Listen in as Simon chats about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) with Tim Martin from NET:101. Hear their opinions on SEO in 2015 and the value of technical SEO, quality content and social media.

Both Simon and Tim have been involved in digital marketing for the last two decades and have seen many changes over that time. They touch on the tricks used in the early days of SEO, when a whole industry grew around manipulating Google and other search engines with ‘keyword stuffing’ and then later 'link building’ techniques.

Tim and Simon then discuss the digital landscape in 2015 and how to respond when a client asks ‘Is it possible to get my site SEO’d quickly?’

Technical SEO still has a place today but really is about optimisations of your website that can be made in addition to the production of great quality content. Some of the technical topics touched on in this episode include:

Clean website code, how to check your code is clean and valid, easy for search engine spiders to index, and visible in all browsers
Page metadata such as titles and descriptions - additionally how to make the meta title and meta descriptions enticing to search engines and users
Structured data - use markup in your webpages to tell Google the specific information around your product or event such as event dates, prices etc
Page load speed - Google value user experience. Having a fast loading web page is a good experience for users - Google is now using page speed
Secure, encrypted connections over SSL - again Google values user experience and security. Having a certified encrypted connection is another indicator used by Google when determining page rankings.

The guys then touch on how to use Google tools such as Analytics and Webmaster Tools to understand your customers, generate ideas for producing great content and optimising your website.

Google+ page is another ‘result’ in the search engine, especially for local businesses. Google+ is a big consideration for local SEO as Google uses the info in the plus page to develop the search result on the RH of the desktop page and the mobile page.

The episode wraps up with how to develop a SEO strategy to fit in with your overall digital marketing strategy.

People in this episode:

Tim Martin is the founder of NET:101 produces great Social Media and Digital Marketing courses at net101.com.au
Simon Pilkington develops and delivers Google Analytics and SEO courses for NET:101