Search Engine Optimisation Basics

Search Engine Optimisation Basics

Ryan Jones

Marketing Coordinator

About me

• Reformed engineer

• Marketer

• 18 years web development experience

• Recently:• WordPress

• Drupal

• Magento

Follow my advice and be #1 on Google!!!

Get your basics in order

• Google Analytics• Vital for tracking traffic, how much and where it comes from

• Keyword analysis

• Popular search queries

• Key landing pages

• Understanding volume of mobile traffic

Get your basics in order

• Each page should feature:• <title>

• Keep it unique and descriptive

• feel free to brand it

• include relevant keywords

• E.g. “Donated Microsoft Office software for not-for-profits – Connecting Up”

• <meta description>• Make it clear and relevant

• Limit to 156 characters, maximum Google displays in search results

• E.g. “Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2013 software is now available as a donation to eligible not-for-profits through Connecting Up.”

Get your basics in order

• Each page should feature:• <h1>

• One per page

• Defines the key heading on the page

• Make it relevant to targeted keywords

• <h2>, <h3>, <h4>, etc• Include as many as relevant

• Used to define page structure and content relevance

• Should include reference to keywords

Get your basics in order

• Each page should feature:• <img alt=“This is a picture of a duck” />

• One per page

• Defines the key heading on the page

• Make it relevant to targeted keywords

• Will appear if the image doesn’t display

• Can be read when the image can’t be seen – search engines, screen readers

• WCAG 2.0 Guideline 1.1.1: “All non-text content that is presented to the user has a text alternative that serves the equivalent purpose.”

Sitemaps

• Lists all the pages of your site

• Written in XML for search engines to read

• Needs to be submitted to search engines

Creating sitemaps

• Content Management System?• Use Sitemap or SEO module

• WordPress SEO by Yoast

• Drupal SEO Tools

• XML Sitemap (Drupal)

• Custom system?• http://www.sitemaps.org/protocol.html

Submitting sitemaps to Google & Bing

• Google Webmaster Tools• http://www.google.com/webmaster/tools

• Bing Webmaster Tools• http://www.bing.com/webmaster

• Validate that you own your website

• Submit XML sitemaps

• See website issues, such as crawl errors, malware and hacking

• See sites that link to you, search data, and more

Content Management SystemsLet them help you

• Make use of free modules that assist with SEO• WordPress

• Google Analytics by Yoast

• Setup Google Analytics, use latest Universal Analytics

• WordPress SEO by Yoast

• Help with content creation, validating with search engines, sitemaps, URLs and more

• Drupal• Google Analytics

• Setup Google Analytics

• Drupal SEO Tools

• Help with content creation, sitemaps, URLs and more

Content

Things have changed!

• Write content for people, not machines

• Create quality content people want to read (and share!)

• No keyword stuffing, but make your content relevant to keywords you’re targeting

• No hidden keywords or strange redirects

High quality content relevant to targeted keywords will potentially record a higher quality score to drive down your AdWords costs.

Speed

• Website speed is now a factor in how visitors and search engines rank your website

• Use tools to analyse where speed gains can be made:• Google PageSpeed –

https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed

• Yslow – http://yslow.org

Common speed solutions

• Appropriately optimise image files• Make them the correct format, minimise their file size

• Store images and static files on Content Delivery Networks• E.g. Amazon S3, Rackspace Cloud Files

• Reduce use of images• Use text, CSS or other tricks

• Look at your server• Is it adequate for the traffic you receive?• Have you outgrown shared hosting?• If it’s overseas, can you move it within Australia?• Do you need to configure caching solutions?

Keyword research

• Google Trends• www.google.com/trends

• Google AdWords• Keyword Planner

• Check ‘Status’ next to a keyword, mouse over dialogue box, check quality score and relevance

Mobilegeddon

• Changes to the Google search algorithm on 21 April

• Your site will be penalised in mobile searches if it is not mobile friendly

• Mobile site or responsive

• No change to desktop search

Things to consider:

• How much mobile traffic do you now receive?

• How important is mobile traffic to you?

Staying up to date

Google Webmaster Central Blog:

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com.au

Search Engine Land:

http://searchengineland.com

Important links

• Google Webmaster Tools – www.google.com/webmaster/tools

• Bing Webmaster Tools – www.bing.com/webmaster

• Google’s SEO Starter Guide -http://static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.google.com/en//webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf

• Bing’s Webmaster guidelines -http://www.bing.com/webmaster/help/webmaster-guidelines-30fba23a

• Google Trends – www.google.com/trends

• Google Webmasters – http://www.google.com/webmasters

Next…

Friday 24 April

Search Engine Optimisation Basics• Site speed

• Webmaster Tools

• Sitemaps

• Keywords

• Content

• Structure

• Bing and Google

FREE - http://www.connectingup.org/events/webinars/webinar-search-engine-optimisation

Need help?

One hour free mentoring with Premium Membership!

Plus…

• $50 discount on Connecting Up Conference

• 20% discount on webinars and workshops

• Discounts on fuel, groceries, movies and more

• Promote your events on our website for free

• Exclusive Facebook group

www.connectingup.org/membership

Next…

Thursday 14 May

Communities in the Future Conference 2015 -Wellington

• #NPTech: Trends in Nonprofit Technology & Useful Tools

• Get to know your audience with Google Analytics – Learn the basics of website usage statistics

Purchase two fulltime conference registrations and get the third FREE!

www.techsoup.net.nz/conference

Next…

Wednesday 27 – Friday 29 May

Connecting Up Conference 2015 - Adelaide• #NPTech: Trends in Nonprofit Technology & Useful Tools

• Social media Tools

• Facebook content that attracts positive interaction

• Get to know your audience with Google Analytics – Learn the basics of website usage statistics

Purchase two fulltime conference registrations and get 50% off the third!

www.connectingup.org/conference

Join Google for Nonprofits

Free registration!

•Google Ad Grants - $10,000 AdWords grant per month

•Google Apps for Nonprofits

•YouTube for Nonprofits

Visit http://www.google.com.au/nonprofits/join/