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An Introduction to SEO Strategy in 12 Steps
- 1. Help! MyWebsite Sucksand I Don’t Know What to Do About It An Introductionto SearchEngineOptimization
- 2. andy@cycle7comms.com (403)616-8435or (855)749-8555 Agenda A little about me A little about you andyour website The Four Pillars of SEO (+1) SEO Strategy in 12 Steps Q&A Two Free Gifts
- 3. About Me • Andy Kubrin • Principal atCycle7 Communications Inc. • Independent SEO & marketing consultant for smallbusinesses and nonprofit organizations • Grateful settler in Calgary, Alberta — traditional territory of the Blackfoot Confederacy, the Tsuut’inaNation, the Stoney Nakoda First Nations, and the Métis Nation Region 3.
- 4. About You • Your name • Your website • Domain name • Why did you create this website? • What concerns do you haveabout your website?
- 5. andy@cycle7comms.com (403)616-8435or (855)749-8555 The 4 Pillars of SEO (+1) Technical SEO On-SiteSEO Content Off-Site SEO Security (5th Pillar)
- 6. andy@cycle7comms.com (403)616-8435or (855)749-8555 Technical SEO Is it crawlable? Is it indexable? Is it mobile-friendly? Is it fast? Is it structured?
- 7. andy@cycle7comms.com (403)616-8435or (855)749-8555 Content Does the contentdescribe your business? Is it persuasive? Is it authoritative?
- 8. andy@cycle7comms.com (403)616-8435or (855)749-8555 On-site SEO Does each page usethe rightkeywords? Are the URLs simple and descriptive? Do the page titles use theright keywords? Do the pages have meta descriptions? Does the siteuse structured data markup?
- 9. andy@cycle7comms.com (403)616-8435or (855)749-8555 Off-Site SEO Does your site have backlinks(inbound links)? Are the links relevant to your content? Does your site have a healthylink profile?
- 10. andy@cycle7comms.com (403)616-8435or (855)749-8555 Security Does yourwebsite use HTTPS? Is your website regularly backedup? Is your website upto date (CMS & plugins)? Does your website have a secure loginprocess? Does yourwebsite havea firewall, malware scan,security logging, etc?
- 11. SEO Strategyin 12 Steps
- 12. andy@cycle7comms.com (403)616-8435or (855)749-8555 1. Benchmark • Check: • search visibility • keywords (number, search volume, and percent of traffic) • branded vs. non-branded • Analyze your backlink profile: • number of backlinks • authority distribution • follow vs no follow split • spam factor
- 13. andy@cycle7comms.com (403)616-8435or (855)749-8555 2. Analyze the Competition • Identify your search competitors. • Analyze theirranking pages. • Identify keyword gaps • Analyze theirbacklink profiles: • number of backlinks • authority distribution • follow vs no follow split • spam factor
- 14. andy@cycle7comms.com (403)616-8435or (855)749-8555 3. Set Goals and KPIs • Goals: whatyou want to achieve • KPIs:numericalmeasurementsof your progress • Sessions • Page views • Pages/session • Bounce rate • Conversions
- 15. andy@cycle7comms.com (403)616-8435or (855)749-8555 4. Audit Existing Content • Audit your existingcontent. • Create an inventory. • Tag all content: • Keep • Update • Delete
- 16. andy@cycle7comms.com (403)616-8435or (855)749-8555 5. Define Topic Hierarchy • Topic hierarchy: • Start with main topics. • Develop subtopics with long-tail keywords • Link from main topics to subtopics.
