A guide to optimising your website for organic search in 2018. These slide form part of the SEO training given at the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce by Sean Clark of Clark St James. It has been updated to include the latest research and best practices for performing SEO within your company.

1. Search Engine Optimisation

2. How A Modern Search Engine Works

3. Keywords
What a Search Engine does
A search engine has two key functions:
1. It crawls the web to index content
2. It delivers search results, ranked by relevancy, based on its index

4. Keywords
Questions to ask about your website?
1. What useful information does it contain?
2. How up to date is that information?
3. How much better is that information than on other websites?
4. Does it load quickly for end users?
5. Does it work well on mobile?
6. Can I navigate the website logically?
7. Can search engines crawl your website easily?
8. Is it clear who you are and what you do?
9. What is the website’s objective?
10. Does your website fulfill its objective?
Based on the answer to these questions:
Does your website deserve to rank well?

5. Keywords
Google’s Objective in Life
“To deliver you the most relevant
information, when you want it,
as fast as possible”
Ranking well in search has as more to do
with the user than it does the search engine!

6. Keywords
What an SEO Expert Looks Like

7. 200 Ranking Factors

8. Keywords
Broad Search Ranking Factors

9. How to Perform a 15 Minute SEO Audit

10. Keywords
Preparation
Download Screaming Frog SEO - free to use for websites under 500 pages or £149 per year
https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/
Enter your website address and hit start >>
Using Chrome or Firefox install
● web developer tools extension or addon
● user agent switcher extension or addon
● Moz toolbar (Chrome only)
Setup
● Google Search Console (Old reports last 90 days only - New reports 16 months)
● Google Analytics
● Google Data Studio
● Google AdWords
● Majestic.com

11. Keywords
1. The Audit
Manually review your website:
Prepare your browser: Clear Cookies, Switch User Agent to Google-bot, Disable JavaScript

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2. The Audit
Manually review your website:
Visit your homepage
a. how does it perform with/without javascript?
b. make a note of your title tag, can it be improved?
c. did the url change?
d. is the URL canonical?

13. Keywords
3. The Audit
Manually review your website:
Check the website navigation
a. does it work with/without javascript?
b. are all the major sections of the site linked to?

14. Keywords
4. The Audit
Manually review your website:
Check category pages
a. is there enough content to make them useful & unique?
b. is the page pleasing to the eye?
c. are there too many links on the page (ideally less than 150)?
d. can you improve link descriptions?

15. Keywords
5. The Audit
Audit content pages with Screaming Frog SEO
a. check your title tags - missing, duplicates, too short, too long, relevancy
b. check your meta descriptions - missing, duplicates, too short, too long, relevancy
c. check url formatting
d. is all your content indexable?
e. do all images have alt text?

16. Keywords
6. The Audit
Read your content
a. does this content answer a relevant search query?
b. would you recommend this content to a friend?
c. would I come back for more?

17. Keywords
7. The Audit
Analyse the links with Moz’s Open Site Explorer
a. get the total number of internal & external links
b. note the number of unique root domains linking to your site
c. view the anchor text distribution - https://majestic.com/reports/site-explorer
d. compare your link numbers & anchor text with some of your competitors

18. Keywords
8. The Audit
Basic search engine check
a. search for your domain
b. how many pages are indexed - search site:www.example.com
c. pick 3 keyphrases & search for them to see if you appear
d. copy a sentence or 2 and search to see if more than one page comes back in the
results
e. how fast does your website load? - https://tools.pingdom.com &
https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights

19. Keywords
Title Tags & Meta Descriptions
Carefully written Titles and Meta Descriptions can not only impact your rankings but also impact
how many people click on your result or take action.

20. Keywords
Meta Descriptions Have Grown!
Previous Meta Description length recommendation 155 characters.
Meta Description length recommendation for 2018 is 300 characters.

21. Keyword Research

22. Keywords
Keyword Research
1. Check Google Search Console for your current rankings
2. Make a list of 10 - 50 seed keywords
3. Try Ubersuggest to widen the range - https://ubersuggest.io
4. Use Google AdWords Keyword Tool to generate more potential ideas & check traffic
volumes

23. Competitor Analysis

24. Keywords
Competitor Analysis
1. Check search engine results for your keywords, note PA, Links & DA of 1st page results with
Moz toolbar
2. Compare with your Open Site Explorer statistics
Can you do what is necessary to compete?

