POLEMIC D I G I T A SEO: Competing With The Big Travel Sites Barry Adams Polemic Digital

POLEMIC D I G I T A Barry Adams

POLEMIC D I G I T A Agenda 1.How Does Google Work? 2.Content Marketing for SEO 3.Local SEO

POLEMIC D I G I T A 1. How Does Google Work?

POLEMIC D I G I T A Google’s Search Engine Three distinct processes: 1.Web Crawler 2.Indexer 3.Query Engine

POLEMIC D I G I T A 1. Web Crawler Spiders the web;  Starts with list of pages from previous crawls and XML sitemaps Identifies and follows links Retrieves new and changed content Access can be restricted

POLEMIC D I G I T A 2. Indexer Analyses content Analyses links Analyses webpage layout Can be controlled (to an extent) with meta tags

POLEMIC D I G I T A 3. Query Engine Tries to understand the intent of the search;  User context  Synonyms  Entities Retrieves relevant pages from the index Ranks pages based on;  Content relevance  Authority signals  Freshness

POLEMIC D I G I T A Relation to SEO Crawler = Technical SEO Make your site easily crawlable Indexer = On-page Optimisation & Content Ensure your site is relevant and up to date Query Engine = Content & Linkbuilding Make your site authoritive and trustworthy

POLEMIC D I G I T A 2. Content Marketing for SEO

POLEMIC D I G I T A Google search: ‘dublin hotels’

POLEMIC D I G I T A Google search: ‘dublin walking tours’

POLEMIC D I G I T A Lessons: Don’t go head-to-head. Use content to compete intelligently. Capitalise on your speciality.

POLEMIC D I G I T A Content Marketing Strategy 1.Set Objectives 2.Define Your Audience 3.Create a Content Calendar 4.Plan Your Content Promotion 5.Engage With Your Readers 6.Measure & Refine

POLEMIC D I G I T A Matching Content with Search Intent Write content to match search intent at various stages of the sales funnel Top of the Funnel – Looking for information Top Attractions in Northern Ireland Best Places to visit in Derry Irish Heritage Tour Destinations Northern Ireland Golf Trips Middle of the Funnel – Narrowing down what you want Belfast Walking Tours Derry’s must-see sights Northern Ireland Historical Sightseeing Northern Ireland’s Best Golf Courses End of the Funnel – Ready to go Belfast luxury hotel map Cheap hotels Derry city centre Hotels near Giant’s Causeway Best Golf Hotel Resorts Northern Ireland

POLEMIC D I G I T A The Long Tail Source:

POLEMIC D I G I T A Site Structure Homepage Category 1 Category 2 Subcategory 2.1 Subcategory 2.2 Service Service Blog Blog article 1 Blog article 2 Fat Head keywords Chunky Middle keywords Long Tail keywords Optimise For:

POLEMIC D I G I T A Align your content with SERPs Universal Search: Google including different types of search elements in its SERPs, such as...  Images  Videos  News  Local businesses  In-depth articles  Knowledge Graph ...

POLEMIC D I G I T A Universal Search

POLEMIC D I G I T A Universal Search News Images Knowledge Graph

POLEMIC D I G I T A Types of Content Text  On-page text, Blogs, Articles, Guides Images & Graphics  Photos, Infographics, Wallpapers Video  How-To’s, Events, Reviews Interactive  Apps, Surveys, Games

POLEMIC D I G I T A Types of Content Text  On-page text, Blogs, Articles, Guides Images & Graphics  Photos, Infographics, Wallpapers Video  How-To’s, Events, Reviews Interactive  Apps, Surveys, Games Google Web Search Google Image Search Google Video Search, YouTube Google Web Search

POLEMIC D I G I T A Text content

POLEMIC D I G I T A Images & Graphics

POLEMIC D I G I T A Video

POLEMIC D I G I T A Interactive

POLEMIC D I G I T A Persistence pays off Content will not rank instantly It takes time to build relevance & authority

POLEMIC D I G I T A 3. Local SEO

POLEMIC D I G I T A

POLEMIC D I G I T A Google Hotel Finder Source:

POLEMIC D I G I T A

POLEMIC D I G I T A Google My Business

POLEMIC D I G I T A Optimising for Local SEO NAP: Name, Address, Phone;  Need to match across all online listings  Incl website, directories, Google business page, etc.  Mark up with Structured Data Customer reviews;  More = better  Don’t have to be on Google+ (but is preferable) ‘Classic’ SEO authority & trust signals.

POLEMIC D I G I T A Summarised…

POLEMIC D I G I T A Beating the Big Boys… Understand what Google is looking for in your website. Use the right content to attract visitors at the right stage in the sales funnel. Optimise for local search.

POLEMIC D I G I T A Thank