A presentation for Wor

1. Search Engine Optimize:
3 Easy Steps
Anna Belle Leiserson

2. Overview

3. Overview
• SEO, my current WP project, me

4. Overview
• SEO, my current WP project, me
• Step 1: Understand Search Engines

5. Overview
• SEO, my current WP project, me
• Step 1: Understand Search Engines
• Step 2: Friend Your Bots

6. Overview
• SEO, my current WP project, me
• Step 1: Understand Search Engines
• Step 2: Friend Your Bots
• Step 3: Build Your WP SEO Toolbox

7. Overview
• SEO, my current WP project, me
• Step 1: Understand Search Engines
• Step 2: Friend Your Bots
• Step 3: Build Your WP SEO Toolbox
• Wrap up

9. • More and more now

10. • More and more now
• I recommend WordPress

11. • More and more now
• I recommend WordPress
• Non-profits, small business, friends

12. • More and more now
• I recommend WordPress
• Non-profits, small business, friends
• Which brings me to....

15. “How do I search engine optimize it?”

16. Translates to...

17. Translates to...
• How do I empower a motivated WP user
to do SEO by himself?

18. Translates to...
• How do I empower a motivated WP user
to do SEO by himself?
• And his site will be our case study

19. What is SEO?

20. What is SEO?
• “Organic” or "natural" search results

21. What is SEO?
• “Organic” or "natural" search results
• In other words ...

22. It’s not...

23. Pay Per Click

24. http://searchengineland.com/seo-beats-ppc-social-media-for-generating-leads-99064

25. And it’s not

26. And it’s not
Enterprise Search

27. Does this mean it’s....

28. Does this mean it’s....
GSEO?

29. comScore
April 11

30. Ergo...
SEO = Google + Bing

31. If you’re going to live up
to that verb “optimize”

32. You have to understand

33. You have to understand

34. Empower yourself!

36. Not to mention if you don’t...

37. Not to mention if you don’t...
You’re susceptible to....

40. Dear google.com,

41. Dear google.com,
I visited your website and
noticed that

42. Dear google.com,
I visited your website and
noticed that
you are not listed in most of
the major search engines and
directories...

43. Which brings us to...

44. 1. Understand Your
Search Engines

45. 4 Big Pieces

46. The web is like...

48. A search engine is like...

50. What do libraries do?

52. Your Site

53. Your Site

54. Your Audience
Your Site

55. Your Audience
Your Site

56. Your Audience
Index
Your Site

57. Your Audience
Index
• Giant database
Your Site

58. Your Audience
Index
Your Site

59. Your Audience
Index
User Interface
Your Site

60. Your Audience
Index
User Interface
• Search form
Your Site

61. Your Audience
Index
User Interface
• Search form
• Search engine
results (SERPs)
Your Site

62. Your Audience
User Interface Index
Your Site

63. Your Audience
User Interface Index
Bot
Your Site

64. Your Audience
User Interface Index
Bot
Your Site

65. Your Audience
User Interface Index
"User-agent" e.g. Googlebot
Bot
Your Site

66. Your Audience
User Interface Index
"User-agent" e.g. Googlebot
"Crawls" the web methodically
Bot
Your Site

67. Your Audience
User Interface Index
"User-agent" e.g. Googlebot
"Crawls" the web methodically
1. Makes a list of pages to crawl
Bot
Your Site

68. Your Audience
User Interface Index
"User-agent" e.g. Googlebot
"Crawls" the web methodically
1. Makes a list of pages to crawl
Bot
2. Copies every page it visits
Your Site

69. Your Audience
User Interface Index
"User-agent" e.g. Googlebot
"Crawls" the web methodically
1. Makes a list of pages to crawl
Bot
2. Copies every page it visits
3. Sends the copy to the indexer Your Site

70. Your Audience
User Interface Index
Bot
Your Site

71. Your Audience
User Interface Index
Algorithm
Bot
Your Site

72. Your Audience
User Interface Index
Bot
Algorithm Your Site

73. Algorithm

74. Algorithm
• “A finite set of unambiguous
instructions performed in a
prescribed sequence to
achieve a goal.... Algorithms
are the basis for most
computer programming.“

75. Algorithm
• “A finite set of unambiguous
instructions performed in a
prescribed sequence to
achieve a goal.... Algorithms
are the basis for most
computer programming.“
• In other words

76. Algorithm
• “A finite set of unambiguous
instructions performed in a
prescribed sequence to
achieve a goal.... Algorithms
are the basis for most
computer programming.“
• In other words
• Google’s algorithm is its
software.

77. Algorithm Knowns

78. Algorithm Knowns
• Changes constantly

79. Algorithm Knowns
• Changes constantly
• Over 200 SEO factors

80. Algorithm Knowns
• Changes constantly
• Over 200 SEO factors
• Much that we can’t
know

81. A few algorithms

82. A few algorithms
• PageRank

83. A few algorithms
• PageRank
• Panda

84. A few algorithms
• PageRank
• Panda
• Crawling algorithm

85. A few algorithms
• PageRank
• Panda
• Crawling algorithm
• Google Places

86. So that’s it for search
engine basics. Now...

87. 2. Friend Your Bots

88. 2. Friend Your Bots
• How does your site
look to the bot?

