Every year, reports are published stating that Google is shifting more to on-SERP SEO, or publishing content for searchers right on the search engine results page (SERP). In this session, Diane Kulseth from Siteimprove will help you focus on three core tenets of your SEO strategy to fight against any drops in traffic coming from SEO, such as: Keyword intent, what it is and why it matters Looking to the SERPs for content direction Strengthening your content with structured data markup and other technical optimizations This intermediate-level session will provide a high-level SEO overview for marketers new to SEO and help attendees walk away with clear takeaways for their organization to reinforce their efforts for the future.

1. SEO 2020: On-SERP
SEO & Beyond
Diane Kulseth
Siteimprove

2. Diane Kulseth
SEO Consultant
Siteimprove
• Specializing in SEO and digital
strategy for nearly 10 years
• At Siteimprove for over a year
• Has worked with State
Governments, Higher Education,
Start-Ups, Non-Profits, Agencies,
Fortune 500, Healthcare and
more

3. Agenda
What is a SERP?
The Core Components
of SEO
How to compete
against Google
Questions to Answer

4. What’s a SERP?
Search Engine Results
Page

5. The Core Components of
SEO

6. The Process Today
AUDIT TECHNICAL CONTENT AUTHORITY MEASURE

7. The Process Isn’t Enough
More searches are
resulting in no-click,
meaning the searcher
is getting the
information directly off
the SERP

8. “Florida Resort”
By putting what’s called the
“local pack” first in search
results, firms that have spent
efforts on standard Search
Engine Optimization may seen
themselves “below the fold”

9. Okay, but that’s not
too bad…

10. What about…?

11. How to compete against
Google?

12. Work WITH Google

13. Questions to Answer
HOW ARE PEOPLE SEARCHING
FOR THIS?
WHAT CONTENT ARE THE
SERPS SHOWING?
WHERE ARE THE
OPPORTUNITIES FOR
STRUCTURED DATA?

14. How are
people
searching for
this?

15. Understanding
Search Intent
Google is learning more about what people
are looking for with a specific query and rank
the most relevant content

16. An Example
“Florida
Resort”
What could
someone be
looking for?

17. Different Types of Intent = Different
Content
Florida
resort fire?
1
Florida
resorts for
kids?
2
Best Florida
resorts
3
All-inclusive
Florida
resort
4

18. Uncovering
Search Intent
Review queries in Google
Search Console
Use tools such as
AnswerthePublic.com to
discover common questions
around a topic

19. Uncovering
Search Intent
Review simple Google
searches to find types
Review Analytics data
• Purpose: is the content
meeting their needs?
• Internal Site Search
• Behavior Tracking

20. What content
are the
SERPs
showing?

21. Featured Snippets
Quick answers,
usually at the top of a
search result
Most commonly
pulled from content in
the 1-3 spot

22. Related Questions
Usually appears
among first few
results
Expanding provides a
quick answer to the
provided question

23. Local Pack
Triggered by intent to find
something local
Queries that include a region, or
“near me” often provide a local
pack result

24. Sitelinks
Triggered by a brand specific
query
Provides top pages on the brand
website

25. Rich Snippets
Reviews & Events are
the most common
forms of rich snippets
Provides additional
and easy-to-
understand context
from the SERP

26. Knowledge Graph
Right side panel of Google Search
on desktop
Compiled from multiple sources

27. Using an Incognito
Browser
Going “incognito” on a browser
allows you to browse the web
privately and removes your
search behaviors when
interacting with a search engine
Ctrl + Shift + N for Google
Chrome

28. Review your SERPs
Take your phone or laptop
Open an incognito browser
Search for some of the queries you uncovered in the previous step
What SERP features (if any) are present?

29. Ranking for SERP Features - Basics
Go for the questions!
Questions are some of the most
common featured snippets!
Ensure your content is engaging
and organized logically
Headings
Bulleted lists or paragraphs
Clean up excess code so your
content loads quickly
Provide supporting images and videos
that are compressed well and have
captions and alt text
Use enticing text in close
proximity
“Check below for our best tips for
planning your Florida vacation:”

30. Ranking for…
Featured
Snippets
Queries with question How:
• Write with a bulleted list
• Featuring all steps
• Structure every related question
- For example “How to plan
for a vacation AND what to
include in your budget?”
All other questions:
Write paragraph content with about 40-
50 words that directly answers the
question with an appropriate heading
(H1, H2, H3).

31. What else can I
do to help my
content rank
on the SERPs?

32. Where are the
opportunities
for Structured
Data Markup?

33. What is
Structured
Data
Markup?
A method to format your web pages to
provide greater context to search engines
about the content found on the page

34. Organization
Common Types of Structured Data
Markup

35. Person
Common Types of Structured Data
Markup

36. Local
Business
Common Types of Structured Data
Markup

37. Resources
for
Structured
Data
Markup
For those super savvy with markup
language
• schema.org
For the not-so-savvy – try Google’s
Structured Data Markup Helper
• Google.com/webmasters/markup-helper

38. Google’s
Structured Data
Markup Helper
Select on-page
elements to tag for a
specific schema

39. Google’s Structured Data
Markup Helper
Receive code to insert on your page

40. Recap
Use Google Search Console, and tools like
AnswerThePublic to discover queries driving
visitors to your website
Review analytics tools to assess if content is
meeting your visitors’ needs or if they’re
“wandering” about your website
Use incognito browsers to see what content is
most commonly appearing for your top queries
Keep your content simple and well-structured to
answer your visitor’s query
Use Structured Data Markup to provide additional
context to your website content

41. Thank you!
Questions?
Diane Kulseth
SEO Consultant
Siteimprove
dkul@Siteimprove.com