LEARNING SEO FROM THE EXPERTS

Transcription

1 LEARNING SEO FROM THE EXPERTS sseo How to Master Every Aspect of Search Enge Optimization for Busess Success A publication of

2 2 Learng seo from the experts learng seo from the experts 3 IS THIS BOOK RIGHT FOR ME? Not quite sure if this ebook is right for you? See the below description to determe if your level matches the content you are about to read. INTRODUCTORY Introductory content is for marketers who are new to the subject. This content typically cludes step-by-step structions on how to get started with this aspect of bound marketg and learn its fundamentals. After readg it, you will be able to execute basic marketg tactics related to the topic. HubSpot s All--One Marketg Software HubSpot brgs your whole marketg world together one, powerful, tegrated system. M MARKETING U wsocial CONTACTS ; INTERMEDIATE This ebook! Intermediate content is for marketers who are familiar with the Get Found: Help prospects fd you onle Convert: Nurture your leads and drive conversions Analyze: Measure and improve your marketg. More: See marketplace for apps and tegrations CONTACTS DATABASE WORKFLOWS subject but have only basic experience executg strategies and tactics on the topic. This content typically covers the fundamentals and moves on to reveal more complex functions and examples. Request A Demo Video Overview n After readg it, you will feel comfortable leadg projects with this aspect of bound marketg. SMART FIELDS analytics ADVANCED Advanced content is for marketers who are, or want to be, experts on the subject. In it, we walk you through advanced features of this aspect of bound marketg and help you develop complete mastery of the subject. After readg it, you will feel ready not only to execute strategies and tactics, but also to teach others how to be successful.

3 4 Learng seo from the experts learng seo from the experts 5 LEARNING SEO FROM THE EXPERTS CONTENTS Curated by Anum Hussa Anum Hussa is an bound marketer at HubSpot focused on generatg leads for the HubSpot sales team through top-of-the-funnel marketg strategies -- visual and written content creation, social media, and bloggg. She is an active writer for the HubSpot Internet Marketg Blog, has previously written for the Boston Globe and LkedIn, and also matas her own blog as a media wizard at anumhussa.com. Follow me on KEYWORDS: UNDERSTANDING THE FUNDAMENTALS /7 anum hussa, hubspot Masterg on-page seo /12 Greg shuey, seo.com understandg off-page seo /21 rebecca churt, hubspot the right way to build lks /26 stephanie chang, distilled How social media fluences seo /38 dharmesh shah, HubSpot how to crease clicks serp /53 rand fishk, seomoz

4 6 Learng seo from the experts learng seo from the experts 7 Solve for the humans! -Dharmesh Shah gchapter 1 KEYWORDS: Search enges have become a core resource for dividuals lookg for a busess, product, or service. Over the years, onle search has reduced the need for traditional means of searchg, such as Yellow Pages. UNDERTSANDING FUNDAMENTALS Your busess needs to adapt to the changes of the new consumer searchg landscape. In the words of HubSpot CTO Dharmesh Shah, Solve for the humans! Anum Hussa, HubSpot Busesses no longer need to spend thousands of dollars on advertisg directories and magazes. Every busess with a website has the potential to get found by more customers onle through search enge optimization (SEO) and bound marketg. Whether you have already vested an SEO strategy or are just gettg started, this ebook will help you ga a stronger understandg of all aspects Share This top Ebook! SEO experts. the SEO process. The ideas, best practices, and examples all come from

5 8 Learng seo from the experts learng seo from the experts 9 SEO Basics: Understandg Keywords Once upon a time, marketers focused on strategizg which keywords to place across their web presence order to crease their rankgs a search enge results page (SERP). But the world of search enge optimization has been changg drastically -- particularly with the constant changes Google has been makg to its search algorithm over the past year. And all that emphasis you put on keyword research and selection, other words on-page SEO, is only worth 25% of what actually impacts your spot SERP. The only problem is, you can t truly master the other 75% -- off-page SEO discussed later this guide -- until you understand and master the basics. Why Do Keywords Matter? Keywords or key phrases are simply the search terms someone types to a search enge, such as Google or Bg, when they are lookg for certa formation. People are constantly usg keywords: whether they are search for a specific product or just browsg to conduct personal research. Where Can I Learn SEO from the Experts? 95% of the U.S. Internet browsg population accesses search enges each Off-Page SEO On-Page SEO month. Furthermore, the U.S. onle population makes an average of 37 search enge visits per person per month. That s a whole lot of time spent searchg various keyword and key phrase combations!

