Knowledge Bites Smart SEO Tactics Presentation 1 with Kevin Wallner of First Chair Digital Marketing

Smart SEO Tactics For Small & Local Businesses

Hi! I’m Kevin Wallner

Nice to meet you!

Introduction to SEO

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

The rising influence of search engines We use search engines to find... ● ● ● ● ● ●

Products & Services Businesses & People News & Weather Directions Images & Videos Answers

How do you use Google?

How do your customers use Google?

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

What is SEO? Search Engine Optimization How? ● Good business ● Good website ● Good SEO strategy Why? Increase the quantity and quality of traffic to your website by improving your page rankings in Google.

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

What does Google do? “... organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

Search Engine Results Page

Paid Ads

Local Pack

Fact: SERPs vary depending on what people are searching for.

Fact: 75-90% of all clicks occur on the first page of Google.

Organic Results

Factors that affect your Google rankings Internal Factors Things you have direct control over ● ● ● ● ● ●

Website speed Website security Website structure Keywords Quality of content User experience

External Factors Things that’s harder to influence ● ● ● ● ●

Links to your site Social buzz Online reputation Branded searches Directory listings*

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

How has SEO changed over the years?

Old School SEO ● ● ● ●

Keywords stuffing Hidden text Spammy links Duplicate content

Modern SEO ● ● ●

Quality website Quality content Quality backlinks Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

SEO can help your business!

Gain visibility in search engines

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

Make better use of your website

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

Be present throughout the “buyer journey�

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

Remain competitive

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

Control your online presence

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

Basic SEO Tactics

Make your website mobile-friendly Mobile-friendly sites are essential.

Your rankings are now based on the mobile version of your site.

Weebly, Wix, and Squarespace are 100% mobile-responsive, but not all WordPress themes are.

Pro Tip: Avoid building a separate mobile site (m.example.com).

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

Make your website lightning fast Fast-loading pages are essential.

Things that slow down websites: ● ● ● ● ●

Big image files Image sliders Sloppy code Low quality hosting Unnecessary plugins

Pro Tip: Always resize and compress images before uploading.

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

Keep your website secure Website security has been an official Google ranking factor since 2014.

SSL certificates are essential. Without SSL, your rankings will suffer.

Pro Tips: â—? Contact your host and tell them you want a SSL certificate. â—? Update WordPress themes and plugins regularly.

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

Fix technical website issues Make it easier for search engines to crawl and understand your site: ● ● ● ●

Submit a sitemap Redirect missing pages Fix broken links Eliminate duplicate content

Pro Tip: Audit your website every few months to keep tabs on your SEO “foundation.”

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

Use a logical site structure

Pro Tip: Clearly organize the information on your site to help users (and search engines) understand the topics on your site and the relationship between them.

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

Best DIY website platforms for SEO?

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

Select unique keywords for each page Google ranks pages, not websites.

What are the best keywords? It depends on industry, competition, context, etc. ● Homepage = Top-level keywords + brand name ● Products/Services = Purchase-intent keywords ● Blog Posts = Information-intent keywords + geo keywords Brainstorm > survey customers > research > evaluate > select > implement Pro Tip: Google your most important keywords and reverse engineer the top results to figure out why they’re on page 1.

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

What does a keyword strategy look like?

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

Write enticing page titles and descriptions

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

Write engaging, keyword-rich pages

Pro Tip: Cover each page’s topic as deeply and comprehensively as possible.

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

Smart SEO Tactics - The Basics Fast, mobile-friendly website Secure website with SSL certificate No technical issues with website Logical site structure Unique keywords for every page Keyword-rich page titles and descriptions Quality, keyword-rich pages with 300+ words Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

Local SEO Tactics

Online business directories Accuracy & consistency is key: ● ● ● ● ● ●

Name Address Phone Hours Website Business Categories

Pro Tip: Use a service like Moz Local to streamline listing management.

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

Google My Business The most important listing on the web!

Claim your Google listing: 1. https://www.google.com/business/ 2. Request postcard 3. Enter verification code Pro Tip: Your GMB listing should be fully optimized and all other listings should match it 1:1.

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

Business reviews and ratings Reviews are becoming one of the most important ranking factors because they’re difficult to game.

Pro Tip: Start getting reviews now and don’t stop.

Strategically respond to a portion of your reviews.

Bonus Points: According to a 2017 Study, keywords and city names in reviews have a high correlation with high rankings in local search results.

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

Other local ranking factors

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

Local landing pages

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

Smart SEO Tactics - Local SEO Accurate and consistent business listings.

Fully-optimized Google My Business listing.

Consistent flow of positive reviews.

Respond to reviews.

Good SEO on your website.

Local landing pages targeting geo-keywords.

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

Ongoing SEO Tactics

Build backlinks to your website Beginner link building strategies... ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Partner websites Unlinked brand mentions Local press releases Local blogs Forum engagement Sponsorships Purchased links

Pro Tip: Put together a “hit list” of links you want and keep going after them.

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

The power of quality backlinks Backlinks send a strong signal to Google that your site is awesome, because Google assumes that nobody would link to you unless you’re really worth it.

www.trailkitchens.com

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

Harness the power of content marketing You know quality content when you see it - devour it, bookmark it, and share it with your friends.

Good content helps your SEO by earning... ● Backlinks ● Social shares ● Brand mentions To be effective, you need an SEO content strategy.

Pro Tip: Promote via social, email, pay-per-click. Repurpose and reshare.

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

The power of a good blog post It takes 4-8+ hours to write a good blog post. Once published, don’t forget to... ● Submit your page to Google. ● Publish and promote your content across all channels.

www.trailkitchens.com

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

Monitor your performance with analytics Sources of SEO data: ● ● ● ● ●

Google Analytics Google Search Console SEMRush Google My Business Moz Local

What you can see: ● ● ● ●

Organic Traffic Rankings Backlinks Technical issues Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

Audit your SEO periodically An issue in any one of these areas can cause a major drop in rankings: ● ● ● ● ● ●

Technical issues Page load speed Missing pages Aggressive competitors Duplicate content Toxic backlinks

Pro Tip: Don’t let people work on your website/SEO unless you trust them.

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

Increase SERP visibility with AdWords Good SEO takes 2-6 months before you start seeing increased traffic.

Pay per click (PPC) ads have your site live on the first page of Google with the click of a button.

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

Smart SEO Tactics - Ongoing SEO Build quality backlinks to your website.

Start writing blog posts related to your core topics.

Use analytics to monitor your SEO. Perform regular SEO audits.

Use Google AdWords for instant SERP visibility.

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

Conclusion

Top 10 SEO tactics for 2018 1. Set up your analytics and start checking-in on a weekly/monthly basis.

2. Evaluate your SEO strengths and weaknesses with an SEO audit.

3. Make sure your site is 100% mobile-friendly.

4. Do everything you can to make your website faster.

5. Install an SSL certificate on your website immediately.

6. Select unique keywords for each page on your website.

7. Use Google AdWords to get visibility on your most important keywords.

8. Optimize your online business listings and get more reviews.

9. Don’t neglect other marketing channels.

10. Consult with an SEO expert before making major changes to your site.

Kevin Wallner // First Chair Digital // www.firstchairdigital.com

Thank you!

Connect with me Kevin Wallner kevin@firstchairdigital.com (530) 563-6461 firstchairdigital.com

Add a picture of your city, office or team here.