SEARCH MARKETING

Search Engine Optimization (“SEO”): Audit, Strategy and Implementation Plan

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If you talk to many SEO specialists, they’ll propose a plan that consumes a huge part of your marketing budget. That’s not my approach. The clients I work with want to increase organic traffic using SEO, but it’s only part of their marketing plan, not the majority of it.

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So the first SEO work I do with clients is to determine what benefits they can gain from a good SEO program and, therefore, how big the program should be. I want to help clients make a right-size investment in SEO- one that aligns with their business objectives. It usually takes months to start to see the impact of SEO work, but the return-on-investment can be huge so it’s often worth tackling.

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Here are the stages for most SEO engagements. 1) Analyze the best opportunities. 2) Fix technical glitches on the website that might prevent Google from indexing the site’s content. 3) Build new content that contains the right keywords to match common searches. 4) Find ways of building inbound links. 

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How does SEO work?

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SEO is based on the way the Google algorithm works- the computer-based logic that determines which content is most relevant to each search. And while we don’t know exactly how the algorithm works - it’s a closely held secret- we do have enough insight to take steps that improve the likelihood that your content gets more visibility.

​According to search engine marketing authority Moz, there are several main factors affecting the visibility of website content on Google:

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• The content on your website- how much is there and is it relevant it is to a search?

• The technical structure of your website- is it easily indexed by Google?

• The quantity and type of inbound links to your site- do they show that your site is trustworthy and relevant?

• The speed and security of your site- does it offer a fast and safe user experience, especially on mobile devices?

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​Why website content and speed matteR

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Google’s mission is to deliver fast, relevant search results to people. That means that when you enter a search like “bike shop Philadelphia,” Google aims to provide a list of search results that are as close to exactly relevant to that search query as possible. So they want any websites that appear in this search, especially on the first page of search results, to have lots of bikes, to be in Philadelphia, and to present the user with a fast, satisfying user experience at the website especially on their smartphone, the device that more and more searchers use.

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So let’s look at factors that might prevent your Philadelphia bike shop website from appearing on page one of search results for this search.
 

• Your site is not secure. In other words, it doesn’t have HTTPS designation for your domain.

• Your website is built in such a way that Google can’t easily zip from page to page indexing your content on its servers.

• Your site loads slowly because you have lots of big images and bloated code.

• Google can’t immediately tell if your shop is in Philadelphia.

• Your site has fewer pages of bike content than some other Philadelphia bike shop websites.

• Your site doesn’t have many links from relevant sites reinforcing the trustworthiness of your content. 

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To increase your site’s chances of appearing on page one of Google for this search, the site needs to meet the requirements described above. 

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​The importance of linking

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Think of the internet as a big spider web with connection points where strands come together. Some of those connection points are at crucial junctures where many strands join. Those are critical nodes. Your website can become one of those critical nodes if it has lots of links to other important sites. When it becomes a critical nod, its visibility rises. That’s why links are so important.

​Now that you see what factors may affect your content’s visibility, how do you fix those? J. Walker Marketing can perform an analysis that shows the best opportunities for rising in the search rankings. Then you can decide which areas you’re ready to address based on your marketing goals and your budget.

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​Sample Report: On-Page SEO Checker

This is one part of a larger SEO report. It evaluates the on page SEO opportunities in areas like backlinking, content and technical improvements.​

Experience, Expertise and Platforms

J. Walker Marketing offers Advanced Google Analytics Certification. Digital platforms commonly used in these services include:

• Google Analytics

• Google Data Studio

• Google Search Console

• SEMRush