So, consider this a back-to-basics post – one that I hope will be educational to newbies and pros alike. Effective SEO requires us to see the big picture, and I'm calling that picture the 4 R's: Robots, Ranking, Relevance, and Results. For each of the 4 R's, I'll provide some tips and tools for how to measure your progress in that area.
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As the lotto commercial says: "You can't win if you don't play". You'll never win the SEO game unless your site gets discovered by bots and indexed. How do you get discovered? You can move to L.A. and wait tables, or you can build relevant inbound links, create a crawlable, spider-friendly architecture, and work to get mentions and citations (through social media, for example).
Tips and Tools:
- Test your index with Google's site: command.
- Check crawlability with tools like Crawl Test and Xenu's Link Sleuth.
- Register for webmaster tools with Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft.
- Create an effective XML sitemap.
- Understand that indexing isn’t all-or-none.
Of course, ranking is the Holy Grail of SEO – we all want to be #1 on Google. I've been tough on rankings over the past year, but it's not because they aren't important. Clearly, you have to rank if you want to generate search exposure and traffic. My concern, and the message of this post, is that rankings are just one element of the big picture.
Tips and Tools:
- Sign out of Google and turn off personalization to check rankings.
- Monitor regularly with rank-tracking tools, such as SEOmoz's Rank Tracker.
- Get long-tail data from Webmaster Tools' Top search queries report.
Of course, ranking is only effective if it drives relevant traffic, and I mean "relevant" in the very practical, business-minded sense of attracting visitors who are looking for your products and services. Too many clients want to rank for what they think are the most popular keywords, but that often creates two problems: (1) What they think is popular isn't always popular, and (2) What's popular may not be relevant or ultimately drive click-throughs.
Tips and Tools
- Estimate traffic volume with Google's search-based keyword tool.
- Use web analytics to track organic traffic by engine, keywords, etc.
- Set up a limited PPC campaign to test traffic volume and relevance.
Ok, I know "results" is a bit vague, but hey, I needed another R-word. Seriously, I'm talking bottom-line results here - leads, purchases, and anything else that drives your success as a business ("conversions", in the industry vernacular). Traffic is only valuable if it drives measurable results - otherwise, it’s just costing you money.
Tips and Tools
- Set up conversion/goal tracking in your analytics software.
- Track your conversion "funnel" - the steps it takes a visitor to reach your goal.
- Segment, segment, and segment again.
Dr Pete, maybe the 4th R, or a 4th R could have been RESEARCH. I think this is a very important part of any SEO campaign. Just going by what a company "feels" might lead down a path of less return on investment. While doing some research, even the smallest amount might lead to much higher ROI.
Just my $.02 - nice post though. I think the overall point is very important, that focusing on just one area can leave your campaign in some dire straights.
As I mentioned in another comment, I don't think I did a very good job of explaining that the 4 R's are more about metrics/measurement than tactics. You're absolutely right that research is important and contributes strongly to success. Keyword research in particular is essential to achieving relevance.
Reciprocal Linking! I can't believe that one wasn't mentioned! :)
Why reciprocal?? Getting the links to your site is best, not exchanging reciprocal links with everyone on your list...
I wasn't serious! And now I got a thumbs down :(
Haha, sorry! I thumped you up! I thought you were serious....in which case I had to comment. :)
Haha! its all good. cool thx! :)
lol i got a request for a link yesterday and i was like umm no we dont want to trade links with those dudes
I agree wholeheartedly with the relevance tip. We tend to think everyone and their mother knows what seo is, and the truth is they don't. There are many successful, intelligent, business oriented men and women out there who have no clue what seo is. And I'd say 95% of internet marketers (including myself) are targeting the phrase 'seo services' like our life depended on it. As Todd Malicoat noted at the Pro Training Series- the phrase 'seo services' has absolutely NO return on investment....
I still see too many clients spending a ton of time and energy focusing on the broadest keyword they can think of, which often ends up not being that relevant to their niche and having lousy ROI.
the best was when i had environmentally friendly company say they wanted to rank #1 in Google for the word "green". yeah that's going to happen AND be profitable. :)
I would like to ad another R to your list: REPORTING
"The 27 R's of SEO" would've gotten a bit long, and I only had so many icons ;)
The R's of SEO should be an annual "International Talk Like A Pirate Day" post.
I really like the icons! Great selection! Oh yea, the post was pretty good too. ;)
LOL, of course. I had to add to the list though as I was in the middle of deciding whether to give our clients self-reporting abilities so it struck me as an important issue. Naturally there are many others...
Dr Pete, if you would, can you elaborate on your third bullet point under Relevance?
"Set up a limited PPC campaign to test traffic volume and relevance."
Are you suggesting to setup a PPC campaign to see which keywords are suggested for your site by keyword suggest tools? Or by the Quality Score for given each keyword? Or by some other means?