89. View source: aguru4u.com

90. Close, but not quite

91. Close, but not quite
• Sees HTTP header

92. Close, but not quite
• Sees HTTP header
• Ignores chunks of code ...

93. Close, but not quite
• Sees HTTP header
• Ignores chunks of code ...
• Things that have no meaning

94. Close, but not quite
• Sees HTTP header
• Ignores chunks of code ...
• Things that have no meaning
• Not good for SEO

95. Close, but not quite
• Sees HTTP header
• Ignores chunks of code ...
• Things that have no meaning
• Not good for SEO
• But not bad either

96. Close, but not quite
• Sees HTTP header
• Ignores chunks of code ...
• Things that have no meaning
• Not good for SEO
• But not bad either
• So....

97. What do bots ignore?

98. What do bots ignore?
• JavaScript (including content in it)

99. What do bots ignore?
• JavaScript (including content in it)
• Flash

100. What do bots ignore?
• JavaScript (including content in it)
• Flash
• Actual images

101. What do bots ignore?
• JavaScript (including content in it)
• Flash
• Actual images
• Cookies

102. What do bots ignore?
• JavaScript (including content in it)
• Flash
• Actual images
• Cookies
• Session IDs

103. What do bots ignore?
• JavaScript (including content in it)
• Flash
• Actual images
• Cookies
• Session IDs
• So what they see is....

104. HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2012 15:21:18 GMT
Server: Apache
X-Pingback: http://www.aguru4u.com/xmlrpc.php
Vary: Accept-Encoding
Content-Encoding: gzip
Content-Length: 3393
Keep-Alive: timeout=10, max=30
Connection: Keep-Alive
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/
xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" dir="ltr" lang="en-US">
<head>
<title>AGuru4U - Computer repair in Holland, Zeeland, Saugatuck, Grand Haven</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all" href="http://www.aguru4u.com/wp-
content/themes/aguru4u/style.css" />
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS Feed" href="http://
www.aguru4u.com/feed/" />
<meta name="generator" content="WordPress 3.3.1" />
</head>
<body class="home page page-id-9 page-template page-template-homepage-php">
<div class="container">
<div id="header">
<h1><a href="http://www.aguru4u.com/" title="AGuru4U" rel="home">
<img src="http://www.aguru4u.com/wp-content/themes/aguru4u/images/aguru4u-logo.png"
height="172" width="940" alt="AGuru4U" /></a></h1>
</div><!--#header-->
<div id="nav">
<div class="mainmenu-container">

105. To human eye...

106. To human eye...
• Like that text-based browser

107. To human eye...
• Like that text-based browser
• Lynx

109. What bots do bots like?
Yum...

110. HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2012 15:21:18 GMT
Server: Apache
X-Pingback: http://www.aguru4u.com/xmlrpc.php
Vary: Accept-Encoding
Content-Encoding: gzip
Content-Length: 3393
Keep-Alive: timeout=10, max=30
Connection: Keep-Alive
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/
xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" dir="ltr" lang="en-US">
<head>
<title>AGuru4U - Computer repair in Holland, Zeeland, Saugatuck, Grand Haven</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all" href="http://www.aguru4u.com/wp-
content/themes/aguru4u/style.css" />
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS Feed" href="http://
www.aguru4u.com/feed/" />
<meta name="generator" content="WordPress 3.3.1" />
</head>
<body class="home page page-id-9 page-template page-template-homepage-php">
<div class="container">
<div id="header">
<h1><a href="http://www.aguru4u.com/" title="AGuru4U" rel="home">
<img src="http://www.aguru4u.com/wp-content/themes/aguru4u/images/aguru4u-logo.png"
height="172" width="940" alt="AGuru4U" /></a></h1>
</div><!--#header-->
<div id="nav">
<div class="mainmenu-container">

111. HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2012 15:21:18 GMT
Server: Apache
X-Pingback: http://www.aguru4u.com/xmlrpc.php
Vary: Accept-Encoding
Content-Encoding: gzip
Content-Length: 3393
Keep-Alive: timeout=10, max=30
Connection: Keep-Alive
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/
xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" dir="ltr" lang="en-US">
<head>
<title>AGuru4U - Computer repair in Holland, Zeeland, Saugatuck, Grand Haven</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all" href="http://www.aguru4u.com/wp-
content/themes/aguru4u/style.css" />
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS Feed" href="http://
www.aguru4u.com/feed/" />
<meta name="generator" content="WordPress 3.3.1" />
</head>
<body class="home page page-id-9 page-template page-template-homepage-php">
<div class="container">
<div id="header">
<h1><a href="http://www.aguru4u.com/" title="AGuru4U" rel="home">
<img src="http://www.aguru4u.com/wp-content/themes/aguru4u/images/aguru4u-logo.png"
height="172" width="940" alt="AGuru4U" /></a></h1>
</div><!--#header-->
<div id="nav">
<div class="mainmenu-container">

112. HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2012 15:21:18 GMT
Server: Apache
X-Pingback: http://www.aguru4u.com/xmlrpc.php
Vary: Accept-Encoding
Content-Encoding: gzip
Content-Length: 3393
Keep-Alive: timeout=10, max=30
Connection: Keep-Alive
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/
xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" dir="ltr" lang="en-US">
<head>
<title>AGuru4U - Computer repair in Holland, Zeeland, Saugatuck, Grand Haven</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all" href="http://www.aguru4u.com/wp-
content/themes/aguru4u/style.css" />
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS Feed" href="http://
www.aguru4u.com/feed/" />
<meta name="generator" content="WordPress 3.3.1" />
</head>
<body class="home page page-id-9 page-template page-template-homepage-php">
<div class="container">
<div id="header">
<h1><a href="http://www.aguru4u.com/" title="AGuru4U" rel="home">
<img src="http://www.aguru4u.com/wp-content/themes/aguru4u/images/aguru4u-logo.png"
height="172" width="940" alt="AGuru4U" /></a></h1>
</div><!--#header-->
<div id="nav">
<div class="mainmenu-container">

113. HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2012 15:21:18 GMT
Server: Apache
X-Pingback: http://www.aguru4u.com/xmlrpc.php
Vary: Accept-Encoding
Content-Encoding: gzip
Content-Length: 3393
Keep-Alive: timeout=10, max=30
Connection: Keep-Alive
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/
xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" dir="ltr" lang="en-US">
<head>
<title>AGuru4U - Computer repair in Holland, Zeeland, Saugatuck, Grand Haven</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all" href="http://www.aguru4u.com/wp-
content/themes/aguru4u/style.css" />
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS Feed" href="http://
www.aguru4u.com/feed/" />
<meta name="generator" content="WordPress 3.3.1" />
</head>
<body class="home page page-id-9 page-template page-template-homepage-php">
<div class="container">
<div id="header">
<h1><a href="http://www.aguru4u.com/" title="AGuru4U" rel="home">
<img src="http://www.aguru4u.com/wp-content/themes/aguru4u/images/aguru4u-logo.png"
height="172" width="940" alt="AGuru4U" /></a></h1>
</div><!--#header-->
<div id="nav">
<div class="mainmenu-container">

114. So Bots like...

115. So Bots like...
1. Links

116. 2. XML Sitemap

117. 2. XML Sitemap
• Specialized file designed just for bots

118. 2. XML Sitemap
• Specialized file designed just for bots
• Set of links that point to

119. 2. XML Sitemap
• Specialized file designed just for bots
• Set of links that point to
• Important parts of your site

120. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/
schemas/sitemap/0.9">
<url>
<loc>http://www.example.com/</loc>
<lastmod>2005-01-01</lastmod>
<changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
<priority>0.8</priority>
</url>
</urlset>

121. What else do Bots like?

122. What else do Bots like?
3. Well-structured
markup

123. and....

124. 4. Rich keywords
Mmm... Good

125. Where do bots find
keywords?

126. HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2012 15:21:18 GMT
Server: Apache
X-Pingback: http://www.aguru4u.com/xmlrpc.php
Vary: Accept-Encoding
Content-Encoding: gzip
Content-Length: 3393
Keep-Alive: timeout=10, max=30
Connection: Keep-Alive
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/
xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" dir="ltr" lang="en-US">
<head>
<title>AGuru4U - Computer repair in Holland, Zeeland, Saugatuck, Grand Haven</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all" href="http://www.aguru4u.com/wp-
content/themes/aguru4u/style.css" />
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS Feed" href="http://
www.aguru4u.com/feed/" />
<meta name="generator" content="WordPress 3.3.1" />
</head>
<body class="home page page-id-9 page-template page-template-homepage-php">
<div class="container">
<div id="header">
<h1><a href="http://www.aguru4u.com/" title="AGuru4U" rel="home">
<img src="http://www.aguru4u.com/wp-content/themes/aguru4u/images/aguru4u-logo.png"
height="172" width="940" alt="AGuru4U" /></a></h1>
</div><!--#header-->
<div id="nav">
<div class="mainmenu-container">

128. • domain-name.com

129. • domain-name.com
• aguru4u.com/web-address/

130. • domain-name.com
• aguru4u.com/web-address/
• <title>title tag</title>

131. • domain-name.com
• aguru4u.com/web-address/
• <title>title tag</title>
• <a>good anchor text</a>

132. • domain-name.com
• aguru4u.com/web-address/
• <title>title tag</title>
• <a>good anchor text</a>
• <h1>headers</h1>

133. • domain-name.com
• aguru4u.com/web-address/
• <title>title tag</title>
• <a>good anchor text</a>
• <h1>headers</h1>
• good rich content

134. • domain-name.com
• aguru4u.com/web-address/
• <title>title tag</title>
• <a>good anchor text</a>
• <h1>headers</h1>
• good rich content
• <img alt=”well tagged images”>

135. • domain-name.com
• aguru4u.com/web-address/
• <title>title tag</title>
• <a>good anchor text</a>
• <h1>headers</h1>
• good rich content
• <img alt=”well tagged images”>
• high quality info

136. • domain-name.com
• aguru4u.com/web-address/
• <title>title tag</title>
• <a>good anchor text</a>
• <h1>headers</h1>
• good rich content
• <img alt=”well tagged images”>
• high quality info
• <footer>good contact info</footer>

137. in more detail...