- 17. andy@cycle7comms.com (403)616-8435or (855)749-8555 Topic Hierarchy Illustration Home Page SEO Intro to SEO 4 Pillars of SEO SEO Strategy Keyword Research KW Volume KW Difficulty Search Intent Backlinks Authority Follow vs nofollow Spam
- 18. andy@cycle7comms.com (403)616-8435or (855)749-8555 6. Choose Keywords • Topic hierarchy: • High-level pieces use body keywords: • high search volume • high competition • not veryspecific • low conversion • Subtopics use long-tail keywords: • lower search volume • lowercompetition and difficulty • more specific • higher conversion
- 19. Keyword Length: Search Volume & Competition vs. Conversion
- 20. andy@cycle7comms.com (403)616-8435or (855)749-8555 7. Create Your Subtopics • Create topics and subtopics aligned with search intent. • Search intent: • Informational (seeking info) • Navigational(looking for specificsite or page) • Commercial (investigating a brand or service) • Transactional(ready to buy or convert)
- 21. andy@cycle7comms.com (403)616-8435or (855)749-8555 8. Optimize Individual Pages • Descriptive URL • Titletag • Headings • Keyword density • Internallinks • Meta description
- 22. andy@cycle7comms.com (403)616-8435or (855)749-8555 9. Take Care of Technical SEO • Monitor your site withan SEO tool. • Runregular audits (monthly). • Prioritize errors and warnings. • Hireme to set up automatedaudits!
- 23. andy@cycle7comms.com (403)616-8435or (855)749-8555 10. Take Care of Off- page SEO • Develop a link buildingstrategy. • Create excellentcontent. • Create linkable content. • Use a link building tool to find link opportunities. • Hireme to create a linkbuilding strategyand get you some links.
- 24. andy@cycle7comms.com (403)616-8435or (855)749-8555 11. Monitor and Refine • Monitor your analytics. • Measure progress againstyour goals and KPIs. • Keepan eye on your search competitors. • An SEO campaign is never finished.
- 25. andy@cycle7comms.com (403)616-8435or (855)749-8555 12. Pace Yourself • SEO is a marathon,not a sprint. • Prioritize, and focus on the most important things. • Enjoy thecreativity and challengeof SEO. • Enjoy theresults.
- 26. Q&A
- 27. Two Free Gifts
- 28. andy@cycle7comms.com (403)616-8435or (855)749-8555 Free Mini-SEO Audit https://cycle7comms.com/seo-audit/
- 30. Go Forth and Optimize cycle7comms.com andy@cycle7comms.com 403-616-8435 1-855-749-8555 (toll free)
Editor's Notes
- If you have a new website, an old website, or a site that’s not doing well in search results, you've come to the right place. This workshop will introduce you to search engine optimization, or SEO. You'll learn about different types of SEO activities and how to create an SEO strategy for your own website. My goal is to demystify SEO and share knowledge that will help you improve your site in concrete and practical ways.
- Our agenda today is simple. We’ll have Q&A at the end, but if you have a question along the way, you can ask it. Just raise your hand, either on screen or with the Zoom tool, and I’ll call on you. This is why I’m here. I want to help people with their websites, and if you have a question, I’ll do my best to answer it.
- Mention Jamboard.
- Can a search engine access the site? Are the site’s pages properly marked for indexing (or not indexing)? Does the website display well on mobile devices? Do the pages load quickly? Is the content structured — that is, are the pages arranged in a sensible, organized hierarchy?
- Does the content completely and accurately describe your business, your brand, and offerings? Is it persuasive from your visitor’s POV? It helps to have an outsider take an objective look at your content. There might be some issues with your content that you just don’t see. Does it position you as an authority? Do you link out to high-quality websites?
- Do you choose keywords based on search volume, keyword difficulty, and search intent? Meta descriptions in search entries tell users what a page is about. They encourage click through. Structured data means content is defined by its type — e.g., article, recipe, event, etc. This feature is implemented via a simple plugin.
- Why are inbound links important? Because they’re popularity signals. Inbound links tell the search engines that other sites like and respect your content. Healthy link profile: non-spammy links, high authority, mix of follow and no-follow
- Security is the 5th pillar. HTTPS: Hypertext Transport Protocol Secure (with an SSL certificate). Look for a padlock symbol in the address bar. All sites should have a backup and restoration plan, which includes files and database. Secure login includes measures like 2FA, brute force protection, reCAPTCHA, and IP access control.
