1. 38 Everett St | Allston, Massachusetts 02134 | 617-254-5000 | www.ovrdrv.com
SEO For WordPress
Presented: January 2017
http://bostontweetup.com/calendar-2/#event|bostonwp-january-meetup|4072
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About Overdrive Interactive
Overdrive helps companies compete
and win in today’s digitized
international marketplace
Integrate:
Search marketing (SEM/SEO)
Online media (banner/display)
Social media marketing
Content development
Website and application development
Account based marketing (ABM)
Analytics and dashboards
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Who does what?
I build websites
I build content
I do both
I’m here for coffee
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Overdrive Ongoing SEO Process
On-Site Optimization
Meta data
Site structure
Product databases
CMS compliance
Content development
Internal linking
Off-Site Optimization
Web authority building
Social and PR
XML sitemaps
Content marketing
RSS feeds
Digital Asset Optimization
Benchmark with Position, Traffic, Action & ROI Report
Track, Analyze, Report and Adjust Monthly
Discovery
Identify target market and competitors, analyze site logs, understand brand essence and lifestyle/industry
attributes of individual products
Keyword Strategy and Optimization Action Plan
Target Terms, Actions, Deliverables, Reports
Conversion Optimization
Goal set-up
Lead quality
Audience composition
Offers
Calls to action
User flow
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How does my site and content get found?
Findability
How does my site and content get found?
Findability
http://www.ovrdrv.com/the-miracle-of-findability/
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What defines a search engine
http://america.pink/list-search-engines_2706824.html
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Search Features
spelling suggestions
autocomplete
related searches
related questions
calculator
knowledge graph
quick answers
featured snippets
maps
images
videos
in-depth articles
movie showtimes
sports scores
weather
flight status
package tracking
…
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What You Will Learn Today
+How to Apply SEO Best Practices To Your Content
+How to boost search presence and drive more traffic
through the production of high-quality copy infused with
high value keywords
+And ultimately….
HOW TO TURN ALL WEBSITE PAGES
INTO GREAT SEO PAGES
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Today’s Goals
+Incorporate a short list of SEO best practices into your
daily routine
+NOT make you into SEO analysts
+NOT make your jobs harder
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Two Areas of SEO Opportunity
+Code and Site Structure
+Beyond the content on a site, site structure and
the way a site is coded plays a strong role in how
Search Engines are able to discover and evaluate
the site
+Content and Copy Enhancement
+By enhancing copy and creating new pages
about specific topics, we can more clearly
emphasize sites as being authorities on these
topics
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The ABC’s of SEO
Accessibility
Breadth of content
Consistency
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Discovery of Keyword Terms
+ Review Competitor Site Copy
+ Meta Data
+ Current Offers
+ Inbound Links
+ Current Site Analytics
+ Evaluate PPC data
+ Web Master Tools
+ Search Spider
Emulation
+ Google Insights
+ Review SERP listings for
new competition
+ Use Google syntax
search to find potential
assets on your own site.
"Site: yoursite.com .pdf"
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Golden Rule
“The audience is not an algorithm”
The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine,-Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page Computer
Science Department, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
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Keyword Selection Process
+Create a target list based on the following factors:
+Relevance– does the term relate to what you do?
+Popularity– do people actually search on the term?
+Probability– what are the chances we will get onto the first page with
our allocated resources?
