Creating SEO Authority Workbook - Lenovo...Lenovo Partner Network /The SEO Journey Series Workbook...

Lenovo Partner Network The SEO Journey Series

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CreatingSEO AuthorityWorkbook

Produced by Method Savvy

Lenovo Partner Network / The SEO Journey Series Workbook Creating SEO Authority 2

Table of Contents

• Website Authority• SEMRush Site Review • SEMRush Competitor Site Review • Compare Your Site to Your Competitors• Competitive Content Review



What authority signals is your websitesending out?


Authority


GOOD Backlinks - diversity and quality of the websites linking to your content.

Reputation - trustworthiness imbued by site’s history, social media presence, and reviews.

Locality - signals related to location including NAP information, local citations, and server location.

Anchors - the keywords used when sites link back to your content. User Experience - your website is easy to use and appears trustworthy.

Engagement - the ways in which visitors consume content and return to your website.

BAD Backlinks - links originate from low quality or untrusted websites and/or lack portfolio diversity.

Reputation - the website lacks historical trust or features a significant number of poor reviews.

Locality - content and technical infrastructure don’t reflect region of focus.

Anchors - inbound links feature keywords unrelated to content or are highly repetitive.

User Experience - your website is hard to use and/or appears untrustworthy.

Engagement - visitors quickly return to the search engine after clicking through to your site.




SEMRushSite Review

SEMRush Site Review:Navigating your SEMRush Dashboard


Once you have created your account on SEMRush, use the followingpages as a visual guide to help you with navigating your dashboard whenneeding reference with each of the exercises in this workbook.


How to get to an SEMRush Dashboard:

1) Visit SEMRush.com2) Search for your Company URL3) Login or sign up for free account with SEMRush



OrganicSearch TrafficBacklinks

Top OrganicKeywords

Main Competitors

Backlinks



Follow/No Follow Links

Backlink Type

ReferringDomains

Backlinks

Top Anchors


SEMRushSite Review


Head over to semrush.com and search for your company’s website and provide the following:

Organic Search Traffic: ______

SEMRush Rank: ______ Keywords: ______ Traffic Cost: ______

Backlinks: ______

Referring Domains: ______ Referring IPs: ______



SEMRush’s Database differs from Google Analytics and Google Search Console. It allows you to cross-reference information from multiple sources to get an alternate perspective of at your site’s traffic.

Backlinks are referrals from other webpages. If multiple domains are on the same IP address, it is like 5 family members recommending their favorite restaurant. 5 IP addresses recommending your site is like 5 different families recommending your site.

SEMRush Exercise Worksheet 1: Search Traffic/Backlinks

THINGS TO CONSIDER:

What are your top 5 Organic Keywords:

Keyword Position Volume CPC Traffic

1) _____________________________ _______ _______ _______ _______

2) _____________________________ _______ _______ _______ _______

3) _____________________________ _______ _______ _______ _______

4) _____________________________ _______ _______ _______ _______

5) _____________________________ _______ _______ _______ _______



SEMRush Exercise Worksheet 2: Top Organic Keywords

Positions 1-10 tend to be on the first page of the SERP. Positions 11-20 are on the second page of the SERP. CPC is the cost per click for ads with similar keywords. The higher the cost the more in demand the keyword is with the competition.

THINGS TO CONSIDER:

Who are your top 5 SERP competitors according to SEMRush?

Competitor Competitive Keywords SE Keywords

1) _____________________________ ___________________ ____________________

2) _____________________________ ___________________ ____________________

3) _____________________________ ___________________ ____________________

4) _____________________________ ___________________ ____________________

5) _____________________________ ___________________ ____________________



SEMRush Exercise Worksheet 3: Top SERP Competitors

Your SERP competitors are the Websites that compete for search results with your website. If these are grossly wrong, the keywords found on your site may not be aligned correctly to your industry.

THINGS TO CONSIDER:

How many links do you have in the following categories:

1) Follow Links ____________

2) NoFollow Links ____________

Backlink Count by Type:

1) Text Links ____________

2) Frame Links ____________

3) Form Links ____________

4) Image Links ____________



SEMRush Exercise Worksheet 4: Links

Follow links are websites that are actively recommending your site. NoFollow Links are links that are making users aware of your site but not passing along good or bad recommendations. Follow links are more valuable than NoFollow links, but they both provide value and traffic to your site.

