CREATING AN SEO STRATEGY: 2017 AND BEYOND MARCH

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Leona Norman
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1 CREATING AN SEO STRATEGY: 2017 AND BEYOND MARCH

ABOUT NETELIXIR OUR TEAM: 100+ fanatically analytical search marketers, operating in three countries. OUR PARTNERSHIPS: We are a Preferred Partner of both Google and Bing.

2 ABOUT NETELIXIR OUR TEAM: 100+ fanatically analytical search marketers, operating in three countries. OUR PARTNERSHIPS: We are a Preferred Partner of both Google and Bing. OUR VALUE: We combine our expertise and our proprietary technology to help businesses get found, convert visitors to customers and acquire gamechanging consumer insights. 2

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ABOUT HALA ALI SEO Manager at NetElixir Hala Ali has been in the digital marketing field for more than a decade and specializes in SEO with a focus on

4 ABOUT HALA ALI SEO Manager at NetElixir Hala Ali has been in the digital marketing field for more than a decade and specializes in SEO with a focus on midsized retailers. Prior to joining NetElixir, Hala worked with leading pharmaceutical firms and sites like Club Wyndham. 4

5 4 INTERACTIVE SESSIONS (2PM ET, EVERY DAY) Tuesday 3/14: The 2017 State of SEO Wednesday 3/15: Adopting a Mobile-First SEO Philosophy Thursday 3/16: The Role of User Experience and Web Development in SEO Friday 3/17: Building a Winning Retail SEO Strategy

6 FREE MINI-SEO AUDIT

7 PHASE I: UNDERSTANDING THE SEO PATH Before creating an SEO Strategy understand what SEO can do for your business The SEO strategy must be based on your brand voice and corporate culture.

8 What is the quantification of SEO?. QUESTION TO THE AUDIENCE: WHAT TYPE OF TRAFFIC DO YOU WANT? Is it more beneficial to focus on keyword based SEO strategies that increase ranking in SERP s? Or Is there more strategic gain to increase the traffic through brand awareness and quality of the website?

9 RESEARCH ON IMPACT OF SEO (Baye et al, Dec 2015), Search Engine Optimization: What Drives Organic Traffic to Retail Sites? suggests that in the current landscape it is not necessary to be a big brand name to succeed in SEO however, consumers must perceive your brand as one that is of higher quality.

10 SEO success depends on quality of the website and the brand awareness of the site helps in increasing the click through rate both directly and indirectly. HOW DO YOU ACHIEVE SEO SUCCESS? The direct impact is obviously the consumer interaction with the website. The indirect effect emerges from search engines giving better ranking to the brand websites and creating a social network. Demographics play an important role on search optimization as well. The retailers brand equity increases as the perceived quality of the website creates a form of brand awareness.

11 The first is obviously the rank of the ecommerce website within the search results. UNDERSTANDING WHAT DRIVES ORGANIC CLICKS The statistics show that if the retailer is not within the range of the first 5 pages the clicks are reduced by 90%. Every 1% improvement of ranking leads to 1.3% improvement in click through rate for organic clicks. The secondary value of brand quality is search engines prefer brands versus the unknown ecommerce retailers.

12 SERP: BRAND VS SEO Here we see search results of the word dresses the number one SERP is Lulus.com however, the website is SEO d but not branded. The second SERP result is the well known department store Macys.com. Which will be the more likely to get clicked on?

13 BRAND OR SEO? In SEO ecommerce retailers will never get an advantage they can sustain through only ranking improvements. They will only be participants in the zero sum game defined by Wikipedia as: a mathematical representation of a situation in which each participant's gain or loss of utility is exactly balanced by the losses or gains of the utility of the other participants.

14 BRAND VALUE IS THE PATH TO SEO SUCCESS For long term SEO growth, brand equity becomes the underlining value of success of the retailers' SEO strategy.

15 If you are interested in creating a successful SEO strategy answer these questions: Are you looking for immediate short term growth or long term sustainable growth? HOW DO RETAILERS CREATE AN SEO STRATEGY FOCUSED ON BRAND? Do you have the budget to sustain growth and foster the changes necessary in a dynamic SEO environment where there are up to 200 algorithm changes annually? Do you have a myopic tactic in mind i.e. manipulating the search engines until they catch up with you or are you focused on growing your business consistently? Finally and the most important: Do you have the vision and patience to successfully navigate the SEO landscape of today?

