How To Increase Your Website's Visibility - SEO Best Practices - LA2M Presenation

Pure Visibility
How to Increase Your Website’s Visibility
#LA2M OCT 9, 2019

@PureVisibility #LA2M
Who is Tarun Gehani?
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● Started building in WordPress in 2008
● Learned SEO ~same time by experimentation, testing theories
● Built & managed a web design/marketing consultancy for ~7 years
● Worked w/ GM, Mr. Clean, Delta Faucet, U of M, StudioCDN
Tarun Gehani
SEO Director @PureVisibility
linkedin.com/in/tarungehani

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Why does SEO matter?
93% of online experiences begin with a search engine.
81% of people perform online research before making a
large purchase.
44% of people start their online shopping journey with a
Google search.
“SEO is one of the only online marketing channels that,
when set up correctly, can continue to pay dividends
over time.” - Moz.com

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Search engine basics
In simple terms, there are two main functions, or duties, of Google Search:
Store. Crawl information* on the web, store it in its index.
Retrieve. User inputs a search query, apply the algorithm and retrieve the most
relevant page** of results.
*I purposefully do not say “web pages” here. Google now uses RankBrain, adding to the Knowledge Graph.
**I purposefully say “results page” here. Not only does Google’s algorithm order web pages based on ranking factors, but they ideally will have the
user remain on google.com and so therefore includes related content, media, etc. to match the user’s intent behind the searched key phrase.

How Google stores content in its index
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Web Crawler:
● Follows links from webpage to
webpage
● Scans the HTML
● Reviews the content to see if it has
changed since last time it crawled
● Updates the page in its Index
Index:
● Trillions of webpages
● Has different patents to
calculate “term frequency”,
evaluate content coverage,
determine relevance, site
authority, trustworthiness, etc.

How Google retrieves content for search
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When a search is performed:
● Google interprets the words and phrases
● Applies the algorithm and scans the database
● Returns the most relevant page of results
Google determines the highest quality results based on over 200 ranking factors.
To return the most appropriate answer for the user’s perceived situation, Google considers
additional inputs such as user location, device, past searches and content consumed.

The fundamental principle of search:
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Google must always serve
the best search results page.

Top 3 Ranking
Factors
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According to Google themselves.
Content
Long-form: Google Panda
Links
Real-time: Google Penguin
RankBrain
ML + LSI: Google Hummingbird

Content
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● Content length
● Topic coverage
● On-page signals
● User experience signals
Source: Backlinko.com

Links
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● Backlinks from other websites pointing to yours
● Seen as a “vote of conﬁdence” or trust signal
● Links from high authority domains pass along
stronger signals
● Topical relevance matters

RankBrain
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Google’s machine learning algorithm,
in use since 2015.
● Understanding search queries (keywords)
● Measuring how people interact with the
results (user satisfaction)
Source: Backlinko.com

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Before RankBrain, Google would scan
pages to see if they contained the exact
keyword someone searched for.
Today, RankBrain actually understands what
you’re asking (and provides accurate results).
RankBrain

The ever-changing
search landscape
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New anatomy of the SERP
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vs.

Search engine results page, evolved.
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Why ranking #1 is no longer enough:
● Knowledge Graph
● Shopping Results/Product Listing Ads
● Ratings, Reviews
● Featured Snippets
● People Also Ask
● Local Maps Pack
● Image/Video Carousels
● Medical/Vertical Cards
● Weather, Flights, Events, Jobs

Enhancing the user experience
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● Predictive search
● Google autocomplete
● Personalized results

Weather
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Flights
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● Utility, ease of use, practicality
● Pushing down organic results

Events
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● Attention-grabbing, useful
● Structured data (event markup)

Job Listings
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Medical/Vertical Cards
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As the machine grows, feed it new data.
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Structured data helps search engines understand
the information on web pages and provide richer
search results. Schema.org
Tools:
● Search.google.com/structured-data/testing-tool
● Google.com/webmasters/markup-helper
● SchemaApp.com (WP Plugin)

Schema markup in JSON-LD
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● Adding markup to your HTML
improves the way your page displays
in SERPs by enhancing the rich
snippets that are displayed beneath
the page title.

