The purpose of the slide show is to introduce basic Search Engine Optimization principles as applied to small & local businesses. We will briefly define digital marketing, then go into the history, trends and current state of SEO. Participants will walk away with practical steps to take in order to improve their small business’ SEO position, and will have a basic understanding of how Search Engines work.
- What is Digital Marketing?
- What is SEO?
- How do search engines operate?
- Experiment #1: Scavenger Hunt using Advanced Search Techniques
- How do human beings use Search?
- Small Business & Search
- What does a Panda, a Penguin, a Hummingbird, & a Pigeon have in common?
- 5 Steps to Local Search Optimization
2. Content
The purpose of the slide show is to introduce basic Search Engine Optimization principles as applied to small & local
businesses. We will briefly define digital marketing, then go into the history, trends and current state of SEO.
Participants will walk away with practical steps to take in order to improve their small business’ SEO position, and
will have a basic understanding of how Search Engines work.
▪ What is Digital Marketing?
▪ What is SEO?
▪ How do search engines operate?
▪ Experiment #1: Scavenger Hunt using Advanced Search Techniques
▪ How do human beings use Search?
▪ Small Business & Search
▪ What do a Panda, a Penguin, a Hummingbird, & a Pigeon have in common?
▪ 5 Steps to Local Search Optimization
2
17. Scavenger Hunt using Advanced Search
Techniques
17
Notice the different results pulled for each search query.
Note what theme of search results & changes.
24. Types of Search Queries
Navigational
What’s that website… I can’t
remember if it’s a .com or .org? I’ll
just Google it!
Transactional
Goal is to achieve some type of
transaction
24
Informational
Very broad queries with the goal
of analyzing different types of
information.
30. Activity
Check your business’s local profile.
30
Basics:
● Google My Business
● Social Media
● Site Speed (Google
Pagespeed Insight)
Note opportunities & Threats:
Advanced:
● Where are my online
communities?
● Who are my influencers?
● Who are my competitors?
38. 5 Steps to Local Search Optimization
38
An email is being sent out with 5 steps to optimize your local
business.
39. Extra Credit Experiment
The best way to get an understanding for search engines and on-page optimization
is to perform experiments. Do research, test a hypothesis, and form an informed
opinion. Search experiments are great because they are inexpensive to run.
1. Register a new website with a nonsense keyword
2. Create multiple pages on that website, all targeting similarly to the keyword in
the domain.
3. Make the pages as close to identical as possible, then alter one variable at a
time, experimenting with placement of text, formatting, use of keywords, lnk
structures, etc.
4. Point links at the domain from indexed, well-crawled pages on other domains
5. Record the ranking of the pages in search
6. Record effective results, note patterns & test other theories
Today we are going to start learning a little more about digital marketing as a discipline, and how this can be applied to small business marketing.
The marketing of products or services using digital channels to reach consumers. The key objective is to promote brands through various forms of digital media. - Wikipedia
Digital marketing extends beyond internet marketing to include channels that do not require the use of the internet. Digital Marketing can both be online & offline.
Guglielmo Marconi in 1896 invented the “public transmission of wireless signals” radio
Image - http://budgetsaresexy.com/images/mr-finger-question.jpg
Does anyone know who the God Father of Digital Marketing is?
Guglielmo Marconi in 1896 invented the radio “public transmission of wireless signals”
The first live broadcast was from an opera performance at the te Met by Lee De Forest Advertisement Company. He distributed grand opera music from transmitters placed on the stage of the metropolitan opera house by radio telephone station on the roof to all dwelling in Greater NY vacinity.
What Happened?
People bought tickets to the Met opera and a new form of marketing was born.
Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Guglielmo_Marconi_1901_wireless_signal.jpg
Enhanced offline marketing
Electronic billboards
Digital product demos
Digital product samples
Radio marketing
Radio commercials
Show sponsoring
TV marketing
TV commercials
Home Shopping
Product Placement
Phone marketing
Cold calling
SMS Marketing (Text) (giveaways, coupons, loyalty programs)
QR codes
'digital' is not just another channel for marketing.
It requires a new approach to marketing and a new understanding of customer behaviour.
We now analyze and quantify the value of downloads of apps on mobile devices, tweets on Twitter, likes on Facebook and so on.These are not quantifiable metrics that have a tangible dollar value associated with it.
For this class, I’d like to focus on more of the modern methods of digital marketing. So, I am going to leave offline marketing methodologies for another day, and focus on online marketing.
SEO is a core principle of digital marketing. Poor SEO ensures that you will have trouble reaching a more massive audience.