THINGS TO CONSIDER:

Top Referring Domains:

URL Backlink Count Do you trust this site? (Y/N)

1) _____________________________ __________ __________

2) _____________________________ __________ __________

3) _____________________________ __________ __________

4) _____________________________ __________ __________

5) _____________________________ __________ __________



SEMRush Exercise Worksheet 5: Top Referring Domains

Top referring domains are the domains that have follow links to your site and are ranked by their value to your site. These may not all be good for your website.

THINGS TO CONSIDER:

Top Anchor Text:

Anchor Text Domains Backlink Count

1) _____________________________ ____________________________ __________

2) _____________________________ ____________________________ __________

3) _____________________________ ____________________________ __________

4) _____________________________ ____________________________ __________

5) _____________________________ ____________________________ __________



SEMRush Exercise Worksheet 6: Top Anchor Text

Link Anchor text passes signals to the search engine of what is expected on your site. Most sites are heavy on Branded links here. Keep an eye out for anchor links that are not branded and if they are sending good signals to your site.

THINGS TO CONSIDER:

Backlinks: What Pages/Sites are referring to your content? What content are they referring to and are they passing authority to your site with a dofollow link:

Referring Page/URL Anchor Text/Site URL

1) _____________________________________ ______________________________________

2) _____________________________________ ______________________________________

3) _____________________________________ ______________________________________ 4) _____________________________________ ______________________________________

5) _____________________________________ ______________________________________



SEMRush Exercise Worksheet 7: Referring Page/Anchor Text


What authority signals are your competitors sending out?



SEMRushSite ReviewCompetitor 1


Head over to SEMRush.com and search for a competitor’s website and add the URL to the top right corner.



Backlinks: ______




SEMRush Exercise (Competitor 1) Worksheet 1: Search Traffic/Backlinks

Competitor #1 URL:



1) _____________________________ _______ _______ _______ _______

2) _____________________________ _______ _______ _______ _______

3) _____________________________ _______ _______ _______ _______

4) _____________________________ _______ _______ _______ _______

5) _____________________________ _______ _______ _______ _______



SEMRush Exercise (Competitor 1) Worksheet 2: Top Organic Keywords

Competitor #1 URL:



1) _____________________________ ___________________ ____________________

2) _____________________________ ___________________ ____________________

3) _____________________________ ___________________ ____________________

4) _____________________________ ___________________ ____________________

5) _____________________________ ___________________ ____________________



SEMRush Exercise (Competitor 1) Worksheet 3: Top SERP Competitors

Competitor #1 URL:


1) Follow Links ____________



1) Text Links ____________

2) Frame Links ____________

3) Form Links ____________

4) Image Links ____________



SEMRush Exercise (Competitor 1) Worksheet 4: Links

Competitor #1 URL:

Top referring Domains:


1) _____________________________ __________ __________

2) _____________________________ __________ __________

3) _____________________________ __________ __________

4) _____________________________ __________ __________

5) _____________________________ __________ __________



SEMRush Exercise (Competitor 1) Worksheet 5: Top Referring Domains

Competitor #1 URL:

Top Anchor Text:


1) _____________________________ ____________________________ __________

2) _____________________________ ____________________________ __________

3) _____________________________ ____________________________ __________

4) _____________________________ ____________________________ __________

5) _____________________________ ____________________________ __________



SEMRush Exercise (Competitor 1) Worksheet 6: Top Anchor Text

Competitor #1 URL:

Backlinks: What Pages/Sites are referring to your content? What content are they referring to and are they passing authority to your site with a dofollow link:

Referring Page/URL Anchor Text/Site URL

1) _____________________________________ ______________________________________

2) _____________________________________ ______________________________________

3) _____________________________________ ______________________________________ 4) _____________________________________ ______________________________________

5) _____________________________________ ______________________________________



SEMRush Exercise (Competitor 1) Worksheet 7: Referring Page/Anchor Text

Competitor #1 URL:


SEMRushSite ReviewCompetitor 2


Head over to SEMRush.com and search for a competitor’s website and add the URL to the top right corner.