138. *** Title Tag

139. *** Title Tag
• <title>title tag</title>

140. *** Title Tag
• <title>title tag</title>
• 60-70 characters

141. *** Title Tag
• <title>title tag</title>
• 60-70 characters
• E.g. (at 69 characters)

142. *** Title Tag
• <title>title tag</title>
• 60-70 characters
• E.g. (at 69 characters)
• <title>AGuru4U - Computer repair in
Holland, Zeeland, Saugatuck, Grand
Haven</title>

143. Where do you see the
title tag?

144. Browser top

145. SERP “snippet”

146. Why is it so important?

147. Why is it so important?
• First thing people see in SERP

148. Why is it so important?
• First thing people see in SERP
• Strong factor for ranking

149. Why is it so important?
• First thing people see in SERP
• Strong factor for ranking
• Great title/headline catches more attention
and links

150. Title tag Don'ts

151. Title tag Don'ts
• Waste characters...

152. Title tag Don'ts
• Waste characters...
• particularly "Welcome"...

153. Title tag Don'ts
• Waste characters...
• particularly "Welcome"...
• over 10% - 8 chars counting space

154. Title tag Don'ts
• Waste characters...
• particularly "Welcome"...
• over 10% - 8 chars counting space
• Duplicate titles across site

155. Title tag Dos

156. Title tag Dos
• Write the title for people, not Google

157. Title tag Dos
• Write the title for people, not Google
• Include most important keywords...

158. Title tag Dos
• Write the title for people, not Google
• Include most important keywords...
• near the beginning if possible

159. Title tag Dos
• Write the title for people, not Google
• Include most important keywords...
• near the beginning if possible
• Branding at end (or start)

160. Another particularly
good keyword source...

161. Img tag
<img src="aguru4u-logo.png" alt="AGuru4U"
title="Logo for AGuru4U Computer Repair" />

162. Img tag
<img src="aguru4u-logo.png" alt="AGuru4U"
title="Logo for AGuru4U Computer Repair" />
1. file-name*

163. Img tag
<img src="aguru4u-logo.png" alt="AGuru4U"
title="Logo for AGuru4U Computer Repair" />
1. file-name*
2. alt attribute

164. Img tag
<img src="aguru4u-logo.png" alt="AGuru4U"
title="Logo for AGuru4U Computer Repair" />
1. file-name*
2. alt attribute
3. title attribute

165. Img tag
<img src="aguru4u-logo.png" alt="AGuru4U"
title="Logo for AGuru4U Computer Repair" />
1. file-name*
2. alt attribute
3. title attribute
• * in file names, bots read dashes (not underscores)
as word separators, e.g. roe-jeff.jpg

166. What Stops Bots

167. What Stops Bots
• As in, you want to stop them, ergo...

168. What Stops Bots
• As in, you want to stop them, ergo...
• also good SEO

169. What Stops Bots
• As in, you want to stop them, ergo...
• also good SEO
• Per link: <a rel="nofollow">

170. What Stops Bots
• As in, you want to stop them, ergo...
• also good SEO
• Per link: <a rel="nofollow">
• Per page: <meta name="robots"
content="noindex,nofollow"/>

171. What Stops Bots
• As in, you want to stop them, ergo...
• also good SEO
• Per link: <a rel="nofollow">
• Per page: <meta name="robots"
content="noindex,nofollow"/>
• Per site: robots.txt

172. Robots.txt example
User-agent: *
Disallow: /*?q=textonly
Disallow: /*?q=printonly
Disallow: /dd/clinicians.php?*
Disallow: /radonc/team/display.php?*
Disallow: /research/display.php?*
Disallow: /research/investigators.php?*
Disallow: /research/vicc_members.php?*

173. Notes about robots.txt

174. Notes about robots.txt
• User-agents decide whether to adhere to
them

175. Notes about robots.txt
• User-agents decide whether to adhere to
them
• Evil bots don’t, e.g.

176. Notes about robots.txt
• User-agents decide whether to adhere to
them
• Evil bots don’t, e.g.
• Spam harvesters

177. Notes about robots.txt
• User-agents decide whether to adhere to
them
• Evil bots don’t, e.g.
• Spam harvesters
• And do be careful

178. What do bots dislike?

179. Lower your rankings

180. Lower your rankings
• Slow site

181. Lower your rankings
• Slow site
• Icky URLs

182. Lower your rankings
• Slow site
• Icky URLs
• Spelling errors

183. Lower your rankings
• Slow site
• Icky URLs
• Spelling errors
• Factual errors

184. Lower your rankings
• Slow site
• Icky URLs
• Spelling errors
• Factual errors
• Excessive number of ads

185. Lower your rankings
• Slow site
• Icky URLs
• Spelling errors
• Factual errors
• Excessive number of ads
• Links to “bad
neighborhoods”

186. Lower your rankings
• Slow site • Frames
• Icky URLs
• Spelling errors
• Factual errors
• Excessive number of ads
• Links to “bad
neighborhoods”

187. Lower your rankings
• Slow site • Frames
• Icky URLs • Hidden links
• Spelling errors
• Factual errors
• Excessive number of ads
• Links to “bad
neighborhoods”

188. Lower your rankings
• Slow site • Frames
• Icky URLs • Hidden links
• Spelling errors • Deep nesting
• Factual errors
• Excessive number of ads
• Links to “bad
neighborhoods”

