Socrates had it right…

Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings, so that you shall gain easily what other have laboured hard for

~ Socrates

If I’ve had any success as an SEO so far, it’s because I’ve learnt from an amazing community…

This post is a distillation of 29 key things I’ve learnt over the last 2 years, specifically:

• Things I’ve learnt that you rarely read in the SEO press

• My thoughts on the future of SEO

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What I’ve Learnt

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Linkbuilding

1. Outreach - Never mention the word ‘link’ in an outreach mail (Garrett French)

How about no?

2. Scale – Linkbuilding is about scalability. If you haven’t got 500k targets after ‘target identification’, you’re doing it wrong (Ross Hudgens)

He's ACTUALLY built more links than I've had hot dinners

3. Link Qualifying – If DA is less than 30, bin it (Paddy Moogan)

4. Linkbuilding Campaign Structure - Structuring links by asset is the best only way to manage a linkbuilding campaign and stop yourself getting bogged down in excel hell (Garrett French)

5. Relationships – 3 ways to to warm up a relationship fast

• Promote their content (retweet, share)

• Reference people in your content (and make them look good OR make them achieve their objectives)

• Ask people for advice regarding your content (this is the fastest and most direct way to get a relationship)

6. Outsource – All time wasting tasks via Elance/ODesk. Add the 5% of your time to the linkbuilding process that creates 95% of the value. (Ross Hudgens)

Artist’s Impression of Elance

 

7. What links make a good profile? I really like this breakdown from Jane Copeland. It opened my eyes to the importance of natural noise links as part of a linkbuilding strategy

• Volume (raw number of links)

• Topic Quality (semantically relevant links)

• Authoritative quality (High quality, trusted links)

• Natural noise (social media links, press release links, mentions)

• Editorial quality links

8. Follow up emails work – Enough said. (Paddy Moogan)

9. Linkbait Decision Making - If you can’t find 10 sites that will link to you in 10 minutes then you’re wasting your time on this linkbait (Paddy Moogan)

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On Page/ Technical SEO

10. Use 304 If-Modified - To preserve and prioritise crawl budget. It’s in google’s webmaster guidelines, why wouldn’t you?

11. Content Clusters – Best way to rank a medium competition page fast is with a content cluster. Interlink from primary page to related pages, and from related pages back to primary page. Ian Lurie talked about this in his latest book

 

12. ABT – Always be testing - If you don’t spend your time running tests and experiments, then you’re settling for being a follower rather than an industry pioneer. This test on SEOMoz recently, is a classic example

13. E-commerce Information Architecture – Ignoring the global navigation, product pages should link to 3 things: category parent, other related products, closely related categories. Products and category pages shouldn’t link to unrelated categories (Adam Audette)

14. Use sitewide text – As a way of boosting semantic relevance for your site. Who does? Portent. What sitewide do they optimise for? ‘Internet Marketing Company’. Where are they ranking for the term? ‘8’

If it's good enough for Ian Lurie, It's good enough for me

15. Want a 50% traffic increase in 20 minutes? Update title tags for the keywords that are actually driving traffic to your pages, not the ones you optimised for (Kaiser The Sage)

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Content Marketing

16. Titles – Titles should do one thing only: Get the person to read the next line.

How?

• Intrigue – stimulate interest and get people to click:

Science vs. 50 Cent: On Masturbation

• Inform – Show a clear and obvious educational benefit to the reader if they read on:

How to Consistently Build 40+ Contextual Links Every Month

17. Why Top 10 lists are so popular – Because they show the content is going to be easy and quick to read

18. People pay for magazines - They’re doing content marketing right. Copy them.

Amazing design, branding and headlines

19. Rip people off – You may have noticed that my title tag is not an original piece of work

20. Content - Should teach people or entertain them…preferably both (Brian Clark)

21. When considering linkbait…ask 3 questions:

• Does it benefit my business?

• Does it benefit the publisher?

