SEO Fundamentals - PubCon Las Vegas 2014

Pubcon Las Vegas 2014

SEO Fundamentals

2014 SEO Basics - Overview

About Me

• Senior SEO Strategist, Globe Runner• Brand Ambassador, Majestic SEO (now Majestic.com)• Personal Blog: www.BillHartzer.com• Practicing Organic/Natural SEO since 1996

2014 SEO Basics - Overview

Overview• Current Ranking Factors• On Page SEO Factors• Off Page SEO Factors• Social Media and SEO Factors• Latest Google Algorithm Changes• Future SEO Ranking Factors

2014 SEO Basics – Current SEO Ranking Factors

Current Ranking Factors• Over 200 search engine ranking factor today, maybe more.• Latest list of ranking factors: http://moz.com/blog/ranking-factors-2013

• Important ranking factors:- Page Authority, Domain Authority

• - Social Signals- Anchor Text of Links- Schema.org, Structured Data- External Links, Keywords, Exact Match Domains

Page AuthoritySocial Signals

Anchor Text of LinksSchema.org, Structured Data

External Links, Keywords, Exact Match Domains

2014 SEO Basics – SEO Ranking Factors

Google Algorithm Break-Down• The important factors according to the Moz survey.

2014 SEO Basics – On Page Factors

On Page FactorsSeveral basic page elements are important:• Proper Title Tags (keyword usage towards beginning of tag)• Meta Description Tag (keyword usage in tag)• Headings (One H1 tag per page, multiple H2, H3 okay)• Image Alt Attributes (keywords describe each image)• Local Biz? Schema.org markup for NAP data, Reviews

2014 SEO Basics – On Site Factors

On Site FactorsSeveral on site factors are very important in 2014:• Good site structure• Internal linking (text within sentences as well as navigation)• Minimal amount of footer links to other pages• Content Readability / Usability / Site Design• Google Panda Algorithm Issues• Google Page Layout Algorithm Issues

2014 SEO Basics – Social Media and SEO Factors

Social Media and SEO Factors• Social Posts and Shares count• Google Publishership (Google Authorship)

Think of social pages, shares, and profiles as web pages.• Get links from those pages.• How to get good links? Network socially with influencers.• SEO “credit” passed from social profile to social profile to site.

2014 SEO Basics – Latest Google Algorithm Changes

Latest Google Algorithm Changes• Recent Major Google Updates

- Panda, Penguin, EMD, Page Layout, Authorship• Google Knowledge Graph• Manual Actions• Sample Manual Actions - Revoked• Future Google Algo Updates.

2014 SEO Basics – Google Panda

What is Google Panda?• Ranking factor added to the Google algorithm

• Filter designed to identify ‘low quality pages’.

• Provides better rankings for high-quality sites

• Panda is integrated into algorithm, after two years

• Named after Google engineer Navneet Panda


Google Panda History• Rolled Out to US sites on February 24, 2011http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/finding-more-high-quality-sites-in.html

• Rolled out Globally to English language users on April 11, 2011• Also began to roll out data from sites that users block• Last Manual Panda Update — March 14, 2013

- Panda updates now on rolling update schedule• Panda Dance, Panda Recovery, June/July 2013 (Sept 2014)


Google Panda Update History• Panda/Farmer — February 23, 2011• Panda 2.0 — April 11, 2011• Panda 2.1 — May 9, 2011• Panda 2.2 — June 21, 2011• Panda 2.3 — July 23, 2011• Panda Goes Global (2.4) — August 12, 2011• Panda 2.5 — September 28, 2011• Panda "Flux" — October 5, 2011• Panda 3.1 — November 18, 2011• Panda 3.2 — January 18, 2012• Panda 3.3 — February 27, 2012• Panda 3.4 — March 23, 2012• Panda 3.5 — April 19, 2012• Panda 3.6 — April 27, 2012• Panda 3.7 — June 8, 2012• Panda 3.8 — June 25, 2012• Panda 3.9 — July 24, 2012

• Panda 3.9.2 — September 18, 2012• Panda #20 — September 27, 2012• Panda #21 — November 5, 2012• Panda #22 — November 21, 2012• Panda #23 — December 21, 2012• Panda #24 — January 23, 2013• Panda #24 — March 14, 2013• Panda Dance — June 11, 2013• Panda Recovery — July 18, 2013• Panda Update — September, 2014

See the Google Algorithm Change History:http://moz.com/google-algorithm-change


Were You Hit by Panda?• Look at your web analytics• Sites affected had traffic loss starting in February, 2011.• Google Analytics for your site (Web Trends, Omniture, etc.)• SEM Rush for most sites (SEMRush.com)


Recovering from Google Panda• Make sure all content on site is “high quality”• Review Google’s List:

23 Questions to assess qualityhttp://bit.ly/1gHZzQb

• Identify and remove least-visited pages• Take out the trash, so to speak.• Prevent Pogosticking from SERPs.• Wait until next Panda update to see recovery (about a month)

2014 SEO Basics – Google Panda vs. Google Penguin

Panda vs. Penguin• Panda focuses on sites providing a bad user experience

- Sites with low quality content• Penguin focuses on spamdexing and link bombing.