6 10 Learng seo from the experts learng seo from the experts 11 Determe Your Keywords Keywords are at the heart of SEO, and selectg the right ones can make or break your SEO strategy. Compile a list of about ten keywords associated with your product or services. Plug these keywords to Google s Keyword Tool, and fd variations that make sense for your busess. Track Your Keyword Success Now that you know what keywords to implement your marketg strategy, be sure to follow their progress and ensure they re returng the value you want from them. Let s use HubSpot s keyword tool to demonstrate how this process might look like. The software contuously analyzes your keyword performance to show you what keywords you re rankg for, what the cost-per-click (CPC) for those keywords are -- so you know how much you re savg -- and how many visits you re sendg to your website thanks to these keywords and/or key phrases. Use search volume and competition as a good measure for determg what you can easily attack. But never settle on a list of keywords, as the old ways taught. Start with a small list, but contuously adapt and analyze your choices as your busess grows and adapts.

7 12 Learng seo from the experts learng seo from the experts 13 What is On-Page SEO? In the history of search enge optimization, the rank of a piece of content CHAPTER 2 masterg on-page seo Greg Shuey, SEO.com search enge results has typically come down to two key drivers: relevancy and authority built through content on your website. When optimizg your content, focus your copy on specific keywords that match what people are searchg for onle. The first rule of on-page SEO is to thk about what your target users might be searchg for and make sure those keywords are on the page. This creases the likelihood of reachg those users as they go to Google, Bg or other search enges. That beg said, on-page SEO is basically about two thgs: 1 Pickg the best keywords around which to base each of your pages 2 Makg it clear to search enges that your page revolves around those keywords

8 14 Learng seo from the experts learng seo from the experts 15 On-Page Optimization: The Old Way Search enge algorithms rank web pages based on numerous factors. The basic premise is that a page will show up search enge results because the website has a page that mentions the searched for terms. Of course, many websites use the same keywords on the same page. Hundreds of tools are littered across the web that allow you to measure the keyword density of a page. Some of them teach that more is better. As a result, webmasters would crank out keyword-stuffed text that was not terestg and/or provided a horrible user experience. On-Page Optimization: The New Way Marketers should still be usg keywords. But rather than litterg them throughout every aspect of your page, thk about the value you want each page to provide, and which keywords match that value. And rather than repeatg the same word over and over aga, you should use a diverse set of related keywords to help you rank for a variety of long tail keywords. For example: Lk vs lks These keywords would be stuffed various places, cludg: s s s The URL The page title The meta description tag s s The on-page headgs Aggressively throughout the page content Build vs buildg Strategy vs strategies Also rank for a verity of lateral keywords. For example: Lawyer vs attorney fk k k kk Such tactics even ended up strippg out important keyword variations -- so the page wouldn t rank as well, or at all, for the related keywords. Dentist vs oral surgeon SEO vs bound marketg

9 16 Learng seo from the experts learng seo from the experts 17 The Core Components of On-Page SEO Meta Tags Meta tags are the official data tags for each web page that are found between the open and closg head tags the HTML code. The most popular Meta tags are the title tag, meta description, and keyword tag. These tags alert search enges with relevant formation describg the content of the page, which helps the search enges decide if your website is an appropriate listg response to a particular search query. Title Tags & Meta Descriptions Title tags and Meta descriptions are two of the most important tags when it comes to SEO and enticg potential visitors to click through to your website. A title tag is an HTML tag which contas a sentence of text describg the contents of its associated webpage. These tags are the first aspect of your page that a search enge crawler (crawlers are what search enges use to analyze the content of a site response to a search to then present the best results) comes across when visitg your website, so it s important to make a good first impression by optimizg them with your keywords and brand. Titles generally run about 77 characters, so make sure to easy each character wisely. Meta descriptions are what appear on SERP describg the content of the page beg lked to. While these descriptions are not used by the search enges to determe relevance, they are used by your visitors to determe said relevancy and entice them to click thk about when you search! You almost always read the description of each lk before decidg to click, right? Or at least skim. Make sure you clude your keywords and the ma call-to-action right this description. TIP: Meta descriptions generally run about 160 characters. Don t only use those characters well, but stick to that limit so that when the description appears Google it s not cut off with ellipses!

