Post of the Week
Forging a fine-tuned SEO machine
This is one of my favourite posts in a long while, and I think it should be on the top of your reading list if you're heading up an SEO team. Kevin Indig explores how to build a strong SEO organisation from scratch or fundamentally improve an existing one.
Content
When the Topic Cluster Model Doesn’t Work
Topic clusters, content hubs, or whatever you want to call them, have been part of SEO strategies for some time now, but when don't they work? This guide by Siege Media outlines 4 ways people incorrectly use them, and some substitute frameworks to use instead.
Introducing Cohort Keyword Research - Traffic Think Tank
Despite having to sign up with Traffic Think Tank to get access to the template, Nick Eubanks has created a pretty comprehensive walk through video of how to do cohort keyword research. This is a fresh perspective on how to do keyword research, so it is hopefully something you haven't seen before. Check it out and it may give you some new ideas to revamp your own research!
Tech
How Do Sessions Work in Google Analytics? - Whiteboard Friday - Moz
I believe this is the first Whiteboard Friday I've ever featured, and it's a good one. Tom Capper explains what a session in Google Analytics actually is, before letting us know which reporting metrics we can throw in the bin 🗑️
Tools
Link Prospecting & Audits Made Easy With (Free) New Tool!
This is such a cool tool for link prospecting. It allows you to import a list of URLs, and then preview them before deciding whether to accept or reject them as part of your list. 👍
I've been banging on about this for weeks now, but as SEOs we often silo ourselves from other channels despite being directly influenced by them. On multiple occasions I've seen people in our industry reporting on uplifts in organic traffic performance, without properly knowing what makes up the uplift.
Particularly when working on larger companies, the question of whether an uplift in performance can be attributed to what we've done, becomes a lot more complicated. That's because when there's an increased investment in display activity, a launch of a PR initiative, or a feature on a best buy publication for example, this can have a huge impact on brand search.
So what can we do? Well, if you're a multi-service agency working on an account, or are partnering with other service agencies, you need to have a single, transparent view on each other's activities. Not only that, but you should also have a historic view on the correlative impact of other channels on SEO.
Although it can often be difficult in Google Analytics, brand & non-brand should be segmented as best as you can, as well as your key content groupings to ensure you have an appreciation of the areas you're influencing.
If you have some more ideas on how you go about understanding other channel's influence on SEO, I'd love to hear from you!
Andrew Charlton