Just Google It: Can Internet Search Terms Help Explain Movements in Retail Sales?
Beginning SEO: How to Help Google Help You€¦ · Senior Vice President at Google and responsible...
Transcript of Beginning SEO: How to Help Google Help You€¦ · Senior Vice President at Google and responsible...
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SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
Improving Your Library Website’s Search Engine Rankings
ABOUT ME
Jonathan HuntSr. SEO Account Lead with PMG
• 10+ years experience in SEO
• Focus in mobile & video marketing
Clients have included:
• J.Crew
• Consumer Reports
• Cole Haan
• G4 Television2
TODAY’S AGENDA
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What is SEO?
A Brief History of SERPs
How Searchers Search
The Quest for Ranking Factors
Local SEO
Mobile SEO
Tools to Get You Started
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What is SEO?
“Search engine optimization (SEO) is
the practice of increasing the quantity
and quality of traffic to your website
through organic search engine
results.”
-- MOZ.com
PEOPLE USE SEARCH ENGINES – A LOT!
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In August 2012, Amit Singhal,
Senior Vice President at Google
and responsible for the
development of Google Search,
disclosed that Google's search
engine found more than 30
trillion unique URLs on the
Web, crawls 20 billion sites a
day, and processes 100 billion
searches every month (which
translate to 3.3 billion searches
per day and over 38,000
thousand per second).
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NO, SERIOUSLY… A WHOLE LOT!
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GOOGLE ISN’T THE ONLY FISH… JUST THE BIGGEST
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Source: jimmydata.com
A Brief History of
SERPs
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GOOGLE SERPS : 2001
Paid Search Ads
Natural Search
Listings
GOOGLE SERPS : 2005
Paid Search Ads
Natural Search
Listings
GOOGLE SERPS : 2016
Natural Search
Results
PLAs
Paid Search Ads
Rich Results
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GOOGLE SERPS : 2016 LOCAL INTENT
Natural Search
Results
Local Pack
Results
How Searchers Search
THREE TYPES OF SEARCHES
(Informational Queries)
• Reference Material
• Upcoming Events
KNOW
DO
GO(Navigational Queries)
• Hours of Operation
• Directions / Address
(Transactional Queries)
• Extend Check-Outs / Reservations
• Pay Fines
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The Quest for Ranking Factors
HOW DO SEARCH ENGINES RANK SITES?
• Backlinks
• Title Tags
• On-Page Keyword Density
• Content/Code Ratio
• User Signals
• Site Security
• Alt Tags
• Internal Links
• Many, many more signals
Google examines more than 200 signals as
ranking factors.
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PILLARS OF SEO
Accessibility + Crawlability + Indexing
Content Relevance + Quality
Authority + Trust + Links
Site Security + Usability
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PILLARS OF SEO
Can Google Read My Site?
Does Our Content Match Customer Expectations?
Do Users/Sites Trust Our Site?
Is Our Site Safe & Easy to Use?
PILLARS: CRAWLING & INDEXING
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SEO Overview
Crawling & Indexing
Content Trust & Links Site Security & UX
CRAWLING + INDEXING
• Robots.txt
• XML Sitemaps
• Internal Linking
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ROBOTS.TXT FILE
• Every site should have a robots.txt file, usually living off the root directory or sub-directory.
• Example: https://www.mydomain.com/robots.txt
• File gives parameters around access to various bot-types, including search engines.
• Helpful for restricting access to sections of the site from natural search.
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XML SITEMAPS
• XML Sitemaps are dynamically generated
files, listing the important pages within a
website.
• Example:
https://www.mydomain.com/sitemap.xml
• File helps highlight important pages for
Google and other search engines.
• Helpful for making sure Google is crawling
and indexing the pages on your site that
matter most.
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INTERNAL LINKING
• The process of linking from pages on your
website to other pages, also within your
website. This includes navigation, related
topic widgets, footer links, etc.
• Google places higher authority on pages that
are linked to more often from your own
website.
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PILLARS: CONTENT
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SEO Overview
Crawling & Indexing
Content Trust & Links Site Security & UX
CONTENT RELEVANCE + QUALITY
• On-Page Content
• Visible content, which can be seen and experienced by the user. Google weighs
this content more heavily as it makes up the actual content for which users are
searching.
