Optimise your Drupal website for search engines - Drupal SEO - A presentation on SEO and Drupal for Drupal Melbourne meetup in October 2014.

1. Optimising your Drupal site for
search engines and customers
Sohal Khatwani – Symphony3
www.symphony3.com 1

2. How to contact us
• Connect with us:
– LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/company/symphony3
– Twitter - https://twitter.com/symphony3think
– Website - http://www.symphony3.com/
• Connect with me on:
– Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sohalkhatwani
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3. About
• Sohal Khatwani
– 5 years experience in digital communications and website development
– Main areas of focus include SEO, digital strategy and development of online businesses
– Worked with a number of large corporations including Dove, OgilvyOne Worldwide, Smirnoff,
Nextgen Group, Spotless Group.
– Also worked with a number of small to medium businesses
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4. Agenda
1. Think about your customers
2. How do customers become aware
3. What is SEO and why is it important
4. Generating awareness: How to generate traffic and sales
to your website (or your clients)
5. SEO factors & modules for Drupal
6. Takeaways
7. Conclusion
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5. Think about your customers…
• Different demographics interact differently to each other online
• Customers expect to be serviced where and how it suits them
• In order to provide the best service to your customer, you need to understand who they
are and how they interact with brands online
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6. Customer Persona Worksheet
• Help define one or more customer groups
who interact differently with your brand
online
• What are his / her needs?
• What keywords does he / she associate
with your business / products?
• Detail matters!
• http://www.symphony3.com/resources
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7. Customer Persona Worksheet
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8. Now what? The customer journey.
• Once we understand who our customer is – we need to investigate how they interact
with our brand
• A customer’s relationship can be broken down into multiple stages throughout the
purchase process
• The ‘customer journey’ should be viewed as an ongoing, cyclical process, broken down
into:
– Unaware/Aware
– Evaluation
– Purchase
– Implementation
– Support
– Loyal Advocate
• http://www.symphony3.com/blog/building-loyal-advocates-with-the-customer-journey
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9. The Customer Journey
The Green outer box = what the
customer does / requires from our
brand
The Red inner box = how we service the
customer at that stage
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10. Persona and Customer Journey
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11. How do customers become aware?
Customers may find out about your brand, product or service
by any number of ways:
• Search engines (a Google search for pages, images,
videos, maps etc.)
• Social media (posts, ads, shares, likes, comments, tweets etc.)
• Advertising (search, display, video, social etc.)
• Email campaigns
• Online classifieds & listings (Yellow Pages, White Pages, True Local etc)
• Word of Mouth
• Print
} Even these are heavily
related to online!
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12. What is SEO?
• SEO = Search Engine Optimisation
• SEO is the process of improving a websites’ or web pages’ visibility on search
engines like Google.
• Ranking higher in organic (or “natural”) search results makes your website more
visible to potential customers and searchers looking for your products, brand or
service.
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13. Why Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)?
• Users often perceive higher ranking sites to be of a higher quality and convert
sales/enquiries more often. (More $$$$)
• Higher natural rankings builds trust among searchers.
• 80% of websites are found through search engines (Source: Forrester
Research).
• Research suggests that if you’re not in the top 10 for your search terms your
website is almost non-existent on the internet.
• SEO is about building brands that can be considered as an authority on their
niche.
• SEO helps brands last in the customer’s mind.
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14. How Google Works
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1. Google’s spider navigates the world wide
web by crawling and indexing pages.
– This means Google follows links from page to
page and stores it in their bank of websites in
folders based on different factors.
2. Google writes algorithms to understand
what information you are looking for.
Google shows you results from its bank.
Results are ranked using 200 factors.
3. Google removes spam from its bank and
keeps only the best results to show you.
– More info here -
http://www.google.com.au/insidesearch/howse
archworks/thestory/index.html
Source: Google

15. Natural (Organic) vs. Paid Search
Australia Search Engine Market Share – April 2014
PAID (ADWORDS)
10 - 20% Clicks
ORGANIC (FREE)
80 – 90 95
% Clicks
Google
Yahoo
Bing
Others
Source: Clicky.com
PAID (ADWORDS)
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16. Positioning is important!!
Above the red fold – 100 % viewed.
Drops to 50% - 20% below the fold.
Positioning is important!!
Appear on Page 1 – More traffic = More
leads!
Appear on Page 2 – Less traffic = Less or
no leads!
Why high ranking matters
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17. Why we talk about Google
Australia Search Engine Market Share – October 2014
Google
Yahoo
Bing
Others
Source: Clicky.com
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18. SEO Factors
There are a number of factors that affect your rankings on search Engines like
Google. However, these can be classified into three broad areas:
1. Content Layout & Optimisation
2. Crawlability (Can Google’s spider access my website?)
3. Backlinks (Social Media Shares, Links from high quality sites etc.)
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19. Drupal & SEO
• The fundamentals of SEO for Drupal are exactly the same as for any other
content management system:
– Focus on your content
– Make sure your site is accessible by search engines
– Share your content through social media and try to generate backlinks.
• Out of the box Drupal may not be configured for search engines. However, with a
few modules and planning Drupal can be one of the most SEO friendly platforms.
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20. 1.1. SEO process: Content
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Page content tips
• Include keywords in content
• Include meta tags
• Have a clear page heading
• Add clear sub-headings
• Break up content in bullet
points or numbers
• Use images
• Use video
• Make it shareable (share
icons)
• Answer the questions that
matter to your customers!

