Semantic SEO Strategy for 2017 and Beyond - An Insightful eBook on LSI & Semantic SEM

1. It’s high time to reap your online marketing harvest and sow the seeds
of your business success for the next year. The following SEO Strategy
Guide 2017 is not a Bible, but rather a scope of recommendations
and tactics that you should consider when planning your website
optimization and promotion for 2017 and beyond.
semantic
How
to do SEO
in 2017
Schema
Markup
Semantic
Keyword
Research
Content
Optimization
Technical
SEO
Audit
Internal
Links
Mobile
SEO
How to Do SEO in 2017
Semantic SEO Strategy:

2. 2
Content
Optimization
I. Manage Your Content SEO Audit
and Optimization with Semantic Search in Mind
RankBrain forever changed the way we optimize our websites content for search
engines. If, in 2015, RankBrain was used to operate and interpret 15-20% of search
queries, now Google uses RankBrain as a part of its core algorithm. Moreover it applies
its AI system for re-ranking search results. RankBrain doesn’t punish websites, but rather
elevates or demotes them by relevance. How can you optimize for RankBrain? Ideally,
you will need to learn how to read your targeted audience’s minds. But in real life,
you will need to optimize your website for LSI keywords and contextual clues instead
of standalone keywords. The more your search results are clicked through, the more
chances search engines will count it as the most relevant for searchers. In this case,
your structured data is the sure firepath to driving your potential readers. If you
are not mobile-friendly in 2017, you won’t make friends with Google and your targeted
customers. With so many hot SEO trends and Google updates, it’s hard to figure out
where to start from and what SEO and other digital marketing tools can help to chime
in with those trends. Stop procrastinating and get to work with the following tips on your
content optimization strategy for 2017.

3. 3
When we talk about User Experience optimization, the first thing you should always start
with a technical SEO audit. Technical SEO includes those areas of SEO which help
to make the searcher click on a blue link within search results, easily navigate your site,
quickly and successfully land on a page they click on, etc. To make a technically sound
and user-friendly website, you should check your website for technical SEO issues
on your site on a regular basis.
Make sure you have implemented the1. rel=canonical tag for all kinds of
duplicate versions of your site.
Fix all incorrect response status codes. If your website has any 400 errors2.
(page not found issues) or 500 errors (server issues), fix these response code
issues ASAP. If you have 404 page not found issues, optimize those pages
with navigational options or use permanent 301 redirects.
Check your website for content related issues like duplicates, long/short meta3.
tags, absence of ALT attributes etc. Use the WebCEO SEO Analysis tool to find
out your site optimization score and get tips on how to improve it.
Elevate page speed related issues to make your site fast and furious4.
in the eyes of Google and searchers. The most common ways to increase
your website speed are CSS, JavaScript and HTML minification, image
compression, browser cache leverage etc. Read the following guide in order
to give your website full throttle.
Improve your website user experience by fixing
on-page technical and content SEO issues

4. 4
Contextualize Your Keyword Research and Optimization
Keyword optimization in 2017 is still one of the key fundamentals but it will continue
to focus around the natural language used by searchers and the intent hidden behind
searchers’ query context. Semantic search will continue to spread out considering
the fact that 1 out of 5 mobile search queries in the US are voice queries. Google
constantly improves its semantic search algorithm and they are providing a lot of
recommendations to website owners on how to optimize for it, but they don’t provide
website owners with the tools which can help to learn what language searchers use
to reach their content. While we are waiting for new Google Search Analytics voice query
reporting, here are several tools and resources which will help to start your semantic
search keyword optimization.
Start by gathering your foundational keywords list. Take ideas from1.
several sources, including keyword suggestions based on your key product
keywords, synonyms of the queries which already bring traffic to your site,
and competitor semantic research. Go to the WebCEO keyword research tool
in order to get three-in-one keyword research analysis under one tool roof.
Use2. Soovle and Ask the Public which are free keyword tools to broaden your
keyword halo. These tools are awesome at giving long-tail content ideas
for your landing page optimization and for your new blog posts.
Become a denizen at Q&A forums and communities in order3.
to learn what your potential searchers ask about
and to get inspiration for a Q&A type of content
that is a perfect way to drive natural language
traffic. If you don’t yet have a FAQ page
or section on your website, start to gather
ideas and build a descriptive FAQ section.
Tip: Use Google
autofill to see what questions
are suggested. These are the
most common questions asked
by searchers. Just start to enter
your question query using your
target keyword into Google search
and autofill will suggest the most
frequently asked questions.