- Benchmark your site’s current performance Search visibility is the share of traffic your site receives for its rankings. For example, if you rank third for a given KW, a Google benchmark study says third spots receive 18.6% of traffic. So your visibility for that specific KW is 18.6%. Search visibility is also measured for entire websites as an average ranking for all keywords for which the site competes. Check your keywords, including the number of keywords for your site, search volume, and the percent of search you get for your keywords. Analyze your backlink profile.
- Keyword gaps are keywords for which your competitors rank but you do not. Backlink profile: number of backlinks, authority distribution of those links, follow vs nofollow, and spam factor
- Before you start building content, audit your existing content. Use Google Analytics as a guide to identify poor performing content. (Set up GA as soon as your site build is complete.) Review your content, looking at metrics like page views, time on page, and bounce rate. Keep high-performing content. Update any content that can be strengthened. Delete any poor-quality content (thin, cannibalized, off-topic, or duplicate, for example).
- In most cases, websites need more content. When we build content, we think about the hierarchy of the content. See illustration on next page.
- We start with general overviews of subject matter, then provide more detailed takes on individual aspects of your topic. Why do we do this? Two reasons. One, it makes sense for many visitors, who like to start with a broad overview of a topic and then learn about it in greater detail. Two, it’s a good SEO strategy, because all those subtopics give you additional chances to be found. The lines indicate more than just the structure of the hierarchy. They also denote actual links. You should always link content in this way. Your links will guide search engines and visitors alike. For visitors, they can also lower your bounce rate and raise your pages per session metric. And by the way, there are many metaphors for the topic hierarchy. If you read about SEO, you’ll find that some writers use a pyramid model. They call the main topics cornerstone content. Other writers use the pillar and post model. Pillars are the main topics, and surrounding posts are the subtopics. I use a flowchart here because it’s easier to draw. But we’re all talking about the same thing.
- High-level pieces use body keywords (short phrases of 2-3 words). They have a high search volume but a low conversion rate. They’re conversation starters, or TOFU pieces. Subtopics use long-tail keywords (longer phrases of 4-5 words). They have a lower search volume but a higher conversion rate. They also have a lower keyword difficulty, making it easier for your content to rank.
- Head keywords and body keywords have high search volume but low specificity. It is harder to rank for these keywords, and harder to get visitors to convert. That’s why I use small circles to denote head and body keywords. Long-tail keywords have a lower search volume, but greater specificity. It is easier to rank for these keywords, and easier to get visitors to click through and convert. That’s why I use larger circles to denote long-tail keywords. As an aside, note that while I’m talking about words here, I also encourage you to work in other media. Images are great. Video is even better. You can build a YouTube channel with videos, embed them in your website, get screen shots and transcribe the audio and use the text for blog posts and other pieces. All of these things make for great SEO.
- When you create subtopics, consider search intent. Search intent is an important part of satisfying a user’s information needs. Sometimes people are: Starting to look for solutions. They’re looking for general info. Looking for specific content Getting ready to buy (homing in on a solution) Ready to buy (checking availability, color, price). We also take search intent into account when we are selecting keywords for your topics. Tools like Semrush provide an indication of search intent, but it also helps to search on your own keywords and review the content that ranks. Keyword intent goes a long way in determining things like tone and topic length.
- These are the issues we consider when we talk about on-site (or on-page) SEO.
- Develop a link building strategy. The cornerstone of a link building strategy is to create excellent, linkable content. Then you can reach out to others who write on the same topic as you and ask them for backlinks. A link building strategy will also help you identify appropriate directories, product review sites, wikis, and more.
- Run a free trial audit (first 25 pages only)
- After you run the audit, talk to me. You can access my calendar at that URL or by scanning the QR code. Book an appointment. I’ll take a look at some additional factors that may not be revealed by the first audit, and we’ll go over the results.