How to optimise your website, blog and podcast for SEO with Sarah & Hannah

Your Dream Business

English - March 30, 2020 00:00 - 1 hour - 137 MB - ★★★★★ - 34 ratings
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This week we’re going to be talking about SEO – Search Engine Optimisation. And to help me (because I know nothing about SEO) I have TWO lovely guests with me! We have the lovely Sarah and Hannah, who are the hosts of SEO SAS. These girls have worked in this industry a long while and they love SEO, so I knew they would be the perfect people to come on and talk to you about this subject. And perhaps you may even be inspired to do something with your own SEO!

KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCASTSEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation – the process of increasing both the quality and quantity of traffic to your website, by increasing the visibility of the website or web pages to people via search engines such as google.Google has over 200 ranking factors. There are over 200 factors that google look at when they are ranking pages and websites.Most people when they think about SEO, they just think about keywords. It is now so much more sophisticated. You need to think about things such as page speed, user experience, technical aspects and accessibility.Making one change can make a huge difference, and that may be all you need to do for a couple of months. Simply changing a page title could increase traffic by 20%!SEO is NOT dead! It is still very important.There are two types of key words – Educational and Transactional.You can find out how people are finding you and what they are searching for by using free tools such as Google Search Console.Domain Authority is a score out of 100, based on the amount of back links to your website and how trustworthy your website is.You need to make sure everything linked to your website is relevant, trustworthy and natural. Otherwise it can be spammy.There are link specialists who can help you with your link building. If you are linking out, make sure it is natural and relevant. When getting links to your site, there are lots of different ways you can do this, such as, creating useful articles that can help others (guest post), give a quote about the latest news on another website and digital PR – fun ways to get people talking.Make sure your blog title is click worthy and answering something that people are going to search for or something that people don’t even know they want yet.You can research what people are looking for through Google AdWords.Make sure all your subheadings in your blog are optimised too!Is there some added value you can add to your blog compared to those that are already out there? Such as a video, more images, more information.Give people a reason to stay on your site longer and go to other areas after they have read your blog post, or even convert!Make sure your images are no bigger than 100kb as this can slow down your page speed.Name your image something relevant, add alt text (alternative text) that describes that image.Metadata is the information that displays in google – you can decide this! Make sure your title is 60-70 characters long, optimised with key words. Description 120-160 characters, use key words here too!CTR – click through rate. This will depend on the quality of your metadata.Test your title tags and metadata using Google Analytics.SEO for your podcast – show notes and transcripts for google to be able to understand. Work out what key words your podcast should rank for and optimise elements on that page.Schemer – code that tells google what that content is – Use Google Tag Manager.Share your podcast on other channels to promote it but also adds links.Sentiment – reviews – google takes this into account.Don’t delete products or pages without knowing the consequences! 404 error pages will occur (bad user experience).Optimise your URLs – think of keywords.Update your SEO as an...

Hello, and welcome to this week's episode of the podcast. How's your week been? Okay. You know those jobs that you put off, all the time? And you think, I'm definitely going to get around to that, I'm definitely going to do that when I have more time? Well, today's episode might inspire you to get on and do one of those jobs, because today we are talking all about SEO. That's right, you heard correct, search engine optimization. I can't even say it, let alone teach you anything about it.

It is not going to be a surprise that today I have not one, but two lovely guests with me because, quite honestly, what I know about SEO would last about 30 more seconds. It's something that, for whatever reason, I put such a mental block on, and just A, I feel like I find it difficult, and B, it's something that doesn't interest me, which doesn't help it. Or, help me when I'm trying to learn it. Anyway, it's super important. I'm trying so hard not to put a downer on it, before these two amazing women come on. It's super important, and I know there are lots of you out there who do do some SEO stuff, and therefore it was really important for me to get someone on to talk about this, because I know I don't know anywhere near enough of what I need to know about it.

And if you're sat there thinking, I don't even know what SEO is, or search engine optimization is, then you will still want to listen to this episode, because I promise you there is something for everyone. We are talking at a fairly good level that most people should be able to take something away from this. If I can understand it, then believe me, you can absolutely understand it.

I really, really want you to enjoy today's episode, and like I said, maybe you will be inspired to do something with your own SEO. So today, I have the very lovely Hannah and Sarah, who are the hosts of the podcast SEO SAS. This is going to be a really difficult podcast, if I've got to keep saying stuff like that. These two girls have worked in this industry for a long while, they've been both agency side and in-house side, they've done lots of different industries, and they love SEO. Which A, is easy to tell from interviewing them, and speaking to them, because they're very passionate about it, but B, they wanted to get it across in a way that everyone can understand.