21. 1.1. SEO process: Content Structure (Semantic)
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Recommendations
The ideal page structure is:
• Main page title (H1)
• Subtitle (H2)
• Paragraphs of main content (P) (/P)
• Bullet points or lists if required (optional)
• Additional subtitles (H3, H4, H5 & H6)
(optional)
• Images or videos to explain the main
content (recommended)
• Call to action (a button of link to contact or
download a PDF)

22. 1.1. SEO process: Content
Creating the right type of content is important for SEO performance
1. Use Google’s keyword planner tool to get ideas for keywords phrases to target.
Remember – you need to have an account with Google. -
https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner
More information - https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2999770?hl=en-AU
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Don’t forget to
choose “show only
closely related
ideas”.

23. 1.1. SEO process: Content
3. Ensure you focus on a topic and the quality of the content. While keywords are still important,
use a set of keyword variations as opposed to just 1 or 2. Choose a topic that showcases your
expertise and ensure your website’s product, service or blog page caters to that.
• Why does the Apple fruit not show up when I search for “Apple” on Google? or Why does the skin care brand
Dove show up when I search for Dove.
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24. Case Study: Getting found for non-brand keywords
• Nifty Lift is an elevating work
platforms manufacturer based in
Victoria.
• Their website is usually found for
non-brand terms like “ewp
manufacturers” or “elevating work
platforms manufacturers”.
• This builds trust and credibility
among potential prospects who are
considering to work with them.
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BUILDS CREDIBILITY!

25. Case study: eBay – Affected by Google’s update
• Google’s update in May 2014 left eBay with a major loss in rankings and search
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traffic.
• Why? eBay created too many pages with limited content which not considered
high quality by Google.
Source: Larry Kim, CEO, Wordstream - http://www.businessinsider.com.au/google-search-algorithm-update-panda-40-hurts-ebay-
2014-5

