Where to focus your SEO efforts to have the most impact Digital Summit Atlanta 2021 Patrick Stox

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Where to Focus
Your SEO Efforts to
Have Greater
Impact

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Product Advisor, Technical SEO, &
Brand Ambassador at Ahrefs
• I write for Ahrefs blog but have written for many industry publications
in the past
• I speak at some conferences like this one, SMX, Pubcon, UnGagged,
TechSEO Boost
• Organizer for the Raleigh SEO Meetup (most successful in US) and
the Beer & SEO Meetup
• We also run a conference, the Raleigh SEO Conference
• Founder Technical SEO Slack Group
• Moderator /r/TechSEO on Reddit
• Helped define the role of Search Marketing Strategist for the US
Department of Labor
• Lead author for the SEO Chapter of the 2021 Web Almanac
Who is Patrick Stox?

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Most Common – Start With A Term Or List

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
See What Competitors Rank For

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Grouping Keywords
Common terms
Topics
Topic/Subtopic

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Tree Map – Quick View Of Opportunity

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Competitor Pages

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Competitor Pages - Many
Export and Combine

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Combine CSV Files
1. Save files to a new folder
2. Get the path either by shift+right-click on the folder and “Copy as path” or
copy it from the address bar in the folder.
3. Open Command prompt.
4. Type cd, press Space, right-click and paste, then press Enter.
5. Type copy *.csv whatever-name.csv and Press Enter.

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Big List Of Niche Content

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Grouping – Pivot Table View
Traffic
Traffic value
Number of competitors ranking

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Competitor Linked Pages
Studies
Tools
Quotes
???

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
How Do You Get To The Top Faster?

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
What People Search

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Card Sorting Exercise
Add these topics to index cards.
Have those involved sort and have them sort them in a way that makes sense to
them.
This is a good way to get people to understand what pages you need to create
and what content may be included on those pages.
It’s training people to make pages and outlines for those pages.

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Wine - Type
Grapes
Fruit

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Wine - Types
Moscato
Pinot
Cabernet
Rose
Riesling

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Wine - Types
Red
White
Pink
Sparkling

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Wine - Containers
Glasses
Bottles
Boxes
Barrels

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Wine - Taste
Dry
Sweet
Taste

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Wine - Origin
French
Spanish
Italian

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Wine - Drinks
Coolers
Drinks
Sangria
Sherry
Fortified
Mulled

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Wine - More
Cooking
Pairings – dessert, meats
Good/Best wines
Price – cheap, fine
Amount of alcohol

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Intent
Each of those searches is an intent

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Intent – Types of Wine
2 dominant intents
Red = cabernets, pinot, chardonnay, etc
Blue = red, white, pink, sparkling

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Intent - Wine
Red = buy
Blue = local
Green = software
Purple = informational

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
What Other Top Pages Talk About
More descriptive terms
Tasting notes
More food pairings
Tannins
Age
Varietals
Benefit:
Doesn’t have to include
searched terms

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
What Other Top Pages Rank For
Confirmation

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
The Data All Points The Same Way
What People Search = What Top Pages Talk About = What Top Pages Rank For
+ They match one or more of the main intents.

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Pages Rank For A Lot Of Terms

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Topic Coverage – What Makes A Good Result?
Covers what people search.
Talk about the things they want to know. Be the expert.

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Topic Coverage – Types Of Wine
Intent #1

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Intent #2

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Tannins
Aging
Taste
Varietals

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Profile
Taste
Style
Food pairings

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Content Brief/Outline
What to cover
Important points / expertise / insights

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Writing For Featured Snippets
Did you know there’s an eligible set of featured snippets?

@patrickstox
@ahrefs

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
-site1.com

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
-site1.com
-site2.com

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Look for commonalities (likely what’s needed to be eligible)
Look for differences (why is one better than the other)

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Some Queries May Not Have More Than 1
But you can refine to a similar query / main intent like “what is x” and see what is
likely needed.