5. 5
What is the final objective of SEO? Not rankings, not traffic, but a conversion, the action your target
users need to complete on your site. The longer visitors stay on your site and interact with your
content, the higher the chance they will complete your desired call-to-action (СTA). How can you
increase user engagement and dwell time, i.e. the length of time spent on your site? By creating
and implementing a quality content strategy and by building a strong and logical internal link
structure for this content.
Internal link structure optimisation an on-page SEO technique, which helps to establish
semantically rich liaisons between your content assets, distribute ranking power and page
authority throughout your important pages, improve user experience and expand the dwell time.
To create an SEO and user-friendly internal link map, follow the recommendations from WebCEO.
Be sure to implement some of the key internal link strategies for the sake of better content
performance and UX:
Use descriptive anchor texts on your landing pages and link to relevant internal page1.
content that pursues topics covered on previously read pages
Make more deep links rather than always linking to top level superficial landing pages2.
like the home or contact us pages. It will help you boost the search visibility of deep
pages and speed up your new content index ability.
Avoid building too many links outgoing from one page. The more pages you link to,3.
the less authority you give away with each link; the fewer the links, the more link juice
is spread through each of the links.
Use a free Internal Links Optimization tool by WebCEO in order to analyze your internal link
anchor texts with detailed insight into your landing page authority and link juice and discover new
link opportunities for your non-linked website pages.
Improve visitors’ engagement and your content search
visibility with a proper Internal Links structure

6. 6
Improve your website SERP clickability by optimizing your
structured data with relevant and descriptive copy
In the era of digital world expansion and online content overload, digital marketers
and website owners have to fight for each searcher’s attention by providing uber-
personalized, relevant and descriptive above-the-fold content. Optimizing for organic
search rankings only is no longer an effective SEO strategy. With Google reshaping its
SERPs and adding new above-the-fold search features, you should cater to the trend and
mark up your content items to get more chances to win higher search visibility and more
clicks.
*Search features are descriptive explanatory snippets in search result pages taken from
structured data which is embedded in your website HTML code as specific meta tags for
better understanding your content by search engines.
Here are some of the best SEO tips for your structured data markup optimization:
1. Rich answers. According to a Stone Temple study, nearly 20% of all results
provided by Google are rich answers and over 73% of rich answer boxes
provided by Google include a link to a 3rd party website. Most businesses
miss out on such a competitive SEO advantage. Wrap your Q&A content
into structured, clear and simple copy. If Google finds your content precisely
relevant to a searcher’s query, you’ll most likely be chosen over other
websites. The variety of rich answer features gives you some freedom
and room for improvement. Given the fact that some of the rich answers
contain schema markup, it makes sense to optimize your microdata. Put
your questions into <H1> tags and your answer can be a step-by-step list,
bullets etc. Look at the example below:

7. You can see that the content provided in this rich answer result is well
structured and provides a direct answer to my question query. Find more
recommendations here.

8. 8
Enhance your rich snippets with2. review markup. Any kind of online or brick-
and-mortar product/service, be it international or local, can benefit from
showing reviews/ratings in SERPs. Add review mark up using schema.org
by yourself or you can use some of the automated tools like Schema App,
free Structured Data Markup Helper etc.
3. Dress your brand to the nines with the help of Knowledge Graph optimization.
A well optimized Knowledge Graph for products and personal brands delivers
a great experience by providing a targeted audience with a visual breakdown
of a site's contents from right within the Google search interface. Among the
most common Knowledge Graph entities you should optimize your microdata
for are: site name, site logo and social profile links. Use Schema.org’s
Organization (Person) markup details together with Google+ profile (business
page) optimization + Wikipedia profile in order to get the most visibility
in Google search. Note, that there is no guarantee your Knowledge Graph
Panel will be displayed to searchers. In most cases, a Knowledge Graph
is shown for the most well known companies and famous people.

9. 9
Given the fact that Google, in 2017, is planning to launch a separate mobile search
index which eventually will become the primary one, you should give mobile SEO your
best shot. It’s no longer a recommendation but a requirement from Google that your
site should be mobile-friendly. Otherwise, you will be out of sight for your potential
customers. Mobile searches have already outperformed desktop searches and it’s not
the end of the game yet. Most people repeat the so-called micro-moments using their
smartphones every single day. They surf the web for information, do shopping, ask for
directions etc. and search for reviews, and in 56% of all mobile search cases, these
micro-moments have local intent. So what can you do to benefit from optimization for
these mobile-based micro-moments? Here are some tips for you:
1. Rev-AMP your content. AMP pages are no longer just a privilege for news
websites. Now, every blogger or business owner can optimize content
to be mobile-friendly and easy-to-access even with a slow internet
connection. Here is the beginner’s guide for Google AMP Pages from KeyCDN,
which will help you convert your website pages into AMP pages.
II. Step Up the Mobile-First Search Index Game
Mobile
SEO

10. 10
2. Speed up your website content. Recently one of the Googlers officially
recommended that you keep website content load time below 3 sec.
Help your target customers reach your business in the shortest way using3.
local schema markup. If you want your target audience to find you online
or offline and buy your product/services, local schema markup is the best
and shortest way to provide them with easy-to-read directions and other
business details displayed within rich snippets and the Knowledge Graph.
Local structured data helps search engines render valuable information
like business name, address, phone number, prices, reviews, business hours,
directions and map (geo-location), offers, events and even menus and display
it to searchers in the search results interface. Note that the Google local
Possum Update changed 64% of local search results. Read more about
the Google Possum Update here and adjust your local SEO strategy following
the recommendations of a useful step-by-step guide from The Site Edge.

