The SEO Battlefield

The SEO Battlefield

by Anne Ahola Ward
Released March 2017
Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ISBN: 9781491958377

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Book description

Welcome to the battlefield. Every day, companies ranging from startups to enterprises fight to achieve high search rankings, knowing that previous success can quickly vanish. With this practical guide, you’ll learn how to put search engine optimization (SEO) methodology into practice, including the research, data analysis, and constant experimentation required to build an SEO program specific to your organization that can help you improve search results.

Running a successful SEO program requires a team with a mix of skills, including marketing, analytics, website development, and automation. Author Anne Ahola Ward walks marketers and developers through SEO essentials and provides real-world case studies of successful and not-so-successful SEO programs. You’ll quickly understand why this is both an exciting and critical time to adopt SEO in your organization.

  • Perform keyword goals and research, and spot search trends
  • Understand the motivation and creativity of the SEO mindset
  • Run a campaign to generate traffic and measure the results
  • Use mobile and platform-agnostic strategies for search growth
  • Demonstrate the value of your search marketing efforts
  • Include web development in your SEO program—everything from quick updates to UX/UI strategy
  • Learn the sweetest way to run and report on an search program

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Table of contents

  1. Foreword
  2. Preface
    1. About This Book
    2. Conventions Used in This Book
    3. O’Reilly Safari
    4. How to Contact Us
    5. Acknowledgments
  3. 1. Welcome to the Battlefield
    1. Introduction
      1. Practice Areas of SEO
      2. Types of SEO Practitioners
      3. SEO Versus Growth Hacking
      4. How Do Successful SEOs Allocate Their Time?
    2. Standing Apart
  4. 2. The SEO Mindset
    1. Getting into the Growth Zone
    2. Gaining Authenticity
    3. A Day in the Life
    4. How to Spot Trends
    5. Be Data-Agnostic
  5. 3. Standards, Philosophies, and Finances
    1. Establishing Program Standards
    2. Standards and Goals
      1. Audit Trails
    3. Separation of Concerns
    4. The CAVi(a)R Test
      1. Complete
      2. Accurate
      3. Validity
      4. Restricted Access
    5. Assessing Value for Organic Traffic
  6. 4. Tools for SEO Measurement and Beyond
    1. Machine Versus Humans
    2. Analytics
      1. Google Analytics
      2. Optimizely
      3. Mixpanel
      4. New Relic
      5. KISSmetrics
      6. Honorable Mentions
    3. The All-in-Ones
      1. Hubspot
      2. Pardot
      3. Marketo
      4. Eloqua
      5. Honorable Mention
    4. Research Tools
      1. Serpstat
      2. Scrapebox
    5. SEO Diagnostic Tools
      1. SEOptimer
      2. Majestic
      3. Chrome Developer Tools
    6. Keyword Research Tools
      1. Google Keyword Planner
      2. SpyFu
      3. SEMRUSH
      4. Moz
    7. Social Tools
      1. Hootsuite
      2. Buffer
      3. Sprout Social
      4. Simply Measured
      5. Cyfe
      6. Quintly
    8. Automation
      1. Google Alerts
      2. IFTTT
    9. Content Management Systems
      1. WordPress
      2. Prismic
      3. Ghost
      4. Joomla
      5. Drupal
      6. Medium
  7. 5. Setting Up Programs and Reporting
    1. Building a Growth Program to Last
      1. Using Keyword Identification Tools
    2. Go Through the Weeds Toward Goals
    3. Setting Up an Organic Search Program
    4. Showtime! Check All Systems
    5. Competitors
    6. Reporting
  8. 6. Campaign Management
    1. Campaign SEO Juice
    2. Mobile Campaign
    3. Email Marketing
    4. Social Campaigns
    5. Content Campaigns
    6. Crowdfunding Campaigns
    7. Growth Hacking IRL
  9. 7. Technical SEO Elements for Success
    1. Setting Up for Ascendency
      1. Meta Information
    2. Site Usability
    3. Setting the Stage
    4. The Block and Tackle
    5. Site Architecture
      1. Site Canonicalization
    6. Video Handling
    7. CMS Management
  10. 8. Mobile Search
    1. The Lay of the Land
    2. All SERPs Are Not the Same
      1. Local Search
    3. Mobile Voice
      1. Mobile Design
      2. Life with an Nth Screen
      3. Optimization and Performance
        1. Rich Snippets and Schema
      4. Project AMP
    4. Facebook Instant Articles
  11. 9. Case Studies
    1. Multimedia Entertainment Site
    2. Low Confidence, High Traffic
    3. Toxicity in Search City
    4. Special Snowflakes
    5. Too Cool for School
    6. Classic Growth Hackin’
    7. B2B Social Spice
    8. Dysfunction Junction
    9. Social Success!
  12. 10. Uncharted Search Frontiers
    1. Embracing Expansive Realities
    2. Interfaces Galore!
    3. Machine Learning
      1. Ethical Data Science
    4. A Moonshot
  13. Index

Product information

  • Title: The SEO Battlefield
  • Author(s): Anne Ahola Ward
  • Release date: March 2017
  • Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
  • ISBN: 9781491958377