189. Lower your rankings
• Slow site • Frames
• Icky URLs • Hidden links
• Spelling errors • Deep nesting
• Factual errors • Too many links on a
page
• Excessive number of ads
• Links to “bad
neighborhoods”

190. Lower your rankings
• Slow site • Frames
• Icky URLs • Hidden links
• Spelling errors • Deep nesting
• Factual errors • Too many links on a
page
• Excessive number of ads
• Lots of redundant
• Links to “bad information
neighborhoods”

191. What stops bots cold?
Blacklists a site?

192. Black Hat SEO

193. Black Hat SEO
• Cloaking....

194. Black Hat SEO
• Cloaking....
• Coding so search engines see something
other than what humans see

195. Black Hat SEO
• Cloaking....
• Coding so search engines see something
other than what humans see
• Buying or selling links....

196. In addition

197. In addition
• Pages that install viruses, so...

198. In addition
• Pages that install viruses, so...
• Update your site!

199. If you really want to shine at SEO...

200. If you really want to shine at SEO...
• Three (of many) possibilities

201. 1.Build High Quality

202. 1.Build High Quality
• Is author an expert or
knowledgeable
enthusiast?

203. 1.Build High Quality
• Is author an expert or
knowledgeable
enthusiast?
• Is the content original?

204. 1.Build High Quality
• Is author an expert or
knowledgeable
enthusiast?
• Is the content original?
• Is it a comprehensive
description of its topic?

205. 1.Build High Quality
• Is author an expert or
knowledgeable
enthusiast?
• Is the content original?
• Is it a comprehensive
description of its topic?
• Is the site reliable?

206. 1.Build High Quality
• Is author an expert or • Does the article
knowledgeable describe both sides of a
enthusiast? story?
• Is the content original?
• Is it a comprehensive
description of its topic?
• Is the site reliable?

207. 1.Build High Quality
• Is author an expert or • Does the article
knowledgeable describe both sides of a
enthusiast? story?
• Is the content original? • Was the article well-
edited?
• Is it a comprehensive
description of its topic?
• Is the site reliable?

208. 1.Build High Quality
• Is author an expert or • Does the article
knowledgeable describe both sides of a
enthusiast? story?
• Is the content original? • Was the article well-
edited?
• Is it a comprehensive
description of its topic? • Is language used
audience-appropriate?
• Is the site reliable?

209. 2. Social

210. 2. Social
Claim accounts for:

211. 2. Social
Claim accounts for:
1. Facebook

212. 2. Social
Claim accounts for:
1. Facebook
2. Twitter

213. 2. Social
Claim accounts for:
1. Facebook
2. Twitter
3. YouTube

214. 2. Social
Claim accounts for:
1. Facebook
2. Twitter
3. YouTube
4. LinkedIn

215. 2. Social
Claim accounts for:
1. Facebook
2. Twitter
3. YouTube
4. LinkedIn
5. Google+

216. 3. Accessible sites

217. 3. Accessible sites
• Fascinating that Google defines accessibility
as ...

218. 3. Accessible sites
• Fascinating that Google defines accessibility
as ...
• “The ability for users and search engines to
access and comprehend content.”

219. And then there are....

220. SERPs

221. SERPs
• It doesn’t matter if you are number one on
Google ...

222. SERPs
• It doesn’t matter if you are number one on
Google ...
• if people don’t click through.

223. SERPs
• It doesn’t matter if you are number one on
Google ...
• if people don’t click through.
• So one last easy way to humor your search
engines....

224. SERPs
• It doesn’t matter if you are number one on
Google ...
• if people don’t click through.
• So one last easy way to humor your search
engines....
• Take charge of your snippets....

225. Snippet comes from...

226. We’ve mastered
Bots
• So on to....

227. Step 3:
Build Your SEO Toolbox

228. 1 & 2: Webmaster Tools

229. 1 & 2: Webmaster Tools
• Google Webmaster Tools

230. 1 & 2: Webmaster Tools
• Google Webmaster Tools
• Bing Webmaster Tools

231. Why use webmaster tools?

232. Why use webmaster tools?
• Relatively easy to set up
in WordPress

233. Why use webmaster tools?
• Relatively easy to set up
in WordPress
• Sign up for email
forwarding (alerts)

234. Why use webmaster tools?
• Relatively easy to set up
in WordPress
• Sign up for email
forwarding (alerts)
• Search queries!

