SEO

SEO

1. User Intents

   • Informational - Searching for info
     • 'Know'
   • Navigational - Searching for a specific website
     • 'Website'
   • Transactional - Searching to buy something
   • Accomplish a goal
     • 'Do'
   • Visit a local business
     • 'Visit in person'

2. KPIs

   • Sales
   • Downloads
   • Email Sign-ups
   • Contact Form Submissions
   • Phone Calls
   • Local KPIs
     • Clicks-to-call
     • Clicks-to-website
     • Clicks-for-driving-instructions

3. Search Engines

   • Crawling
     • Robots.txt
       • https://moz.com/learn/seo/robotstxt?_gl=1..
       • A text file that instructs robots how to crawl a page
       • Make sure not to block a crawler’s access to pages with other necessary directives on, such as canonical or noindex tags. Googlebot won’t be able to see the instructions on that page.
     • GoogleBots / Crawler bots
       • If googlebots can't find a robot.txt for a site, it proceeds to crawl
       • If googlebot finds a robot.txt file for a site it will usually abide and crawl the site
       • If googlebot finds an error accessing robots.txt and can't determine if one exists or not, it won't crawl
       • Ensuring content can be found
         • Googlebots cannot access content behind login forms
         • Googlebots cannot use search forms
         • Googlebots cannot read text in non-text media forms e.g. Images, Videos, GIFs - only within <HTML>
         • Googlebots use internal links to navigate your site from page to page
     • Crawl Budget
       • The average number of URLs Googlebot will crawl on your site before leaving
       • Crawl Budget optimization reduces the likelihood googlebot will waste time crawling unimportant pages instead of important ones
       • More important for large sites with thousands of URLs
     • URL Parameters
       • A feature in Google Search Console that tells google exactly how to treat your pages
       • E.g. - in E-commerce the same content is available on multiple URLs through appending parameters to URLs (/mens/green/shirt). These duplicates can be removed from SERPs
     • Sitemaps
       • A list of URLs on your site that googlebots can use to discover and index your content
       • Don't replace the need for good site navigation, but can help crawlers follow a path to important pages
     • Crawl Errors
       • 4xx Codes
         • When a crawler cannot access your content due to client error
         • The requested URL contains bad syntax or cannot be fulfilled - e.g. URL typo, deleted page or broken redirect - when crawlers hit a 404 - they can't access the URL
       • 5xx Codes
         • When a crawler cannot access your content due to a server error
         • The server the web page is located failed to fulfil the request to access the page - these typically happen because the request for the URL timed out with the crawler abandoning the request
     • Redirect Chains
       • 301 Redirect
         • A status code meaning a page has permanently moved to a new location - acting as a bridge to cross from old URL to the new
         • Avoid redirecting URLs to irrelevant pages - if you 301 to a URL with different content it may drop in rank position because the content that made it relevant to the initial query is no longer there
       • 302 Redirect
         • A redirecting page for temporary moves
       • Too many redirects make it difficult for Googlebots to reach your desired pages
   • Indexing
     • Google stores and organises crawled content. Once a page is in the index, it is in the running to be displayed on SERPs
     • Removal from the Index
       • Either through a page deletion 404 or a 301 redirect that was not set up
       • The URL had a noindex meta tag added to omit it from the index
       • The URL has been penalized for violating the search engine's Webmaster Guidelines
       • The addition of a password requirement for visitors would block the URL from crawling
     • Cached version of your page
       • The cached version of your page will reflect a snapshot of the last crawl. Viewable by clicking "Cached" drop down next to URL in SERP
       • You can also view a text-only version of your site to determine if your important content is being crawled and cached effectively
     • Robot Meta Directives - 'Meta Tags'
       • Instructions given to search engines regarding how you want your web page to be treated - only affecting Indexing (bots must first crawl your page to see directives)
       • Directives are executed via Robots Meta Tags in the <head> of your HTML pages
       • Most Common Meta Tags
         • noindex - Tells the engine whether the page should be indexed or excluded from SERPs but still accessible to visitors. Often used when trying to trim thin pages from the index e.g. user generated profile pages
         • nofollow - tells search engines whether links of a page can be followed and pass link equity through to those URLs
         • noarchive - is used to restrict search engines from saving a cached copy of the page. Search Engines maintain visible copies of all indexed pages, accessible to searchers through the cached link on SERPs. This feature is useful for e.g. Ecommerce sites where info and prices change regularly - a noarchive tag would prevent outdated pricing from being visible
       • X-Robots-Tag
         • Provide the same directives as Meta Tags but within the HTTP header of your URL. Allows a larger scale of directives using regular expressions, blocking non-HTML files and applying sitewide noindex tags
   • Ranking
     • Links
       • Backlinks - Links from other websites that lead to your website
       • Internal Links - Links on your own site that lead to other pages within your wesbite
       • PageRank is a part of Google's core algorithm dealing with link analysis. Essentially the more relevant, important and trustworthy a web page is, the more links it will have earned
       • The more natural backlinks you have from high authority (trusted) websites, the better chance you have to rank higher within search results
       • Anchor Text
         • The visible clickable text in a hyperlink - that helps indicate to SE the content of the destination page
         • Types of Anchor Text
           • Exact-match - If it includes a keyword that mirrors the page it is being linked to e.g. 'link building' to a page about link building
           • Partial-match - If it includes a variation of the keyword on the linked to page e.g. 'link building strategies'
           • Branded - A brand name used as Anchor text
           • Naked Link - A URL that is used as an Anchor
           • Generic - A generic word or phrase that is used as a Anchor e.g. ' Click Here'
           • Images - Whenever an image is linked Google will use the text contained in the image's alt attribute as an Anchor Text
           • 'Rich Anchor Text' - is simply Anchor Text containing desirable keywords
       • Link Volume
         • Link Equity
           • A search engine ranking factor based on the concept that links can pass value and authority from one page to another
           • Dependent factors include: The linking page's authority, topical relevance, HTTP status
         • The more links that are on a page, the less equity it can pass to it's destination page - as well as too many being overwhelming to navigate
     • Content
       • Keywords
         • Seed Keywords
           • Your product or services and the topics of your other website pages
         • Keyword Difficulty
           • The higher the search volume for a keyword or keyword phrase the higher the difficulty to achieve. SERP features can also 'clog' up the results page increasing the difficulty
           • Popular keywords with very high search volumes may even indicate ambiguous intent. – targeting these terms could even risk drawing visitors to your site whose goals don’t match the content your page provides
         • Long-Tail Keywords
           • More specific, typically lower competition search terms that make up a longer phrase
           • Long tail keywords with lower search volume often convert better because searchers are more specific and intentional in their searches.
         • Competitors
           • A good idea to prioritize high-volume keywords that your competitors are not currently ranking for or on the flip side, you could also see which keywords are working for your competitors and prioritize those.
         • Seasonal Keywords
           • Keywords affected by seasonality e.g. the 'Christmas Box Spike' oct - dec
         • Keywords by Region
           • Strategically target a specific location by narrowing down your keyword research to towns, counties, or states in the Google Keyword Planner or evaluate interest by subregion in Google Trends. – geo-specific research is important as regional terminology can have an impact.
