are being re-indexed all the time along with yours. If they are producing new and relevant content, they may out rank you. You should continue to: •  Add new and interesting content. •  Update and improve existing content. •  Measure the effectiveness of your content through Analytics. •  Keyword Entry, High Bounce Rates, High Exit Rates, Top Content •  Network the right way to grow your back links. •  Monitor Google Webmaster Tools. •  Cleanup and adjust site code/tagging. •  Always keep an eye out for algorithm updates that could impact you.
  • 29. Questions? Wendy K Emerson Director of Digital Marketing wemerson@equatekinteractive.com @socialpmchick