10 18 Learng seo from the experts learng seo from the experts 19 Content On-page content is a critical component of onpage SEO. Content is what the search enge crawlers need to associate your page with a set of keywords and/or key phrases. Without it, crawlers are left the dark as to what your page is about. When buildg your content, it s important to remember to give the crawlers enough to bite w to. A hundred words typically isn t enough copy for these crawlers to read and understand what the content is about. And this content shouldn t be stuffed with keywords either, as some search enges (as you ll learn later sections) punish websites for keyword stuffg. Instead, you should write about your product or service or idea naturally, and let your keyword variations naturally fall to place. If that doesn t happen, go back and sprg some variations to the content so that the same message gets across, just optimized! Localization Where appropriate, you should add localization. This is extremely important to busesses who offer products and services to a specific geographic region. If you are an attorney, you ll want to have a page of content set up for each location you service. When buildg your content, you ll want to clude localized keywords so that the search enges know you have offices and operate certa locations. Quick Action Items for Local Busesses If you are a local busess, be sure to optimize your location easily and quickly with the followg tools: s s s.google Places.Bg Local.Yahoo Local Listgs Streamle Your SEO Efforts To help keep track your on-page optimization efforts, HubSpot built an easyto-use template that you can download here. Use it to contuously improve your on-page SEO, makg it a streamled process so it can become tegrated to your natural route.

11 n STRATEGY EASILY IMPLEMENT 20 Learng seo from the experts learng seo from the experts 21 On-PAGE SEO Are you trackg every Facebook teraction you have with your leads? HubSpot not only lets you track every click on a lk a social message, it also lets you use that data to compile lists of fluencers who you can communicate with to power your SEO efforts through social lks! REQUEST A DEMO READ MORE CHAPTER 3 understanding OFF-PAGE SEO Rebecca Churt, HUBSPOT Bloggg Software & Analytics: Create and measure your blog. SEO Tips: Get Automatic on-page SEO tips as you create blog posts. Content Conversion Analysis: See which of your posts generate the most leads and convertg the most leads and customers.

12 22 Learng seo from the experts learng seo from the experts 23 What is Off-Page SEO? Off-page SEO is all about buildg onle authority trust and reputation for your website. Off-page SEO has long been defed by the quantity, quality, and relevance of lks to your website that establish your SEO authority and ultimately fluence your search results rankg. Authority historically was established as other websites lked to you; buildg your lk portfolio. The problem, however, was that authority was almost entirely defed by just lks. Essentially, off-page SEO used to be a fancy word for gettg more lks, but now it should focus on earng lks through multiple channels stead. Understandably, it will require a paradigm shift to stop thkg about offpage as just lk buildg and stead as lk earng. Your site s authority is only partly based on analysis of the sites that lk to you. Off-page SEO is more than just lk buildg (lk buildg itself will be discussed more the next chapter). The way you diversify authority for your website is through the conversations people are havg about your brand and the references they make to it. A diversified lk portfolio should look somethg like what I detail throughout this chapter. Lk Buildg Lk buildg is essentially the practice of buildg bound lks to help give your website authority. The modern efforts of earng lks are discussed more the next chapter. Compellg Content Yes, optimizg for off-page SEO is still about content marketg. After all, without content it s hard to earn those lks. The best way to earn relevant lks from other sites to yours is to create unique, relevant content that can quickly ga popularity onle, particularly with your target audience. The more useful, relevant and compellg your content is, the greater the chances someone else will fd that content valuable and lk to it. Your content must align with your target audience that persona that surmises your ideal customer. Content must also be authentic and unique, and ultimately solve a problem or answer a question. That content then also should be easily sharable which combed with solid on-page SEO best practices makes for awesome lk bait. Lk Bait: Any content that is created for the purpose of attractg multiple readers & promptg those readers to reshare or lk to that content.