16 CREATING A SUSTAINABLE SEO STRATEGY With rankings being fickle it makes more sense to focus on long term sustainability of SEO. Algorithms are changing to make the UX better so focus only on your user. Forget the ranking and forget the position change. If your strategy focuses on the factors of SEO like page titles that have a brand voice and descriptions that optimize brand value, while integrating elements of keywords then sustainable advantage is gained. Be technically optimized in terms of website architecture. Understand every other retailer will be aiming for the same competitive edge. To gain the competitive advantage, your business website has to stay ahead of the algorithm curves.

USER EXPERIENCE: THE FOCAL POINT Google advises businesses to base:...optimization decisions first and foremost on what's best for the visitors of your site.

17 USER EXPERIENCE: THE FOCAL POINT Google advises businesses to base:...optimization decisions first and foremost on what's best for the visitors of your site. They're the main consumers of your content and are using search engines to find your work. Focusing too hard on specific tweaks to gain ranking in the organic results of search engines may not deliver the desired results. Unlike SEO efforts designed to improve rankings in a search engine, SEO efforts to improve a retailer's brand equity can improve the clicks it receives from searches in these other channels.

CREATING THE SEO STRATEGY: BROAD VIEW Once you understand that SEO in 2017 cannot create a sustainable advantage through the keyword approach you will be well on your

18 CREATING THE SEO STRATEGY: BROAD VIEW Once you understand that SEO in 2017 cannot create a sustainable advantage through the keyword approach you will be well on your way towards SEO success. So what do you focus on when creating the SEO strategy? 1. Rank of Keywords 2. Brand Voice 3. Demographic Understanding 4. Attribution of SEO

19 RANK OF KEYWORDS Focusing on competitive keywords that have high search volume will not provide your consumers with the right value proposition. Search terms should be chosen for their value (CTR, ROI) The retailer value for ranked keywords will emerge from search queries that identify your Unique Selling Proposition that sets you apart from your competition. Research has proven that the narrower search query provides better value than the broader search term.

20 BRAND VOICE Research has shown that when consumers are actively searching for a specific shopping product they are more likely to focus on brand related searches. That us why it becomes essential to create a positive brand voice for the consumer. However, while users familiar with a brand may focus on brand searches; users who search within specific category segments search for brands within the category. What does this mean for the small and mid-sized retailer? Retailers should create a three tier SEO strategy. Focus on the brand keywords e.g. Brand Name keyword Focus on long tail keywords e.g. work dresses Focus on head keywords e.g. dresses

21 DEMOGRAPHIC UNDERSTANDING Know your Audience: It is essential to know your audience and speak to them in the correct voice. Age Demographics: Research suggests that the age group tends to click more on the paid ads in search engines while more savvy users between tend to click more on organic results. Paid User: The digital strategy should then be tailored in a way that when the paid as is clicked the user goes to a specific landing page that speaks to that specific age demographic. Organic User: When users click on the organic rankings the SEO strategy should be optimized such that specific search queries allow the consumer to land on the corresponding landing page within the website.

22 SEO ATTRIBUTION: HOW DO YOU DETERMINE YOUR SEO PROGRAM'S REAL PERFORMANCE?

Can the search engines find your website? Search engines need quality content to find your website Optimize your content with proper meta data Is the website accessible for indexing?

23 Can the search engines find your website? Search engines need quality content to find your website Optimize your content with proper meta data Is the website accessible for indexing?. Content has to be user friendly and written is semantic language (Rank Brain) The site should be technically optimized for changing algorithms. MEASURING THE IMPACT OF SEO Can people find your content? Marketing of the website through paid ads and social media. Is the UX good? UX When Users come to the website they should stay and interact. User Friendly site architecture Is the website valuable for search engines? There should be a consistent brand voice Social media mentions Natural back links to content No technical errors

24 DISCOVERABILITY OF YOUR RETAIL WEBSITE Discoverability has to be understood as an eco-culture, not just a form of technology. Impact of the various channels must be understood and the impact resonance then maximized within the SEO strategy. To achieve this discoverability and maximize on the value, retailers must think beyond keywords when thinking of SEO. They must see SEO as the link to all aspects of digital advertising. The shift has to be towards creating a culture of discoverability and then working towards cohesively binding the various digital channels to create one roadmap towards success.

