Site Shack Web Design owner Judy Wilson presents a great tutorial deck on SEO (the training on Yoast SEO was conducted live and is not part of the slideshow). Judy teaches WordPress classes for The Skillery in Nashville. Check www.theskillery.com for upcoming classes.

1. ____________________________
Site Shack Web Design owner Judy Wilson presents “Got Visibility? WordPress Search Engine Optimization with the Yoast SEO plugin.
copyright 2013
all rights reserved

2. Nashville native. Web site designer, developer. Writer.
Photographer. Traveler. Gardener. Internet aficionado.
First computer: Apple III (1985)
First Web site: 1994.
First Webmaster job: 1997 - 2000
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of San Francisco
Second Webmaster job: 2000 - 2004
Owen Graduate School of Management - Vanderbilt University
Opened Site Shack: 2004
www.site-shack.com
Owner, Site Shack Web Design

3. What is SEO?
SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” Using a combination of
Web coding and development, link building and various Social Media
strategies and techniques, SEO is the practice of directing “organic”
traffic to your online presence (i.e., Web site, blog, YouTube channel,
SlideShare slide, images, map, “local place” or other online content).
A skillful optimization of these techniques will push your online presence
higher up in the “SERPs” (search engine return pages). Your rank is based
on what the search engine considers most relevant to users, based on the
search engine’s “algorithms.”

4. What is SEO?
A typical organic search

5. Let’s Talk
Google
Google’s market share is about 68%.

6. What is Google’s
Algorithm? *
* An algorithm is a specific set of instructions for carrying out a procedure or solving a
problem, usually with the requirement that the procedure terminate at some point.
Specific algorithms sometimes also go by the name method, procedure, or technique.
It’s a secret. Like the coca-cola formula.
Periodically (increasingly) Google has tweaked its
algorithm. Two of the most significant tweaks are referred to
as Panda and Penguin.

7. Penguin
We know that Penguin is purely a link quality filter that sits on
top of the core algorithm, runs sporadically (the
last official update was in October 2012), and is designed to take
out sites that use manipulative techniques to improve search
visibility.
In addition to keyword stuffing, Google is also focusing on
link schemes. For many years, link farms and other strategies
have existed to game Google's PageRank system. Link farming
has famously fueled a good number of googlebombs, a phenomen
on that has reared its ugly head time and time again. More
recently, there has been a shift from link farming to "like
farming", a practice that leverages social media in the same way
link farms leverage links.

8. Panda
The Panda Algorithm was created by Google in an attempt to
cause low quality sites to be displayed much lower in the
search results. It seemed to be aimed at content farms that
ranked well as a result of scraping content from other sites.
Sites that have been affected by Panda often have significant
amounts of duplicated content and also thin content. Thin
content is usually a page that consists of very few words. If a
site contains a lot of duplicate and thin content then Google
sees little reason to show this site prominently in its search
results. An entire site can be severely demoted because of
Panda even if only parts of the site have duplicate and thin
content.

9. As Google began to dominate,
we were able to extrapolate
certain ranking factors.
So what the ranking factors that Google uses to
rank a page?
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/
And Google does provide us with some information.

10. Google SERP General
Ranking Factors
link authority
age of domain name
share-ability
author-ranks
number of high-quality inbound links
keyword-rich, unique page titles
quality and freshness of content (text + pics)
keyword-rich, unique page names (URLs)
page speed
appropriate and smart use of keywords
[see cheat sheet and checklist links in Appendix]

11. In other words, what are the best practice
elements of a high-quality SEO strategy?
You want to open a bricks and mortar antique store. The first thing
you do (after you get the financing) is take ownership of your physical
location -- one that you’ve selected based on its nice, well traveled
street and the other fun, nice shops that are nearby.
You want to make the storefront and interior as visually attractive as
possible with eye-catching signage. You want your antiques to be
nicely arranged, interesting and unique and have probable value to the
people who come inside.