Backlinks: ______




SEMRush Exercise (Competitor 2) Worksheet 1: Search Traffic/Backlinks

Competitor #2 URL:



1) _____________________________ _______ _______ _______ _______

2) _____________________________ _______ _______ _______ _______

3) _____________________________ _______ _______ _______ _______

4) _____________________________ _______ _______ _______ _______

5) _____________________________ _______ _______ _______ _______



SEMRush Exercise (Competitor 2) Worksheet 2: Top Organic Keywords

Competitor #2 URL:



1) _____________________________ ___________________ ____________________

2) _____________________________ ___________________ ____________________

3) _____________________________ ___________________ ____________________

4) _____________________________ ___________________ ____________________

5) _____________________________ ___________________ ____________________



SEMRush Exercise (Competitor 2) Worksheet 3: Top SERP Competitors

Competitor #2 URL:


1) Follow Links ____________



1) Text Links ____________

2) Frame Links ____________

3) Form Links ____________

4) Image Links ____________



SEMRush Exercise (Competitor 2) Worksheet 4: Links

Competitor #2 URL:

Top referring Domains:


1) _____________________________ __________ __________

2) _____________________________ __________ __________

3) _____________________________ __________ __________

4) _____________________________ __________ __________

5) _____________________________ __________ __________



SEMRush Exercise (Competitor 2) Worksheet 5: Top Referring Domains

Competitor #2 URL:

Top Anchor Text:


1) _____________________________ ____________________________ __________

2) _____________________________ ____________________________ __________

3) _____________________________ ____________________________ __________

4) _____________________________ ____________________________ __________

5) _____________________________ ____________________________ __________



SEMRush Exercise (Competitor 2) Worksheet 6: Top Anchor Text

Competitor #2 URL:

CompetitiveAnalysis



Where are you ahead? Where are you behind?

Competitive Questions

How does your site rank compare to your competitors?

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Who has the most “DoFollow” backlinks amongst the sites you reviewed? What are the most valuable website backlinks coming into the sites?

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

What keywords are linking to your website? Are any of them different from your brand?

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________



1.

2.

3.

Competitive Questions

What URL/content is most valuable to your competitors?

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Do you have content on your site that is similar? Is it 10x better? What could you do to improve the content on your page to beat your competitor’s page?

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

What keywords that would be valuable to your site are your competitors ranking for that you are not ranking for?

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________



4.

5.

6.



Creating Postswith Authority ContentWhy authority content works



When you search for content, answers to questions, or a professional opinion, what expectations do you have about that content?

Content


GOOD Quality - Well-written, valuable, original and human-centered.

Contextual - Highly aligned to the topic of interest of the user.

Topical Vocabulary - Using language and keywords reflective of the topic being searched. Information, local citations and server location.

Timely - Non-stagnant, fresh. Depth - Substantive and comprehensive.

Multimedia - Images, videos, and audio.

Answers - Direct and informative.

BAD Quality - Poorly written, misspellings, duplicate and/or algorithm-focused.

Contextual - Tangential, off-topic or obfuscated.

Topical Vocabulary - Using company- focused language instead of user focused language.

Timely - Out of date or old. Depth - Shallow.

Multimedia - Text only.

Answers - Uninformative or unhelpful.


Content Review


URL: http______________________________________________________________________________________

Expected Outcome: What search(s) would you expect this page to come up for?

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Reality: Head over to Google and see what comes up for that search. Did the page you identify come up on page 1 or 2 of the results? What position?

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________


Go to a high-value content page on your website and answer the following questions about the content on that page. Repeat this exercise for each high-value content page on your site.


Now, let’s review the content on the page, remembering your goal is to provide content that is 10x better than your competitors so you can better rank on the SERP.

Quality - Is the content on this page well-written, valuable, original and human-centered? How could you make the content better?

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Contextual - Think of the reason for a user to be on this page, is the content highly aligned to the topic the user is interested in?

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Topical Vocabulary - Are you using language and keywords that are reflective of the topic being discussed on this page?

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________



Timely - Is the content on this page fresh and new or does it need an update?

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Depth - Does the page utilize images, video or audio? How does the page make you feel when you look at it? Is there something compelling to review, or draw your eye?

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Multimedia - Can a user find the answer to the search they executed easily on your page?

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Social - Is the content on this page something you would share with friends, family, colleagues or bosses?

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________


Lenovo Partner Network The SEO Journey Series

Method Savvy is a marketing consultancy that helps ambitious leaders find better ways to grow their brand and business. Our three focus areas, brand, experience, and growth acceleration, help create connected brand experiences that influence behavioral change at scale. SEO is one of many components we specialize in that help brands build a foundation for the ecosystem they want.

Creating SEO Authority Workbook - Lenovo...Lenovo Partner Network /The SEO Journey Series Workbook...

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