I was recently at the fantastic SEO Birmingham event where I was able to meet and learn from some high-level SEO People.
I’ve got 28 SEO tips and insights shared by the speakers on stage.
From Charles Floate’s Google’s first index theory to Nick Jordan’s content-centric approach, i’ve got you covered.
Charles Floates SEO Tips
1. Google’s First Index Theory: A Two-Year Odyssey
Speaker: Charles Floate
Google assesses your website’s quality when it first discovers it and assigns a quality score that sticks for about two years.
Charles Floate, the event organizer, dropped a knowledge bomb by introducing the concept of Google’s First Index Theory.
Essentially, Google assesses your website’s quality when it first discovers it and assigns a quality score that sticks for about two years.
This score only undergoes incremental adjustments as you make changes to your site.
The Takeaway
When launching a new website, ensure it’s a masterpiece. Your site should be a repository of top-notch content, score well on web core vitals, load swiftly, and boast impeccable schema markup.
Rushing the site launch without meticulous planning is a recipe for suboptimal rankings, as that initial quality score could be hard to shift.
2. Harness the Power of SERP Features
Speaker: Charles Floate
The Google SERPS are packed full of many features. Create and publish content that can be shown on Google in many ways by using things like site links, snippet optimization and video.
While crafting and publishing content, always keep in mind Google’s SERP features.
Think about:
These all play a pivotal role in determining your content’s visibility and click-through rates.
This, in turn, leads to better rankings and more traffic.
The Takeaway
Craft your content to align with as many Google SERP features as possible, optimizing your chances of ranking well and capturing the audience’s attention.
3. Multiple Links from the Same Domain: They All Count
Speaker: Charles Floate
Multiple backlinks from the same domain are valuable.
Charles debunked the myth that multiple backlinks from the same domain offer diminishing returns.
In reality, each of these links contributes equal value to your pages, provided they point to different parts of your site.
However, Domain Rating (DR) does not aggregate in the same way. The first link provides the DR boost, while subsequent links from the same domain won’t further enhance your DR.
The Takeaway
Build multiple links from the same domain. Each link is still valuable. Don’t expect them to boost your DR any more than just having one link however.
4. Unveiling Parasite SEO: Exploiting Trustworthy Platforms
Speaker: Charles Floate
You can pay for your content, including links, to be placed on high-authority websites. By doing this, your content can rank on page one within just a few days.
Parasite SEO, capitalizes on trusted high-authority websites that Google unequivocally favors.
These trusted platforms, such as OutLookIndia and The Jerusalem Post accept guest posts if you pay.
You can leverage this strategy by paying for a spot on such sites, allowing you to promote your niche-specific content or even affiliate links. The result? Rapid rankings and commissions, particularly in competitive niches.
The Takeaway
Parasite SEO is a powerful way to rank on the first pages of search engines like Google quickly. It’s worth using if you have high-value affiliate links as you’ll get an ROI very quickly.
5. Google Data Highlighter: Precision in Structured Data
Speaker: Charles Floate
Enhance Google’s understanding of your site’s data structure with the Google Data Highlighter.
Googles Data Highlighter tool goes beyond basic schema markup, enabling you to meticulously specify various elements on your site.
By outlining page elements like titles, dates, images, and authors, you can ensure that Google will comprehend your site more effectively.
If you combine this tool with good schema mark-up you should be able to capitalize on googles search results features well, as mentioned in point one.
The Takeaway
Use the Google Data Highlighter along with schema to ensure Google understands the structure of your content and can display your information in the best way possible on SERPs.
6. The Disavowing Links Dilemma
Speaker: Charles Floate
Disavowing links isn’t necessary as Google can identify invalid links. You should be aware that this claim is refuted by many other SEOs.
The age-old practice of disavowing links received a new perspective from Charles Float. While addressing toxic links is essential, he emphasized that Google likely doesn’t need your assistance in identifying good and bad links.
Disavow only when faced with a manual penalty and you’re certain that a specific link is detrimental to your site.
This perspective is not without controversy, as some SEOs have reported success with disavowals, but it underscores the importance of a holistic approach to link management.
The Takeaway
Disavowing links could be a waste of time so it’s probably best left alone. My advice would be to employ an SEO expert with a successful track record before you tell Google which inbound links to ignore.
