Here are the 7 steps we are going to do to create a comprehensive SEO Action Plan.
1. Focus Keyword Research: How to do basic and advanced keyword research.
2. Competitor Research: How to do Competitor Research: Top 5 Metrics in 5 Minutes.
3. Onsite Optimization: Talk to the Search Engines in their own language.
4. Offsite Optimization: More important to Google than onsite optimization.
5. Links: Links are the most important offsite element of SEO.
6. Content Content Content: Content is the most important onsite element of SEO.
7. Tracking: Adjust, refine and perfect your SEO.
1. Focus Keyword Research |
People search for solutions. Be sure your page offers the solution your visitors are looking for. Some examples of keywords looking for solutions: 1. Keyword search: kayak day trip 2. Keyword search: best pizza near me |
1.1 |
How to Do Focus Keyword Research |
1. Google Your Focus Keyword. |
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2. How many results in the SERPS (Search Engine Results Page) for that keyword? |
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3. Are you on Page #1? Are you anywhere in the first 5 pages? |
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4. Who is in Position #1, #2 and #3? |
1. 2. 3. |
5. Keyword Planner: Volume: |
2. Competitor Research |
Your best keywords are the keywords you where you can rank #1 on Google. You need to be sure your website can compete with that #1 website. If not, you need to modify your keyword until you find the right combination of relevance, cost, search volume and competition. You need to research the websites in Position #1, #2 and #3 for your keyword and choose the keyword where you can compete with the top 3 results. |
2.1 |
How to do Competitor Research: Top 5 Metrics in 5 Minutes |
Metric 1. Moz Site and Page Authority – https://moz.com/researchtools/ose/ |
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You: |
Your Competitor: |
1. Domain Authority
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1. Domain Authority |
2. Page Authority
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2. Page Authority |
3. MOZ Rank
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3. MOZ Rank |
Metric 2. Backlinks http://www.openlinkprofiler.org/ |
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You: |
Your Competitor: |
4. Unique Active Backlinks
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4. Unique Active Backlinks |
5. Link Influencer Score
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5. Link Influencer Score |
Metric 3. Indexed Pages Google Search: Site:SiteName.com |
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You: |
Your Competitor: |
Results
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Results |
Metric 4. Social Media Review your competitor’s site for social media |
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You: |
Your Competitor: |
Results
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Results |
Metric 5. Citations Google Search: “Competitor’s Name” “Keyword” -site:sitename.com |
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You: |
Your Competitor: |
Results
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Results |
3. Onsite Optimization: Talk to the Search Engines in their Own Language
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Onsite optimization is creating website pages, titles, tags, content, navigation and overall structure to be optimized for your target keywords. |
3.1 |
Keywords in Metatags / Onpage SEO Elements / Keywords in Content |
Onpage SEO Element |
1. Page Title – 70 characters – this is the most important meta tag. What you see in the source code: <title>Focus Keyword Toward the Front of the Title, Up to 70 Characters</title> |
2. Meta Description – 160 characters What you see in the source code: <meta name=”description” content=”160 characters or less that describe this page. Add a CTA (call to action) to get the most value from your description”> |
3. Meta Keywords – No more than 10 keyword phrases What you see in the source code: <meta name=”keywords” content=”About 10 keywords that are relevant to this page”> |
4. Header Tag: H1 – only one header tag. What you see in the source code: <h1>Focus Keyword</h1> |
5. Sub-head Tags: H2 – multiple h2 tags. |
6. Sub-head Tags: H3 |
7. Bold: Use bold where needed. Don’t spam |
8. Outbound Links: Outgoing links are good but do reduce the link value of your page. |
9. Internal Links: Google expects you to cross link to other related content in your website. |
10. Italic: Good, and useful visually. |
11. Combinations: |
12. Body copy: |
13. Image Title Tags: What you see in the source code: title=”Keyword (where appropriate) plus the title of your image” |
14. Keyword URL: |
15. First Paragraph: |
16. Geo-Tagging: Use geo-tagging to let your users and search engines see your actual business location. |
17 First Paragraph: |