11. 11
III. Help Tools to Improve & Measure
Your SEO Performance
When you plan something for tomorrow, you should rest upon
your previous experience, take into account what worked best
of all and what didn’t bring any benefits. You want to measure;
we have the tools.
SEO
Performance

12. 12
If you want to dominate Google search in 2017, you have to learn now how to govern
all the online efforts you put into your website SEO and eventually see how they manifest
in your site rankings. With the high level personalization of local search and the Possum
Update change of local SERPs, plus the mobile first index rollout, tracking website
rankings has become a daunting challenge. But not for WebCEO. Use the WebCEO Rank
Tracker for accurate monitoring:
• organic rankings
• local rankings
• mobile rankings
• paid (ads) and vertical rankings (image, news)
• alternative rankings ( videos on YouTube, guest posts, social profile
rank tracking)
• competitor rankings
A Reliable Rank Tracker

13. • Sign up or sign in to your WebCEO account. Add your website URL in the
“Add New Project” wizard and configure it step by step.
How to start tracking rankings for
your website in WebCEO?
• At the Keywords stage, choose your target keywords from the compiled list
suggested by WebCEO or add your own keywords.

14. • Go to the Rank Tracking tool and configure settings to your specific needs. Here
you can add additional keywords and uncheck the predefined ones. Select the
search engines you want to monitor, including their local and mobile versions. To
see your website rankings the way your local visitors do, specify a location (city).
• Evaluate your rankings in brief and detail, using ‘Brief’, ‘Detailed’, ‘By Page’,
‘By Tag’, ‘Historical Data’ and ‘Competitor Rankings’. Each of the reports provides
in-depth insight into your and your competitors’ content performance and gives
a better understanding of what keywords your content should be re-optimized for.

15.
In 2017 a good website user experience will still remain half of the battle. The first
place you should start your user experience optimization from is technical SEO analysis
and landing page optimization, including page speed enhancement, mobile optimization
etc. The WebCEO Technical Audit + SEO Analysis tools will help with all your technical
SEO and on-page SEO analysis work.
Start with the diagnosis and fixing of technical SEO issues. Once you configure your
website with the help of the ‘Add New Project’ wizard, go to the Technical Audit tool and
see what critical SEO issues your website has and fix them.
Insightful SEO Audit Tools

16. 16
How do you measure your SEO efforts? By rankings, by Google Analytics traffic analysis?
OK, that’s good, but how can you see in Google Analytics data and your rankings report
charts which of your SEO actions or external changes (i.e. Google algorithm updates)
affect your rankings and traffic changes? Mmm, you probably can read between the lines
or keep records in your mind. But you don’t have to. WebCEO has a dedicated SEO
Journal of Events module integrated into each of its SEO tools which will have recorded
SEO activities and external factors.
With the SEO Journal of Events you can measure the direct impact of your on-page
or off-page SEO experiments which, together with Google Updates, can add milestone
notes that can better explain changes in the historical graph of your website traffic
and rankings:
An SEO Journal of Events
Now it’s time to analyze and optimize your on-page SEO. Go to the SEO Analysis tool in
order to make sure your landing page content is search engine-friendly with keyword
rich and properly optimized meta data. The SEO Analysis tool provides analysis and
helpful SEO advice on:
• On-site SEO issues overview
• Landing page overview & optimization
• Page speed
• Mobile optimization

17. 17
•
On-page elements optimization
• New backlinks gained
• New content added
• A guest blog campaign started
• A new special offer campaign launched etc.

18. Make your first record
in the WebCEO SEO Journal of Events:
• Log in or Sign Up to your WebCEO account and find the Journal of Events in
the drop down menu of SEO tools at the top of the interface. You can also
“add event” right from whatever tool panel you are working in.
• Add a new event description, set its visibility mode and check the tool reports
you want this event to be shown in.
• After a short period of time go to the ‘Historical Data’ report in your Rank Tracking
tool or in your Web Analytics reports in order to see changes in your ranking
or traffic trend graphs.

19. semantic
How
to do SEO
in 2017
Schema
Markup
Semantic
Keyword
Research
Content
Optimization
Technical
SEO
Audit
Internal
Links
Mobile
SEO
Bring Your 2017 SEO Strategy to Life with
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