This document provides an overview of search engine optimization (SEO) techniques for businesses. It discusses key SEO concepts like understanding search engine results pages, important ranking factors like content and links, doing keyword research, analyzing competition, optimizing website content, and getting reviews and social shares. The document also covers specialized SEO areas like local search, e-commerce, and services. It provides a simplified SEO process that involves technical setup, keyword research, website optimization, and getting links and social engagement to improve search rankings over time. Frequently asked SEO questions are also addressed.

1. SEO Zero to SEO Hero
What every business owner should know about search marketing
Jaspal Sahota
jaspal@websearchone.com
@JaspalX

2. What can a PR agency tell you about SEO?
Public relations

 From local press to the FT – online, print, broadcast media coverage
 Main focus is B2B and technical companies
 Successful award entries and product reviews work (inc. consumer
electronics)
 Since 2006, we’ve ranked highly for a broad range of search terms
 Around 50% of new business comes from online (UK and abroad)
 Our clients rank high in search and win business from the Web
www.WebSearchOne.com

 SEO, paid search
 SEO training and coaching
@JaspalX 2

3. What we’ll cover
 What is SEO
 How to understand the search engine results pages (SERPs)
 Why do some sites rank better than others?
 SEO process
 SEO for: Local search, E-commerce, Services
 Common questions
@JaspalX 3

4. SO WHAT IS SEO
What is the
point of SEO?
And who’s doing it?
@JaspalX 4

5. Clicks (SEO) Conversions
(CRO)
Rank More More
higher prospects sales
in search
SEO brings prospects to your website
@JaspalX 5

6. Adverts
Usually
adverts
Organic search results.
Most people trust these more than
adverts
Top 4 results on page one get 40% of the clicks1
Results can be complex – know what your SERP looks like
@JaspalX Source: Slingshot SEO study 2011 6

7. Anyone for pizza?
Search for pizza, how complicated can it be?
@JaspalX Image credit: Avanti Pizza 7

8. Adverts Places Search verticals you
could target:
Social connections
• Maps/places
Places • Images
• Shopping (products)
• Video
• Recipes
Reviews
Images Good SEO can help you own
more of the SERP
@JaspalX Adverts 8

9. WHAT ARE THE RANKING FACTORS
Why did Dominos &
Pizza Hut beat everyone else?
Why do some sites rank higher
than others?
Google isn’t telling, but we can make good guesses…
@JaspalX 9

10. Why a page will rank for keyword ‘x’
Social
promotion
Content
(on page & site)
Links
(to page & site)
~70%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%
Authoritative, trustworthy links. Good use of keywords.
Social sharing. Technical factors
@JaspalX Source: SEOMoz ranking factors survey 2011 (10k searches, 132 strong panel) 10

11. To ‘do SEO’ this is what you need to think about
Google wants to give the best
result to the searcher
Content quality
and relevance
How do you know
when to pat yourself
on the back? Links are a bit like
Measurement
Links & votes
reviews
Searchers
(keywords)
Location
Technology
(local/country)
Places/technology
Getting this wrong Search
can sink your SEO verticals
efforts Different verticals
require different
solutions (maps, local,
@JaspalX 11
images etc.)

12. Thanks for the theory Jas…
…how do I get my site to rank?
@JaspalX 12

13. A simplified SEO process: work out where you’re weakest
You need to Output/mechanism
1. Do the technical basics Analytics, webmaster tools etc.
2. Know your searchers Identify a handful of ‘personas’
3. Think about searcher intent List common search queries
4. Do the searches Understand which verticals to target
5. How strong is the Refine your list of queries - should you target
competition? ‘pizza’ or ‘pizza delivery in Coventry’?
6. Fix your website content 1-3 phrases for each of the main pages on
your site
7. Let Google know you’re loved Get links, reviews, citations
Track results, rinse and repeat
@JaspalX 13

14. Get the technology
right
@JaspalX 14

15. Do the technical basics
You need Google Analytics (GA)
I recommend Google Webmaster Tools and Bing Webmaster Tools
Then link Google Webmaster Tools (and AdWords) to GA
Make sure you have admin access – it’s your data after all.
Use a ‘standard’ CMS unless there’s a good reason not to
@JaspalX 15