235. Why use webmaster tools?
• Relatively easy to set up
in WordPress
• Sign up for email
forwarding (alerts)
• Search queries!
• Who is linking to your
site

236. Why use webmaster tools?
• Relatively easy to set up
in WordPress
• Sign up for email
forwarding (alerts)
• Search queries!
• Who is linking to your
site
• Spot content that is
accidentally blocked

237. Why use webmaster tools?
• Relatively easy to set up • Spot crawl errors
in WordPress
• Sign up for email
forwarding (alerts)
• Search queries!
• Who is linking to your
site
• Spot content that is
accidentally blocked

238. Why use webmaster tools?
• Relatively easy to set up • Spot crawl errors
in WordPress
• Detects malware
• Sign up for email
forwarding (alerts)
• Search queries!
• Who is linking to your
site
• Spot content that is
accidentally blocked

239. Why use webmaster tools?
• Relatively easy to set up • Spot crawl errors
in WordPress
• Detects malware
• Sign up for email
forwarding (alerts) • HTML suggestions, e.g.
shorter title tag or
• Search queries! longer description meta
tag
• Who is linking to your
site
• Spot content that is
accidentally blocked

240. Why use webmaster tools?
• Relatively easy to set up • Spot crawl errors
in WordPress
• Detects malware
• Sign up for email
forwarding (alerts) • HTML suggestions, e.g.
shorter title tag or
• Search queries! longer description meta
tag
• Who is linking to your
site • Fetch as Googlebot
• Spot content that is
accidentally blocked

241. 3. Analytics

242. 3. Analytics
• Probably Google Analytics or
WordPress.com Site Stats

243. 3. Analytics
• Probably Google Analytics or
WordPress.com Site Stats
• Incredibly rich source of data

244. 3. Analytics
• Probably Google Analytics or
WordPress.com Site Stats
• Incredibly rich source of data
• Easy to set up in WordPress

245. 4. Google Insights for
Search
google.com/insights/search/

246. Two Approaches to
Keywords

247. Two Approaches to
Keywords
1. Pushing in what you think are the best
keywords

248. Two Approaches to
Keywords
1. Pushing in what you think are the best
keywords
2. Getting inside your users’ heads

249. Two Approaches to
Keywords
1. Pushing in what you think are the best
keywords
2. Getting inside your users’ heads
• Hence Insights for Search

250. 5 and 6. G & B

251. 5 and 6. G & B
• When was site last indexed

252. 5 and 6. G & B
• When was site last indexed
• Click on "cached" link

253. 5 and 6. G & B
• When was site last indexed
• Click on "cached" link
• Look at top of page

255. 7. WordPress!

256. 7. WordPress!
• Out of the box, the best SEO CMS?

257. Your average CMSs:
SEO disaster

258. Your average CMSs:
SEO disaster
• Gibberish URLs

259. Your average CMSs:
SEO disaster
• Gibberish URLs
• Bad meta data, especially title tags

260. Your average CMSs:
SEO disaster
• Gibberish URLs
• Bad meta data, especially title tags
• Poorly structured, bot-hostile code

261. Your average CMSs:
SEO disaster
• Gibberish URLs
• Bad meta data, especially title tags
• Poorly structured, bot-hostile code
• Stakeholder unfriendly UI

262. Why is WP so good?

263. Why is WP so good?
• Permalinks

264. Why is WP so good?
• Permalinks
• Great at title tag & other metadata

265. Why is WP so good?
• Permalinks
• Great at title tag & other metadata
• Well structured code

266. Why is WP so good?
• Permalinks
• Great at title tag & other metadata
• Well structured code
• The admin interface

267. Why is WP so good?
• Permalinks
• Great at title tag & other metadata
• Well structured code
• The admin interface
• It’s the Apple of my UIs

269. Seriously...

270. Seriously...
• Combine that with WP’s popularity

271. Seriously...
• Combine that with WP’s popularity
• Less training for non-techie authors

272. Seriously...
• Combine that with WP’s popularity
• Less training for non-techie authors
• And ...

273. Seriously...
• Combine that with WP’s popularity
• Less training for non-techie authors
• And ...
• Less training for search engines!

274. Seriously...
• Combine that with WP’s popularity
• Less training for non-techie authors
• And ...
• Less training for search engines!
• WordPress is familiar ground for bots

275. WordPress.com

276. Leveraging WP.com

277. Leveraging WP.com
1. Allow robots to crawl your site. (Settings >
Privacy)

278. Leveraging WP.com
1. Allow robots to crawl your site. (Settings >
Privacy)
2. Pick a keyword-rich domain name. Best to register
at $17/yr or Pro at $99

279. Leveraging WP.com
1. Allow robots to crawl your site. (Settings >
Privacy)
2. Pick a keyword-rich domain name. Best to register
at $17/yr or Pro at $99
3. Set up your Public Profile. (Users > My Profile)

280. Leveraging WP.com
1. Allow robots to crawl your site. (Settings >
Privacy)
2. Pick a keyword-rich domain name. Best to register
at $17/yr or Pro at $99
3. Set up your Public Profile. (Users > My Profile)
4. Link to webmaster tools. (Tools > Available tools)

281. Leveraging WP.com
1. Allow robots to crawl your site. (Settings >
Privacy)
2. Pick a keyword-rich domain name. Best to register
at $17/yr or Pro at $99
3. Set up your Public Profile. (Users > My Profile)
4. Link to webmaster tools. (Tools > Available tools)
5. Set up a test site. Hover over your name in upper
right > Manage my blogs > Register another blog.

282. Leveraging WP.com

283. Leveraging WP.com
6. Choose an SEO friendly theme.

284. Leveraging WP.com
6. Choose an SEO friendly theme.
7. Show & use Categories and Tags. (Settings >
Reading) They feed right into WP.com "Global
Tags".

285. Leveraging WP.com
6. Choose an SEO friendly theme.
7. Show & use Categories and Tags. (Settings >
Reading) They feed right into WP.com "Global
Tags".
8. Get Social (Settings > Sharing).