13 24 Learng seo from the experts learng seo from the experts 25 Co-Marketg Social Media Co-marketg defes the efforts of lots of cross promotg, networkg and community buildg. It s a partnership between two or more companies which both companies jotly market each other s content, products or services. The great thg about co-marketg is, like the idea with guest postg, that you have access to another company s social networks, prospects, leads and/or customers, which ultimately creases your reach. And what better than to have one or more companies brag about the content that you are creatg, especially sce it benefits them too? It s brilliant. Social media hasn t always been on the radar as part of off-page SEO. When it first came to surface it was often beg used appropriately (still is by some today). Users or busesses thought to basically spam social networks and followers stead of puttg real thought and work behd it. To them social media was just one more way to get lks. Social media some way is the new forums or blog commentg with an opportunity to have real conversations. Read more about how social media impacts SEO the chapter by Dharmesh Shah! g ' g ' ' g g PR When you thk of PR you may thk of it as just an announcement that blasts multiple new sources. However, well planned and optimized PR can be awesome for your SEO efforts. PR should promote genue and ethical dialogue driven content to improve a brand s organic search enge results. Effective PR outreach should clude more than the traditional publication channels. Your strategy should clude outreach to bloggers, dustry fluencers, and social media leaders.

14 26 Learng seo from the experts learng seo from the experts 27 Why Search Enges Care About Lks Search enge algorithms rank web pages based on numerous factors. CHAPTER 4 THE RIGHT WAY TO BUILD LINKS The basic premise is that a page will show up search enge results because the website had mentioned the terms that were beg searched for on the website page. Of course, many websites use the same keywords on the same page. But order for search enges to determe how these pages should be ranked, they take to consideration two major factors: 1 The quantity of lks that pot to that page and site. Stephanie Chang, Distilled 2 The quality of lks that pot to that page and site. The more trustworthy your page appears to be, the higher your page will rank search enge results (See search rankg factors for more details).

15 28 Learng seo from the experts learng seo from the experts 29 The Value of A Lk The value of a lk serves two major benefits: 1 Lks crease the authority and trustworthess of a page to search enges, which creases the overall authority of that website. 2 Lks help search enges connect the relevancy of a page with specific keywords -- based on the keywords that are used a lk s anchor text. Anchor text is the clickable text on a hyperlk. For example, let s say hypothetically a page was lked to one of the followg ways: The Wrong Way to Build Lks The itial purpose of search enges countg the quantity and quality of lks lkg back to any webpage was to ensure that only those pages providg valuable and trustworthy content to their users would be ranked highly the search enge results. Unfortunately, this provided opportunities to game the system and fd easier, quicker solutions to build massive quantities of lks back to webpages order to rank highly for different search results. To better understand the true power of lk buildg, let s review the sneaky and quick lk-buildg tactics some sites employed, and how search enges developed algorithmic changes to combat it. ' Bob s Hardware Store versus ' Buy power tools at Bob s Hardware Store The second lk with the targeted keyword power tools will likely rank '' ' higher the search enges.