So… Next Slide :)
SEO is the process of optimizing your website in order to achieve better Search Engine Result Page (SERP) ranking for specific keywords thereby increasing the amount of organic (free) & relevant traffic attracted to your website or digital asset.
SEO is a marketing discipline that encompassses both the technical and creative elements required to improve ranking, traffic and building awareness in search. But SEO isn’t just about structuring data so that search engines can understand your webpage, it is also about understanding the human element of search. This includes the types of queries and how users engaged in search.
Image: http://www.onyxhaircrew.com.au/Young-woman-whispering-secret-images1.jpg
Why do I need SEO?
Search has become integrated into the fabric of our society. With the ability to stay connected all the time, it only makes sense that there needs to be an updated and accurate directory of information.
I know what you are thinking…
Fucking Crazy!
With stats like this, most businesses can take advantage of search.
GIF: http://giphy.com/gifs/excited-japan-japanese-xTiTnw6Yg5nzWwQh5C
What is the basic function of a search engine… Think of your library’s catalog room...
Display the most relevant and updated information that solves a user’s problem quickest.
Accurate & Efficient
What separates the good from the bad?
Ask Students - What’s the difference between Bing & Google, Amazon & eBay
The problem being solved is relevancy. Bringing you the best answer to your query is the same as bringing the most relevant information to you to assist in problem solving.
How are the pages sorted to determine the best order? Popularity.
Hedge Trimmer Story - Go into how I Youtube to solve a your hedging problem. - Went right to youtube because I am a visual guy!
Image: http://images.slideplayer.com/31/9752445/slides/slide_2.jpg
The search engine algorithm performs 2 main functions when pulling results from a query
It sorts out all relevant results on the internet & ranks them based on popularity.
All websites are simply ranked by two factors; 1) is this web page relevant to my search query. 2) How popular is this page at serving the specified information
But the Real Question is…. Next Slide… How does it work?
How does that work? Good Question;
To accomplish the task above a search engine performs
crawl
index
Be Searchable
GIF: http://giphy.com/gifs/newyorkredbulls-shocked-nycfc-lade-l0HlGrfQkB5xWnXva
Crawling: the act of systematically crawling web pages through links looking for updated & New Content.
Image URL: https://featswithtweetsmarketing.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/google-bot-background-removed-for-blog-post-8-5-2013.png
Indexing: Indexes information on a webpage to use in search results for future queries. The purpose of indexing is to allow for efficiency & speed. By organizing and categorizing web pages, search engines are able to quickly retrieve results from a query.
Gif URL: http://www.netregister.biz/images/motori/xfiling.gif
Searchable Content: the ability for users to enter queries into a search bar and pull up the best-matching results. Basic information is provided in an organized fashion; Title, URL, Summary
We are seeing search change with voice, video & images
Search is becoming multi dimensional
GIF URL: https://timedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/google_startrek.gif?w=800&h=200
Internet Scavenger Hunt: Record the differences within search results. Log the query used, screenshot the first page of results and note the differences within results. (Create a Live Google Drive Doc)
Email Students:
Iphone
Intitle:Apple Iphone
Iphone 7
Intitle:[iphone 7]
Intitle: "iphone 7"
Intitle:“iphone” OR “Galaxy 7”
Intitle:iphone OR Galaxy 7
Intitle:iphone AND Galaxy 7
Intext: Don’t do that with your iPhone
Iphone 7 site:Cnet.com
Yellowstone
Yellowstone.org
"Yellowstone" insite:.gov
inurl:Growing Tomatoes
intext:Growing Tomatoes
intitle:Growing Tomatoes
Growing Tomatoes filetype:pdf
Growing Tomatoes filetype:doc
Growing Tomatoes filetype:ppt
Growing Tomatoes filetype:mp4
Take 10 minutes. Do some yoga, stretch out and come back ready to learn :)
User Experience & Search
GIF URL: https://public-media.interaction-design.org/images/uploads/727524def4cc98362a4c4af0e8a7c9a4.gif
A general User's Engagement with a Search Engine
A sudden need has arisen - Epiphany - Picture this… You are hanging out with some friends. And someone ask the question…
Image URL: http://www.cult.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/question-marks.jpg
What would happen if I hired 2 Private Investigators to investigate each other?
Wow. Who can I ask this question? I don’t know any PIs. No one in my circle has this information… no word of mouth
The next best thing, I turn to the internet, and like most of the users using the internet. I ask Google.