• Meta Content
• Content contained within the code of the webpage, but not readily visible to users
on the page.
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ON-PAGE CONTENT
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Readable Text
Images
Headers
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HEADERS • These are specific HTML tags, used
to denote sections of content on a
page.
• Google places great weight on
these elements, as they are key
indicators on the nature and topic
and content on the page.
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META CONTENT
Page Titles
• Should give a quick headline on the content of
the page, plus branding
• This tag will also be used for the search listing
headline in SERPs
• Length should be shorter than 512 pixels or 65
characters
Meta Descriptions
• Longer description regarding the content of the
webpage
• Should use “call to action” language, as tag
content could be used to fill SERPs listing “blurb”
below headline
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STRUCTURED DATA
These are advanced tags that
can be applied to content in a
variety of ways. They help search
engines contextualize the
information on a page.
Structured data types include:
• Local Businesses
• Events
• Reviews
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http://schema.org
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PILLARS: TRUST & LINKS
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SEO Overview
Crawling & Indexing
Content Trust & Links Site Security & UX
TRUST
• Authority
• Engagement
• History
• Identity
• Quality
• Text
• Numbers
• Paid
• Spam
LINKS
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TRUST & LINKS
PILLARS: SITE SECURITY & UX
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SEO Overview
Crawling & Indexing
Content Trust & Links Site Security & UX
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SECURITY & USER EXPERIENCE
Does your site utilize Http or Https protocol?
Does your site show strong “user signals?”
• Low Bounce Rate
• High Avg. Time Spent on Site
• Strong Pages/Visit Ratio
• Strong Organic Social Engagement
Is your site safe and easy
to use?
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Intro to
Mobile SEO?
HOW MUCH OF SEARCH IS MOBILE?
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As of 2015, more than 50% of all searches
on Google are done from a Mobile device.
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THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF MOBILE SITES
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• Separate URLs
• Dynamic Serving
• Responsive Design
• Progressive Web App
• Native Mobile App
MOBILE SITE TYPES: SEPARATE URLS
Effectively, you have two sites – one designed for desktop, one for mobile –
which live permanently at different URLs, often on differing sub-domains.
http://www.mywebsite.com/ http://m.mywebsite.com/
SEPARATE URLS : REL=“ALT” & CANONICAL TAGS
These tags help tell Google which set of URLs are for Desktop, which
are for Mobile devices.
http://www.mywebsite.com/ http://m.mywebsite.com/
Rel=“Alternate” Tags
Canonical Tags
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MOBILE SITE TYPES : DYNAMIC SERVING
http://www.mywebsite.com/
Desktop HTML Mobile HTML
Dynamic Serving utilizes two separate HTML designs, loading only one based
of device information to a single URL.
MOBILE SITE TYPES : RESPONSIVE
Responsive Design takes advantage of custom viewports / CSS
styles to modify content, based on physical screen-size.
MOBILE SITE TYPES : PROGRESSIVE WEB APPS
• A hybrid approach utilizing the best of
Responsive Design and Native Mobile App
functionality, including:
• Fast Loading
• Push Notifications
• Consistent Browser Experience
• Smooth Animations / Transitions
• Good Performance with Low Connectivity
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MOBILE SITE TYPES : NATIVE MOBILE APPS
Applications built to be installed on
mobile devices:
• Built for specific OS’s
• Do not require browser
• Increase user loyalty
• Heavy development cost
NATIVE MOBILE APPS : GOOGLE’S F IREBASE APP
INDEXING
Google is now able to index the content of
native mobile apps for natural search.
• Matches app content with website’s URL
equivalent
• Provides small boost in mobile search rankings
• Heavy development cost
For users have your mobile app installed,
clicking on an indexed search result trigger
your app to open – directly to the targeted
content – rather than progress to your
mobile website.
AMAZON.COM : CASE STUDY • Mobile Site converts at 15%
• App converts at nearly 73%
• Non-Prime members were more likely
to become Prime the longer they spent
In-App
• In Holiday 2015, over 60% of customers
were on Mobile – most using the
Amazon App
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GOOGLE’S MOBILE-FRIENDLY DESIGNATION
• What is it?Google rolled out the announced “Mobile Friendly” algorithm update on April 21, 2015. The update focused on website’s usability (UX) from a mobile device standpoint.
