Hello Tutorial Tuesdayer! This page outlines the main points of my talk, and also includes a few points that I didn't have time to cover. If you have any questions drop me an email and I'll be more than happy to help.

• Most people don't do SEO because they don't know where to start. But you're not most people.
• "SEO is dead" is a silly idea - don't listen to it, and don't say it to others (apart from your competition).
• Google's organic results are generated by a system - which can of course be steered and optimised.
• There are similarities between Google and a small child - both need serious hand-holding and tantrums are inevitable.
• You probably don't need to pay for an SEO tool to start doing SEO. See below.
  
  

Getting Amorous with Analytics

Go into Google Analytics.

Set up an organic traffic segment.

Change the date range to at least a year.

Change the date view selector to week.

Celebrate. Or worry.

If you're hazy on how to do this, here's a two minute step-by-step video, and it'll also show you how to use quality indicators too.

Getting Cosy with Search Console

Google Search Console is amazing.

Make it your new friend, and spend a little time in getting to know each other.

In particular:

Performance - have a look at the date range and compare functions. Try looking at only one single metric (like clicks) to see which terms (or pages) have fallen.

URL inspection -  drop in a URL for one of your pages. See when it was last indexed and where from. Check the canonical and mobile friendliness.

Coverage - check on your errors and issues, but don't panic! Most websites have many, and some may be of little importance.

Sitemaps - make sure they're in there and error-free.

Mobile Usability - you may well have errors but how important are those pages? Dig deeper if required.

Watch this space - more funkiness is coming. Sign up for our occasional emails and be the first to know. Ts & Cs may apply.

Getting Cool with Chrome

Right-click on the page and choose inspect.

Pay attention to the audit tab on the top right.

Explore. There are some amazingly useful things in here.

Install some amazing extensions:

SEO META in 1 CLICK - a nice overview of META data, images, links, etc.

Blue Button - webpage X-ray - similar to SEO META but you may prefer it. Or not.

Free Backlink Checker by LRT - the quickest way of checking for broken links I've ever seen.

GSC: URL Performance Report Deeplink - fantastic time-saver that makes Google Search Console even more useful.

Gifts from Google

PageSpeed Insights - a detailed page speed rater, with actionable recommendations.

Mobile-Friendly test - do Google think your webpage is friendly enough?

Google Trends - the number of searches over time. Super-useful.

Google Alerts - let Google keep an eye on what's important to you.

If you have any problems with any of the above...

Don't panic. Instead email me at dave@softwarepromotions.com. I'll do what I can to help you.