12. Signage
Location
Curb Appeal
Your Interior
Shareability
(word of mouth)

13. Signage =
keywords, keywords, keywords
http://www.googlekeywordtool.com/
A keyword is any word or short phrase that describes a website
topic or page. - The more a keyword is used by searchers and
websites the more attraction power it has.
http://www.wordtracker.com/
Before you do a single thing.
Create a “seed list”. . .
10 - 15 keywords and phrases.

14. For starters, keywords should be used in:
• title tags
• header tags (h1, h2)
• image “alt” tag
• your copy
• link text
• page names!
• Search engines put more weight on the early words, so if your keywords are near
the start of the page title you are more likely to rank well.
• People scanning result pages see the early words first. If your keywords are at the
start of your listing your page is more likely to get clicked on.

15. Any advice on using keywords?
http://www.sitepoint.com/the-5-most-valuable-places-for-keywords-
on-your-website/
http://2thetopdesign.com/perfect-seo-infographic-
right-words-in-the-right-place/

16. Location = URL
keywords, keywords, keywords
Location = SEO friendly URL
(think keywords)

17. Curb Appeal = Theme
Appearance (think “curb appeal”)
= Professional, friendly, unique, high quality premium theme.

18. Interior = Your content
User friendly! Easy to navigate. Logical site architecture.
(use a xml sitemap, breadcrumbs)
Use good looking, professional images
Present inviting substantive, copy -- fresh,
attractive, eye-catching (keywords)
No broken links!
Get around quickly = fast pages
Think keywords “specials” (a blog page, landing page etc).
http://yoast.com/speed-up-wordpress/

19. Shareability = Social Media
■ Setup a Google account
■ Setup a Google+ account and add a nice picture
of yourself (looking right, actually -- toward the
content)
■ Google Webmaster Tools
■ Google Analytics - Yoast has a WordPress
plugin for this:
http://yoast.com/wordpress/google-analytics/
■ Pinterest account
■ Facebook account
■ Twitter account

20. Shareability = Social Media
■ Like, Recommend the antique store etc for Social Media sites
■ JetPack WP Plugin
■ ShareDaddy
■ ShareThis
■ AddThis
■ Follow the antique store (sometimes just linked icons)
■ A lot of themes have this functionality built in using “Theme Options”
http://www.noupe.com/wordpress/integrating-social-media-into-
wordpress-plugins-you-cannot-live-without-74801.html
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/follow-subscribe
http://webdesignledger.com/tools/10-best-wordpress-sharing-plugins-of-2012-
to-get-more-social-traffic

21. Shareability = Social Media
Fresh posts
Landing pages
YouTube channel
Infographic
SlideShare
Blogging:
Announce your promotions (e.g. one-day sale)
Share expert advice
Share your personal reflections
(keywords)
Use Social Media to drive traffic to your:

22. Linkbuilding
http://pointblankseo.com/
A gold mine:
Link building is simply the process of getting links to your websites (or what we
call inbound links or backlinks) from other websites.
Links have always been an essential part of the internet and the web. It’s how we
move from one information to another whether it is trivial, factual, scientifical,
opinionated, etc. Links are also a big factor of how Google ranks you.
http://seo-hacker.com/seo-link-building-tutorial-
what-is-link-building/

23. SEO in WordPress
Exact same principles.
Somewhat different implementation.
WordPress is a Content Management System.
Out-of-the-box it has certain SEO limitations:
No unique page titles
No unique meta-description tags

24. SEO Yoast
http://www.steamfeed.com/10-reasons-to-use-wordpress-seo-
plugin-by-yoast-and-how-to-set-it-up/
Who is Yoast?
Joost de Valk is a 30 year old Dutch web developer, SEO
and online marketer. I started my career in several
companies, ranging from enterprise hosting to online
marketing agencies, allowing me to work with several
large businesses around the world, ranging from Dutch
leaders as KPN and KLM to world leaders as eBay, RTL
and Salesforce.

