SEO is definitely not the preserve of specialists. SEO is for everyone! This presentation covers 3 pillars of SEO that all bloggers & website owners can put into practice. Included is a deeper dive into keyword research & on-page optimization.

1. SEO
For
Everyone!

2. It’s All About Ranking
What does it take to win?
SEO is about using every opportunity to give yourself the best chance out
rank your competitors.
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3. True or False –
When you do a search, Google is searching the web for your answer?
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False –
Google is searching its index of the web

4. 1.
How Search Works

5. Step 1 – Crawling & Indexing
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• Google Spiders crawl
billions of pages
• Creates an index of all
these pages
• The Knowledge Graph
– connects
information about
people, places &
things

6. Step 2 – Ranking
With 1000’s of potential results for your query, Google’s algorithms do the
ranking
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Analyses the
words in your
query
• What do you
really mean?
• Spelling
mistakes?
• Synonyms?
• Category?
Matches
your search
• Looks for
pages that
match your
query.
• Keywords?
• Content
relevant?
Ranks useful
pages
• ’00s of factors
• Content fresh?
• Good UX?
• Trust?
• Authority?
Context
• Where are you
searching from?
• Desktop?
Mobile?
• Previous
searches

7. 2.
The Three Pillars of SEO

8. Pillar #1 - Technical SEO
- Is it easily crawled?
Submitted a sitemap?
Broken links?
-Duplicate content?
Redirects or canonical
- Speed?
- Secure?
Is your site https?
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Recommended Tools –
• Yoast
• Google Search Console
• Screaming Frog
Recommended Tools –
• Gtmetrix
• Google PageSpeed Insights
• Lots of WordPress Plugins!

9. Pillar #2 - Off-Page SEO
Elements influenced by others
- Authority
▪ Are you linked to from trusted, respected sites?
▪ Social sharing
▪ How many backlinks do you have?
▪ Has your domain been around for a while?
▪ Do users engage with your site?
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10. Off-Page SEO – The most difficult element of SEO
- Acquiring backlinks
▪ Product reviews
▪ Directories (with caution)
▪ Company mentions
▪ Contribute content
▪ Broken link building
▪ NAP citations
▪ Old fashioned networking!
It’s all about outreach!
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Recommended Tools –
• Majestic
• SEO PowerSuite (Link Assistant)
• BrightLocal or Whitespark
• Buzz Sumo

11. Pillar #3 - On-Page SEO
Elements influenced by you!
Element #1 – Content
Element #2 – Page Structure
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12. Pillar #3 - On-Page SEO
Element 1
- Content
▪ Are your pages well written with substantial, quality content?
▪ Have you researched what people are searching for and how?
▪ Are you using those words and phrases?
▪ Is your content fresh?
It’s all about responding to what your target audience is
looking for.
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13. Keyword Research Exercise
▪ What is your target audience looking for?
▪ How are they looking for it?
▪ How many people are looking for it?
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14. What are they talking about?
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• Google Suggest
• Google Trends
• Top industry sites (categories)
• Wikipedia
• Reddit/Quora
• Industry Forums
• AnswerthePublic.com
• Buzz Sumo

15. Google Trends
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16. Google Keyword Planner
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• Filter for Competition
• Sort for volume
• Filter for broad or
closely related ideas
• Add to plan

17. GKP – Plan Overview
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What have I uncovered?
WordPress security >
WordPress security plugins >
Wordfence security

18. On-Page SEO –
Element 2
- Page Structure
▪ Does your page title use relevant keywords and captivate interest?
▪ Does your meta description use relevant keywords and captivate interest?
▪ Do your headers and subheaders use relevant primary and secondary keywords?
▪ Do your images have proper file names and alt-image text?
▪ Your anchor text – Click here!
▪ Your URL – https://your-domain/r2342klj32nnoij.com
▪ Are you using structured data where possible?
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19. Page Title & Meta Description
Made easy by Yoast
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• Is your Page Title “About Us”?
• Don’t let Google choose your
snippet!

20. The Future of SEO
▪ On-SERP SEO
▪ Who is Google’s Customer? Not content producers!
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February 2016 February 2018
Organic Paid
No
Clicks
Organic Paid
No
Clicks
Desktop
CTR
65.56% 2.5% 34.44% 65.72% 3.82% 34.28%
Mobile
CTR
58.43% 1.83% 41.57% 38.97% 3.12% 61.03%
20% drop in mobile organic CTR% (courtesy of Rand Fishkin,
SparkToro)

21. What can content producers do?
1. Now is the time to optimize. As organic opportunities decrease,
they become that much more valuable
2. More long-tail keywords (less likely to answer in the SERP)
3. Play their game – create content for their platforms (YouTube,
Maps, etc)
4. Using Featured Snippets – Entice the click!
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22. Resources
Overviews
▪ Moz Beginner’s Guide to SEO
▪ Search Engine Land’s Guide to
SEO
▪ Google’s SEO Starter Guide
Technical SEO
▪ Gtmetrix (Page Speed)
▪ Screaming Frog (site crawling)
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Backlinks (site authority)
• Majestic
• SEO PowerSuite (full range of tools)
• BrightLocal
Keyword Research
• Google Trends
• Google Keyword Planner
• AnswerthePublic.com
• Buzz Sumo

23. THANKS!
Any questions?
You can find me at:
carlsawatzky@gmail.com
Twitter - @carlsawatzky
LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/carlsawatzky/
PowerPlayMarketing.ca
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