My presentation given on the various tools in the SEO world at the Minnesota Search Association inaugural event.

1. TOOLS OF THE TRADE:
SEO EDITION
Taylor Pratt
VP of Product Marketing
@RavenPratt

2. SLIDES AVAILABLE AT:
SLIDESHARE.NET/RAVENTOOLS

3. Reporting
Tracking/Analysis
Campaign
Research
THE SEO TOOLS PYRAMID

4. Reporting
Tools
Analytics Conversion
Tools Tools
PPC Social Media Link Building
Tools Tools Tools
Content Keyword Research Site Structure Competitor Analysis
Tools Tools Tools Tools
THE SEO TOOLS PYRAMID

5. WTF
Taylor?! Reporting
Tools
Analytics Conversion
Tools Tools
PPC Social Media Link Building
Tools Tools Tools
Content Keyword Research Site Structure Competitor Analysis
Tools Tools Tools Tools
THE SEO TOOLS PYRAMID

6. SEO
Social $$
PPC

7. CONTENT & KEYWORD
TOOLS

8. WHAT TO LOOK FOR
• Keyword Tools • Content Tools
• Data sources • Content creation?
• Easy list building • Anchor text checker
• Tagging • Duplicate content checker
• Insights • Content reading level

9. KEYWORD DATA SOURCES
Check multiple data sets as they pull from different sources

10. KEYWORD INSIGHTS
Measuring strength of competition and likelihood to convert.

11. FINDING KEYWORD INSIGHTS
• Look at both organic and paid keyword referrals
• Sort by engagement metrics (bounce rate, conversions, pages/
visit, time on site)
• Which keywords show users highly engaged? Are you
targeting them yet?

12. Percentage of U.S. Clicks by Number of Keywords
Subject September ’10 October ’11 Change
One word 23.23% 27.23% +4%
Two words 24.02% 23.85% -0.17%
Three words 19.97% 19.12% -0.85%
Four words 13.61% 12.83% -0.78%
Five words 8.23% 7.47% -0.76%
Six words 4.51% 4.03% -0.48%
Seven words 2.58% 2.21% -0.37%
Eight+ words 3.85% 3.26% -0.59%
KEYWORD LENGTH IS DROPPING
Source: Hitwise

13. CONTENT CREATION
Good content is worth paying for.

14. CONTENT / ANCHOR TEXT ANALYSIS
Site crawlers are great for analyzing anchor text

15. SITE STRUCTURE
TOOLS

16. WE’VE ALL GOTTEN SLOPPY

17. REMEMBER THESE TWO
THINGS:
1. Living Standard HTML & Semantic Elements
2. Structured Data (specifically, microdata)

18. Semantic CSS
No
<div class="yellow curved">
<p>Help...</p>
</div>
Yes
<div class="helpbox">
<p>Help...</p>
</div>

19. Living Standard HTML

20. Semantic Elements
http://raven.im/obswfn
nav, header, footer,
section, article and aside

22. http://html5boilerplate.com

23. schema.org
Microdata schemas for people, products, events,
organizations, movies, books, reviews and much more

25. http://schema-creator.org

26. COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
TOOLS

27. raventools.com/competitive-seo-analysis/
A method and a checklist for a complete competitive
analysis in four easy steps.

28. But, if I could give you a few quick tips/ideas...

29. QUICKLY ANALYZE THEIR ON-SITE SEO STRATEGY
Recommended tool: Screaming Frog

30. ANALYZE BACKLINK PROFILE
Recommended Tools: MajesticSEO, OSE & Raven

31. When it comes to competitor monitoring you’ll need
to turn to your social media tools...

32. SOCIAL MEDIA
TOOLS

33. MONITORING IS YOUR
FRIEND
• Track
keyword and competitor brand searches for link
opportunities
• Discover easy-to-setup links from your own brand mentions
(that didn’t include a link)
• Discover evangelists to help endorse your product/service
• Find new communities to participate in
• Find great content/link bait ideas

34. $150/mo $775/mo $99/mo
Based on Usage Free Based on Usage
THE MAJOR PLAYERS

35. EVENT TRACKING IN GA
Your secret social media weapon!

36. PPC TOOLS

37. GOOGLE ADWORDS
• Use to check keyword volume estimates
• Use to assess keyword quality (will people convert?)
• Use to discover new keyword ideas

38. LINK BUILDING
TOOLS

39. THE USUAL SUSPECTS

40. LINK RESEARCH TOOLS
• Drop My Link - http://dropmylink.com/
• Helps you create search queries to find links
• Ontolo - http://ontolo.com/link-building-tools
• Variety of management and research tools
• LotusJump - http://www.lotusjump.com/
• Link research software

41. NON-TRADITIONAL TOOLS
• HARO
• Respond to journalist requests
• Quora
• Find journalists who list titles in their profiles
• Topsy
• Find conversations about a specific link
• Sponsor conferences, contests and associations

42. ANALYTICS
TOOLS

43. http://gaconfig.com

44. The problem with most marketers when it comes to
analytics....

45. They aren’t being creative enough

46. The key to successful SEO measurement is
asking questions!

47. A few tips for maximizing analytics value...

48. ANALYTICS TIPS
• Categorize your goals
• Example goal categories:
• General (conversion rate)
• Transactional (cost per transaction)
• Visibility (rankings)
• Region-specific (conversions in Minnesota)

49. CONVERSION
TOOLS

50. USABILITY HUB
THECLICKTEST.COM
• $20/mo & up
• Access to:
• FiveSecondTest
• NavFlow
• ClickTest
• Public or private tests

51. FEEDBACK ARMY
FEEDBACKARMY.COM
• $20/test
• Ask questions to users
• Get 10 responses
•8 Days to get feedback

52. VISUAL WEBSITE OPTIMIZER
VISUALWEBSITEOPTIMIZER.COM
• $49/mo and up
• Easily modify your pages
• A/B & split tests
• Google Analytics integration
• Real-time, multiple conversion reports

53. 4Q SURVEY
4Q.IPERCEPTIONS.COM
• $19/mo and up
• Online survey tool
• Asks visitors to rate experience
• Google Analytics integration

54. THANK YOU!
@RavenPratt
slideshare.net/raventools