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Useful Content Features
Think about what’s useful for different business types

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Useful Content Features - Ecommerce
Q&As
Pricing
Reviews – with customer photos
Product selection
Facets (filters)
Description
Documentation
Return policy
Shipping info
Contact/support

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Useful Content Features - Local
Who you are – You, team, business
What do you do – services, processes, timelines, pricing
When are you open - hours
Why should I choose you – social proof like reviews or testimonials, USP
Where you are – location, map, directions
How do I contact you – phone #, email

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Who Do You Need To Write Great Content?
Job Knowledge
/ Insights
Research Good writer Editing
Expert ✔️ ❌ ❌ ❌
SEO ❌ ✔️ ❌ ❌
Writer ❌ ❌ ✔️ ❌
Editor ❌ ❌ ❌ ✔️

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
At Least Try To
Interview the expert or have them review.
Get input from SEO

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
GPT-3 / Automated Content Creation
Expertise may be a bigger differentiator in the future if all the basic content is
covered.

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Kill/Keep/Update/Combine/Wait
https://lucid.app/lucidchart/invitations/accept/inv_7d8742df-
aa72-44d5-9211-110f69e0fb26

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Better Cannibalization Check
Add &filter=0 to the end of your search URL.
https://www.google.com/search?q=types+of+wine&filter=0
Removes clustering.

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Better Cannibalization Check
Masterclass.com is 2nd and 16th

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Refresh Content

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
What If I Wrote Everything Already?
Revisit current content.
Go narrow and deep and really own the niche. Credibility and Expertise.
Go wide. What related content might people be looking for?
Go into another vertical.

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Translate Successful Content

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Competitor Links – Local Link Intersect
What links are common between
top competitors?

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Competitor Links – Niche Specific
Link research scaled.

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Top 50 US Cities
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_wSRfQyy2DTucqAfR075hs3U_ZB1bK
V4VLbYhXqzYe0/copy
Make a copy

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Focus On Niche Sites, Not Directories
Keyword URL Country Difficulty Volume Clicks CPS Return Rate
Parent Topic
Parent Topic Volume
Last Update
Referring Domains
Domain rating
Ahrefs Rank
Traffic Keywords
accountant seattle https://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=tax+accountant&find_loc=Seattle%2C+WA
us 1 250 accountant seattle
250 ######## 0 94 50 205 10
accountant seattle https://www.seattlecpaprofessionals.com/ us 1 250 accountant seattle
250 ######## 21 1 51894760 241 49
accountant seattle https://www.indeed.com/q-Accounting-l-Seattle,-WA-jobs.html us 1 250 accountant seattle
250 ######## 11 90 689 356 21
accountant seattle https://www.indeed.com/q-Tax-Accountant-l-Seattle,-WA-jobs.htmlus 1 250 accountant seattle
250 ######## 1 90 689 46 9
accountant seattle https://www.glassdoor.com/Job/seattle-accountant-jobs-SRCH_IL.0,7_IC1150505_KO8,18.htm
us 1 250 accountant seattle
250 ######## 5 90 1020 128 32
accountant seattle https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Jobs/Accountant/-in-Seattle,WA us 1 250 accountant seattle
250 ######## 2 85 3800 74 19
accountant seattle https://www.expertise.com/wa/seattle/accountant-cpa us 1 250 accountant seattle
250 ######## 5 86 2890 149 46
accountant seattle https://www.angieslist.com/companylist/seattle/accountants.htm us 1 250 accountant seattle
250 ######## 0 91 516 36 21
accountant seattle https://www.upwork.com/l/us/accountants-in-seattle-wa/ us 1 250 accountant seattle
250 ######## 1 90 1122 12 38
accountant seattle https://www.monster.com/jobs/q-accounting-jobs-l-seattle-wa us 1 250 accountant seattle
250 ######## 3 87 2673 44 37
accountant las vegas https://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=Small+Business+Accountant&find_loc=Las+Vegas%2C+NV
us 2 200 accountant las vegas
200 ######## 1 94 50 103 17
accountant las vegas https://www.yelp.com/search?cflt=accountants&find_loc=Las+Vegas%2C+NV
200 ######## 0 94 50 118 15
accountant las vegas https://www.expertise.com/nv/las-vegas/accountant-cpa us 2 200 accountant las vegas
200 ######## 6 86 2890 158 65
accountant las vegas https://llbcpa.com/las-vegas-small-business-accountant/ us 2 200 accountant las vegas
200 ######## 11 12 15313035 66 116
accountant las vegas https://www.indeed.com/q-Accounting-l-Las-Vegas,-NV-jobs.html us 2 200 accountant las vegas
200 ######## 7 90 689 411 23
accountant las vegas https://www.indeed.com/q-Tax-Accountant-l-Las-Vegas,-NV-jobs.html
200 ######## 0 90 689 16 4
accountant las vegas https://clutch.co/accounting/las-vegas us 2 200 accountant las vegas
200 ######## 0 87 2766 247 45
accountant las vegas https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Jobs/Accountant/-in-Las-Vegas,NV us 2 200 accountant las vegas
200 ######## 2 85 3800 100 18
accountant las vegas https://www.angieslist.com/companylist/las-vegas/accountants.htm
200 ######## 0 91 516 22 39
accountant las vegas https://www.glassdoor.com/Job/las-vegas-accountant-jobs-SRCH_IL.0,9_IC1149603_KO10,20.htm
200 ######## 1 90 1020 123 33
accountant chicago https://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=personal+accountant&find_loc=Chicago%2C+IL
us 12 200 accountant chicago
200 ######## 1 94 50 0 15
accountant chicago https://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=Tax+Accountant&find_loc=Chicago%2C+IL
us 12 200 accountant chicago
200 ######## 0 94 50 114 14
accountant chicago https://www.chicago-accountant.com/ us 12 200 accountant chicago
200 ######## 38 2 42022825 74 64
accountant chicago https://www.expertise.com/il/chicago/accountant-cpa us 12 200 accountant chicago
200 ######## 7 86 2890 257 67
accountant chicago https://cpa-in-chicago.com/ us 12 200 accountant chicago
200 ######## 34 2 47994870 131 73