16 30 Learng seo from the experts learng seo from the experts 31 1 Directories 2 Paid Lks The Problem with Directories A good directory s tent is to categorize the ternet to different categories/subcategories, while providg lks to good websites those categories. Although there are legitimate directory websites, many were built solely for the purpose of buildg lks back to webpages without consideration of lk quality. This is the wrong way to build lks. How the Search Enges Fixed It Several studies have shown that the past year, search enges (especially Google) have started removg free directories from their dex. This means that the lks gaed from those directories are no longer counted towards a website s overall lk quality/quantity count! This also implies that relyg on directories to build lks to a website is a short-term strategy -- especially sce Google has started takg action on both directories and the websites that have relied on this tactic to rank highly the search enge results. The Problem with Paid Lks Paid lks are lks garnered exchange for payment. They may clude a larger network of lk buyers and sellers usually volvg a lk network or a group of low-quality sites that lk to a specific webpage to crease the authority of a website. Other times, there may be a reciprocal lkg program, where a group of websites lk to one another. Paid lks are like payg someone to be your wgman to impress a girl rather than havg a genue friend by your side who can vouch for how great you really are! How the Search Enges Fixed It All the aforementioned methodologies go agast search enge guideles, specifically Google s Webmaster Guideles, and can result severe consequences. Search enges are able to spot these types of lk buildg activities by detectg website registration connections or fdg websites that follow specific lkg patterns.

17 32 Learng seo from the experts learng seo from the experts 33 3 Article Marketg Consequences of Low-Quality Lk Buildg Tactics The Problem with Article Marketg Article marketg volves writg one unique article, and then rearrangg the words to transform that one article to multiple versions. This rearranged article will then be placed on different, usually low-quality article sites with highly optimized anchor text lks. This tactic helped a website from beg penalized by search enges for duplicate content (the exact same content across lots of different sites), and boosted both page strength and relevance. There are signs that low-quality lk buildg tactics, such as the three just mentioned, will rema a short-term strategy. It s clear that search enges don t like rankg websites that take actions purely for the purpose of rankg and not for benefit of the user s experience. Or Dharmesh Shah s words, for the humans. Over time, search enge algorithms have also become creasgly complex to fight what search enges view as spammy tactics that try to game their system. How the Search Enges Fixed It The search enges now identify low quality content through user engagement, and by correlatg website features. Networks of sites where you can place this kd of content are even easier for them to identify. As a marketer, the primary warng sign should be sites where you can post your content with no editorial oversight from the website owner. SEO is not about optimizg for search enges, it s about optimizg for humans. -Dharmesh Shah

18 34 Learng seo from the experts learng seo from the experts 35 Google s Search Algorithm Over the past two years, there have been advances to search enge algorithms that specifically target websites volved these low-quality lk buildg strategies. Google has launched two major algorithmic changes. 1 Panda Panda was designed to target low-quality sites, such as article marketg sites. This update was significant because it affected approximately 12% of all search results and shifted the viability of low-quality content sites who had depended on these lk buildg tactics as their busess model. 2 Pengu Pengu targeted over-optimized websites, such those that had too much keyword-based anchor text -- especially from low-quality sites. It also further targeted sites volved lk buildg schemes, such as the ones previously mentioned. The Right Way to Build Lks Modern lk buildg focuses on high-quality, origal content that provides value to users and corporates an volved audience. Although this type of lk buildg isn t easy nor quick, it is the best safeguard agast future search enge algorithms, as authoritative, wellmanaged websites are the type of sites that search enges want to see rank highly their results. High-quality, unique content on a website that builds lks can come many forms, such as: Company Blogs Write appealg content that other people will WANT to lk to. Visual Content Powerful, unique, or even comical, images lead people to lk to your website. This cludes video content as well! Both Pengu and Panda are periodically refreshed. These major algorithmic changes force sites to focus on organic methods for garnerg lks.

19 s MAKE SURE YOUR 36 Learng seo from the experts learng seo from the experts 37 Product Launches SITE GETS FOUND Buildg anticipatg around a product launch spires people to talk about your busess, which can lead to lks to your site. Guest Bloggg Creatg valuable content for other websites provides an easy to lk back to your busess -- be sure to provide the guest site with beneficial content, and don t bury the entire post lks. Lk buildg can also come from buildg a targeted and volved community. The more regular visitors a site has, and the more passionate those fans are, the more likely webpages will be read, shared, and lked to. A perfect example is My Starbuck s Idea, where users can pitch ideas about the next Starbuck s offerg. You don t need to hire a SEO expert -- just listen to the experts this guide and own SEO yourself! HubSpot s built- search enge optimization makes it easy to pick the right keywords and fd lkbuildg opportunities that crease your website s search rank. REQUEST A DEMO READ MORE Keyword Analysis: Fd and track your most effective keywords. Lk Trackg: Track bound lks and the leads they re generatg. Page-Level SEO: Diagnose and fix poorly rankg pages.