I think this point of advice may be too broad to be actionable (and lacks a link to another guide). Perhaps it would be better served as a post on it's own?
Cheers
Sorry, that one was a bit vague. The thing I find valuable about PPC campaigns (specifically AdWords) is that they try to track certain aspects of relevance automatically, for instance (1) how relevant your keyword choices are to what people actually search for, and (2) how relevant your choices are to your content. Although the paid algorithm is different from the organic algo, this can still provide valuable insights.
Bit Basic this. Although you could build a framework on it
We all know seomoz is the best! Thanks for giving us all a new mantra for better SEO. Please always give us the new stuff like this.
I have not seen any other post about the R's or W's of SEO. This information will be a good reference to tell clients about what should be done in their SEO. Of course with the other R's mentioned on the above comments.
Thanks Dr. Pete.
Good one Dr. Pete.. Nicely said about relevancy but there is a huge competition around the targeted keywords so it is always better for a site to get more traffic on related phrases or low converting traffic and take them to more targeted area using the same article/page.
I know you were fumbling while picking the forth R and that could been ROI, just a thought.. what you think?
What a great post, Dr. Pete. I think Results is the biggest thing people tend to forget. Getting 10,000 more visits a month won't count for diddely if they don't convert.
Nice post, Pete. The 4 R's of SEO are not unlike the 5 D's of dodgeball (dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge). ;)
"If you can SEO a wrench, you can SEO a ball."
Very good read for a first timer or even to begin to educate clients.
Thank for your great information & tools!
I like this post, i would definitely add another R for reporting! you gotta have comparatives
I think all starters SEOs should read this. Its really explains what is the key for doing SEO. I wish i have read this like one year ago. :D
can all posts now look this cool with spaceships and robot section titles?
I'd prefer to add another one: Repeat (or Recursive): Repeat Step 3 and 4. Use the results to become more relevant and so on and on and on.....
Does your hair seriously look this bad?
Hehe, He forgot to Rinse and Repeat. :)
Nice post, Pete - some great resources here. Loving the science fiction theme as well.
Oh, but you forgot another R - Renting Links.
I'd just like to point out for the record that I'm aware there are more than 4 words that start with "R" ;)
Some alternatives I decided against:
Radish farming
Rhinoceros poop
Road-kill
Robot Chicken, Season 2
I just thought I'd jump on the "add an R" bandwagon to bust your chops. ;)
"Some alternatives I decided against: Radish farming Rhinoceros poop Road-kill Robot Chicken, Season 2 "
I, for one, would love to see, as an example of thinking outside the box, how one would incorporate those 4 particular R's into effective SEO practices. Think like Apollo 13 "All we have are these 4 R's, how do we make it work?"
So it's just the 3 Rs, the fourth one inevitably follows
One thing I don't think I made quite clear enough is that my 4 R's aren't about tactics so much as metrics. In this case, "Results" refers to measuring bottom-line results, such as conversion and other KPIs.
Thanks for the clarification Dr Pete.
I had forwarded the post link to my boss and he has asked me to redo your strategy based on these metrics.
The 4 R's - i like it. Sometimes I get completely baffled by SEO (i'm still very new to it) so this 'back-to-basics' post was very useful. thanks for the post!
Hi Dr.Pete, thanks for your post.
For the traffic volume estimation, do you use any other tools such as wordtracker and wordstream (wordstream just released new free keyword tool)?
I was trying to keep the post simple and stick to some free tools, but I'm definitely a fan of getting traffic data from as many sources as possible, including the PPC side.
Wordstream is still on my to-do list this week. A post comparing the two would make for a great YOUmoz entry, IMO.
Dr. Pete
I can not agree more. I just had a phone call today from a client who is completely concerned about rankings. A lot of my clients are. It really takes time to educate them about the big picture, driving quality leads (a.k.a. putting money in their wallet). With time and proper explanation, these types of clients can turn into the best ones.
Nice one again Dr Pete. I am sending to a client tomorrow. We are doing training and you just backed up everything we went over last time. :)
Let's not overcomplicate things. SEO boils down to two things: authority (which sadly doesn't start with 'R') and relevance.
Your site won't rank for a term unless it's relevant to it; nor unless it carries the much-needed authority - which comes from the quality and quantity of your inbound links - to beat other sites that are also relevant to the term.
Thus my SEO marketing site will never outperform SEOmoz because it doesn't have the authority that SEOmoz deservedly carries with the search engines.
"... authority (which sadly doesn't start with 'R')..."
Scooby Doo says "Rawrority" and that's R enough for me!
Oh man, I just can't decide whether to thumb you up for your valid comments, or thumb you down for the blatant link spam (and for wasting your time with a nofollowed link).
I should clarify. I said "valid comments", but I was a little too quick to click the "Add Comment" button before thinking about it.