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Data Cleaning
1. Insert > Table
2. Filter > DR less than 50
3. Filter Type > Organic

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Top Accountants From Different Cities
Keyword URL
accountant seattle https://www.seattlecpaprofessionals.com/
accountant las vegas https://llbcpa.com/las-vegas-small-business-accountant/
accountant chicago https://www.chicago-accountant.com/
accountant chicago https://cpa-in-chicago.com/
accountant chicago https://www.actgroupltd.com/
accountant los angeles https://www.johnweldoncpa.com/
accountant los angeles https://www.roberthalltaxes.com/business-services/accounting/
accountant tucson https://www.cpa-tucson.com/
accountant tucson https://www.cpatucson.com/
accountant tucson https://www.pinpointeaccounting.com/
accountant tucson https://beachfleischman.com/
accountant san diego https://www.regalgroupcpa.com/
accountant portland https://perkinsaccounting.com/
accountant portland https://www.orcpa.org/for-the-public/find-a-cpa
accountant philadelphia https://accountant-philadelphia.com/
accountant philadelphia https://www.daletaxservice.com/
accountant philadelphia https://taxprofessionalphiladelphia.com/
accountant tampa https://www.waterscpagroup.com/
accountant tampa https://www.rgcocpa.com/
accountant tampa https://www.zachcpa.com/
accountant tampa http://jrosencpa.com/
accountant tampa https://www.taxaccountantsoftampabay.com/

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
For Each Site, Export Their Referring Domains

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Combine Files
1. Windows Button + R
2. Type cmd and click ok
3. I open the folder where I saved the files in File Explorer and click the address
bar to copy the path
4. Back in Command Prompt, type “cd “ and then press ctrl+v to paste the
copied path
5. Type copy *.csv whatever.csv

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Data Cleaning
1. Insert > Table
2. Insert Column next to Referring Domain to add Count
3. In the Count Column, add the formula =COUNTIF(B:B,[@[Referring
Domain]])

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Data Cleaning
4. Copy the numbers in the Count column and paste in the same place as
values.
5. Data > Remove Duplicates based on the Referring Domain
6. Data > Sort by Count > Largest to Smallest

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Top Referring Sites To Top Accountants
Referring Domain Count
yellowpages.com 58
localbest.com 55
clutch.co 49
topratedlocal.com 48
expertise.com 47
find-open.com 41
goodfirms.co 38
yp.com 31
privatebanking.com 31
owler.com 29
tntcode.com 28
threebestrated.com 28
ucpaa.org 27

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Categorize - Niche
privatebanking.com 31
ucpaa.org 27
findtaxexperts.com 21
advisors.directory 16
cpagrades.com 14
accountingmatch.com 13
bestpayrollservices.com 12
cpatool.com 10
cpaconnection.net 9
findbestcpa.com 9
buildyourfirm.com 8
officialaccountants.com 5
payrollleads.net 5
goodaccountants.com 4
successfulpayroll.com 4

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Categorize
Any other ways that make sense.
Directories?
Coupons?