286. Leveraging WP.com
6. Choose an SEO friendly theme.
7. Show & use Categories and Tags. (Settings >
Reading) They feed right into WP.com "Global
Tags".
8. Get Social (Settings > Sharing).
9. Create a great tag line and use it. (Settings >
General)

287. Leveraging WP.com
6. Choose an SEO friendly theme.
7. Show & use Categories and Tags. (Settings >
Reading) They feed right into WP.com "Global
Tags".
8. Get Social (Settings > Sharing).
9. Create a great tag line and use it. (Settings >
General)
10.And of course, use great content and headers and
all the normal SEO stuff

288. Hostd WP sites

289. Hostd WP sites
• Same as WP.COM, except

290. Hostd WP sites
• Same as WP.COM, except
• Can’t add Webmaster Tools out-of-the-box

291. Hostd WP sites
• Same as WP.COM, except
• Can’t add Webmaster Tools out-of-the-box
• Categories and tags work somewhat differently

292. Hostd WP sites
• Same as WP.COM, except
• Can’t add Webmaster Tools out-of-the-box
• Categories and tags work somewhat differently
• Can’t do Social Sharing out of box

293. Hostd WP sites
• Same as WP.COM, except
• Can’t add Webmaster Tools out-of-the-box
• Categories and tags work somewhat differently
• Can’t do Social Sharing out of box
• Turn on WordPress permalinks (Settings ->
Permalinks)

294. A few caveats

295. A few caveats
• Watch for redundant information

296. A few caveats
• Watch for redundant information
• Popularity makes it a mark for hacker, so...

297. A few caveats
• Watch for redundant information
• Popularity makes it a mark for hacker, so...
• Be sure to upgrade right away

298. A few caveats
• Watch for redundant information
• Popularity makes it a mark for hacker, so...
• Be sure to upgrade right away
• Watch out for themes & plugins....

299. 8 & 9. Themes & Plugins

300. 3 Rules of Themes & Plugins

301. 3 Rules of Themes & Plugins
Rule 1- Keep themes and plugins to a
minimum.

302. 3 Rules of Themes & Plugins
Rule 1- Keep themes and plugins to a
minimum.
Rule 2 - Always upgrade everything ASAP...

303. 3 Rules of Themes & Plugins
Rule 1- Keep themes and plugins to a
minimum.
Rule 2 - Always upgrade everything ASAP...
Even inactive themes and plugins.

304. 3 Rules of Themes & Plugins
Rule 1- Keep themes and plugins to a
minimum.
Rule 2 - Always upgrade everything ASAP...
Even inactive themes and plugins.
Rule 3 - Be very, very choosy.

305. How to choose a
theme?

306. How to choose a
theme?
• From SEO perspective...

307. How to choose a
theme?
• From SEO perspective...
• Majority are bad; a few are evil

308. How to choose a
theme?
• From SEO perspective...
• Majority are bad; a few are evil
• Out of the box -- fine

309. How to choose a
theme?
• From SEO perspective...
• Majority are bad; a few are evil
• Out of the box -- fine
• But how do you pick other themes?

310. How to choose a
theme?
• From SEO perspective...
• Majority are bad; a few are evil
• Out of the box -- fine
• But how do you pick other themes?
• Set up a testbed. And then do a ....

311. Theme SEO Stress Test

312. Theme SEO Stress Test
1. How does it render title tag? On secondary
pages?

313. Theme SEO Stress Test
1. How does it render title tag? On secondary
pages?
2. Are there links baked in?

314. Theme SEO Stress Test
1. How does it render title tag? On secondary
pages?
2. Are there links baked in?
3. Does it work well with your plugins?

315. Theme SEO Stress Test
1. How does it render title tag? On secondary
pages?
2. Are there links baked in?
3. Does it work well with your plugins?
4. Does it have a way for you to add your
address and phone in the footer?

316. Theme SEO Stress Test
view source

317. Theme SEO Stress Test
view source
5. Does it have a canned description tag for
every page?

318. Theme SEO Stress Test
view source
5. Does it have a canned description tag for
every page?
6. Does it have baked in robot meta tags?

319. Theme SEO Stress Test
view source
5. Does it have a canned description tag for
every page?
6. Does it have baked in robot meta tags?
7. Does it show your post titles as headers?

320. Theme SEO Stress Test
view source
5. Does it have a canned description tag for
every page?
6. Does it have baked in robot meta tags?
7. Does it show your post titles as headers?
8. Does sidebar content come before real
content?

321. SEO Theme Stress Test

322. SEO Theme Stress Test
9. How does it display categories?

323. SEO Theme Stress Test
9. How does it display categories?
10. Does it use excerpts rather than full posts
on archive pages?

324. SEO Theme Stress Test
9. How does it display categories?
10. Does it use excerpts rather than full posts
on archive pages?
11. Is the code well-formed?