Kyle Roofs SEO Tips
7. SEO as a Game of Probability
Speaker: Kyle Roof
SEO is about probability and chance. Don’t expect to get it right every single time.
Kyle Roof, an SEO luminary, laid out a candid truth: SEO is a game of probabilities.
Even if you excel at SEO, only about 50% of your strategies will yield positive results.
For SEO virtuosos, this figure may hover around 70%.
Understand that not every endeavor will hit the mark, and embrace the reality of SEO’s unpredictable nature.
The Takeaway
Keep working on your SEO using the best techniques and methods. However keep in mind that not everything you do will move the needle.
8. Warning Signs in SEO
Speaker: Kyle Roof
There are a number of SEO ‘red flags’ that can indicate that a website has an SEO problem.
Kyle Roof flagged critical warning signs in your SEO efforts.
If you spot any of the following, it could mean that your site is in SEO trouble:
If your site does have any of these it’s time to take action.
The Takeaway
If you see that your site is stagnating or ranking for new keywords but not growing, it’s time to dive deeper into your site to identify SEO issues that could be causing your website problems.
9. The Keyword Golden Ratio (KGR) Lives On
Speaker: Kyle Roof
The Keyword Golden Ratio equation is still a valid way to choose keywords.
Kyle endorsed Doug Cunnington’s Keyword Golden Ratio (KGR) method as still valid and effective.
He also went on to say that when choosing keywords to create content for, don’t shy away from competitive keywords. You might be surprised on how you rank for them.
You caa find out more about Doug and the KGR over on Dougs YouTube channel.
The Takeaway
Use the Keyword Golden Ratio to choose keywords. You should also target a broad range of other keywords including challenging ones, to maximize your site’s visibility and potential.
10. Google’s Gold Standard: Quality Content
Speaker: Kyle Roof
Google wants to give it’s users the best possible experience. Align yourself with this mantra by creating excellent contact that delivers high value to your visitors.
At the heart of Google’s mission is the desire to serve users with top-quality content.
As an SEO, ensure your content aligns with Google’s mission by consistently delivering high-quality, valuable, informative material that resonates with your target audience.
This means creating content that delivers on the search term that its ranking for by delivering a high-quality, easy-to-consume solution.
The Takeaway
Quality is king in SEO today. Scrutisie your website and content for weakness and continually improve upon it.
11. E-E-A-T: Establish Your Digital Authority
Speaker: Kyle Roof
EEAT is one of the key factors in SEO today when it comes to ranking well on Google.
E-E-A-T, or Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, is a cornerstone of SEO in the modern era.
It’s essential.
Google wants to identify the real identities and expertise behind websites.
Make this abundantly clear to Google by sharing comprehensive business and author information, updating your LinkedIn profiles, and establishing transparent connections between your website and your digital identities.
You’re also going to need lots of off-site EEAT. This means getting mentions and links on other websites within your field.
Kasra Dash, another speaker at Search Birmingham, recently shared a video on EEAT
The Takeaway
Ensure google knows you’re a expert in your field by getting mentioned on other websites. This can be done by contributing articles, appearing on podcasts and creating high-quality content.
12. Schema Markup: A Must-Have SEO Tool
Speaker: Kyle Roof
Schema is a great way of making your content more indexable by search engines like Google
Kyle Roof extolled the virtues of schema markup, advocating its widespread usage.
You can easily implement schema with tools like Rank Math for WordPress.
Schema markup enables you to provide additional context to search engines, making your content more appealing and informative in search results.
The Takeaway
Implement schema easily using a free WordPress plugin like RankMath.
13. Link Building: A Vital SEO Component
Speaker: Kyle Roof
Google measures the inbound links from other websites to yours. This is been a key ranking factor for a long-time and should be taken seriously if you want to rank well.
For a growing and thriving website, natural link-building is essential. While your site will naturally attract some backlinks, engage in manual outreach and other link-building strategies to complement this process.
Some ways you can build links include:
Building a diverse and high-quality backlink profile remains a key SEO strategy.
The Takeaway
Once you’ve published high-quality content to your website the next step is to build links. Link building is an essential task that should be carried out every single month.
14. Consistency: The Key to Success
Speaker: Kyle Roof
The key to success in SEO is consistency. In fact the key to a lot of things; Business, Exercises, Health – is all consistency.