26. 1.1. SEO process: Content – Meta Tags
2. Include Meta tags on all pages of your website. There are major meta tags on a
page:
– Title tags
– Description tags
– Social meta tags
– Alt tags (if your adding images to your page add alt tags).
• They are important because it is the first things users see. They also help Google understand
what the page is about.
Title Tag
Description Tag
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27. 1.1. SEO process: Content – Social Meta Tags
• Appearances are
important on social
media
• Text, images and
headings can often
be edited
• Take the time to
make them look the
part!
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28. Popular modules for Drupal
2. Some good modules to use for adding tags to your website include:
– Page Title - https://www.drupal.org/project/page_title
– Metatag - https://www.drupal.org/project/metatag (most used)
• Configure the page title settings
• Configure the meta description settings
• Add canonical URLs to the pages
– Taxonomy Title - https://www.drupal.org/project/taxonomy_title
– Metatags Quick Module - https://www.drupal.org/project/metatags_quick
– Social Share - https://www.drupal.org/project/social-share
– Share This - https://www.drupal.org/project/sharethis
– Read more link - https://www.drupal.org/project/read_more
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29. 1.1. SEO process: Content
4. Focus on usability / responsiveness of your website.
– Having a responsive website should not be optional. Think about your personas’. E.g.
restaurant customers look for information when they out and about. Plus, Google
recommends responsive websites!
– When a user visits your site from a mobile or tablet and immediately return to search engine
results pages, Google thinks that your site might not be the best choice for that keyword or
phrase.
– A responsive websites makes it easier for users to find, understand and share your content.
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30. Themes to use for Drupal
Some good themes to use for responsive design in Drupal:
– Bootstrap - https://www.drupal.org/project/bootstrap
– Foundation - https://www.drupal.org/project/zurb_foundation
– Zen - https://www.drupal.org/project/zen
– More info - https://www.drupal.org/node/1388492
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31. 1.1. SEO process: Content
5. Use Google to showcase your business to local users. (local search is very good
for business!)
– Google My Business - http://www.google.com/business/
– Be different – Google lets you add a virtual tour to your listing page. You can book a
photographer from Google here -
https://www.google.com/maps/about/partners/businessview/get-started/
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32. 1.2. SEO process: Crawlability
Below are some key steps to ensure your website is search engine friendly and you
have the best chances of being found on Google
1. Add Google Webmasters tools to see how your website appears to Google. It should
take no more than 5 minutes and can show you if your site is accessible to Google or
not! You can also use a module like https://www.drupal.org/project/site_verify
More information here - https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/34592?hl=en
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33. 1.2. SEO process: Crawlability
2. Make sure your website has a clean URL structure. In Drupal enable
– Enable search engine friendly URLs – Path in core
– Install Pathauto Module - https://www.drupal.org/project/pathauto
– Install Sub-Pathauto Module - https://www.drupal.org/project/subpathauto
– Install Global Redirect - https://www.drupal.org/project/globalredirect
– Install Rabbit hole for Redirects - https://www.drupal.org/project/rabbit_hole
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34. 1.2. SEO process: Crawlability
3. Create an XML sitemap for your website and submit it to Google.
– A sitemap is a directory of the pages on your website.
– This allows Google to go through your whole site and not miss out on any pages.
– Use Sitemap - https://www.drupal.org/project/site_map
– Use sitemap XML - https://www.drupal.org/project/xmlsitemap
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35. 1.2. SEO process: Crawlability
4. Submit your site to Google to ensure that all your website pages are found. Re-submit
your site here - https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/submit-url
– Note: Only submit your site when there are major changes to the site and you want Google
to know about it fast. Adding a new web page, updating content is not considered as major
updates. If your website is already on Google then you do not need to do this – just add
webmaster tools.
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36. 1.2. SEO process: Crawlability
Additional modules and tools to make your site more accessible
Create an error page for the changeover (404 page)
• Create a 404 error page for the website. This will tell users if they have reached the wrong page
or a page with a broken link. A 404 page is especially important when moving to a new website.
Use Search 404 - https://www.drupal.org/project/search404
Create a text file to talk to Google (robots.txt)
• Remove the code information in the top <head> </head> section of the website. Create a new
robots.txt file and upload it to the root directory of the site. Use Robots.txt -
https://www.drupal.org/project/robotstxt
Add Google analytics tools
• Add the Google analytics tracking code to the website to track how the website is performing and
what visitors are looking at on the new site.
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37. 1.2. SEO process: Crawlability
Add Breadcrumbs trails on your website
• Add breadcrumbs trails throughout the website pages. Use -
https://www.drupal.org/project/path_breadcrumbs
Redirect non www to www version of your website
• If you are not redirecting one to other, search engines will treat www and non www as two sites
which can cause lot of unnecessary duplication and the server will get hit twice by bots.
Validate the website with world wide standards (W3C)
• It is good web practice to create a website that is compliant with the World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C) standards. However, this is not mandatory and should only be done in case there is a
business requirements for validation (e.g. a web design business who wants to showcase their
expertise). https://www.drupal.org/project/htmlpurifier
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38. 1.2. Case Study – Fine details matter!
• A business had one line of incorrect code
• This line of code blocked Google’s access to the site.
• The business could not be found for 6 months
• Result = LOSING BUSINESS
• They removed the code and now their site is successfully being found on Google
and generating enquiries.
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39. • Backlinks are hyperlinks created on
another site or social media that
links back to a page on your
website.
• Google’s algorithm will find your
website page more important if a
number of high quality websites are
referencing (or linking back to) your
website.
• For example, if you got a link from
Sydney Morning Herald or an article
in The Age linking back to you site
talking about your services.
1.3. SEO Process: Backlinks
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40. 1.3. Example: Infographic backlinks
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41. 1.3. Example: Create enjoyable content on social media
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42. 1.3. How: Open Site Explorer
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Visit http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/

43. 1.3. Backlinks Dos and Don’ts
DO
• Have a plan from where you
can link back. For example,
upcoming conferences,
industry associations.
• Add links back to your
website on social media
posts
• Optimise your hyperlink text
& avoid click here and read
more
• Create content that is
people want to share or link
to e.g. infographics
• Include keywords in your
links and URLs.
DON’T
• Buy links
• Link from your website back
to your website – Yes.
People do this!
• Participate in link schemes
(I will link to you if you link
to me).
• Avoid outsourcing backlinks
– focus on creating quality
content.
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44. Takeaways
1. Content Best Practice Guide – On our website
2. Content Planning Template – On our website
http://www.symphony3.com/resources
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45. Conclusion
1. Think about the content your customers ask for and are searching for on Google
2. Research keywords and themes around that content and start regularly
planning content on topics / themes related to your expertise
3. Make sure your site is accessible to Google
4. Share your content on social media regularly and track it with the help of Google
Analytics
5. Google algorithm changes about 500-600 times a year, so you have to be sure
that everything is up-to-date.
6. Conduct monthly audits on your website and study your Google Analytics to
check which content brings in more traffic and customers.
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46. How to contact us
• Connect with us:
– LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/in/sohalkhatwani
– Twitter - https://twitter.com/symphony3think
– Website - http://www.symphony3.com/
• Connect with me on:
– Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sohalkhatwani
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