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Competitor Links – City Specific
Same idea but city specific.

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Top Niches
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YtCs0d-
B65UZq4pXa41crFMYThAJgT2_A5RbyEhzw7I/copy
Make a copy

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Getting The Data
Follow the same steps we used before for the cities.

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Jobs
Scholarships
Club sponsorships
Discounts
Categorize – Colleges/Universities
ncsu.edu 18
thewolfweb.com 18
unc.edu 4
duke.edu 4
waketech.edu 2
meredith.edu 2

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Categorize – Raleigh Specific
shoplocalraleigh.org 25
downtownraleigh.org 19
visitraleigh.com 14
thisisraleigh.com 10
dtraleigh.com 8
919raleigh.com 8
raleighspecialstonight.com 8
raleighsearch.org 7
hbawake.com 7
raleighhasit.com 6
yourbackyardraleigh.com 6
visitnorthhills.com 5
raleighwhatsup.blogspot.com 5
ncartmuseum.org 5
downtowndame.com 4
outraleighpride.org 4
raleighbeltliner.com 4
theraleighedit.com 4
raleighweekend.com 4
cityofraleighmuseum.org 3
camraleigh.org 3
northraleighrotary.org 2
midtownraleighalliance.org 2
raleighnc.gov 2
downtownpsychology.com 1
downtownraleigh.com 1
raleighdowntowneats.blogspot.com 1
downtowndurham.com 1
northraleighministries.com 1
northhills5k.com 1
northraleighfood.com 1

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Categorize – Local News & Magazines
wral.com 33
indyweek.com 29
raleighmag.com 25
waltermagazine.com 21
midtownmag.com 16
trianglefoodblog.com 14
newsobserver.com 7
itbinsider.com 7
carycitizenarchive.com 6
northcarolinanewsdaily.com 5
northcarolinaheadlines.com 4
https://carycitizen.news/ 2
northcarolinahealthnews.org 1
http://www.candidslice.com/ 1

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Categorize – State or Surrounding Area
heartofncweddings.com 25
travel-northcarolina.com 15
thecarolinasmagazine.com 12
trianglenace.com 10
visitnc.com 8
bestthingsnc.com 8
caryliving.com 8
triangleonthecheap.com 8
nctripping.com 7
nctriangledining.com 7
thebestofcarync.com 7
north-carolina-bd.com 6
johnstoncounty.today 6
kasteventsnc.com 6
north-carolina-pages.com 5
ncheadlines.com 5
runnc.com 5
funnorthcarolina.com 4
charlottencnorthcarolina.com 4
ncagr.gov 4
ncbreweriesandfoodtrucks.com 4
researchtriangle.org 4
go-north-carolina.com 3
thenorthcarolina100.com 2

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Categorize - Misc
Weddings:
DJs
Photographers
Event planners
These link to people involved.

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Categorize - Misc
Realtors
Apartments
Home communities (HOAs)
These link to things to do.

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Categorize - Misc
Suppliers / Affiliations
Meetup (hosting, sponsoring)
Podcasts
Charities / sponsorships
Awards
Coupons
Directories

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Link Reclamation – Unlinked Mentions
Sometimes websites mention you but don’t link to you.
You can ask them to link.

