SEO Isn’t Sexy, but it Sure is Essential!

Uncovering the Mysteries of SEO

Our third IABC Digital Marketing Series Workshop was dedicated to learning more about SEO…the good, bad and the ugly. We were lucky enough to have local digital marketing professional and SEO specialist Brendan Waller walk us through the powerful, and sometimes overwhelming, world of SEO and what it means for modern-day communicators. His hands-on presentation focussed on a variety of themes:

• SEO and content marketing

• Short and long-tail keyword research

• Common SEO myths

• Landing page optimization

• Effective SEO tools

Let’s Bust some Myths!

1.    SEO is easy!

SEO is not a lie, or a fad and it’s not quick or easy

• Actually, it could be argued that SEO is the most important part of Digital Marketing

• SEO can take months of work. Sometimes the work will pay off, other times it will not

• SEO is far from glamorous

2.    If my site produces a lot of content – I’m good!

Nope! Content, is one thing, but where and how it is distributed is another and is definitely just as important. Industry sites and blogs of relevance play a part as well, especially for accelerating your sites influence on a topic.

More influence + more visitors + good content = Great SEO!

3.    I’ve heard if my site loads fast I don’t need to worry about SEO.

Speed is not the end all, be all:

• Google does have speed as a ranking factor

• Bounce Rate is equally as important

• Once you get them to the page, you need to be able to keep them!

• Google views a page’s Bounce Rate as an important indicator for relevance

• If you are looking to boost your website’s overall speed, (it can help with ranking) look at Canadian networks to host your site, or assets on, compressing images, etc.

4.    If I put my website links all over the internet, I win!

Directories are dead! Never EVER have an SEO company go and spread your URL or content around dingy old directories

• Google wants good content to sift through, not to see your link scattered across the web

5.    If I put my keyword in 1,000,000 times I’ll rank better!

Nope, but you will get penalized!

• Core keywords should be in your page title, meta description and H1 tags, lightly throughout the content, but not forced. The content will likely be filled with lovely long tail keywords though.

6.    Duplicate content will get my site penalized.

Nope, but it’ll sure confuse the hell out of the search engines!

• Use canonical links to point to the right content, remove duplicate content

• Use hreflangs to ensure the visitors from the right locations are seeing the right localized version

7.    I can buy my way to the top ads.

Sure, if you have unlimited budget

• But it will help you get seen faster. If the content is good and relevant and your bounce rate goes down, THAT will be what actually boosts your site up.

• It is a good strategy to use ads and SEO together

8.    Meta keywords are “da bomb!”

Nope, this technique stopped working ages ago!

• You don’t need to have solid page titles and meta descriptions though to help the search engines (and visitors) know what to expect when they click on a link to your site.

• Tool to note:

  • View competitors Title and Meta for research: http://tools.buzzstream.com/meta-tag-extractor

  • Write titles and meta descriptions: https://www.kayakonlinemarketing.com/page-titles-and-meta-descriptions-tool

9.    An SEO guru said they could guarantee me on Page 1.

Lies!

• Google is not a simple machine anymore; the algorithm is basing results off of us individually, not collecting

• What you and I search for, and how it’s different, will yield different results

10. I put <my company name> in Google and I’m on Page 1.

Still, to date, one of the biggest misconceptions about SEO. Your company name is exact, what visitors search for isn’t always your name. It’s themes, ideas and industry stories. It’s how you get found by THEM that’s the real goal!

Want to learn more actionable tips like this? Attend the next event in the IABC Waterloo Digital Marketing Series. Be sure to stay tuned on our social channels and subscribe to our newsletter to catch the latest news.

What other topics would you like to see covered in our Digital Marketing Series? Let us know here!

On March 6th, 2019, IABC Waterloo will be hosting our 3rd Annual Break Through Communications Conference, at the Inn of Waterloo.  With ten outstanding sessions and two tracks to choose from, you'll walk away with actionable insights you can put into play right away! We hope to see you there and can’t wait to see what this year brings!

 Mackenzie Clement