Consistency is the secret sauce of SEO success.
If you’re producing quality content and building strong links, don’t stop. Keep doing what’s working. Consistently. Every day, every week, every month; as often as possible.
Maintain your efforts, repeat your successes, and be relentless in your pursuit of your rankings.
The Takeaway
You must carry out work on your website consistently. SEO is not a one-time task. You have to do what’s working over-and-over many times.
Koray Gubur SEO Tips
15. Nothing is Random in SEO
Speaker: Koray Gubur
The Google Algorithm is software than makes decisions based on it’s coding. When something changes in the search engine results, it changes for a reason.
Korey Guba emphasized that nothing in SEO happens randomly.
If you experience ranking drops or page de-indexation, there’s a reason behind it.
Investigate, analyze, and pinpoint the root causes to take corrective actions effectively.
The Takeaway
If you experience a change in traffic either in a positive or negative way there has to be a reason for it. You need to find out what that reason is and act on it.
16. Google’s Cost Considerations
Speaker: Koray Gubur
Crawing websites and indexing them uses resources. Although Google is huge, they don’t have unlimited resources therefore they apply a cost consideration to everything they do.
Google evaluates the cost it incurs when crawling websites.
Optimize your site to be cost-efficient for Google by ensuring it’s easy to crawl, loads quickly, and provides clear schema markup.
Reducing Google’s costs can improve your site’s favorability in search rankings.
The Takeaway
Think carefully about how you create your websites in terms of coding and structure. Optimise everything so that it’s as easy as possible (low cost) for Google to crawl.
17. Topical Authority: Deep Dive into Niche Topics
Speaker: Koray Gubur
Topical authority plays a big part in how Google decides which websites to rank. You can build up topical authority by offering a detailed collection of content around a topic.
Building topical authority involves delving deeply into specific topics within your niche.
Instead of creating shallow content on various subjects, focus on comprehensive coverage of a single topic.
Ensure that your articles are interconnected, creating a network of authoritative content within your website.
The Takeaway
Build out your content by adding lots of complimentary content around a subject. Go into detail. Go deeper into your keyword research using long tail keywords as inspiration on what to create content about.
18. Age Domains: Handle with Care
Speaker: Koray Gubur
Aged domains are often seen as a great way to boost the reputation of your domain and increase rankings. However, they should be implemented with the correct planning and preparation.
When redirecting an aged domain, exercise caution.
Ensure that the destination site is content-rich and capable of leveraging the incoming link equity. Don’t just redirect to a half-built website with thin content.
Apply the philosophy around Charles’ First Index Theory before carrying out the redirect.
Aged domains can provide a significant boost, but their impact depends on the quality and relevance of the destination site.
The Takeaway
Build out a fantastic website with rich, detailed content before you carry out any aged domain redirects. You don’t want the value of your aged domain diminished by redirecting it to a sloppy site.
19. Migrating and Rebranding Websites
Speaker: Koray Gubur
Migrating or rebranding a website should be carried out carefully. Don’t be tempted to try and do too many things at once as this may confuse Google and cause rankings to drop.
If you plan to change your domain name, URL structure, design, or content, Corey Guba advises a gradual approach.
Implement these changes one at a time, allowing Google to adapt and update its index incrementally.
Avoid overwhelming Google with multiple changes simultaneously to maintain stability during the transition.
The Takeaway
Plan out a step-by-step process when your changing a domain or rebranding a site. Carry out each task individually waiting for the changes to take effect before moving on to the next.
It might seem like a good idea to implement multiple changes at once, for example rebranding and updating content or changing a domain name and restructuring your URLs however this can cause issues for Google resulting in a drop in rankings and traffic.
Nick Jordans SEO Tips
20. Quality Content is Non-Negotiable
Speaker: Nick Jordan
Content is the most important thing. If you create high-value content that provides value and engages your visitors Google will reward you.
Nick Jordan, a standout SEO expert, reaffirmed the pivotal role of high-quality content in SEO success. T
To produce exceptional content, invest in excellent writers and editors. Average won’t cut it; your content must outshine competitors to earn Google’s favor.
Nick stressed that hiring the best writers and editors is not an easy thing to do and will require a bullet-proof hiring technique something that he provides tool and services to help with.