16. Analytics can tell you…
Where are sales coming from? Where are visitors coming from?
What do people who spend
more than average look at?
How important is mobile?
What content should I
be creating?
Remember to exclude your own computer/company.
Check out ‘advanced segments’ in Google Analytics
@JaspalX 16

17. Personas, queries,
keywords
✓
@JaspalX 17

18. Know your searchers: personas, keywords, queries
Dad of young kids
Mum of young kids
Teenagers with money
(TV) sports fans
Pizza
Personas: Pizza delivery
A handful of written Pizza take away Fast pizza delivery
‘sketches’ of people you pizza restaurant Fast pizza delivery in Solihull
want visiting your site Pizza delivery in Knowle
Pizza delivery in Dorridge
Pizza for parties
Seed phrases:
Short phrases relevant
to your searcher personas
Create variations:
use adjectives,
adverbs, plurals,
locations
@JaspalX 18

19. Keywords + search volume + rankings = basis for SEO
Expand your list
 Get search volumes from the

 Analytics Google AdWords keyword tool
 Seed keywords (try phrase match but always

check with exact match)
 Forums
 Blogs
 Social media
 Customer feedback
 Related search results
@JaspalX 19

20. Keywords + search volume + rankings = basis for SEO
Rankings
Search volume
With the right tools you can scale this research to (tens of)
thousands of keywords
@JaspalX 20

21. Competition
✓
✓
✓
✓
@JaspalX Image credit: shez.tv 21

22. How strong is the competition?
 At least 40% of ranking is attributable to links
We need to know how many links the competition has got
and how ‘powerful’ those links are
@JaspalX 22

23. Fortunately, there are tools that show links
Ranking sites:
1. Dominos
2. Wikipedia
3. Pizza Hut
4. Papa John’s
Try www.opensiteexplorer.org or www.majesticseo.com
@JaspalX 23

24. Hard for Papa John’s
to win for the most
competitive phrases
For new entrants, it
looks like 300 LRDs
is the ‘price of entry’
The number of different
sites linking with
‘followed’ links
Use this information to help when prioritising the phrases
you will target
@JaspalX 24

25. Fix your website
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
@JaspalX 25

26. Fix your website – site structure
 Site structure, get the foundations right
 Try to keep all content within three clicks of home page
 Target between one and three keywords at each page
 Main menu (and category) links aimed at your main keywords
 Google is not great at finding links and
content insides Flash and JavaScript
 Use a text browser like seo-browser.com
@JaspalX Image credit: www.civilengineergroup.com 26

27. Fix your website – page content
 Page titles – most important words
first
 Forget meta keywords
unless targeting Baidu, Yandex etc.
 Write for people first, search
engines second. Would a neutral
person link to your content?
 Images (use ALT text)
 Link out to quality sites
Consolidate ‘thin’ pages and keep the Panda happy.
Fixing on page content can lead to significant rank boosts
Source: www.seomoz.org/blog/perfecting-keyword-targeting-on-page-optimization
@JaspalX 27

28. Let Google know
your website is loved
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
Links, shares, reviews
@JaspalX 28

29. Links and anchor text
 High quality links
Authoritative sites Lower quality
• The Media • Most blogs
• Industry authorities and press • Blog/forum comments
• High quality directories • Directories
 Anchor text – tells Google what your links are about
Anchor text is the bit of text you click on.
Rule of thumb: build two brand links for every keyword link
@JaspalX 29

30. Links are valuable, two main types
Followed No-follow
Facebook, Wikipedia, Twit
ter, some blog
comments, most social
media sites, etc.
No-follow links can bring valuable visitors
(Links in JavaScript and Flash can behave like no-follow)
@JaspalX 30

31. You can’t tell a no-follow link just by looking at it
Get a bookmarklet at: http://j.mp/ICnO36 for your browser
@JaspalX 31

32. Social sharing impact on SEO
More important Less important
?
Treat this as a rough guide only – it misses the PR benefit!
@JaspalX 32

