Semantic-SEO-Strategy-2017

1. How to do SEO in 2017 semantic Technical SEO Audit Schema Markup Internal Links Content Optimization Semantic Keyword Research Mobile SEO Semantic SEO Strategy: How to Do SEO in 2017 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.

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. 2

3. Improve your website user experience by fixing on-page technical and content SEO issues 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. 1. Make sure you have implemented the rel=canonical tag for all kinds of duplicate versions of your site. 2. Fix all incorrect response status codes. If your website has any 400 errors (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 meta 3. 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. 4. Elevate page speed related issues to make your site fast and furious 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. 3

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 from 1. 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. 2. Use 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. 3. Become a denizen at Q&A forums and communities in order to learn what your potential searchers ask about 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. 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. 4

5. Improve visitors’ engagement and your content search visibility with a proper Internal Links structure 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: 1. Use descriptive anchor texts on your landing pages and link to relevant internal page content that pursues topics covered on previously read pages 2. Make more deep links rather than always linking to top level superficial landing pages 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 toolby 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. 5

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: 6

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. 2. Enhance your rich snippets with 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 mostcommon 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. 8

9. Mobile SEO II. Step Up the Mobile-First Search Index Game 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: Rev-AMP your content.AMP pages are no longer just a privilege for news 1. 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. 9

10. 2. Speed up your website content. Recently one of the Googlers officially recommended that you keep website content load time below 3 sec. 3. Help your target customers reach your business in the shortest way using 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. 10

11. SEO Performance 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. 11

12. A Reliable Rank Tracker 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 ranktracking) competitor rankings • 12

13. How to start tracking rankings for your website in WebCEO? • Sign up or sign in to your WebCEO account. Add your website URL in the “Add NewProject” wizard and configure it step by step. • 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 tooland configure settings to your specific needs. Here youcan add additional keywords and uncheck the predefined ones. Select the searchengines you want to monitor, including their local and mobile versions. To see yourwebsite 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. Insightful SEO Audit Tools 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.

16. 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 An SEO Journal of Events 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: 16

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

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 Eventsin 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. How to do SEO in 2017 semantic Technical SEO Audit Schema Markup Internal Links Content Optimization Semantic Keyword Research Mobile SEO Bring Your 2017 SEO Strategy to Life with Follow us on social media