20 38 Learng seo from the experts learng seo from the experts 39 How Social Media Influences SEO CHAPTER 5 how social media fluences seo As mentioned earlier this guide, SEO has a lot to do with relevancy and authority. But recently, thgs have changed a bit. More and more, search enges have begun to corporate social context to their search results. And it s high time we dived to what role social context is playg SEO, and how marketers can adjust their strategies to match the changg character of search. So without further ado, let s get to the nitty gritty of what s beg called social search and learn how it affects marketers. Dharmesh Shah, HUBSPOT

21 40 Learng seo from the experts learng seo from the experts 41 What is Social Search? Social search is an evolvg term for the way which search enges factor a user s social network -- also referred to as social graph -- to how results are displayed after a search query. In social search, content that has a social connection to you some way is prioritized. A social connection could mean someone you are lked to via Facebook, Twitter, or any other major social network. Alternately, some forms of social search prioritize content that has been shared by social media fluencers, even if those experts aren t directly tied to you. Examples of Social Search 1 Google+ Your World In early 2012, Google unveiled Google Plus Your World, a unique tegration between Google search results and the Google Plus social network that, when activated, prioritizes content that has been shared or received a +1 by your Google network. In addition to Google Plus Your World, Google social search results from multiple networks are now mixed throughout your results based on their relevance; and content with ties to your network are displayed with a higher relevance than their counterparts. Searchers only see social search results when they are logged to Google and have their social networks connected. ' ' '

22 42 Learng seo from the experts learng seo from the experts 43 2 Bg Social Search 3 Facebook Social Search In summer of 2012, Bg announced a new version of its search enge. It cluded an entirely new layout that closely tegrates a searcher s social network to the results displayed for a given search term. Accordg to Bg, the social results -- which clude the ability to directly ask advice from your Facebook network -- complement the standard search results without compromisg them, offerg you the chance to start a conversation and get advice from your friends, experts and enthusiasts right with the search experience. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has dicated that he s terested launchg a social search enge powered by Facebook user activity. He explaed, Search enges are really evolvg towards givg you a set of answers like, I have a specific question, answer this question for me. And when you thk about it from that perspective, Facebook is pretty uniquely positioned to answer a lot of the questions that people have. Accordg to Zuckerberg, Facebook handles close to 1 billion search queries per day already. Many of these searches are for dividuals or company pages, but the potential exists for quiries related to decision-makg or reviews.

23 44 Learng seo from the experts learng seo from the experts 45 Social Search and Inbound Marketg Even if the social search playg field hasn t been completely defed yet, one of the key takeaways from the early actions of Google, Bg, and Facebook is that as marketers, we need to start seeg our search enge optimization strategy and our social media strategy as utterly tertwed. Here s how you can do just that. Step 1 The best way to come out on top of social search is to have a fully tegrated marketg platform where social media and SEO are fully lked. Ha, of course we d say that -- we sell that platform. Truly though, havg a blog with built- social sharg and as-you-type SEO recommendations defitely helps. With or without that kd of technology, however, there are some steps you can take to leverage the growg use of social search. Make sure your social media tools are formed by your SEO tools. Audit Your Existg Strengths Take a look at your top rankg and most shared content. Is there overlap? If you ve found a type of content that is simultaneously strong search and frequently shared, it s worth optimizg that content even further. Update Company Profiles If, as the example above, I search Bg for Inbound Marketg, a few thgs will happen. 1) Bg will give me traditional search results. 2) Bg will show me friends who have written or shared bound marketg content. 3) Bg will brg People Who Know who clude the keyword bound marketg their profile or frequently shared content. For the latter circumstance, it doesn t hurt to put your ma keywords as part of your company s profile onle. The combation of that profile and the strength of your content and shares will add up.