25. Appendix
1.SEO Overview (misc information)
2. training & knowledge
3. metrics & analysis
4. research & specialists
5. checklists & cheat sheets
6. keyword information
7. link building
8. google local search
9. social media
10.WordPress SEO with Yoast

26. SEO Overview
http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo
http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_dlcp/
www.google.com/en/us/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf
Training and Knowledge
http://searchengineland.com
http://yoast.com/canonical-url-links
http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2064412/Proper-SEO-and-the-Robots.txt-File
http://www.seomoz.org/q/dofollow-and-nofollow-links
http://www.lynda.com
http://www.seomoz.org/q/trailing-slash-at-end-of-url
http://www.businessbolts.com/what-is-dofollow-what-is-nofollow.html

27. SEO Overview
http://www.opensiteexplorer.org
An analysis of your Web site:
- how it performs independently
- how it performs compared to other sites
http://www.slideshare.net/rdrysdale/essential-seo-analytics-the-performance-
metrics-that-truly-count
Metrics & Analysis
http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33164/6-SEO-Tools-to-
Analyze-Your-Site-Like-Google-Does.aspx
http://www.internetmarketingninjas.com/seo-tools/seo-compare/

28. SEO Overview
Research & ToolWar companies
SEO Specialists
http://www.searchmetrics.com/en
http://www.majesticseo.com
http://2thetopdesign.com
http://www.seomoz.org
http://raventools.com
http://outspokenmedia.com

29. SEO Overview
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/dusting-the-website-for-spring-
optimization-seo-cleaning
Checklists and Cheat Sheets
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/deployment-seo-strategy
-and-checklist
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-beginners-
checklist-for-small-business-seo
http://devcheatsheet.com/search/?q=seomoz
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/a-basic-yet-essential-pre-post-content-launch-checkl

30. Keywords Information
http://www.seomark.co.uk/google-keyword-tool-uk/
http://www.google.com/trends
https://support.google.com/trends/answer/96693?hl=en
How can I use Google Insights for Search?
http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo/
keyword-research
http://www.wordstream.com/long-tail-keyword-tool

31. Link Building
http://www.seomoz.org/webinars/link-smarter-not-harder
http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo/growing-popularity-and-links
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/link-building-tools
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-10-golden-rules-to-attracting-authority-links

32. Google Local Search
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-places-
is-being-upgraded-to-google-local/62217/
http://readwrite.com/2013/04/10/google-upgrades-
google-places-dashboard
http://searchengineland.com/10-things-seos-smbs-should-know-about-new-google-places
Google Places Is Being Upgraded To Google+ Local

33. Google+ for Business
http://www.google.com/intl/en_US/+/business/

34. Social Media
http://webdesignledger.com/tools/10-best-wordpress-sharing-plugins-of-
2012-to-get-more-social-traffic
http://hootsuite.com
http://bufferapp.com
http://home.sproutsocial.com/social-manager
http://socialmediatoday.com/ubersocialmedia/1411936/social-media-management-and-belief-any

35. WordPress SEO
http://yoast.com/articles/wordpress-seo
http://yoast.com/wordpress-rel-author-rel-me
Make your Google+ profile picture appear beside your post:
http://www.copyblogger.com/wordpress-google-authorship
http://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-seo-ultimate-open-graph-questions
http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1408986
http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2251513/SEO-Friendly-WordPress-in-12-Steps

36. WordPress SEO with Yoast
http://webtrainingwheels.com/complete-guide-
wordpress-seo-plugin-yoast
http://www.netmagazine.com/tutorials/protect-your-
wordpress-site-htaccess
http://yoast.com/articles/robots-meta-tags
http://ogp.me
The Open Graph protocol
http://www.wpbeginner.com/plugins/how-to-install-and-setup-
wordpress-seo-plugin-by-yoast

37. WordPress Useful (SEO) Plugins
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/w3-total-cache/
http://www.seomoz.org/ugc/roundup-of-35-wordpress-seo-plugins
http://dashburst.com/the-7-best-seo-plugins-for-wordpress-
blogs-one-reality-check/

38. Happy trails with WordPress!
Judy Wilson
www.Site-Shack.com
judy@site-shack.com
www.twitter.com/siteshackdesign