25. The Importance of Content

26. Keywords
Content Attracts Traffic
● Content is the key to all online marketing activity. Research shows that the more new content
you post on your website the higher your inbound traffic.
● It engages visitors, turns them into subscribers and converts them into customers.
● Regular updates improve engagement, increase loyalty and site visitation.
● Content can also be used to gain links from other websites, a key component of SEO.
Survey results by Hubspot: http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/blogging-frequency-benchmarks

27. Link Building the Right Way

28. Keywords
The Art of Link Building
● Links are a key ranking factor
● Not all links are equal
● Link building is not just about quantity
● If a link is easy to get, question its value
● When is it okay to pay for links?
NEVER TRY TO OBTAIN LINKS IN BULK!
What is Link Building?
The process of obtaining a link from a third party website to
content on your website.

29. Keywords
Where To Start Looking for Links
● Competitors links - Open Site Explorer
● Third party websites
● Blogs
● Social media platforms
● Forums
● Membership sites - Norfolk Chamber
● As part of your PR
● Job listings
● Talks & events
● Directories
● Image libraries - Flickr
● Search for your company name

30. Keywords
Outreach & Link Building
Where the science turns to relationships that result in links.
1. Research authority sites connected to your sector
2. Build relationships with the authors & owners
3. Keep their details in a contact management system
4. Touch base regularly
5. Ensure you understand their audience
6. Help them share their content
7. Offer to provide them with unique content, but never demand a link

31. Social Media & SEO

32. Keywords
Drive Organic Traffic with Social Media
● Links shared on social media carry some weight in ranking
● Paid social ads can be used to stimulate content engagement
● Organic sharing can revive old content
● Shares & Likes can build over all authority
NOTE: Facebook’s news feed algorithm has changed and may impact your reach.

33. Keywords
A Social Media SEO Action Plan
● Every piece of content should have updates tailored for the social media platforms
● Schedule updates for the same piece of content over long periods of time
● Connect with your target audience and other likely to share your content
● Ask recognised authorities for their opinions or quotes
● Interview popular people within your sector, they will share and link to your content.

34. Local SEO

35. Keywords
Local Ranking Factors - Local Pack
1. My Business Signals (Proximity, categories, keyword in
business title, etc.) 19%
2. Link Signals (Inbound anchor text, linking domain authority,
linking domain quantity.) 17%
3. On-Page Signals (Presence of NAP, keywords in titles, domain
authority, etc.) 14%
4. Citation Signals (Aggregator NAP consistency, citation volume,
etc.) 13%
5. Review Signals (Review quantity, review velocity, review
diversity, etc.) 13%
6. Behavioral Signals (Click-through rate, mobile clicks to call,
check-ins, etc.) 10%
7. Personalisation (Historical searches, proximity, country,
county, town/city) 10%
8. Social Signals (Google engagement, Facebook engagement,
Twitter engagement, etc.) 4%

36. Keywords
Local Ranking Factors - Organic
1. Link Signals (Inbound anchor text, linking
domain authority, linking domain quantity, etc.)
29%
2. On-Page Signals (Presence of NAP, keywords in
titles, domain authority, etc.) 24%
3. Behavioral Signals (Click-through rate, mobile
clicks to call, check-ins, etc.) 11%
4. Personalisation 9%
5. Citation Signals (Aggregator NAP consistency,
citation volume, etc.) 8%
6. My Business Signals (Proximity, categories,
keyword in business title, etc.) 7%
7. Review Signals (Review quantity, review velocity,
review diversity, etc.) 7%
8. Social Signals (Google engagement, Facebook
engagement, Twitter engagement, etc.) 4%

37. Keywords
When is a Search a Local Search?
● When you include a location name - Pizza Norwich
● When you include a physical locale - Italian Restaurant but not Italian Recipe
● Using a mobile device can be a strong indicator to Google
● Including the phrase “near me”
● When searching for traditionally local services, vets, dentist or gym

38. Keywords
The Location Issue
If you are an accountant in Long Stratton, you are unlikely to rank for accountant Norwich!

39. Keywords
Citations Are Not Back Links
● Citations are mentions of your NAP (Name, Address & Phone Number).
● Ensuring these are consistent across the web gives Google confidence in using them for
proximity purposes
● Citations don’t need a link to be effective
● Citations include any quality directory listing or business profile (including Facebook)
● BrightLocal offer a Citation submission service

40. Keywords
Google My Business
● Claim your page
● Update the listing
● Include recent photos
● Request reviews
● Reply to any negative reviews
● Add posts

41. Measuring SEO Performance

42. Keywords
A Basic SEO Report
You will need:
● Google Analytics
● Google Search Console
● Google Data Studio
Sample report template:
http://bit.ly/seoreporttemplate

43. Keywords
Designing Your Own Report
Every business is different:
● Understand your business goals
● Look for analytics metrics that align with these
● Report on metrics that you can impact

44. Q & A

45. Thank You
@SeanClark
https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanclark
Podcast:
http:///clickandconvert.co/itunes