18. LSI Keywords: LSI keywords (Latent Semantic Index) are keywords, similar to synonyms and related keywords, that Google uses to determine the relevancy of a page. Add LSI keywords into your posts and pages. |
19. Add Modifiers To Your Title Using modifiers like “2016”, “best”, “guide”, and “review” can help you rank for long tail versions of your focus keyword. |
20. Categories (WordPress): Example: “food” or “health” |
21. Tags (WordPress): Tags tell people specifically what is on the page or post. Example: “diabetic recipes” “vegan gluten free” |
22. Word Count: Longer articles have more SEO value. You should have content between 650 to 2,200 words |
23. Keyword Density: About 5% keyword ratio. For example, in a 500 word post, about 25 total words should be keywords and/or synonyms. |
24. Image Alt Tags: add a description of the image in the “alt tag” What you see in the source code: alt=”Keyword (where appropriate) plus a description of your image” |
25. Image Title Tags: What you see in the source code: title=”Keyword (where appropriate) plus the title of your image” |
26. Keyword URL: |
27. First Paragraph: |
28. Geo-Tagging: Use geo-tagging to let your users and search engines see your actual business location. |
29. First Paragraph: |
30. LSI Keywords: LSI keywords (Latent Semantic Index) are keywords, similar to synonyms and related keywords, that Google uses to determine the relevancy of a page. Add LSI keywords into your posts and pages. |
31. Post Longer Content: |
32. LSI Keywords: LSI keywords (Latent Semantic Index) are keywords, similar to synonyms and related keywords, that Google uses to determine the relevancy of a page. Add LSI keywords into your posts and pages. |
3.2 |
Keywords in Navigation |
Your navigation and menus are a keyword outline of your website. |
Keywords In Navigation |
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Top Navigation / Focus Keywords |
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Drop Down Navigation / Secondary Keywords |
4. Offsite Optimization |
Offsite optimization creates links back to your website from other websites, social media and directories. |
4.1 |
Offsite Optimization. More important to Google than onsite optimization. |
Backlinks – see Page #2 and Section 5 Below |
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CitationsFind the Best Citations Opportunities (by city) with Moz.com |
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Social1.Facebook – 1,100,000,000 visitors/month2. YouTube – 1,000,000,000 visitors/month3. Twitter – 310,000,000 visitors/month4. LinkedIn – 255,000,000 visitors/month5. Pinterest – 250,000,000 visitors/month6. Google+ – 120,000,000 visitors/month |
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Local |
5. Links: Links are the most important part of SEO. |
Backlinks are the most important element of offsite optimization. Backlinks are difficult but well worth the effort. Good backlinks will double the value of your content. |
5.1 |
Links. Links. Links. |
Do a Backlink Audit. |
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Where to add your backlink. |
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Outreach |
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Commenting |
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Guest Blogging |
6. Content. Content. Content. |
Content is the most important onsite element of SEO. Google looks for unique, new and comprehensive content in your niche. One great piece of content is worth more than 10 pieces poor content. |
6.1 |
Create and amplify content. |
Create consistent content on your focus keywords (product or service) |
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Where are you creating other content? |
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Optimize your content. |
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Amplify your content. |
6.2 |
Create an editorial calendar. |
Create an editorial calendar. Excel spreadsheet, WordPress editorial calendar plugin or online app. |
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Hard to find topics? |
7. Tracking: Adjust, refine and perfect your SEO. |
Tracking your results will tell you where you are successful and where you need to more work. By looking at what has working (and not worked) you can save time and money going forward. |
7.1 |
Google Analytics and Google Search Console |
Add Google Analytics |
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Connect Google Analytics to Google Search Console https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1308621?hl=en |
7.2 |
Tracking with Google Analytics and Google Search Console |
Audience Overview – Who are your visitors |
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Acquisitions – Where did your visitors come from |
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Behavior – What did they do when they got there |
John Bolyard.com John@JohnBolyard.com Los Angeles / Seattle
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We Buy Houses San Fernando Valley