325. SEO Theme Stress Test
9. How does it display categories?
10. Does it use excerpts rather than full posts
on archive pages?
11. Is the code well-formed?
12. Extra credit: do WP "Theme Unit Test"

326. Become a Plugin
Connoisseur

327. Become a Plugin
Connoisseur
• Do not get any old plugins!

328. Become a Plugin
Connoisseur
• Do not get any old plugins!
• They also run the gamut

329. Become a Plugin
Connoisseur
• Do not get any old plugins!
• They also run the gamut
• Remember... very, very picky.

330. How to Judge a Fine Plugin

331. How to Judge a Fine Plugin
• Ask yourself.... do I really need it?

332. How to Judge a Fine Plugin
• Ask yourself.... do I really need it?
• Is it offered thru http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/?

333. How to Judge a Fine Plugin
• Ask yourself.... do I really need it?
• Is it offered thru http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/?
• What's the author's background & reputation?

334. How to Judge a Fine Plugin
• Ask yourself.... do I really need it?
• Is it offered thru http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/?
• What's the author's background & reputation?
• Will the author keep upgrading?

335. How to Judge a Fine Plugin
• Ask yourself.... do I really need it?
• Is it offered thru http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/?
• What's the author's background & reputation?
• Will the author keep upgrading?
• How good is the documentation?

336. How to Judge a Fine Plugin
• Ask yourself.... do I really need it?
• Is it offered thru http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/?
• What's the author's background & reputation?
• Will the author keep upgrading?
• How good is the documentation?
• Will it play well with other plugins you use?

337. How to Judge a Fine Plugin
• Ask yourself.... do I really need it?
• Is it offered thru http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/?
• What's the author's background & reputation?
• Will the author keep upgrading?
• How good is the documentation?
• Will it play well with other plugins you use?
• Does it play well with your theme?

338. The Best SEO Plugins?

339. All in One SEO Pack

340. All in One SEO Pack
• Over 10M downloads

341. All in One SEO Pack
• Over 10M downloads
• Covers all the basics and then some

342. All in One SEO Pack
• Over 10M downloads
• Covers all the basics and then some
• Reputable; recently updated; works with
current version

343. All in One SEO Pack
• Over 10M downloads
• Covers all the basics and then some
• Reputable; recently updated; works with
current version
• But .. not as comprehensive

344. All in One SEO Pack
• Over 10M downloads
• Covers all the basics and then some
• Reputable; recently updated; works with
current version
• But .. not as comprehensive
• Harder to understand

345. Yoast's WordPress SEO

346. Yoast's WordPress SEO
• Great reputation; industry leader

347. Yoast's WordPress SEO
• Great reputation; industry leader
• Over 1M downloads

348. Yoast's WordPress SEO
• Great reputation; industry leader
• Over 1M downloads
• "Polished"

349. Yoast's WordPress SEO
• Great reputation; industry leader
• Over 1M downloads
• "Polished"
• Easy to learn

350. Yoast’s WP SEO:
What’s good

351. Yoast’s WP SEO:
What’s good
• Focus on keywords

352. Yoast’s WP SEO:
What’s good
• Focus on keywords
• Can add webmaster tools

353. Yoast’s WP SEO:
What’s good
• Focus on keywords
• Can add webmaster tools
• Easy access to robots.txt

354. Yoast’s WP SEO:
What’s great

355. Yoast’s WP SEO:
What’s great
• Meta description!

356. Yoast’s WP SEO:
What’s great
• Meta description!
• XML site maps

357. Yoast’s WP SEO:
What’s great
• Meta description!
• XML site maps
• Preview snippets

358. Any other SEO plugins?

359. Any other SEO plugins?
• Not really

360. Any other SEO plugins?
• Not really
• Except possibly Google Analytics

361. Any other SEO plugins?
• Not really
• Except possibly Google Analytics
• Which brings us to....

362. Final thoughts

363. Top 10 Tips for WP SEO

364. Top 10 Tips for WP SEO
10. Do security patches right away.

365. Top 10 Tips for WP SEO
10. Do security patches right away.
9. Update content frequently.

366. Top 10 Tips for WP SEO
10. Do security patches right away.
9. Update content frequently.
8. Sign up and use Webmaster Tools.

367. Top 10 Tips for WP SEO
10. Do security patches right away.
9. Update content frequently.
8. Sign up and use Webmaster Tools.
7. Set up schedules and stick with them.

368. Top 10 Tips for WP SEO
10. Do security patches right away.
9. Update content frequently.
8. Sign up and use Webmaster Tools.
7. Set up schedules and stick with them.
6. Prioritize.

369. Top 10 Tips for WP SEO

370. Top 10 Tips for WP SEO
5. Use images wisely.

371. Top 10 Tips for WP SEO
5. Use images wisely.
4. Turn on permalinks.

372. Top 10 Tips for WP SEO
5. Use images wisely.
4. Turn on permalinks.
3. Hone your headline writing skills.

373. Top 10 Tips for WP SEO
5. Use images wisely.
4. Turn on permalinks.
3. Hone your headline writing skills.
2. Be patient.

374. Top 10 Tips for WP SEO
5. Use images wisely.
4. Turn on permalinks.
3. Hone your headline writing skills.
2. Be patient.
1. Customers first.

375. If you build a great site
for your users,
good links and
search engines
will follow along.

376. Resources

377. Resources
• Hire someone. Nashville has oodles of
talent.

378. Resources
• Hire someone. Nashville has oodles of
talent.
• Go to www.happywebdiva.com