I agree that in the simplest of terms, SEO boils down to relevence and authority (assuming crawlability), but I don't think your comments are a valid addition to this post, since Dr. Pete isn't claiming that these are the only 4 R's you need to know for SEO. He's not overcomplicating things. He's just poining out some big picture things to keep an eye on.
nice post. Sometimes we all need some back to basics advice as we can have a tendancy to focus on overly technical esoteric areas.
Nice post, always good to get content to educate clients or co-workers who have no idea what SEO means.
I am not sure why you are getting thumbs down for this post; why the post itself seems straight forward the true value of this post is the links you have provided. I think the point: "someone fails to see the forest for the trees" is a perfect way to look at this post. If you take it just by the text on this page you're sorely missing out on the great content of links. So instead of reinventing the wheel you linked to the older posts--Thumbs UP.
I am going to disagree with Research being included as it seems from the context of this post the website has been built already.
Pending Budget we try and do both competitive link building research and keyword research well before the site is actually finished.
It's funny, but sometimes the back-to-basics posts catch more flak than the deeper drill-downs. I think everyone has a different idea about what the "basics" are. Still, I think it's good to put frameworks out there every once in a while, even if people disagree - it helps us to stop, think about, and structure the work we do. Even the pros need to do that from time to time.
I have learned a value blog posting lesson; never put a quantity to something such "4R's" "3E's" or the "7Z's" as you will get lots of flack for not mentioning the 4 million other words that start can relate to SEO.
I still think it's a good post.
Research, Redevelopment, Removal, Requests, RSS, Rates
From a psychology standpoint, quantifying is totally fine, so long as the list has 10 items. Any more or less than 10 will result in suggested inclusions/exclusions. A 10 item list will always be considered definitive.
Mine go to eleven!
I agree with IgniteMedia. Research should be another "R". I don't mean keyword research (but yes, that too), I'm talking about competition research. Things like major competitor links research, using tools like SEMRush, etc.
Great post though, as sometimes us SEO's need to get out of the weeds and see the big 1000-foot view.
Thanks Dr. Pete. I took a second look at these suggestions and tools. Hadn't used Googles Site: lookup in ages and it was a good reminder.
I have a client who's site is all in flash,
It only has 2 indexed pages. So far , (since May) I got it to Top3-6 for most keywords but I am being outranked by some html sites with 90% less BL and 99% more subpages/content. Website is hosted with one of those photography CMS, where onsite SEO starts and ends at meta tags for the home page.
Good read though, thanks for the reminder.
Still it feels like in my case all I can do is link link link
hi iam new and i have a keen interest in SEO industry,,where do i start from/thanks
alfpr35, I got started by following the steps listed in this post: https://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-beginners-checklist-for-learning-seo
Try convincing your client to have a html version of the site for those clients that are using browsers that do not have flash plugins. It will be better on your end as SEO also if that happens. :)
Why not build some html subpages to the site? The content can just link back to the main page. That usually works for me :)
destin2008 This site ain't gonna help you. Remember a big part of SEO work stands on on-page factors. You need to have content, good content with links, good copy and relevant keywords. But, meanwhile you can use SWFObject, so you can replace text content with flash.
You can optimize all-flash websites for seo. With a little programming you can make a single flash site appear as multiple pages to search engines - and keep the fluid experience your users love. Ingredients include: mod_rewrite, SWFObject, a server-side scripting language like php and you're all set. (actually you don't even need mod_rewrite, but it's nice)
I recently optimized an all flash site to have unique urls and pages for unique meta info (with only a minor tweak to the site's existing swf). Actually I've optimized 5 or so flash sites now- it's sort of becoming a specialty for me :)
Just passing a query string variable is all it really is. mysite.com/index.php?page=about, for example, would make it possible to dynamically tell your swf to gotoAndPlay('about'); It would also make it possible for your php page to say if($page=='about'){ "use these keywords" } and so on. You could even have simple conditional statements echo out page content based on what "page" is equal to.
After that you can use mod_rewrite (if you have Linux running Apache) to make the urls pretty for seo - "mysite.com/index.php?page=about" would become mysite.com/about/
You could even take it one step further and save the site's content to a database or xml file, and have both your swf and index page call the same data - then your "alternate" non-flash content would always match the content in the flash file.
Thanks for the advice, guys
Fredz,thanks,I will try that
tHom_08,Since the flash site is hosted with photobiz, my only access to it is trough online panel with very limited actions.What they call SEO- is option to add title,description and keywords- that is it. If I had a access to the servers I would have 100s of subpages by now.Thanks
aeolivas, exactly ,but just like I said above, without ability to edit/add content on flash pages there is nothing I can do but work my offsite SEO.
Your 4 R's of SEO are great, I like your way of writing and I agree that the ranking is the Holy Grail of SEO.
You have hit the nail. But if I would have furnished this article I would have added one more R. that is Research. So it will 5R's of SEO - Research, Robots, relevance, ranking and results.
Newb go spam some other blog