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SEO Overview

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by Steph Smith

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@stephsmithio

  • SEO is fundamental to building something that lasts
    • Incorporating SEO concepts into your thinking helps you come up with better topics, write better articles, and create things people want
    • With social, you may want to grab their attention. With Google, you want to solve their problem.

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  • SEO = Search Engine Optimization
    • Matching search query <> result
    • Giving people what they are looking for

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  • Learning SEO = Learning how to identify and provide value

SEO as Inspiration

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What Matters for SEO?

@stephsmithio

  • Relevancy
  • Quality
  • Credibility
  • Usability

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Search Intent: Classification

@stephsmithio

  • You need your article to match the intent of the results on that particular page (matching the user’s query)
  • Sometimes a SERP has ambiguous intent, but this is a minority of searches

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@stephsmithio

1A: Navigational

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@stephsmithio

1B: Informational

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@stephsmithio

2A: Transactional

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2B: Informational

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2C: Navigational

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@stephsmithio

  • Google is signaling what users want through its results page
    • Ranking results indicate intent of page
    • Even if you have great quality article, backlinks, etc, if you are not addressing the user intent, you will not rank
    • Even if Google tests it, user engagement metrics will indicate this to Google (CTR, bounce rate)
  • Keywords Everywhere is powerful for that very reason

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Listen to Google

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@stephsmithio

Keywords Everywhere = Gold

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@stephsmithio

Niche Keywords > Broader Keywords

  • Easier to get intent right
  • Less competition
    • Number of results
    • Strength of results
  • Exponential diminishing returns 
for rankings
  • You need to check the likelihood
of being able to rank there 
(based on intent, DA, links)

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Not All Search Volume is Equal - Ex 2

@stephsmithio

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