On July 20th we held an SEO webinar for Pepperjam affiliate publishers to discuss current SEO events, basics, and 7 actionable tips they can begin doing immediately to begin ranking better in organic search results.

1. 7 Simplistic SEO Tips for 2017
7/20/2017

2. Introduction
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• SEO Director
• Digital Marketing Expertise since 2005
• A passion for analytics and technical SEO
• Bragging rights:14 digital marketing certifications
http://www.linkedin.com/in/swebermarketing
Steve Weber
Email: sweber@pepperjam.com

3. Agenda
• Cover 7 Simple Tips To Improve Your SEO
• Answer Your Questions

4. What is SEO?
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SEO is Search Engine Optimization
It is otherwise called Organic Search or Natural Search:
• Our goal is to optimize websites so that they rank well in the free
listings of search engines.

5. Yes, SEO Is Still Important
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• 1.17 billion people use Google for search
each month
• 2.7 million blog posts are published every
day
• 15% of all queries searched were never
searched before.
• There are more than 2.3 million Google
searches per minute.
• More than half of Google searches come
from mobile devices.
• https://www.google.com/insidesearch/howsearchworks/thestory/index.html
• http://www.businessinsider.com/google-search-engine-facts-2016-3
• http://www.slideshare.net/NewsCred/50-best-stats-presentation/
• http://www.socialfresh.com/marketing-statistics-every-cmo-should-know-in-2014/
• https://searchenginewatch.com/sew/study/2355020/organic-search-accounts-for-
up-to-64-of-website-traffic-study

6. Remember: Search engines are in
business to deliver the BEST result.

7. Tip 1 – Stay Current With The State Of SEO In 2017
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• Top 3 ranking signals are released by Google: Links, Content, and the RankBrain machine learning
algorithm
• Google is slowly rolling out their mobile first algorithm. All ranking factors will be based on the mobile
version of your landing pages
• Google now displays up to four paid search ads above organic queries for “highly commercial queries”
• Google have officially released their confidential quality raters guidelines, and it includes an entire section
about user intent on a mobile device
• HTTPS is getting promoted in both search engines and browsers
• 2017 Algorithm Update – The Penguin 4.0 algorithm is released “in real time.” This Algorithm is focused
on spam and paid backlinks
• 2017 Algorithm Update – The Fred Update is said to affect sites not following Google’s quality guidelines

8. Tip 2 – Swear Off The New “Fred”
Algorithm Update!
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Google’s Quality Guidelines:
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35
769?hl=en&ref_topic=6002025
"Following the General Guidelines below will help
Google find, index, and rank your site.“
All of your page’s content must add value to your
visitors!
Gary Illyes is a webmaster trends analyst at
Google. His tweets are helpful for understanding
SEO. He tweeted that there are no problems with
affiliate links. The problem is when a site’s sole
purpose is to be a “shallow container for affiliate
links.”

9. Tip 3 – Content Creation Can Begin With Research
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1. https://moz.com/explorer
2. http://adwords.google.com/keywordplanner
3. http://www.google.com/insights/search/
4. http://advertising.microsoft.com/small-business/adcenter-
downloads/microsoft-advertising-intelligence
5. https://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/
6. http://www.keywordshitter.com/
7. https://ubersuggest.io/
It all begins with words typed into a search box.
Before writing content, decide the topics and terms you
want your pages to rank for.
Fortunately for us, there are several free tools to help us
learn how often a keyword is searched per month.
Research Tools

10. Tip 3.5 – Choose Keywords Based on User Intent
Determine the Action You Want Visitors to Take on Each Page
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Awareness
Interest
Consideration
Awareness Keywords
• Broadest terms – highest search volume
• Question terms that center around general topic or
customer needs
• Categoric comparison terms
(the Best… or Top… )
Interest Keywords
• More specific terms (longer tail non-brand) & branded
terms
• Question terms that focus around specific product
or service offering
• Comparison shopping terms (product x vs. product y)
Consideration Keywords
• Predominantly branded & singularly focused
• Specific product reviews or images
• Product name or model number terms
• Long tail specific terms (non-brand)

11. What good is a first position ranking if it
never gets clicked?

12. Best Blue Widgets 2016 | Widgetsource
Tip 4 – Earn the Click By
Optimizing Your Page Titles
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Earn that click! RankBrain exists to ensure Google
is returning results searchers want. Google knows
what its users are clicking on.
• First and foremast write a title that makes sense
for the page and entice people to click.
• Less than 60 Characters for Mobile
• All titles should be unique to the page.
In the source it looks like this:
<title>Best Blue Widgets 2017 | Widgetsource </title>

13. Tip 4.5 – Earn the Click By
Optimizing Your Meta Descriptions
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• Write a description that makes sense for the
page and entices the visitor to learn more by
clicking through it.
• Less than 140 Characters for Mobile
• All descriptions should be unique to the page.
In the source it looks like this:
<meta name="description" content="Our blue widgets
are the best plain and simple. Want to know why ours
are the best? Read this!" />

14. Tip 5 – Use Google Search Console’s
Search Analytics
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Sign up for Google Search Console!
https://www.google.com/webmasters/
Get to your Search Analytics by clicking: Search
Traffic > Search Analytics
This is where you can view which search queries
or landing pages are bringing you traffic and
learn exactly how you can optimize them for
more traffic.
Monitor your click through rate by comparing
date ranges and fine tune your titles to improve.

15. Tip 5.5 – Add the Keywords
Everywhere Browser Extension
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Add the “Keywords Everywhere” Chrome
Extension or Firefox Add-on for more info.
https://keywordseverywhere.com/
Search Console will show you the exact phrases
your landing pages are getting clicks or
impressions for.
Keywords Everywhere will bring in the monthly
search volume to help you gauge if the page is
optimized for phrasing that will earn you traffic.

16. Other Google Search Console Benefits
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Watch Our Webinar on Google Search
Console: http://bit.ly/PJ-SearchConsoleTips
1. Monitor your site's performance in Google Search results.
2. Ensure Google can access your content.
3. Submit new content for crawling and remove content.
4. Maintain your site with minimal disruption to search performance.
5. Monitor for errors so your site stays clean.
6. Learn which queries caused your site to appear in search results?
7. Are your product prices, company contact info, or events
highlighted in rich search results?
8. Which sites are linking to your website?
9. Is your mobile site performing well for visitors searching on
mobile? https://www.google.com/webmasters/

17. Tip 6 – Compress Your Images
• Compressing images will dramatically
improve load times and conversion
rates.
• Before images are uploaded to your
site, they should be compressed.
• Use the free tool on
https://compressor.io/ to compress
images without degrading any of their
visual clarity.
Original Image
Compressed Image
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18. Tip 7 – Audit Your Sitemap.xml
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Sitemaps are an easy way to inform search
engines about the pages on your site:
http://www.example.com/sitemap.xml
If you don’t have a sitemap.xml, inquire with your
dev about building one or get a plugin to help.
How To Audit:
Download Screaming Frog SEO spider
https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/
Click Mode > List > Upload > Download Sitemap
> Paste in the URL to your sitemap.xml file.
What to look for:
Any pages that have a status code other than 200,
should be removed from your sitemap.

19. For More SEO Tips, Check Out our Blog Post for 7 SEO Slam Dunks
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https://www.pepperjam.com/blog/seo-slam-dunks

20. Any Questions?