• Does it benefit the end user? (Ken Mcgaffin)

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Marketing

The little I’ve learnt about marketing is this:

22. Value – Use value as your fundamental metric. Am I creating value for my community? Does this content create value? Is what I’m doing today creating value for my client? Use ‘value’ as the prism through you which you analyse decisions. Not convinced? Read this Viperchill article on value creation

23. GAPS – Identify gaps in markets and leverage them. No point churning out the same shit as everybody else.

24. Mindset – Get in the mindset of the person you’re targeting. Take the time to get into their head and craft something that gets them to take action

25. Get Shit Done – I’ll let Seth cover this one…

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The Future Of Online Marketing

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26. Integrated marketing is the future

I don’t want to be an SEO. I don’t want to be an online marketer. I want to build incredible businesses for people in whatever way works, whether that’s online or offline, product driven or marketing focused.

27. Content is the future

Amazing content is an accessible USP for a business. And as markets get more competitive, USP’s are going to be increasingly hard to come by.

A killer piece of linkbait

28. PR is the future (public relations, not page rank) 

If 20% of organic search clicks currently go to 5 sites, that says to me that people gravitate towards brands online. As a marketer you need to be on the top sites for people to trust you online. How? PR

29. RCS is the future 

Low quality tactics can still win on the internet. But not for long. It’s only a matter of time before Google can perfectly reflect a businesses position in the real world through their algorithm.

If you want your business to stand out, you have to focus on ‘knock it out of the park’ amazing marketing. Not just from the marketing department, but as part of the company culture, from the CEO down.

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N.B. The End! Client confidentiality means I couldn’t talk specifically about how I got the Guardian link, but drop me an email and I’ll happily reveal all!

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Rand at SEOMoz has covered what keyword cannibalisation is and how to deal with it. But what are the best ways to:

find keyword cannibalisation

This post will show you three ways to find keyword cannibalisation on your site through:

1. Manual site review (using advanced search queries)
2. SERP analysis
3. GWT Data analysis

1. Manual Site Review

Gut feel’s the best place to start. And by gut feel I mean using your brain! What pages on your site do you think could be cannibalising each other? Start a spreadsheet and make a list of all the pages that you think could be competing:

You can also use advanced search queries (great guide to advanced search operators here) to find pages that you hadn’t thought could be competing with each other, but that could be causing issues:

PRO TIP: The inanchor search query is a really interesting one for pulling up pages on your site that are using similar internal link keywords and could be causing you issues

SUM UP: You should now have a list of all the keywords that you think could be causing you a cannibalisation issue, and all the URLs that you think could be competing with each other.

2. Assess the SERP’s

If you’ve got multiple listings in the top 100 results, it’s a good indication that you have a keyword cannibalisation issue (note:if you’re ranking #1 and #2, that’s not an issue, that’s poetry).

(NB: If you haven’t got multiple listings, then that doesn’t mean that keyword cannibalisation isn’t present, it just means that it’s less acute)

Take the keywords that you think could be competing with each other, and run a search in Google looking at the top 100 results.

To find how many results you’ve got in the top 100

DO NOT SET GOOGLE TO SHOW 100 RESULTS

Google hates it as it’s pretty much only used by SEO’s/marketers, so they group together single domain results which skews the data…annoying but true

PRO TIP: To get accurate ranking data, instead of manually scrolling through pages set at 10 results per page (which is a huge ball ache) Use this auto scroll plug- in for chrome or firefox – it is an absolute gem and a massive timesaver (thanks to Jon at SEO Consult for that tip).

Once you’ve installed the add on,scroll through to get the top 100 results displayed. Then hit ctrl+f and search for your domain name to see how many URLs you’ve got ranking in the SERP, aswell as their relative position…(remember to factor out any paid advertising your brand might be doing)

If your domain shows up more than once in a top 100 SERP then if the primary page that you want to rank isn’t performing as well as you estimate it should be (all other factors considered), then it’s possible that this is a keyword cannibalisation problem

SUM UP: You should now have a clear idea of which keywords you have the most serious keyword cannibalisation issues on

3. Analyse GWT Data

Data in Google Webmaster Tools could show up even more potential keyword cannibalisation issues. In GWT, head to Traffic>Search Queries. There you’ve got a list of keywords that are driving traffic to your site. If you click on a keyword, you can see a list of pages that have impressions and clicks for that keyword.