33. Reviews
 If you have:
 Google Shopping feed (products)
 Google Places page (location)
 Then:
 Get customer reviews!
 Be wary of:
 Creating a sudden spike in number and/or ratings of reviews
 Reviews all coming from the same location (IP address)
Product reviews: require changes to your website.
Places reviews: you just need a Google Place
@JaspalX 33

34. A simplified SEO process
You need to Output/mechanism
1. Do the technical basics Analytics, webmaster tools etc.
2. Know your searchers Identify a handful of ‘personas’
3. Think about searcher intent List common search queries
4. Do the searches Understand which verticals to target
5. How strong is the Refine your list of queries - should you target
competition? ‘pizza’ or ‘pizza delivery in Coventry’?
6. Fix your website content 1-3 phrases for each of the main pages on
your site
7. Let Google know you’re loved Get links, reviews, citations
Track results, rinse and repeat
@JaspalX 34

35. Some (slightly) special cases
Local, e-commerce, services
@JaspalX 35

36. LOCAL SEARCH
Consistent name, Claimed
address, phone –
everywhere online
Categories
Reviews
Description
Photos (videos
would be good)
@JaspalX 36

37. E-COMMERCE & PRODUCTS
Make your pages stand out
Great images. Use multiple images
Add value with your descriptions
User generated content (reviews, comments)
Technical aspects are more important
Use product markup including:
reviews, pricing, stock
Submit a Google product feed
Build links to category pages
Evaluate by estimating likely value of ranking changes
@JaspalX 37

38. How much should I invest in SEO? (I sell ‘blue widgets’)
Rank Volume Visits Sales Conversion rate Value
10 1000 10 1 10% £100
Rank Volume Visits Sales Conversion rate Value
1 1000 ~180 ~18 10% £1,800
@JaspalX Source: Slingshot SEO study 2011 of 342 keywords 38

39. SERVICES
 Good keyword research is
essential
– Identify good-volume low
competition opportunities
 Create content that is
valuable to your targets
 Market your content
 Who, what, why, when & how
for content ideas
Create content for each level in the sales funnel.
http://blog.eloqua.com/the-content-grid-v2/
@JaspalX 39

40. JUST ONE MORE THING…
Just one more thing…
Common questions
@JaspalX Image credit: freecodesource.com 40

41. Will advertising help my rankings?
Will paying for these slots
Move my site up in these slots?
No. There is no evidence to link spend on AdWords or
adCenter with higher rankings
@JaspalX 41

42. I see site X ranking in position Y, why do you get site Z?
@JaspalX 42

43. Google is watching you
 Google knows:
 Who you are
 What you did online
 Where you are
 What you like online
 Who you know online
 What your online friends like
Simplest workaround: use ‘private browsing’ mode
Buyers’ social networks represent an opportunity
@JaspalX 43

44. Can I buy links/I got a great offer in my email
If you outsource SEO, know what kind of links your agency
is getting for you…your business could depend upon it
@JaspalX 44

45. Should I tweet?
 Your own tweets have little to no direct impact on SEO.
 But…pages receive a boost in Google rankings when shared on Twitter
 Effect levels out at around 50 tweets then rises around 5,000 tweets
 URLs receiving over 7,500 tweets almost always in top 5 results
Tweeting doesn’t help in and of itself.
Tweets about your web pages do help.
@JaspalX Source: Branded3 survey 2012 using Twitition.com 45

46. Should I blog?
Yes. At least have some kind of news/articles section.
@JaspalX Source: www.portent.com/blog/seo/long-tail-seo-101-defined.htm 46
image: http://petworkmarketplace.wordpress.com/2010/11/10/cat-silhouette-socks/

47. Should I blog?
Socks with cats on them
The more specific a search, the more likely the visitor is to
convert
@JaspalX Source: www.portent.com/blog/seo/long-tail-seo-101-defined.htm 47
image: http://petworkmarketplace.wordpress.com/2010/11/10/cat-silhouette-socks/

48. TL;DR version of the process
Evaluate Create
then link-
update worthy
your plan content
Get
Get lots
some
of good
social
links
shares
@JaspalX 48

49. Rank More More
higher prospects sales
in search
Come and visit our stand downstairs – we’re offering
discounts on SEO audits and SEO training
jaspal@websearchone.com
@JaspalX
gplus.to/JaspalX
@JaspalX 49