Local Maps
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● Map pack with ratings, price, address
● Stripped away SERP features (mobile UX)
● Organic results are comparison guides
● How to optimize:
○ Schema.org local markup
○ Consistent NAP listings
○ Claim and optimize local proﬁles
○ Get local reviews
● Tools:
○ Google My Business
○ Moz Local

Satisfy the user (optimize for intent)
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● Google’s goal = our goal
○ Give people the content they seek
○ When they seek it
○ In the format they wish to consume
● How?
○ Create content based on
problem/solution information quest
○ Use text, image, audio, video
○ Base content topics on user intent

To get results, focus on three main areas
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Building the
pillars of support
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Technical
● Crawling
● Indexing
● Rendering
Content
● Keyword Targeting
● Meta Tags & On-Page Elements
● Content Depth & Topic Coverage
Links
● Internal Linking
● Referring Domains

Technical SEO Influences
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Crawling:
● How can I make my website quick and efficient for crawlers?
● What people or processes do I need in place for continual optimization?
Indexing:
● Be aware of changes to your webpages’ indexation status.
● Ping googlebot when you update or publish new content.
● Periodically review technical aspects of your website.
● Use structured data to give more visibility to your content.
Rendering:
● Make sure your site loads quickly and efficiently for its visitors (both human and machine).
● Review the many device/OS combinations and how your site displays/functions.

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Technical SEO Review
Review technical elements inﬂuencing Google’s ability to eﬃciently crawl and
accurately index your site’s pages.
● Site Audit (manual checklist/review, SEMrush, Screaming Frog)
● Page Speed (Google PageSpeed Insights, GTMetrix.com)
● Google Search Console Indexation and Performance Report

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Check site:example.com in Google’s index
● Perform a site search to see
roughly how many of your pages
Google has in its index
● Quick way to see how your Titles
and Metas are displayed
● Find previously unknown
sub-domains
● Insight into possible duplicate
content or “junk” pages being
crawled and indexed

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Review example.com/sitemap.xml
● XML sitemap lists out all your site’s
pages in a format that’s easy for
the crawler to understand
● One of the ﬁrst places googlebot
goes when reviewing a website
● Make sure only 200-status URLs
● Free tools to generate sitemaps
● Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress
● Upload to Google Search Console

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PageSpeed Insights
https://developers.google.com/speed/
● Check how your site performs on
both mobile and desktop
● Get a list of speciﬁc areas to improve
● Main areas of inﬂuence:
○ Images
○ Scripts (Plugins, 3rd Party Tools)
○ Server (Shared Hosting)

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GTMetrix.com
● Use multiple tools or sources in
your analysis
● Many variables in page load time
○ User location
○ Device type
○ Network speed
● Reduce Total Page Size and
number of Requests
● Use Caching and Compression

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Analytics
● Review Avg. Page Load
Time to see page by page
where you can improve
● See if certain page-types or
design elements slow down
the page and make
adjustments as needed

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Improve Page Speed: Optimize Images
The most signiﬁcant culprit to slow page load speed is usually large images.
● Crop and resize images before uploading them to your site
● Use plugins or tools to compress image ﬁle size
○ Gtmetrix.com
○ Smush.it or EWWW Image Optimizer for WordPress
● Enable Lazy Loading to only display images once the user scrolls
● Delete old or unused images from the Media Library

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Improve Page Speed: Minify/Combine
Minify your code by removing extra lines
of space to speed up rendering.
Reduce the number of “calls” between the server
and browser by combining multiple scripts into
one ﬁle.
Free tools:
● Autoptimize (WP plugin)
● https://closure-compiler.appspot.com
● Minifycode.com
● JScompress.com, CSSminiﬁer.com

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Improve Page Speed: Caching
Set up browser caching:
● Reduces page load time for repeat visitors
● Particularly effective on ecommerce sites since
users regularly visit the same areas of the site
WordPress plugins:
● Autoptimize
● W3 Total Cache
Consider upgrading your hosting and using a CDN.

Building the
pillars of support
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Technical
● Crawling
● Indexing
● Rendering
Content
● Keyword Targeting
● Meta Tags & On-Page Elements
● Content Depth & Topic Coverage
Links
● Internal Linking
● Referring Domains

Persona development
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What are personas?
● Hypothetical representations of your
ideal customers
● The basis of any marketing strategy
● Conﬁdently create content you know will
address their pain points and help solve
their challenges

Persona development
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How do we create them?
● Survey current customers
● Focus groups
● Speak with sales team
● Interview support team
Deﬁne the following:
● Demographics, psychographics
● Pains/challenges, behavior patterns
● Motivations, goals

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Optimizing for user intent
Top of Funnel
● Broad topic, variety of subjects
● Emotion-provoking, informative content
Middle of Funnel
● Evidence they need what you provide
● Partial understanding of your offering
Bottom of Funnel
● Visitor is convinced; ready to take action
● Include prices, return policy, social proof
Decision
Consideration
Research
Awareness