If you’ve got multiple pages with relatively high impressions and clicks for the same keyword, then it’s possible it’s keyword cannibalisation

SUM UP: Although the data provided by this step is similar to the SERP analysis step, it could identify keyword cannibalisation issues that you’ve missed

The End!

You should now have a pretty clear idea of all the keywords and URLs that you think have keyword cannibalisation issues…next step…go ahead and fix the issue

THE FACTS:

Since April 24^th there have been (approx.) 72,400 articles about the Penguin update. That’s 1765 per day! I think it’s safe to say this topic has been done to death

However, I’m still not 100% on

• what exactly the implications of this update are
• what the future is for manual linkbuilding
• what I need to be aware of as an SEO

So, this article is a round up of some of the resources I’ve found that could be useful and of the best articles I’ve read so far…

1. official update from google

Official Update - Here’s the initial post from google on the update. As always with google information releases, you’ve got to read between the lines. Its important to note though that this is a webspam update that deals with onpage factors (keyword stuffing) aswell as off page (unnatural linkbuilding). The post also references Google’s quality guidelines and a recent update on high quality sites

2. what exactly is the penguin update

Koozai - nice clear video from koozai on exactly what the penguin update is and all the factors it’s targeting

3. chronology of the update

Webgnomes - A comprehensive review of before, during and after the update, starting with the SXSW conference where Matt Cutts announced a  Google “over optimization” algorithm change was in the pipeline. A must read!

Seomoz Algorithm Timeline - Details the exact date of the Penguin update and all of the algorithm changes around that time

4. was i hit?

Seomoz again!  Dr Pete lays down some common sense advice about the update (scroll to point 2 for the ‘was I hit’ bit)

Search Engine Land – gives you advice on how to check if you were hit and some great advice about what to do about it

5. how to complain to google

Panda complaint form – Matt Cutts has specifically referenced these methods on twitter. You can either complain about a site that should have been hit, or you can report someone who hasn’t been hit but should have!

Webmaster forums – Another way of reporting is through the webmaster forum. This does work, although it’s never really worked for me (plus you have to deal with infinite condescension and sarcasm)

6. general penguin analysis and what to do in the future

Distilled - General explanation of the update plus how to audit your backlink profile to identify suspicious links

Seomoz - More tips for analysing your backlink profile, plus introduced me to an awesome tool called Linkdetective

Cognitive SEO - Great piece of content interviewing some of the top SEO’s in the industry discussing the update and the future of linkbuilding

Search Engine Watch - 3 lessons, be relevant (linkbuild in your nice, leverage your community), be balanced (don’t over optimise), keep it real (create awesome content), and 7 tips on how to bounce back if you have been hit

Search Engine Watch Part Deux – Breaks down over optimisation of anchor text and goes into detail on ‘link relevancy’

Microsite Masters – Data driven audit from their rank tracking service of what sites got hit (too much exact match anchor text, links from sites outside the target sites niche)). Not sure I agree with all their action points, but great data and analysis

Seomoz – More methods for analysing a ‘dodgy’ link profile

Branded3 - 5 types of links that Patrick Altoft reckons is causing problems

Stone Temple Consulting - Eric Enge on Link pruning

7. how to linkbuild now

Point Blank SEO – As usual Jon Cooper nails it with his linkbuilding advice. He is seriously sharp, plus he’s only 18, which makes him uber. Him and Ed Fry at Distilled blow my mind!

State of Search – 10 Tips. Worth reading . Enough said.

8. case studies of recovery success

Seomoz  - This is a fantastic post showing there is light at the end of the tunnel if you have been hit by penguin ,and that google will respond if you clean up your backlink profile and get rid of the spam

Seomoz – another case study showing the hit from Penguin coming from over optimised anchor text and how to go about fixing it

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I hope you found that interesting. Any questions, ask away in the comments. Feel free to follow me on twitter or sign up to my RSS

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First post btw (mini boom!)

When you start a new project with a client, too often they want to target crazily competitive VANITY keywords.

The reality is that with the budget, resource and time available, they’re often NOT going to get results. And that means no ROI for the client.