         • Keyword Modifiers
           • e.g. what, how, where, who - these help us to understand user intent
       • Low Value Tactics
         • Thin Content
           • Creating pages for every single iteration of your keywords in an attempt to rank higher for highly specific keywords and regions
         • Duplicate content
           • Refers to content that is shared between domains or between multiple pages of a single domain
         • Scraped Content
           • Unauthorized use of content from other sites. This can include taking content and republishing as-is, or modifying it slightly before republishing, without adding any original content or value
         • Cloaking
           • Hiding text in the HTML code of your website that a normal visitor can't see vs what a crawler can see - in some cases hidden text is allowed
             • https://moz.com/blog/google-css-javascript-hidden-text?_gl=1*tnzapx*_up*MQ..*_ga*ODEzNTMxNzI0LjE3MTUyNjgzNDI.*_ga_QLCPR2NDVP*MTcxNTI2ODM0Mi4xLjAuMTcxNTI2ODM1MC4wLjAuMA..*_ga_DS7K9Q3S5W*MTcxNTI2ODM0Mi4xLjEuMTcxNTI2ODM1MC4wLjAuMA..
         • Keyword Stuffing
           • Adding too many keywords at the expense of quality content
     • RankBrain is the machine learning component of Google's algorithm. If it notices a lower ranking URL providing a better result to users than higher ranking it will adjust those results, moving the more relevant results higher
     • Engagement Metrics
       • Data that represents how searchers interact with your site
       • Clicks - (Visits from search)
       • Time on page
       • Bounce Rate - The percentage of all website session where users only viewed one page
       • Pogo-sticking - Clicking on an organic search result and then quickly returning to the SERP to choose another result
     • Localized Search
       • Google My Business
       • SEO considerations for a business that has a physical location customers can visit
       • Localized search results have 3 main factors to determine ranking
         • Relevance - how well a local business matches what the searcher is looking for
         • Distance - Google uses geo-location to better serve local results. It also uses any locations specified in the search query (organic search results are also sensitive to searcher location but not as much as in local pack results
         • Prominence - Google looks to reward businesses well known in the real world. but also includes:
           • Reviews - the number of Google reviews a local business receives and how positive they are
           • Citations - A 'business citation' or 'business listing' is a web based reference to a local business "NAP" (Name, Address, Phone Number) on a localized platform e.g. Yelp. Google refers to the number and consistency of these listings as well as information from other sources like links and articles
           • Organic ranking - SEO best practices also still apply to local SEO, since Google also considers a website's position in organic search results when determining local ranking
           • Local Engagement - Google enriches local results with real world data like popular times to visit, and average length of visit and gives searches the opportunity to ask the business a question
     • On Page SEO
       • Header Tags
         • An HTML element used to designate headings on your page.
         • The main Header Tag called an H1 is typically reserved for the title of the page. Each page should have a unique H1 that describes the main topic of the page and should contain that page's primary keyword or phrase.
         • Avoid using header tags to mark up non-heading elements such as navigational buttons and phone numbers - header tags are used to introduce what the following content will discuss
         • Sub-headings
           • These go from H2-H6 tags, with a descending order of importance
       • Link Accessibility
         • Links must be directly accessible on the page - e.g. navigation drop down menus can obscure them from being crawled
       • Image Optimization
         • Images can often slow web pages - image compression is the best way to solve this
         • - If your image requires animation, use a GIF
         • - If you don’t need to preserve high image resolution, use JPEG (and test out different compression settings)
         • - If you do need to preserve high image resolution, use PNG
         • - If your image has a lot of colors, use PNG-24
         • - If your image doesn’t have a lot of colors, use PNG-8
       • Alt Text
         • Text within images used to describe to visually impaired users and used by Crawlers to better understand and provide context
       • Image Sitemap
         • Ensures google can crawl and index your images they may have otherwise missed
       • Title Tags
         • A descriptive HTML element that specifies the title of the web page
         • Each page should have a unique, descriptive title tag. This will show up in SERPs although google may adjust your title tag across different search results
         • Effective Title Tags include:
           • Keyword Usage - Having your target keyword in the title gives an overview of its content to users and crawlers. Putting these closer to the start makes them more likely to be seen
           • Length - SERPs generally display the first 50-60 characters (512 pixels). If your title exceeds this...but you may go longer within reason
       • Meta Descriptions
         • HTML elements that describe the contents of the page they are on. In SERP this will be the description beneath the Title Tag
         • Like Title tags the meta description shown on the SERP may change depending on the search to make it more relevant. Although google say they are not a ranking factor they are very important for click-through-rate
         • Effective Meta Descriptions
           • Relevance - to the content of your page, summarising its key content but not giving away so much that it eliminates the need for the user to click through your web page
           • Length - SE tend to truncate meta descriptions to around 150 characters. Its best to write meta descriptions to around 150-300. On some SERPs google gives more space for descriptions e.g. for web pages ranking right below a featured snippet
       • URL Structure
         • Uniform Resource Locator
         • URLs are displayed on SERPs meaning the name and format of your URL can impact click-through-rates as well as being used by crawlers
           • Clear Page naming - SE require unique URLs for each page on your website this also helps searchers understand what the specific URL is about. URL is a minor ranking factor and your priority should be your users
           • Page Organisation - If discussing multiple topics on your site, you should avoid nesting pages under irrelevant folders. The folders you locate your content can also send signals about the type, not just the topic of your content. E.g. dated URLs can indicate time sensitive content for news-based websites but dated URLs for evergreen content can make the information seem outdated
           • URL Length - Studies indicate searchers often prefer shorter URLs - being concise with your page names and removing unnecessary subfolders makes your URLs easier to copy and paste, and more clickable
         • Keywords in URL - if your page is targeting a specific term or phrase, make sure to include it in the URL - but avoid stuffing
         • Static URLs - avoid the overuse of parameters, number and symbols
         • Hyphens as Separators - Not all web applications accurately interpret separators e.g. underscores _ plus signs or spaces. SE also do not understand how to separate words in URLs when they run together without a separator. Use hyphens - to separate words in a URL
         • Case Sensitivity - Sites should avoid case sensitive URLs. If you have a lot of mixed case URLs there are tools available to automatically uppercase URLs lowercase
         • Geographic Modifiers in URLs - It is vital that local business website URLs make mention of city, neighbourhood and other regional descriptors where relevant
         • Protocols - the s in https stands for secure. Google recommends all websites have this. You must obtain an SSL (Secure Sockets Layers) certificate. These are used to encrypt data
   • 'SERP Features'
     • Paid Advertisements
     • Featured Snippets
       • Informational
     • 'People also ask' boxes
     • Local (map) pack
       • Local
     • Knowledge Panel / graph
     • Sitelinks
     • User behaviour indicates that some queries are better satisfied by different content formats, different SERP features match and are triggered by different types of search intent

