DIY SEO using WordPress

Presented by Melissa Cahill Panoptic Online Marketing, LLC

WordCamp NYC

Baruch College (CUNY) June 9-10, 2012

This presentation aims to help the small business owner, non-profit webmaster, or personal blogger understand some basic principles and best practices around SEO.

DIY, or know the right questions to ask before paying a SEO specialist.

• Basic SEO concepts

• Keyword research: How to select effective keywords

• Keyword implementation: Understand the purpose of each implementation location, and learn how to use the Yoast SEO plugin

• Things to consider when hiring an SEO company

• Learn More About SEO (Free Tools and Resources)

• Basic SEO concepts

• Keyword research: How to select effective keywords

• Keyword implementation: Understand the purpose of each implementation location, and learn how to use the Yoast SEO plugin

• Things to consider when hiring an SEO company

• Learn More About SEO (Free Tools and Resources)

Search Engines vs. Users

Search Engine Optimization

Search Experience Optimization

Search Engines Users

Love content. Love content.

Use keywords to generate listings. Use keywords to find information.

Can’t access a poorly designed site. Hate browsing a poorly designed site.

Everything you do on a website should have the dual purpose of satisfying USERS and search engines (yes, in that order!)

Google says that the right kind of SEO is fine Many people confuse search engine optimization with spamming. Spamming and SEO are two totally different things. A recent announcement from Google contains a statement about “white hat” SEO:

Effective search engine optimization can make a site more crawlable and make

individual pages more accessible and easier to find…

“White hat” search engine optimizers often improve the usability of a site, help

create great content, or make sites faster, which is good for both users and

search engines.

Watch Google’s Matt Cutts talk about SEO on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BS75vhGO-kk

How Do I Improve My Ranking?

On-Site Factors:

• What you say about yourself

– Keywords you use on your website

Off-Site Factors:

• What other websites say about you

– Inbound Links (and words they use in the link)

SEO Basics

• Off-site SEO (link building):

– Legitimate

– Credible

– Relevant

Google’s recent “Penguin” update penalized websites undertaking black hat SEO tactics and those with otherwise low-quality content

On-Site Factors for SEO

1. What keywords to use? – Targeted (to a specific product/service/audience)

– Traffic-bearing (Average Search Volume [ASV])

2. Where to put them on your site?

– Page Titles & Meta-Description Tags…

Keyword Research

What keywords to use?

– Targeted (to a specific product/service/audience) – Traffic-bearing (Average Search Volume [ASV]) – Not ridiculously competitive

• Brainstorm, but keep it simple.

• Don’t spread yourself too thin.

• Be specific about what you’re selling.

TIPS!

Implementation Locations

• Where should I use keywords?

1. Domain name (http://www.YourDomainName.com/)

2. Sub-page URLs (permalinks):

(http://www.YourDomainName.com/YourPageName)

3. Title

4. Meta-Description

5. Headers (h1, h2, h3; descending importance)

6. Internal links

7. Website copy (written content on the page)

8. Bold text

Keyword Implementation Rules

• Don’t overdo it!

• Only target 2-3 phrases per page on site

• Don’t make text read like you are spamming!

We’re a coffee shop in New York City and our coffee shop in New

York City serves good coffee.

Keyword Implementation Rules

• Don’t overdo it!

• Only target 2-3 phrases per page on site

• Don’t make text read like you are spamming!

We’re a coffee shop in New York City and our coffee shop in New

York City serves good coffee.

Permalinks

Title & Meta-Description

Title & Meta-Description

• Title is essentially #1 for keywords

• Meta-Description relatively low on the list

Unless your business name is a widely

recognized brand, keep it out of the Title, but

include it first in the Meta-Description

TIP!

Yoast SEO for WordPress

Headers

h1, h2, h3, h4, h5

Descending weight on SEO

• h1 – One of the main keywords of page

• h2, h3 – secondary/topical keywords

• h4, h5 – not crucial to use/embed

Website Copy

• At least one paragraph of copy should be

found on each page

• Keyword Density

– Not imminently important

• Learn how to write copy for the web

Yoast SEO for WordPress

Keywords for Images

• File name …“whitesalmon-rafting.jpg”

• Alt attribute • Shows when image cannot be

loaded

• Tooltip text

alt = “Rafters plunging down Husum Falls on the White Salmon River”

• Title attribute

title = “Husum Falls on the White Salmon River”

<img src=“/images/whitesalmon-rafting.jpg” width=“250” height=“150” alt=“Rafters plunging down Husum Falls on the White Salmon River” title=“Husum Falls on the White Salmon River”>

Internal Links

• Can be helpful within the copy, especially at the end of articles

• Should not be overused

• Should have the same anchor text as your main navigation or inbound links

Consider a “related posts” plugin:

Update Services Alert update services (“ping”) that you have new content. The WordPress Codex keeps a list of valid ping services that you can cut and paste into your blog’s settings: http://codex.wordpress.org/Update_Services

XML Site Maps

Yoast SEO for WordPress

Yoast SEO for WordPress

Yoast SEO for WordPress

Advanced Features

1. Robots Meta configuration

2. Canonical

3. Breadcrumbs

4. Permalink clean up

5. XML Sitemaps

6. RSS enhancements

7. Edit your robots.txt and .htaccess

What to ask SEO vendors?

Don’t trust anyone who makes guarantees

regarding rankings, especially if they promise

you one of the top spots in Google.

TIP!

• How do they conduct their keyword research?

• What’s included in their price?

• How do they monitor performance and how often will they make any necessary adjustments?

SEOMoz’s Beginniners Guide to SEO - Chapter 5: Keyword Research Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide (PDF) Yoast’s SEO for WordPress Plugin - The Definitive Guide to Higher Rankings for WordPress Sites

Google & SEO-Friendly Page Titles (Video) CopyBlogger Copywriting 101 Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, and SEO

Learn More About SEO

Visit us at http://tadpole.cc

We are a Worker Cooperative, a partnership of five professionals who pool our talents and tools to make things better for our clients (and easier for ourselves). We share a strong belief in open-source software, collaborative effort and empowering the individual WordPress user. We offer WordPress Design/Development, Hosting, Training and Support for individuals, small business and non-profit organizations.

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