• Why is it important for SEO?The Mobile Friendly algorithm update is an important topic in the world of SEO, as failure to attain a mobile friendly designation could impact organic search rankings and performance.
GOOGLE’S MOBILE-FRIENDLY TEST
In advance of the Mobile-Friendly launch,
Google rolled out a live test, where users
could enter in the URL from a website
and receive a pass/fail grade for mobile-
friendliness.
• Determined at URL-level, not site-wide
• Mobile-Friendly =/= Mobile-Optimized
• Results could vary greatly due to
Robots.txt restrictions
• https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/
mobile-friendly/
GOOGLE’S MOBILE-FRIENDLY UPDATE
• Google updated “Mobile Friendly” algorithm on May 20,
2016. The update changed no standards for “Mobile
Friendliness” but did increase their importance for mobile
search rankings.
• The update also removed the “Mobile-friendly” designation in
the actual search results. The test was still conducted and
weighted in the algorithm, just no longer displayed in results.
• Many SEOs believe this update was done to better clear the
path for AMP presence in Mobile search results.
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GOOGLE ACCELERATED MOBILE PAGES • Publicly announced in 2013
• Officially launched in Feb 2016
• Version of lightweight HTML for extremely fast
loading
• Launched for publishers first, now branching to
other verticals
• eBay just turned on 15 million eCommerce
AMP pages
PAGESPEED IS IMPORTANT, Y’ALL!
• PageSpeed Has Always Been Important
The average user on desktop will abandon a website that takes
longer than 4 seconds to load.
• On Mobile, Doubly So
On mobile, the average user will abandon a website that longer than
2 seconds to load.
• Sometimes, it Feels Like a Catch-22
Most website experience longer load times on Mobile due to device
hardware limitations, signal reliability, and bloated HTML assets.
GOOGLE’S PAGESPEEDINSIGHTS
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GOOGLE INTERSTITIAL PENALTY – COMING SOON
• Penalties assessed at the URL level
• Only affects initial landing pages
• Only affects visits from natural search
• Starting Jan. 10, 2017
“Pages that show intrusive
interstitials provide a poorer
experience to users than other pages
where content is immediately
accessible. This can be problematic
on mobile devices where screens are
often smaller.” -
Intro to Local SEO
MOST MOBILE SEARCHES HAVE LOCAL INTENT
Google Now Says 56% of Mobile
Searches Have Local Intent
Local Intent Other
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TOP CONTENT: N-A-P INFO
• The most important content for Local SEO
will be your NAP information:
• Business Name
• Address
• Phone Numbers
• Other key items to include are:
• Website
• Operating Hours
• Directions
• Parking Info
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GOOGLE MY BUSINESS • Google My Business allows you to customize and
better control your Google Maps listings and
presence in Google’s Local Pack Results:
• Go to Google My Business site to sign up, or click
“Claim This Listing” on your location in Google
Maps
• Verify your listing – usually via Postcard
• Once verified, you will have access to control
NAP info in Google Maps, as well as operating
hours, images, description, etc.
Tools to Get You Started
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GOOGLE SEARCH CONSOLE
• Benefits of Google Search Console:
• Monitor site indexing, crawling, basic search performance
• Receive alerts for any indexing issues directly from Google
• Manually submit XML sitemaps and URLs to Google for
indexing
• How to Setup:
• Include basic HTML tag in website “head” section to
verify
• Often requires admin-level access to setup properly
• Keep in Mind:
• Data shows rolling 12 months, historical data NOT kept
GOOGLE ANALYTICS• Benefits of Googler Analytics:
• Free, robust tool for tracking onsite performance metrics
across all channels, including SEO
• Easily integrates with Google Search Console and other
Google tools
• How to Setup:
• Go to google.com/analytics to sign up
• Requires admin-level access to setup properly
• Keep in Mind:
• Can be very technical for setup – do not rush, and take
time to think through implementation before turning on.
GOOGLE TRENDS
• Benefits of Googler Trends:
• Free tool for tracking relative volumes between difference
search queries
• Easy to use with filter system for date range and locale,
including Metro-level granularity
• Keep in Mind:
• Volumes are not absolute. Trends only returns indexed
values based on comparison.
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THANK YOU