4. NEXT to expand

   • Crawl Budget -
     • how does googlebot going through all the pages make it more likely to miss the important ones when robots.txt exist?
   • Robot.txt
     • Canonical and noindex tags
     • What benefit is there from Robots.txt dictating the speed in which a URL is crawled?
   • URL parameters
     • How are they different from Robot.txt - are they just broader parameters that affect multiple pages across a site?
   • Crawling
     • Why does having duplicate URLs e.g. sort and filter parameters for e-commerce lower your SEO ranking?
     • 4xx Codes
       • What is bad syntax or 'cannot be fulfilled'?
     • 5xx Codes
       • What makes a request for a URL take so long it times out?
   • Indexing
     • Do meta tags only prevent from being indexed while still crawling? How do they work?
     • What is caching?
       • https://www.arimetrics.com/en/digital-glossary/cache#:~:text=In%20Digital%20Marketing%2C%20caching%20is,every%20time%20you%20log%20in.
       • Cache vs index
         • https://www.sitepoint.com/community/t/what-is-the-difference-between-indexed-page-and-cached-page/87937
     • What is Link Equity?
   • HTTP and HTML in meta tags and x robot tag - what is meant by 'regular expressions'?
   • Links
     • Images - Whenever an image is linked Google will use the text contained in the image's alt attribute as an Anchor Text