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Selecting a Core List of Target Terms
+ Start with a core list of terms that describe your products and services
+ Act like a prospect, not a company insider
+ Use click and conversion data from your PPC programs
+ Review Competitor sites: Meta data is a great place to start
+ Leverage site analytics data
+Do not:
+ Use branded terms
+ Use terms or vernacular unique to your company
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Target Keyword Clusters
+ Keyword equity and authority can be built by clustering pages about similar
terms and themes under high level category pages
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Domain Diversity
+ Single link from 100 domains is worth far more than 100 links from a single
domain
Domain1.com
test.com
sample.gov
xyz.edu
ABC.com
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Domain Authority
+ Links that come from reputable sources hold greater weight
ibm.com dmoz.org
symantec.com businesswire.com
citrix.com
uchicago.edu
ABC.com
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Anchor or link text
+ Using high value "unbranded" keywords in your link text helps improve rank
for those terms, but it is important to strike the right balance and not
overdo it
test.com sample.gov
“Penetration Testing" “Agile Testing"
ABC.com
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Content-Centric SEO
DO
• Focus on creating valuable
content
• Include strong calls to
action
• Infuse valuable keywords
into your content pages
DON’T
• Stuff keywords and write
unnaturally
• Use machine-generated
content
• Develop weak generic
content that offers little
value to the user
+ Creating and optimizing relevant content for valuable key terms is critical
for search presence success
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Body Text:
SEO Program
Anatomy of a Perfect SEO page
H1 Headline: Search Engine
Optimization
Call to Action: Download
CTA Link
Footer: Related Keywords
<title>Search Engine Optimization, SEO Boston | Overdrive Interactive</title>
www.ovrdrv.com/services/search-engine-optimization
Image filename w/ Alt attribute:
Learn More and Download the
Overdrive Digital Advertising
Bible
Related
Image/Video
for the page
SEO tactics
online marketing
H2: Natural Search Engine Conversion Optimization
– Encouraging Desired Search Behavior <meta NAME="description" content="Search Engine
Optimization (SEO) to increase search engine presence,
traffic and revenue."/>
<meta NAME="keyword" content="search engine
optimization, seo, Overdrive, overdrive search engine
optimization, overdrive seo, seo services, search engine
optimization services, search engine performance, seo
program, search engine traffic, integrated seo,
integrated search engine optimization, content
development, site optimization, boston, boston seo,
boston search engine optimization"/>
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Body Copy: Objective
The objective of SEO copywriting is to achieve the right keyword
density & frequency so the search engine defines the keyword
term as being the subject of a page, while simultaneously making
it readable to a user
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The Importance of Body Copy
+Comprises the majority of the content on a webpage
+ Helps search engines determine what the webpage is ultimately about
+ Is needed to compliment other content such as images, videos, or Flash
+Consistent use of target keywords in body copy establishes
pages as authoritative content on those topics
+ Humans may not read every word, but search engines do
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Body Copy Best Practices
+ Body Copy Length
+ Ideal body copy length is around 500+ words or more per page
+ Keyword Density
+ Refers to the ratio (percentage) of keyword terms as related to the overall number of words
+ General Rule: target 1-2 uses per 100 words
+ Keyword Proximity
+ Refers to the placement of keyword terms in relation to other instances of the same
keyword term
+ General Rule: spread keyword usage throughout copy
+ Other considerations
+ Exceeding density & frequency guidelines could result in search engines defining the page as
keyword spam or "keyword stuffing," resulting in lowered search engine presence
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Body Text:
SEO Program
Anatomy of a Perfect SEO page
H1 Headline: Search Engine
Optimization
Call to Action: Download
CTA Link
Footer: Related Keywords
<title>Search Engine Optimization, SEO Boston | Overdrive Interactive</title>
www.ovrdrv.com/services/search-engine-optimization
Image filename w/ Alt attribute:
Learn More and Download the
Overdrive Digital Advertising
Bible
Related
Image/Video
for the page
SEO tactics
online marketing
H2: Natural Search Engine Conversion Optimization
– Encouraging Desired Search Behavior <meta NAME="description" content="Search Engine
Optimization (SEO) to increase search engine presence,
traffic and revenue."/>
<meta NAME="keyword" content="search engine
optimization, seo, Overdrive, overdrive search engine
optimization, overdrive seo, seo services, search engine
optimization services, search engine performance, seo
program, search engine traffic, integrated seo,
integrated search engine optimization, content
development, site optimization, boston, boston seo,
boston search engine optimization"/>
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The Importance of Headlines
+Define the topic of a body of copy
+ Search engines understand this, just like human readers
+Main Headlines
+ Define the topic of the entire page
+ Represented in HTML as H1
+Sublevel Headlines
+ Define the topic of a portion of the page
+ Represented in HTML as H2, H3, H4, …
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Headline Best Practices
+High-value target keywords should be used in headlines
+<H1> tags should be used to highlight the topic of the page
+Each page should have one <H1> headline
+<H2> headlines, <H3> headlines and so on should be used to
introduce related subordinate topics of the page according to
the general format below
+Marking a link or an entire sentence or paragraph as a headline
is not recommended
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Body Text:
SEO Program
Anatomy of a Perfect SEO page
H1 Headline: Search Engine
Optimization
Call to Action: Download
CTA Link
Footer: Related Keywords
<title>Search Engine Optimization, SEO Boston | Overdrive Interactive</title>
www.ovrdrv.com/services/search-engine-optimization
Image filename w/ Alt attribute:
Learn More and Download the
Overdrive Digital Advertising
Bible
Related
Image/Video
for the page
SEO tactics
online marketing
H2: Natural Search Engine Conversion Optimization
– Encouraging Desired Search Behavior <meta NAME="description" content="Search Engine
Optimization (SEO) to increase search engine presence,
traffic and revenue."/>
<meta NAME="keyword" content="search engine
optimization, seo, Overdrive, overdrive search engine
optimization, overdrive seo, seo services, search engine
optimization services, search engine performance, seo
program, search engine traffic, integrated seo,
integrated search engine optimization, content
development, site optimization, boston, boston seo,
boston search engine optimization"/>
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What is a Meta Tag?