25 ROADMAP FOR A PRACTICAL STRATEGY What is the role of the SEO agency? How do you start the process of SEO with an SEO agency? What is the advantage of a SEO agency?

26 THE SEO AGENCY WILL Help you identify the technical issues your website may have in terms of accessibility and indexing. Do the competitive research and identify the search queries and optimize the website for the relevant queries. Keep SEO consistent with the brand voice. Keep you updated with all algorithm changes. Create relevant data attributions to track ROI for organic search.

27 NO REALLY, WHAT CAN AN SEO AGENCY DO? The SEO agency will conduct an audit and identify the SEO roadmap moving forward.

28 CASE STUDY SEO Technical Audit: Citation and Trust Flow Back-link Analysis Organic Traffic Comparative Traffic Sources Mobile Audit Mobile Audit Analysis Importance of Speed and Performance Snapshot Algorithm Impact Graph Algorithm Impact Analysis

29 CITATION FLOW AND TRUST FLOW

30 BACKLINK AUDIT

31 YOY COMPARISON

32 KEYWORD DECLINE

33 TIME OF DECLINE AND EFFECT ON REVENUE

34 ALGORITHM IMPACT

35 MOBILE AUDIT ANALYSIS Development Issue NetElixir Client Google Baseline Java Script 42 <10 (not including pixels) Page Weight MB CSS 8 <5 Images 62 <30 Font Total

36 ALGORITHM ANALYSIS Various Google Algorithm updates have taken place in the past few years. Tracking the effect of the algorithm on the traffic for the client can identify any automatic or manual penalties. Penguin: Looking at the graph we see that the traffic dropped early Jan/Feb That is around the time a Penguin update took place penalizing spam links. This could have been one cause of the decline (traffic does not immediately decline after an algorithm update as the algorithm rolls out even before any announcement). Secure site: Dec 2015 saw the introduction of the HTTPS algorithm check and could have been a cause of the further drop in traffic. Though no penalties are being given preferences are set for https sites. Another update took place late Panda: There was some recovery seen when some structural updates took place but the Panda roll out around July 2015 again gave the site a negative hit. The algorithm is automatic now and not manual so any negative effects can easily be improved.. Penguin/Mobile: The flatline growth can further be attributed to the next Penguin 4.0 update and the mobile first update both of which began to be rolled out during spring/summer of 2016.

37 SEO STRATEGY ANALYSIS

Custom Strategy: The best way to conduct a custom analysis is understanding your customer? Why do they choose your website?

38 HOW TO IMPROVE THE TRUST AND CITATION SCORE Competitor Based Strategy: Identify the key competitors and analyze their links. Where do they have the quality links coming from? What type of links are they? Are they from within your targeted demographics? Custom Strategy: The best way to conduct a custom analysis is understanding your customer? Why do they choose your website? What differentiates you from other companies? Based on the information gathered use tools like Buzzstream.com and other content curating tools to identify the authority bloggers and socially active figures in the industry (Twitter, FaceBook, Pinterest etc.) and reach out them to guest blog.

website. Ascertain the toxic links and the potential links that may cause harm.

39 IMPROVING THE BACK-LINK PROFILE A complete analysis of the back-links has to be done. Compile through various tools and manually the current back links to the website. Ascertain the toxic links and the potential links that may cause harm. Compile and create a disavow file to be uploaded in Google and Bing Webmaster consoles.

Google webmaster guidelines has to be used as the baseline and scripting and development improved.

40 HOW TO IMPROVE THE ORGANIC TRAFFIC All technical issues with the website have to be cleared. As an example there are various HTML issues, JSS improvements and image optimizations to be made. Google webmaster guidelines has to be used as the baseline and scripting and development improved. An in-depth audit has to be done to identify issues beyond those listed. On page strategy should be improved targeting specific keywords for specific landing pages. Content strategy needs to be implemented. On page content must be refreshed.

41 MOBILE AUDIT Mobile First is the key to growth and organic success. The website must meet the baseline performance values for Google to ensure growth. The client must focus on mobile users and move forward with a mobile first web-design. Speed and performance on mobile must be improved.