Because SEO is actually, traditionally, a very male industry, it's also very tech-y sounding, and people do get a bit overwhelmed by that. They wanted to bring it in a way that actually, it isn't as difficult as it sounds, and there are some things that everybody can do. Don't get me wrong, there's some very smart stuff that I'm sure is very difficult that these girls do, but for me, there is definitely stuff you can take away from this.

So, Hannah is a Chartered Institute of Marketing qualified marketer, with a decade of experience, and she has gained specialising in digital marketing, SEO in particular. Her favourite aspects of SEO are pretty much everything, from technical deep dives, to strategic content, and link building in-depth analysis. I don't know what on Earth I'm talking about, but they're going to help us find that out. She is one half of an SEO power couple, as Hannah's husband is also an SEO expert. When Hannah's not working, she likes to do nothing more than hiking and mountain climbing with Dom, very different from SEO.

Okay, Sarah is also a qualified Institute of Marketer, and she has around seven years experience in marketing, specialising in digital and SEO. Over the years, Sarah's worked both in-house and agency side, and has done loads of different campaigns. Sarah is a self confessed geek when it comes to SEO, and loves the challenges that comes with both industry, and as a whole, creating and implementing strategic SEO campaigns that drive traffic and conversion for her clients. Sarah works as an SEO specialist at LikeMind Media, and when she's not doing that, she likes to go on adventures with her girlfriend and her pooch, Millie the Jack Russel. And also, this is very interesting, she blows off steam playing roller derby, where she goes by the name Badass Bambi. I believe it, I believe every word.

Anyway, I think you're going to love these girls, they give such good advice around SEO. And, if you want to find out more, and want to go deeper, then their podcast is definitely the place to do it. Like I said, it's called SEO SAS. And, I just want to put a caveat, when we recorded this episode, which was probably quite a few weeks ago ... in fact, it was the beginning of Jan, I think, if I remember rightly, everything was correct at the time. But, as with social media, things can change fairly fast, so obviously if something has changed, then don't come shouting at us, because it was right as we recorded it. Anyway, I will leave you to listen to people who know way more about this than I do. Enjoy the episode.

So, it's with much pleasure that I welcome the very lovely Sarah McDowell and Hannah Bryce to the podcast. Welcome, ladies!

Hello!

Hello, hello.

Thank you for having us.

Yes, very excited to be on your podcast.

Ah no, I'm excited to have you on because, as I've already said in the intro, today we're talking about SEO, and I told people not to turn off. Because I know that they might go, "Oh, hang on a minute, I don't want to listen to this." I'm promising them this is going to be totally worth their while because I know very little about SEO, and I was just saying to the ladies, before we got on, that I love podcast episodes where I know nothing. Or, not nothing, but I know very little about it, because it means that A, I learn something, which is ace. And B, it means I can ask the stupid questions, and none of you listening can sit there thinking, oh thank God, she looks the fool, we don't have to by asking the stupid questions.

I'm really excited to get some kind of real basics, for everyone. So, if you've not come across SEO before, then you don't need to panic, this isn't going to be really, really high level, but I'm really excited to get those basics across.

An introduction to Sarah and Hannah

Before we get into it, let's just find out how you two got to do what you're doing right now, and become the SEO experts that you are?

Wow, okay. Hannah, do you want to start?

You can, you go first.

Okay. I'm getting the baton to start.

Basically, I fell into SEO. I studied dance at university, realised that I couldn't-

Natural progression people, dance into SEO, hand in hand.

I mean, it will happen, it will happen. Yeah, realised I couldn't really make a living in dancing, so basically, I went for a reception role at a SEO agency. They'd already filled that role, but what they were looking for was link builders that had no prior experience, so I pretty much fell into it, and started from the bottom. I was link building, content writing, and I was in that agency for a couple of years, and I progressed.

Then, I moved from agency to in-house, and then that's where I met Hannah, because we worked together at Sister's firm. And then we parted ways, and went other jobs in different industries and stuff. Then yes, we also do SEO SAS podcast as well, so that came about because me and Hannah, a couple of years ago, realised that the SEO industry was quite male dominated, especially with the speakers, and even the audience really. I mean, it's got better as the years have gone on, but I just saw an opportunity, we need a female led SEO podcast. We also wanted to make SEO fun.

Yes, I've had about seven years experience in SEO, working both in-house and in agency, so I've worked for different industries. Hannah?

Well, I started off as a marketing manager, so doing pretty much the whole marketing mix. Then, I did that for a few years, but realised ... Actually, I remember the exact moment that I thought, I could do this, when we had an SEO agency come in and pitch to us. I was like, "This looks really cool, I could definitely do this." Sorry to whoever that agency is, I just took your ideas and rolled with it. I actually found that, one, I was all right at it, and two, I really enjoyed it.

I moved on from that, tried out agency because wanted to get lots of experience, with lots of different industries. Then, from there, managed to get some really good opportunities in-house, where I could really, really focus on honing my skills in SEO, and getting into a bit more depth.