Sells tickets nationally. If claim Local Listings, only rank in local Chicago area?

2014 SEO Basics – Google Penguin

What is Google Penguin?Google: “algorithm change targeted at webspam.”http://insidesearch.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/another-step-to-reward-high-quality.html

Goal is to “decrease rankings for sites that violate Google’s Quality Guidelines”. (Mainly organic link issues.)http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35769#3


Google Penguin Update History• First reported April 24, 2012• Penguin #2 — May 25, 2012• Penguin #3 — October 5, 2012 (0.3 percent of queries)• Penguin 2.0 (#4) — May 22, 2013• Penguin 2.1 (#5) — October 4, 2013


Were You Hit by Google Penguin?• Look at Google Analytics, Google Webmaster Tools, review dates

of Google Updates.


Recovering from Google Penguin• Perform a full SEO Audit of web site• Review Google Webmaster Tools for messages, suggestions• Perform full link analysis of site• Disavow Links to Site• Link Research Tools’ Link Detox Boost claims quick recovery• Work on Authority, trust of site• Wait until next Penguin update to see recovery

2014 SEO Basics – Exact Match Domain Update

EMD Update• Exact-Match Domain (EMD) Update — September 27, 2012

Google targeted “commercial phrases” with this update.

• Valuable Domain Names include Keywords (commercial phrases)

• Not all keyword rich domains affected

• Sites without keyword rich domains were affected

2014 SEO Basics – Page Layout Update

Google Page Layout Update• Page Layout #2 — October 9, 2012 • Targets pages with too many ads “above the fold”• Algo proof: content above fold, minimal ads above fold.• Page Layout #3 — February 6, 2014 http://selnd.com/1qNV6DE

2014 SEO Basics – Knowledge Graph Update

Knowledge Graph Update• Knowledge Graph Expansion — December 4, 2012 • Added KG functionality to non-English queries• Get your site, business into the Knowledge Graph.• TIP: get listed in Freebase.com, part of KG.

2014 SEO Basics – Google Manual Actions

Manual Actions in Webmaster Tools• Partial Match – affects certain pages• Full Match – affects whole site• Unnatural links – both require link cleanup, review


Manual Actions – Unrelated to Penguin• Unnatural link warnings are not related to Google Penguin• Sites affected by Penguin should clean up links• Manual actions more severe, require reconsideration request


Getting Manual Actions RevokedUnnatural Links? Clean up links, document everything.• Identify all links to site• Combine GWT, Majestic, Ahrefs, OSE links• Manually review links (Link Research Tools can help)• Identify links to remove• Contact site owners, document emails, contact dates, etc.• 3 attempts to contact site owners• Disavow links not removedRequest Review: include letter, spreadsheet with data proof

Algo Chaos – Manual Actions

Sample Manual Action Revoked• 52,252 Total Links to Site• 217 referring root domains• 693 Healthy Links• 709 Inorganic Links• 569 “live” inorganic links to get removed (including nofollow links).

After three attempts over 3 weeks to contact site owners via email:• 296 site owners responded• 12 sites refused to remove the links• 257 links were successfully removed based on our email requests• 27 links – site owners requested payment to remove the links• 2 links – we were unable to contact site owners• 274 links – site owners were completely unresponsive after 3 contacts• 256 links were removed as a result of our link removal efforts


Sample Manual Action Revoked• Kept track of all URLs, Status of URL, Dates, and emails• Added all data into spreadsheet• Uploaded spreadsheet to Google Docs• Wrote letter explaining process, linked to Google Docs spreadsheet

2014 SEO Basics – Google Future Updates

Google Future Updates• Google Panda Updates are monthly• Penguin Updates are 6 months between roll-outs• Manual Actions - Severity of infraction can affect length of time

a site will be penalized• Manual Actions – Average site is looking at 6-12 months to

recover from a penalty even after cleaning it up• If you get hit by Panda or Penguin you HAVE to wait to for data

refresh of that filter

2014 SEO Basics – Thank You

THANK YOUContact Me

Bill HartzerSenior SEO StrategistGlobe Runner SEOEmail: [email protected]: (214) 236-4378Office: (972) 538-0260

Web: http://www.globerunner.comBlog: https://www.billhartzer.comTwitter: @bhartzer

SEO Fundamentals - PubCon Las Vegas 2014

Technology

Transcript of SEO Fundamentals - PubCon Las Vegas 2014