First Result - Reddit - Seems like a good place to start
The Best Answer
What would happen if you hired to PIs to investigate each other and them not knowing.
Best Answer: You need to hire a minimum of 9 so no one catches on
Any visual learners here?
Diagram
The Best Answer
What would happen if you hired two PIs to investigate each other and them not knowing.
Best Answer: You need to hire a minimum of 9 so no one catches on and the diagram looks like this…
If this isn’t what we were looking for, just change your query and search again.
Broad or specific queries to elicit different results
Navigational Queries
What’s that website… I can’t remember if it’s a .com or .org? I will just google it
Informational Queries
Very broad queries with the goal of analyzing different types of information…. The Research phase How do I pass Dave’s Gauntletts?
Informational queries attract inbound links, this creates opportunities for brands
Transactional Queries
Goal is to achieve some type of transaction… Create a Pinterest Page, Where should I eat Japanese Tonight… I want to do something
Why is Search so important to small businesses? - Ask Students?
It gives the little guys a level playing field to compete with industry giants who have a larger budget and more exposure. So, let’s look at our local consumers and bring a little more relevancy to our local businesses.
Image Address: http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/359967/smallbusiness.jpg
Majority of consumers use Search Engines to find local information
88% of searchers use their mobile device:
54% search for Business Hours
50% for store address
53% for directions
Most common places local searchers occur:
Home, Transportation, In-store, Workplace & Restaurant
Consumers want ads that are localized - Calls to action are paramount…
Consumers search local information for:
Inspiration: The realization you need something - Social
Research: Actively seek information on a product - Informational
Purchase: When you make a purchase - Transactional
Post-Purchase: After purchase process - Informational/transactional
Google :)
Back in the wild west days of internet search it was easy to play the system in order to achieve first page results on Google. This includes black hat SEO techniques like spammy websites, duplicate content, keyword stuffing, link trading or buying and other tactics that were designed to game the system and not provide value to searchers
Rolled out in early 2011, Panda’s purpose was to crack down on low quality web pages that were more focused on poor infrastructure and keyword stuffing then providing actual value. Google introduced guidelines that include trustworthiness, grammar, credibility and consumer value and downgraded sites that did not comply. When you hear Panda think On-page Optimization!
In 2012 Google pushed out the Penguin update which focused on quality links linking to a website. It sought to end black hat tactics like trading, buying or spammy links linking back to a website. When you hear Penguin think quality backlinks.
In 2013 Google Launched the Hummingbird algorithm which focused on a website's responsiveness (mobile friendliness) and contextual search meaning Google gave preferences to websites that provided results aligned with conversational meaning like “How do I reset my Iphone”. Think of the Hummingbird as the Google Knowledge Graph (or Answer Box) & Mobile Friendly Update.
In 2014 Google launched the Pigeon update which connected maps searches and used results from directories like Yelp, Tripadvisor and Kayak to boost local results. This gave search preference to businesses with local keywords like city, town or zip code. Think of Pigeon as the Local Update.
Send out via email for them to use when they are ready.
Email Students:
Local Search Optimization 5 Steps for your business:
Add Content Markup to your webpage (Download Screaming Frog)
Include relevant Keywords on your websites
Meta Information
Title Tag
Heading Tags (H1 & H2)
Alt Text in images (Be accurate)
Use most relevant keywords closest to the top of the page
Ensure NAP is somewhere on your website
Don’t keyword stuff
Note: One primary keyword per page, use variations on page i.e. Digital Marketing, Digital Marketer, Marketing Digitally, The Digital Market etc. Ensure it flows and provides value.
Create a Google My Business Page
Ensure that your NAP (Name, Address & Phone) are consistent everywhere on your website and listings… TO THE T!!!
Choose your categories
Fill out profile and include location based keywords (Pigeon :) )
Include Photos (interior, Exterior & Employees) & a logo
Business hours
Claim your business on secondary search sites
Bing
Yahoo (Aabaco Small Business)
Yelp
Apple Maps
Facebook & LinkedIn
Other Social Media Platforms
Citations & Directories (Pay attention to quality & do not pay) Yext good alternative. Use SmallSEOtools Domain Authority Checker for quality website. Do not list your website with a lot of ads, pop ups or off brand content. (Low quality sites <15DA)
Local Business directories
Niche Directories
Better Business Bureau
Chamber of Commerce
Regional or National Associations
ENSURE NAP IS CONSISTENT!
Actively collect reviews from customers
Monitor for poor reviews and directly address the problem professionally. Connect with users offline and try to amend the problem as best as possible