+Defines details about the webpage itself
+ Placed in HTML header
+ Not visible on web page
+ Right click on page and "view source" to see Meta Tags
+Two vital Meta Tags for SEO
+Description Meta Tag
+ Short body of text that describes the content of the page.
+ Influences text of search listings
+Keywords Meta Tag
+ List of relevant keywords
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What is a Title Tag?
+Typically displayed at the top of a web browser
+Entitles the page
+ Declares the page topic
+ <title> HTML element
+Has a strong impact on search engine rankings
+Comprises the headline of the search listing
+ Can encourage searcher click-through
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Anatomy of a Search Listing
Title
<title>Password Hacking | Veracode</title>
URL
www.veracode.com/security/password-hacking
Meta Description
<meta name="description"
content="How to Defend against
Password Hacking Any way you look
at it: your secret passwords are
under attack. Computer hackers
love to successfully defeat ." />
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Writing Effective Meta and Title Tags
+Establish a clear understanding of what the page is about
+ What is the purpose of the webpage?
+ Who is the target audience of the webpage?
+ What do you want a user to do after clicking through?
+Select appropriate target keyword phrases
+ Select terms relevant to the topic of the page
+Tags should begin with high-value keyword(s) associated with the
page
+ Title Tags should be no more than 65 characters in length
+ Tags should be readable and make sense and be relevant to the page
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Best Practices
+Title Tags
+ Title Tags should be unique and concise
+ Title Tags should end with the brand name
+ The brand name should be appended using a dash or other separator, rather than
included as part of a sentence
+ Provides for a more distinct brand presentation
+ Basic site pages such as the "Contact Us" page and "Sitemap" can simply be titled
"Contact Us - Brand Name" and "Sitemap - Brand Name", respectively
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Best Practices
+Meta Description Tag
+ Use the brand name in the Description Tag
+ Helps to leverage brand equity and makes the listing stand out
+ This should be a descriptive and/or benefits oriented statement
+ Taps the into the "informational desire of the searcher"
+ The tag should ideally contain 1-2 target terms as well as 1-2 terms based on page content
+ Use target keywords as close as possible to the beginning of the of the tag
+Keyword Meta Tag
+ 8-12 terms
+ 60% of keywords should come from target terms; 40% should come from naturally occurring keywords
on the page
+ Should include terms used in the Description Meta Tag and Title Tag
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Key Elements of SEO Copywriting
+Titles
+ Title Tags should be unique and concise, contain keywords and end with the brand name
+Headlines
+ High-value target keywords should be used in headlines
+ Do not use an entire sentence or paragraph
+Descriptions
+ Should be a descriptive keyword rich statement
+ Should ideally contain 1-2 target terms as well as 1-2 terms based on asset content
+Body Copy
+ Target 2-5 keyword uses per 400 words
+ Spread keyword usage throughout copy
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Internal Linking
Related post plugins
Linking inside posts
Use sidebar, footer, and menu
Keywords associated with preferred landing pages
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SEO Plugins
All-in-One SEO Pack: http://bit.ly/SFGb
Yoast SEO Plugins: http://bit.ly/DT0l
SEO Ultimate: http://bit.ly/2jsVlEH
Squirrly SEO: http://bit.ly/14y8CVl
Premium SEO Pack
WooCommerce – All in One SEO Pack
SEOPressor
SmartCrawl
SEO WordPress
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Since 2014 the Rise of Entities
Things not Strings
Intent Drive
synonyms but
also about
context
Artificial
Intelligence
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Schema Markup Plugins
Markup can be seen for…..
Star ratings
Embedded photos or videos
Product information
Addresses and phone numbers
Recipe cooking times
Article information
Event dates, times, and locations
Plugins
WP Rich Snippets http://bit.ly/2jmm0rt
Schema App Structured Data http://bit.ly/2kFJtkt
All In One Schema.org Rich Snippets http://bit.ly/1OYPDDb
Rich Reviews http://bit.ly/2kLxHUM
Rich Snippets WordPress Plugin http://bit.ly/2jmpQAM