The Takeaway
Plan out a step-by-step process when your changing a domain or rebranding a site. Carry out each task individually waiting for the changes to take effect before moving on to the next.
It might seem like a good idea to implement multiple changes at once, for example rebranding and updating content or changing a domain name and restructuring your URLs however this can cause issues for Google resulting in a drop in rankings and traffic.
21. Google’s Reliance on User Data
Speaker: Nick Jordan
Google uses user data to assess how good content is.
Google heavily relies on user data from various sources like Google Analytics, Chrome, and Android.
It assesses metrics such as time on site, bounce rate, and user interactions to gauge content quality.
Ensure your content meets or exceeds Google’s user experience benchmarks. When content is published Google will gradually test your content by displaying on the SERPs for various keywords.
It will then measure CTR and other metrics to determine if your visitors are engaging with it.
The Takeaway
Publish great content. It’s simple really.
22. The Writer Conundrum
Speaker: Nick Jordan
Writers and editors that can produce content at the standard required to dominate the search engines are incredibly hard to find.
Nick Jordan painted a sobering picture of the writing landscape.
Roughly 95% of writers fall short of excellence, making it a daunting task to find exceptional ones.
When you identify exceptional writers, cherish and retain them, as they are your ticket to producing exceptional content.
The Takeaway
Implement a hiring process that enables you to find and retain the best. But be aware the majority of candidates will not be up the standard required.
23. The Best Writers Make the Best Editors
Speaker: Nick Jordan
Great writers make great editors.
Exceptional writers often excel as editors, too.
Leverage their skills by assigning them editing roles and allowing them to manage other writers.
This ensures consistency and maintains the high bar of quality across your content.
The Takeaway
Promote your best writer to editor. They’ll know what’s expected when it comes to content quality and can help manage and guide the other writers in your team.
24. Embrace the Probabilistic Nature of SEO
Speaker: Nick Jordan
As mentioned by the other speakers, carrying out SEO actions and tasks is no guarantee that your rankings and traffic will improve.
Remember that SEO success isn’t guaranteed with every effort.
Embrace the probabilistic nature of SEO, where only a portion of your strategies will yield positive results.
Maintain persistence and adaptability in your SEO approach.
The Takeaway
Keep carrying out SEO tasks and producing the best possible content but don’t expect everything to work all the time.
25. The Imperative of Quality Over Quantity
Speaker: Nick Jordan
When it comes to content, quality beats quantity every time.
In a world flooded with content, your focus should be on producing remarkable, high-quality content rather than churning out sheer quantity.
Google rewards content that genuinely serves users and adds value to their search queries.
The Takeaway
Spend as much time (and maybe money) as possible on each bit of content you produce to ensure it’s of the highest possible quality.
26. User-Centric SEO
Speaker: Nick Jordan
Your content should deliver on the intent behind a keyword.
Nick Jordan underscored the importance of aligning your SEO efforts with user needs and preferences.
Prioritize user experience, deliver relevant and insightful content, and cater to the genuine intent behind search queries.
The Takeaway
Before you create some content think carefully about what the intent is behind the keyword or query. What is the user looking for? How can you content provide a great solution quickly and concisely?
27. Consistent Improvement
Speaker: Nick Jordan
SEO is an ongoing process of incremental changes and improvements.
Success in SEO comes from continuous improvement.
Monitor your site’s performance, analyze data, and refine your strategies over time.
SEO is an ongoing journey of refinement and adaptation.
The Takeaway
SEO is never finished. Continually work on improving your website and it’s content.
28. A Holistic Approach to SEO
Speaker: Nick Jordan
As previously mentioned, by keeping in mind googles mission to provide good content you’ll find yourself producing fantastic content that pleases both Google and your visitors.
Nick Jordan’s content-centric approach reinforces the idea that SEO success hinges on a multifaceted strategy encompassing content quality, user experience, and data-driven insights.
Embrace a holistic approach to SEO, aligning your efforts with Google’s mission to provide the best content to its users and you’ll find that your website ranks well.
The Takeaway
Continuously focus on quality and pleasing your visitors with your content.
Final thoughts
The insights shared by the speakers at the Search Birmingham event offered powerful strategies to elevate your SEO game.
Implement as many as you, stay committed to excellence, and watch your website soar in the rankings.
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