As an SEO, our job is all about delivering ROI. This post will show you how to:

• identifying site content/keywords that are already performing for you
• Leveraging those parts of the site to drive ROI
• Setting achievable SEO targets that build a strong, lasting client relationship

Here’s How I Did It…

I know it seems obvious, but it’s worth stating that it’s far easier going after a keyword that you are already ranking for, than going after a keyword that you are ranking sub 200 for…

So, here’s a process for finding the best opportunities to deliver ROI for your client, without killing yourself in the process…

Step 1 – Find awesome keywords that are already doing well for your client

a. Look at the conversion data in Google Analytics

Conversions should be manually set up in GA, so if you’re client hasn’t got this, you need to go and set it up. If you’ve got conversion data, mine it. Find the best performing keywords that are driving ROI for your client (you can look across paid and non paid search traffic for this data).

Open an excel spreadsheet and add the keywords in there for later.

b. If there is no conversion data, look at usage data

If your client hasn’t got conversion data, then look at usage data (at the page level and the keyword level). This gives you a quick and dirty understanding of what keywords are engaging your prospects, and can be used in lieu of conversion data.

FYI Usage data is an important SEO metric. There’s a lot of discussion about what data Google uses, but IMO, Google’s relentless focus on the user suggests this metric is only going to get more important. Check this advanced SEO post on usage data from SEO By The Sea, and this post by Dr Pete at SEOMoz for a couple of different opinions…

Usage data to look at:

• Bounce rate
• Time on page
• Pages per visit

If there are certain pages/keywords that have great usage statistics, then it makes sense that those keywords are driving qualified traffic and might be worth your attention.  Add them into your excel spreadsheet.

c. Look at top performing landing pages report in GA

These are your best performing pages, and by association most likely your best performing keywords. Drill down from the page level into the ‘traffic source > keyword’, and identify the keywords that are driving traffic to your site. Then add them to your spreadsheet.

By now, you should have a long list of the current top performing keywords for your client site

Step 2- Analyse the keywords to find where you can actually make moves in the SERP’s

With this basket of keywords, analyse which keywords you could actually move the needle on within the time and budget constraints of the client. This is a bit labour intensive, but totally worth it…

Using your excel doc, create the following fields. You should end up with something that looks a bit like this:

Explanation of the form fields:

Landing Page – URL of the page that is currently ranking

Total Visits – Total organic landing page traffic for the keyword (exact match)

Phrase – Keyword/keyphrase target

UK Rank – Current ranking of your keyword in the country you are optimising for (I use Sheer SEO for this, but there are a million services out there e.g. Positionly.com, SEOMoz Pro

Allintitle – This will give you a rough and ready idea of how many pages are in the SERP’s that are targeting this specific keyword

Competition – Look at the sites currently ranking above you. What are their PA and DA (seomoz) metrics? Do you reckon you can beat them? Use allintitle data to help with this decision and use SEOMoz keyword difficulty tool if you’re a PRO member.

Notes – Anything else you feel the need to add in about raising the rankings for that keyword

Step 3  - Choose your keywords for the project

Once you’ve completed your spreadsheet, go through and work out exactly what keywords you’re going to go after in this phase of the project. Your decision should be primarily based on

1. Current keyword rank
2. Keyword Competitiveness
3. Available resources and time

These keyword choices should be ones that you can improve for your client. Set a specific ranking objective and a time objective for each keyword

Step 4 – Go tell the client!

Discuss your keyword targets with the client and explain to him/her why this is the correct course of action. Too often I’m a ‘yes man’ in front of clients. As a consultant, my job is to advise the client. Time spent setting the right objectives and getting buy in from the client will 100% pay off at the end of the project…

First post done!

I have to shout out to Ian Lurie at Portent Interactive who did an amazing presentation at SEOMoz 2011 on exactly this subject, and also to Tom Critchlow (who has a free video presentation available at www.distilled.net if you sign up to the mailing list entitled: ‘Structuring A Major Linkbuilding Project)

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I hope you found that interesting. Any questions, ask away in the comments. Feel free to follow me on twitter or sign up to my RSS

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