SEO has an ugly side and a useful side. The useful side is about best practices, great content, and semantic HTML. This presentation was developed for the PMC's Beast Bloggers Camp 2 in Oakland, October 2009.
18. “Organic” techniques
HIGH-QUALITY incoming links
Write for readers, not search
engines
Well-structured, semantic HTML
Good metadata
Clear, specific page titles
Great keywords
Meta descriptions
Clean URLs
19. Write content for readers...
...not search engines
✦ Cover what no one else is covering
✦ Shorter paragraphs, clearly marked sections
✦ Get to the point quickly
✦ The web rewards specifics and related information
✦ Don’t stuff keywords
✦ Don’t hide content
20.
21. <title>Kick-Ass Title Tags</title>
• An HTML tag that appears in the <head> container
• Most important piece of metadata in your document
• Name by which page appears in user bookmarks and SERPs
• Unique on every page of site
• No more than 70 characters
• Include site name, section name (?), content title
• Put site name LAST in title, keyworded phrase up front
50. Incoming links
200+ ingredients in Google’s “secret sauce,” but links
are #1 -- votes of confidence.
Use social networks
OK to ask for links, but be real about it
Links from comment sections of blogs are ignored
Build reputation (with good content)
Be liberal with outbound links (but don’t overdo it)
53. Be a the resource
Link to competitors.
Link to people who have related
content.
54. Be a the resource
Link to competitors.
Link to people who have related
content.
Quote, spotlight and praise people in
your topic niche that publish good
content.
55. Clean URLs
• URLs should be human-readable
• Won’t break when forwarded in email
• Can be read over the phone
• Provide a form of “breadcrumbs”
• Meaningful to search engines
• If you change URL structures, redirect!
61. Build a sitemap!
Eliminates the guesswork
Provides hints
Machine-readable
Human-readable
A good CMS or framework can generate one
for you
62. Sitemaps make life easy for search
engines
WORDPRESS.ORG/EXTEND/PLUGINS/GOOGLE-SITEMAP-GENERATOR
63. SEO tips
Keep your site focused on a topic
More pages on a topic = more cred
Min. 200 words to a page
Keep it fresh! Google rewards new content
Spend extra effort sharpening homepage SEO
Use text links for nav, not images
64. More SEO tips
Don’t use Javascript-driven menus
Don’t link to index.html (don’t split links)
Frames, Flash, Ajax: Can’t deep link to content
When link building, quality over quantity
Keyword links + descriptive adjancent text
Registering a domain? Don’t take privacy option
65. Still more SEO tips
Don’t use graphics for navigation
Make sure images have alt=”foo” tags
(Google is the net’s largest blind user!)
Create an HTML sitemap as well as XML
Make sure you have a good “About” page
Don’t use “click here” links
Clean up 404s & add search to your 404 pages
Don’t obsess:
“What is the googlebot hungry for now?”
66. Yet more SEO tips
Give link love, get link love
Links from .edu domains have more weight
Optimize RSS feeds too! (description, title)
Use captions with images and videos
Make a separate video sitemap
Broaden your range (podcasts, social, etc.)
Avoid duplicate content
(See Google Webmaster Tools)
67.
68. “Avoid tricks intended to
improve search engine
rankings.”
- Google Webmaster Guidelines
69. Gaming the system
Break search engine rules
Present content differently to
search engine than to user
Link farms, link exchanges
Keyword stuffing
False doorways
Submission ‘bots
User experience suffers
71. Blog about…
• Plans
• Staff
• Wireframes
• UGC
• Design
• Testing
• <more>
72. Don’t pay for SEO
"LOOK UNDER THE HOOD OF ANY SEO PLAN AND
YOU’LL FIND ADVICE LIKE THIS: MAKE SURE TO USE
KEYWORDS IN THE HEADLINE, USE PROPER
FORMATTING, PROVIDE SUMMARIES OF THE
CONTENT, INCLUDE LINKS TO RELEVANT
INFORMATION. ALL OF THIS IS A GOOD IDEA, AND
NONE OF IT IS A SECRET. IT’S SO OBVIOUS, ANYONE
WHO PAYS FOR IT IS A FOOL." -POWAZEK
73. The One True Way
WHICH BRINGS US, FINALLY, TO THE ONE TRUE WAY TO GET A
LOT OF TRAFFIC ON THE WEB. IT’S PRETTY SIMPLE, AND I’M
GOING TO GIVE IT TO YOU HERE, FOR FREE:
MAKE SOMETHING GREAT. TELL PEOPLE
ABOUT IT. DO IT AGAIN.
IT’LL TAKE TIME. A LOT OF TIME. BUT IT WORKS. AND IT’S THE
ONLY THING THAT DOES.
Notes de l'éditeur
Test
The average number of words people type into the search field is 3.1
SEO does not put lipstick on a pig. If your site was made with MS FrontPage in 1998 and is a steaming pile behind the scenes, you can't buy your way to the top of SERPs with an SEO consultant. You need to re-build your site.
SEO does not put lipstick on a pig. If your site was made with MS FrontPage in 1998 and is a steaming pile behind the scenes, you can't buy your way to the top of SERPs with an SEO consultant. You need to re-build your site.
Duct tape analogy. There are people out there doing good work in the SEO field and thats' what they're teaching. Unfortunately they get lumped in with the bad guys.
Google's own documentation: Deciding to hire an SEO is a big decision that can potentially improve your site and save time, but you can also risk damage to your site and reputation. People who &#x201C;employ botnets, third-world labor, and zombie computers to blanket the web with link spam
Don't even think about trying to get onto the first page unless your content rocks.
Don't even think about trying to get onto the first page unless your content rocks.
The problem with SEO is that the good advice is obvious, the rest doesn&#x2019;t work, and it&#x2019;s poisoning the web. Best practices. Powazek: Blogger, HotWired, Technorati
Don't even think about trying to get onto the first page unless your content rocks.
Cover what no one else is covering
Update your content frequently
Develop good links from credible related sites.
Be connected to the community...
Cover what no one else is covering
Update your content frequently
Develop good links from credible related sites.
Be connected to the community...
Cover what no one else is covering
Update your content frequently
Develop good links from credible related sites.
Be connected to the community...
Cover what no one else is covering
Update your content frequently
Develop good links from credible related sites.
Be connected to the community...
When you search on something, you want those first few links to be the most useful, not things that are there because some webmaster wants more traffic. What you want is what everyone wants - good, organically useful content. The exact formula for displaying search results is Google's "Secret Sauce" and is not published
Demo KDMC titles
Google is the internet&#x2019;s largest blind user. When we build accessible sites we&#x2019;re adamant about this kind of thing. &#x201C;What should we call it when I counsel someone to use an h2 tag instead of bold text?&#x201D; I call that making good websites. That&#x2019;s why pro web devs are worth their price tag.
Headline totally lacking informational content for a search engine
The average number of words people type into the search field is 3.1
The average number of words people type into the search field is 3.1
Each link to a page on your site from another site adds to your site's PageRank.
Sitemaps do not directly impact your place in search results. Sitemaps put information about how to search your site and what has changed on your site in one place.
Google has a 404 widget you can drop into place.
Google's own documentation: Deciding to hire an SEO is a big decision that can potentially improve your site and save time, but you can also risk damage to your site and reputation. People who &#x201C;employ botnets, third-world labor, and zombie computers to blanket the web with link spam