24 46 Learng seo from the experts learng seo from the experts 47 Make Your Top Keywords Social Step 2 Fd and encourage your social media fluencers. Make a list of the keywords for which you want to rank highly. Does the content you share on social media and your blog cover those keywords? Zero on one or two of your most desirable keywords and fd ways to make content under those keywords more shareable. At a bare mimum, clude social sharg buttons on your content. Beyond that you may want to experiment with encouragg social sharg through pay-by-tweet downloads or usg easy share lks throughout your posts, like The reason social is such a natural extension of search is that it adds both relevancy and authority. Thk about this: Accordg to Nielsen Research 92% of consumers worldwide trust recommendations from friends and family more than any form of advertisg. This is up from 74% As recommendations from peers become more proment onle, the fluence they levy will weigh more heavily to activity on search and social sites combed. For this reason, it s wise to start thkg of your company or organization s fans as extensions of your bound marketg team. this example.fk Fd Your Influencers k Spend some time to get to know the people who consistently share your content. Pull together a list of contacts with more than a thousand followers k kk and a history of engagement your content. Knowg your social media fluencers will help you expand your reach onle and ultimately crease the rate at which your content gets found onle.

25 48 Learng seo from the experts learng seo from the experts 49 Nurture Your Influencers Once you ve discovered your evangelists, thk about ways to nurture and encourage them. At the simplest (and possibly most meangful) level, fd a way to thank them for spreadg the word about your company. As a second step, consider vitg them to a special open-house or providg them sneak peeks of upcomg news or announcements. The HubSpot software allows you to easily compile a smart list of social media fluencers order to nurture through communication. Step 3 While there are a few core prciples at work social search, dividual factors will contue to develop the near future. As you re considerg the social channels you use, thk about the role each plays your search enge of choice. Watch for changg factors social search. Don t Rule Out Google+ When Google+ first entered the social media space, many marketers wondered if it was really worth divertg marketg attention to yet another social network. Forbes magaze s Paul Tassi even wrote it a eulogy last year. But when the parent company of said social network is the biggest search enge the world and starts to tegrate its content to search results, it s worth dippg a toe the water. My advice? Take these quick steps to create and optimize your Google+ page and then experiment with may even be illegal. Note: Be careful when nurturg your fluencers that you are not offerg them benefits exchange for talkg about your company. That s not boundy at all and really questionable, ethically. In fact, some cases, it how content does on it.

26 50 Learng seo from the experts learng seo from the experts 51 Don t Rule Out Bg Not only did Bg account for 30% of all searches the sprgof 2012, Bg also has a more diverse social search offerg than any other search enge. With Facebook, Twitter, Quora, Klout and Foursquare tied, Bg may give social active companies an edge. Keep Your Facebook Pages Active While search is clearly not Facebook s primary purpose yet, Facebook does have a team of engeers, cludg former Google engeer Lars Rasmussen, workg on an improved search enge for the site. Futhermore, data from HubSpot s social media scientist Dan Zarrella even shows that there s a relationship between Facebook shares and lk buildg -- a major aspect of off-page SEO! Step 4 Years ago, when HubSpot first started teachg people about search enge optimization, one rule was essential: Above all else, create good, useful content. The rest will follow. From Panda to Pengu, and everythg else you ve learned from the previous experts, search has changed quite a bit the last few years, but that cardal rule has held strong. Even with the rapidly growg fluence social sharg has on search results, the good news is if you re creatg good content, you re already half-way there. Useful content is by nature more search-friendly than salesoriented content. It is also more likely to be shared. The creasgly formal relationship between search and social is really just a natural extension to what has always been true -- content that is relevant and can be trusted as authoritative will contue to drive both your search and social media marketg. Remember the golen rule.

