By Danny Kushmer
Love it or hate it, search engine optimization (SEO) is an extremely effective, low-cost lead generation channel that is both under-utilized and misunderstood. Can you make a positive impact to your organization by understanding what it encompasses and how it can influence, leverage and scale key components of SEO?
Just because you put up a shingle and create a website you’re not necessarily a business. How do you get to the top page of Google? That’s what Jenny wanted to know when she put up her shingle…. Here we go.
Two goals for today’s presentation: 1. Don’t hate SEO as much as when you walked in 2. Exit with a dramatic moment
History of SEO
SEO used to be about going down a checklist of technical “to do’s”. Historically, SEO was a very technical discipline with a lot of canonical tags. Shady professionals overran the industry. And, why is it so confusing, because Google changes it’s algorithms often to stave of scammers.
FUNdamentals of SEO
How do I know if my SEO is working? Enter Google Analytics. Keywords and variations will help drive website traffic. Diversification is crucial, organic search, direct; referral, and social media traffic are all used along side SEO. In Google analytics go to “clear view”, here you can see “average position & clicks on your website”. SEO is: Improving the discovery of CONTENT. Standing in front of people who want what you have to offer.
Making Content Findable – World of PR and SEO
Press releases, back links, quality content, and social media all work together to bring website visits. Do not write press releases solely for links. Google now discounts/no follows links from press release syndication. As Jenny Munn stated, “PR and SEO go together like peas and carrots.”
Best Practices
Off-Page SEO/Link-building: For instance, if you are speaking at an organization or event, provide a hyperlink back to your website in your bio you will provide. Off-page SEO is not about quantity it is about quality. Are you link building? Guest posts, sponsorships, contests, videos, creating link-backs, and blogs provide link building. Asking for the link – does it compromise media/authority relationships? No, if you have a good relation with those you are asking.
On-page optimization is an art and science and is just good, solid copywriting with SEO in mind. It is the top lines of code in the title and should be optimized. An optimized page should have a minimum of 350 words on a page. Each page of your website is it’s own entity and is ranked on its own. You also should optimize your site for mobile with the correct tags. Google also ranks on how fast your page loads, it should take no longer than 2 to 3 seconds. Within the next few years, Google will start rewarding sites for their mobile access. SEO takes a few months to develop, be patient.
ABOUT JENNY MUNN
Jenny Munn is an SEO consultant who helps organizations effectively integrate SEO into the everyday marketing mix. She’s passionate about her field and believes SEO is a no-brainer for companies that want to reduce costs and increase the number of qualified website leads without a lot of additional work. Whether the goal is to keep SEO in-house or to hire an agency, she ensures organizations are empowered and educated to know what’s effective, ineffective and how to closely monitor and track progress and results. Munn has taught SEO at WordCamp Atlanta, Digital Atlanta, Solo PR Summit, Business Marketing Association, Atlanta Tech Village and various content marketing and social media organizations. Learn more at jennymunn.com.