At the minute, I'm working at Gym Shark as part of an SEO team, which is amazing. Obviously, Sarah's part of my extended team, outside of work.

Cool. No, that's so good. Actually, you said a couple of things there that are really important. First off, it's a very male dominated industry, and has been for quite some time. Secondly, you said you wanted to make it a bit more fun, which I think is totally a brilliant way to go about it. To have the podcast, to have that medium that you can explain, and get your personalities across, and that sort of thing.

Tell us again, what that podcast is called? Because my idea for this episode is that if you're listening to this new thing, that's awesome, it's a great introduction, but actually I do want to know more, then these ladies have got the perfect podcast for you. So, what's it called, again?

The podcast is SEO SAS. It's called SAS because we want to be seen as your special answering service, so a bit of play on the combat, and army, and stuff.

Basically, it came about because lots of people know about SEO, or know that they need to do it, but A, they don't really understand what they should be doing, or because people think it's a boring subject, people easily turn off. So, with the podcast, it is about educating, and we find relevant topics to talk about, maybe there's something that's happened in the industry, recently. Or, maybe there's just some myths, or anything, really. But, the main thing is to make it fun, because SEO isn't boring. If you get it, and you start trialling stuff on your website, or working on it, you can get some really good results. I think Hannah would agree?

Yeah, just on that point, as well as fun, because obviously we like to think it's a lot of fun. But, one of the other really main, important points is that it's accessible, because with SEO certain people think, oh, it's just a dark art, I don't understand it. It must be super technical, and really, really complicated.

We'd like to think that we're helping to make it a little bit less complicated, because it's not as complicated as everybody thinks it is.

No.

Okay, cool. Lots of people that listen to this podcast have their own business, they're doing their own marketing, and they can't go to a big agency for SEO, so this is why I wanted this episode, to actually give them those kind of helps, and helping hand, and tips and things, to do a bit themselves.

I'm going to start right at the beginning, and I'm going to literally ask you, what is SEO? When I ask you that, I also want you to explain what it stands for. So, who wants to take that one?

What is SEO – the basics

I'll take that one, if that's okay? SEO stands for search engine optimization. Basically, it's the process of increasing both the quality and quantity of traffic to your website, by increasing the visibility of a website, or web page, to people on search engines, such as Google. Yeah?

Okay, okay. Yeah, I'm searching something in Google, and SEO is going to help me come higher up in the rankings?

Yes, to get you that traffic to that page, or that website.

Now, when people talk about SEO, most people think about Google because, at the end of the day, Google is used by a lot of people, but there are other search engines, such as Bing, Safari. But, most people will talk about Google, and be optimising for Google.

Sorry. When we talk SEO, the stuff you're telling us today, is this only for Google, or is this for everything? And, it's all kind of much for muchness?

Well, I would say this is more gearing towards Google, but it still sort of works for other search engines, such as Bing. But, it's just different search engines have their own ways of ranking websites, but I would always stick to Google because that's the one that's most used by people.

What is important to know is that Google has over 200 ranking factors. So, what that means is there are over 200 factors that Google are looking at when they're looking at ranking pages and websites. Yes, that is quite a big number, but I see that as opportunities. Lots of different opportunities that you can optimise your website or web page.

There are three main ones, aren't there, out of those?

Okay, because I'm sat here, laughing to myself because I was going to go, "And we're going to go through every 200." But, no we're not, we are not doing that.

In all honesty, I think that's what scares people, because they're thinking, oh, I've given up already because if I've got to do 200 extra things on my website, you can forget that. I totally get why people think that it's this crazy, weird thing, and it's really hard. Sorry for interrupting, go on.

No. I would say that SEO falls into two main categories. So, you've got your on page stuff, and your offsite stuff.

On page refers to things that you actually do to a page to optimise it for search engines, such as Google. So, you've got meta descriptions. When you go into Google, and you search for a keyword like ... Give me a keyword, Hannah?

Red hat.

Red hat. So, you've got your listings of all your websites, your meta description is that description underneath the view link that you click. So, it's normally a couple of lines, so it's just a description of what that page is. Your title tags is what makes the clickable link in Google, you've got keywords on that page, you've got speed, you've got your headers.

So on a page, you have your main title, and you've got your subheadings, and it's getting a little bit technical. There's also things like metadata. You can use metadata, it's code, basically, that you put on your page, to help Google understand what that page is about, or what that content on that page is about. Then, offsite refers to things that you do externally from your site, so that's like building back links to your website.

I don't know if you want to chip in on this, but you generally have your two different categories of SEO, don't you? It's onsite, and offsite.

Yeah.

Yeah? One last thing that I would say on this point is, most people when they think about SEO, they just think it's about keywords, and they just think...