27 LET SOCIAL MEDIA 52 Learng seo from the experts learng seo from the experts 53 FUEL YOUR SEO ^Are you trackg every Facebook teraction you have with your leads? HubSpot not only lets you track every click on a lk a social message, it also lets you use that data to compile lists of fluencers who you can communicate with to power your SEO efforts through social lks! REQUEST A DEMO READ MORE CHAPTER 6 how to crease clicks SERP Rand Fishk, SEOMOZ lists based on social teractions Lookup: Automatically look up social formation for your leads. Listen: Listen to chatter and track clicks on all of your social posts. Segment: Segment your leads based on the social activity. Trigger: Trigger s, update profile formation, and adjust your

28 54 Learng seo from the experts learng seo from the experts 55 The Search Rankg Myth Historically, traffic from search enges has been about a very sgular pursuit -- that of rankgs. While you want to land on the first page, there s much more to optimizg for SERP placement. Higher rankgs lead to more clicks and visits from terested searchers, and that search traffic is uniquely valuable because of its high relevancy and timeless -- people search when they re terested or ready to perform an action. However, the last few years, the relentless focus on rankgs alone has ignored the reality of change the world of search results, and the value of clickthrough rate (CTR). G s The Value of Rankg CTR Today, queries don t just return a list of ten blue, ordered lks. They return results with images, videos, profile pictures, and all manner of meta data that help searchers choose the best result. Rankg #1 years ago brought ~40% of the traffic to a particular query results page. Today, that figure is less than 20%. Meanwhile, rankgs lower positions have gaed some of those clicks. Here s a few reasons why: google+ IMAGES DATE

29 56 Learng seo from the experts learng seo from the experts 57 Improve Rank CTR with Author Images In order to see an author image appear Google search, you need to have authorship. Here s how to do it: 1 2 Make sure your Google+ profile page has a profile photo that is a recognizable headshot. Make sure you have an address (for example, jdoe@hubspot. com) on the same doma as your content (hubspot.com). If you don t have an address on the same doma, Google has an alternative method for lkg your content to your Google+ profile. Learn how here Furthermore, make sure that byle name matches the name on your Google+ profile. Visit Google s Authorship page, and submit your address to Google. Regardless of the number of articles you publish on this doma, you ll only need to go through this process once. In the About section of your Google+ profile, make sure the profile discovery box, Help others discover my profile search, is checked. 3 4 In the About section of your Google+ profile, add that address so it s easier for Google to associate your Google+ account with your doma. In addition, make sure each article you publish on that doma has a clear byle identifyg you as the author (for example, By John Doe or Author: John Doe ). Once Google approves your authorship request, your Google+ profile will update with the doma on which you re a content contributor the Contributor to section of your Google+ profile. By default, it will also automatically make your address visible to the public. If you want to keep your address private on your page, you can change its visibility here. You may also receive an confirmation from Google once your request for Authorship has been approved.

30 58 Learng seo from the experts learng seo from the experts 59 The Holistic View of Search Rankgs When optimizg for search traffic today, marketers can t thk just about rankgs, they need to be holistic their approach to the visibility and appearance of listgs. Google+ author profiles, as explaed, can make headshots appear alongside descriptions. Video XML Sitemaps can be used to show a video capture image. Rich snippets protocols can be applied to e-commerce listgs for pricg, availability, quantity and other consumerfriendly details. And these are only the tip of the iceberg. s Conclusion and additional resources A marketer who dives deep on this topic can fd dozens of opportunities to enhance their listg and earn more traffic. Because these days, it s not enough to rank. Marketers need to earn their clicks.

31 60 Learng seo from the experts learng seo from the experts 61 yellow pages s START TRACKING YOUR SEO SUCCESS The world of search began a long time ago. Where we once upon a time used Yellow Pages as our search tool of choice, we ve now transitioned to search enges. Take your search enge optimization to the next level and fd out how many leads and customers your SEO efforts are reelg. Get a free demo of HubSpot s sofware to fd out! And after readg through each chapter this guide, you should have a start-to-fish understandg of every aspect of search enge optimization. One thg to keep md, though, is that all this won t come together with a snap of a fger! Tackle one chapter at a time. Start by understandg what SEO volves and what it takes. Then work on on-page SEO until it s fully tegrated to your efforts. After that, you can expand on your SEO strategy with off-page tactics and truly start seeg the full picture come together for success. Happy optimizg!