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Manual Process
Google “intext:term –site.com”, where term could be a brand or a person and site
is your website
Scrape results
Check if there’s a link

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Links Without Mentions
Content Title Content URL Author
Elmiron drug linked to vision problems in women https://www.wral.com/elmiron-drug-linked-to-vision-problems-in-women/193138
How Giving Tuesday impacts the Triangle https://abc11.com/society/how-giving-tuesday-impacts-the-triangle-/5732175/
Michael Perchick
5 Best Divorce Attorneys in San Antonio 🥇 https://kevsbest.com/divorce-attorneys-in-san-antonio/
Elevating Others Scholarship at Pennsylvania State University Fayette, Eberly Campus (Penn State Fayette) | Uloop
https://fepsu.uloop.com/scholarships/view.php/1079951447/Elevating-Others-Sch
Whitley law firm new bern nc http://myphamsandy.com/cne0zhw/whitley-law-firm-new-bern-nc.html
‘Air hunger’ opinion a factor in $1.5M settlement – North Carolina Lawyers Weekly
https://nclawyersweekly.com/2014/03/18/air-hunger-opinion-a-factor-in-1-5m-se
David Donovan

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Larger Companies
Work with other teams
Content (assets)
Paid (promotion, syndication, reach)
Social (promotion, reach)
PR (promotion, reach)

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Buy Companies
Mergers and Acquisitions

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Internal Links
Links from one page on your site to another page on your site.
These also pass PageRank.

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Screaming Frog Process
1. search site:whatever.com term
2. Settings > Search Settings, change to 100
3. Inspect > go to Console tab, see attached code and change the domain to your own
copy and paste the results and you have a list
4. Screaming Frog: In Configuration > Spider > Advanced tab click "Always Follow Redirects"
5. Screaming Frog: In Configuration > Custom > Search, choose ”Contains" and add in your targeted
term or phrase to make sure it exists on the pages.
6. Screaming Frog: Paste URLs and run to get the list of pages that contain the keyword
7. Screaming Frog: When finished, copy these URLs from the custom tab for your filter, now we check
if the link already exists.
8. Screaming Frog: In Configuration > Custom > Search, change to ”Does Not Contain" add the end
part of the URL/URLs that you want to build the links to.
You probably don't want the whole URL because we use relative paths sometimes. This supports
regex, so you can match multiple pages.
Upload your URLs to crawl them, then export that final list when it finishes the same as you did
previously.
Code snippet for 3:
urls = $$('a');for (url in urls) {
var string = urls[url].href,
domain = "whatever.com",
google = "google.com",
search = "search?",
cache = "webcache";
if ( string.indexOf(search) <1 &&
string.indexOf(cache) <1 &&
string.indexOf(google) <1 &&
string.indexOf(domain) >=0 ) {
console.log ( string );
}

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Ahrefs Link Opportunities
Free as part of Site Audit in Ahrefs Webmaster Tools (AWT)

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Pages On A Site Tend To Link To Related Pages

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Also Think About Features That Would Link
Breadcrumbs
Related Posts
Related Products

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Use Better Anchor Text – More Context

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Links To Your Site, But Broken
Websites change over the years and often there are links going to pages that no
longer exist.
Redirects take users and bots to the current pages. They reclaim that lost value.

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Find Broken Pages With Links
Verify (re-crawl)
Check other redirects
Other websites

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Don’t Forget Other File Types
Images
PDFs

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Automated Redirect Matching
Fast using URLs, but not accurate if URL structures changed
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/map-404-urls-at-scale-sentence-
embeddings/338555/
Match on full text is much slower but more accurate.

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
We Already Talked About
Redirects
Internal Links

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Check Indexing / Canonicalization - GSC

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Check Indexing / Canonicalization – 3rd Party
Paste in Google

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Schema Markup
https://developers.google.com
/search/docs/guides/
search-gallery

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Audits - Catching Errors / Changes
Scheduled audits
Crawl staging/dev environments

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Catching Errors / Changes – Before Launch
Unit test: does the code work
Integration test: does the code work together
Regression test: something changed

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Catching Errors / Changes – After Launch
Live Crawl
Continuous monitoring

@patrickstox
@ahrefs
Technical Automation – On Page
Find error > write rule to fix error
https://developers.cloudflare.com/workers/runtime-apis/html-rewriter
Have a bunch of pages marked noindex that you want indexed? Write a rule.
Want to change nofollow to follow? Write a rule.
Want to rewrite titles and meta descriptions? Write a rule.
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/titles-meta-descriptions-automatically-
python-javascript/360108/
***Disclaimer*** Change in normal systems if you can

Where to focus your SEO efforts to have the most impact Digital Summit Atlanta 2021 Patrick Stox

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Where to focus your SEO efforts to have the most impact Digital Summit Atlanta 2021 Patrick Stox

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