Keyword Research Process
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● Export your current ranking keywords
and those of your competitors
● Survey your customers (interviews,
focus groups, surveys, CRM data)
● Expand keyword ideas using tools,
forums, online communities
● Align with target personas’ need
states and search intent

Google.com
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● Search your keyword on Google to see
the type of SERP features
○ Text ads
○ Shopping ads
○ Featured snippets
● Review “People Also Ask” to ﬁnd closely
related, semantic questions
● Pay close attention to who is ranking
highly and review their backlinks metrics

People Also Ask
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● PAA is great insight into how Google
interprets the term/subject matter
● When creating content, include sections
on your page with questions and answers
● Use long-tail keywords in your content.

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● Scrapes question queries from
Google SERPs and organizes them
based on type, related terms, etc.
● Export to CSV
AnswerThePublic.com

Browser Extension: Keywords Everywhere
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Keyword Targeting
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Select keywords that have a good
search volume, relatively low
diﬃculty scores, and align directly
with your marketing objectives.

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Breaking down content
● One main target keyword (or concept) per page
● Clearly describe early on what your page is about
● Use synonyms, variations, related terms throughout your writing
● Start with emotion, follow with logic
● Action-oriented, beneﬁt-driven language
● Always include a relevant call-to-action

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Body content
● Write for your audience
● Format page layout so text is scannable
● Link to reputable external resources
● Make it easy for readers to link and share

Writing SEO Content
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Maintaining a blog enables you to continually write
new content to expand your keyword proﬁle
● Target long-tail keywords
● Create resource or buyer’s guides
● Use rich media
● Entice visitors to dive deeper into the site
● Internally link to category and product pages
Source: socialtriggers.com

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Title tags
● Help searchers (and search engines)
understand what the page is about
● Most important on-page ranking factor
● Ideal length is 35-55 characters
● Include keyword ﬁrst, or early
● Unique title tag for each page

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URLs
● Ideal length < 115 characters
● Short, easy to type/remember
● Use main keyword if possible
● Avoid ugly URLs:
○ example.com/?pageID=238
● Avoid long URLs:
○ example.com/blog/2010/02/cat=
clothing/pageID=238.html

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Meta description
● Ideal length 70-155 characters
● Include variations of main keyword
● Does not directly inﬂuence rankings
● Use action-oriented language, CTAs
● Entice them to click on your result

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Heading tags
● Each page should have one
<h1> tag for the main heading
● Include your target keyword
● Break up text content by using
subheads <h2> through <h6>
● Incorporate long-tail keywords
or question queries in subheads
<h2> tag
<h3> tag

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Images
● Resize/crop images before uploading
● Use keywords or short description in
image ﬁle name vs. “image0029.jpg”
● Use image “alt text”
○ Helps visitors with screen readers
○ Provides additional content
signals to search engines
○ Helps with voice search Good: <img src="escalator.jpg" alt="man on escalator">
Better: <img src="escalator.jpg" alt="man walking on escalator">
Best: <img src="escalator.jpg" alt="man wearing backpack walking
down escalator">

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Link acquisition and reclamation
Low-hanging fruit
● Social proﬁles
● Local listings & review sites
● Relevant directories
Brand mentions
● Set up Google Alerts or use BrandMentions
Broken backlinks
● Monitor using Ahrefs, set up 301 redirects

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Link building techniques
Broken link building
● Find outdated content
● Search for links pointed to that content
● Create high-value asset and ask for link
Linkworthy Asset Creation
● Most content that gets linked to is
research or data-driven, quotable,
bite-sized, or emotionally-driven.
● Incorporate this type of content
development into your ongoing strategy.
Competitive link analysis
● Use tools to see which sites
link to your competitors
● Reach out to those same sites
Existing relationships
● Ask vendors, suppliers,
customers to link to you
● Write testimonials for products
or services your business uses
● Talk with local media & writers

Takeaways
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● You don’t need complex analysis to start on SEO:
○ Talk with people about your products and their challenges
○ Create content around how to solve those challenges
○ You’ll be well-ahead of most of your competition!
● Remember: Search engine algorithms are tweaked to reward new, trustworthy,
reputable content that people read and share.
○ Focus on creating value for your users versus on ways to “optimize” for each
new algorithm update
● Don’t just guess or blindly follow best practices…
○ experiment, review the data, make adjustments and continue to improve!

Pure Visibility
Thank You!
Connect with me @ LinkedIn.com/in/TarunGehani
Pure Visibility

How To Increase Your Website's Visibility - SEO Best Practices - LA2M Presenation

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