ORGANIC GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES Mobile organic positions Desktop organic positions Desktop & Mobile Search

Mobile First Algorithm Change requires a focus on mobile rankings as well, with the number of mobile

Mobile & Desktop ranking positions are often not the same As Mobile First rolls out in 2017, Mobile

42 ORGANIC GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES Mobile organic positions Desktop organic positions Desktop & Mobile Search Emphasis Organic keywords have significant room for growth with our current SERP rankings and positions Mobile First Algorithm Change requires a focus on mobile rankings as well, with the number of mobile searches rapidly increasing, and even surpassing, desktop searches. Mobile & Desktop ranking positions are often not the same As Mobile First rolls out in 2017, Mobile Optimization is progressively becoming more important. Google will soon penalize desktop sites in the SERP for not having a mobile optimized design

2017 Goals Ensure optimized mobile first user experience, and overall user experience (as SEO is progressively becoming more about Search Experience

across all marketing channels, including paid Use analytics to understand user experience, behavior, patterns and research/competitive analytics to

43 2017 Goals Ensure optimized mobile first user experience, and overall user experience (as SEO is progressively becoming more about Search Experience Optimization) PRIORITIZE WEBSITE REDESIGN & MOBILE FIRST Expand organic traffic share with industry targeted landing pages Ensure a smooth transition across all marketing channels, including paid Use analytics to understand user experience, behavior, patterns and research/competitive analytics to gauge our industry position & how to expand further Minimize traffic decline by taking all precautionary steps throughout the redesign and transition process

EXPANDING ORGANIC TRAFFIC SHARE Analytics and Insights Needed to better understand the customer journey Research and analysis resources needed for analyzing competitors, industry, user experience

44 EXPANDING ORGANIC TRAFFIC SHARE Analytics and Insights Needed to better understand the customer journey Research and analysis resources needed for analyzing competitors, industry, user experience Identifying key opportunities via competitor analysis of keywords that we can optimize for and may have missed out on (custom flags for example, this can be done across other channels as well) Better optimization of meta tags Analysis of landing pages that lost the most organic traffic (how does this compare to direct and referral also?) Were changes made to these pages that caused the dip? Google Analytics to be annotated for all website changes, major and minor (for NetElixir and HPB) Seasonal trends that we can expect traffic to fluctuate Pruning indexed pages Identifying strategic link building opportunities Constant Monitor of backlinks Competitive link building for opportunities Better Internal Linking Structure

EXPANDING KEYWORD TARGETING Opportunity to target high search volume keywords and expand our visibility and market share in organic search Examples of search

45 EXPANDING KEYWORD TARGETING Opportunity to target high search volume keywords and expand our visibility and market share in organic search Examples of search queries listed to the left along with current position, search volume & keyword difficulty index Search volume varies dependent upon mobile and desktop search

46 HOW DO WE MEASURE SUCCESS FOR SEARCH MARKETING? Overall integrated traffic trends marketing channels work together to support each other as shown in conversion paths Combination of Direct, Referral & Organic Traffic Sessions, Transactions & Revenue (Overall) Month over month and year over year Broken down by individual channels as well Quarterly look at details of top referral paths Organic Visibility - Number of keywords ranking on a monthly basis in: Top 3 Top 10 Top 20 Top 100 (vs competitors for our target keywords) Keyword Ranking Reports Benchmarking in GA - Industry Growth Compared to Competitors

We basically recommend a focus on Acquisition Campaigns to drive new traffic to website.

47 OUR RECOMMENDATIONS Based on the website and competitor analysis we strongly recommend to leverage Facebook to drive more traffic and conversions. We basically recommend a focus on Acquisition Campaigns to drive new traffic to website. Retargeting Campaigns to convert the traffic to customers Engagement Campaigns to build a stronger and loyal community on Facebook

48 DAILY AND WEEKLY ACCOUNT SERVICES/TASKS MONTHLY Deep dive into technical aspects of the website Technical Audit Content generation for the website in place of on-page recommendations Content Generation LSI Keywords Generating links from quality websites Articles for the blog Keyword Density Analysis Detailed Backlink Audit Increased pace in removing toxic backlinks Link Building Page Load Speed Analysis

49 FREE MINI-SEO AUDIT

50 Join the conversation:

Did you know that SEO increases traffic, leads and sales? SEO = More Website Visitors More Traffic = More Leads More Leads= More Sales

1 Did you know that SEO increases traffic, leads and sales? SEO = More Website Visitors More Traffic = More Leads More Leads= More Sales What is SEO? Search engine optimization is the process of improving