1. Search Engine
Optimization
with Drupal 6 and Drupal 7
Saturday, August 18th
Stephen Pashby @DH_Stephen
@DesignHammer
1

2. Overview
2

3. Overview
• Search Philosophy & Fundamentals
2

4. Overview
• Search Philosophy & Fundamentals
• Google Panda Update
2

5. Overview
• Search Philosophy & Fundamentals
• Google Panda Update
• Off-page SEO
2

6. Overview
• Search Philosophy & Fundamentals
• Google Panda Update
• Off-page SEO
• On-site SEO
2

7. Overview
• Search Philosophy & Fundamentals
• Google Panda Update
• Off-page SEO
• On-site SEO
• On-page SEO
2

8. Search Fundamentals
and Philosophy
3

9. Search Fundamentals
Why worry about Search Engine Optimization?
4

10. Search Engine Optimization
“If you build it, they will come.”
The Voice [from the cornfield]
Field of Dreams
5

11. Search Engine Optimization
“If you build it, they will come.”
The Voice [from the cornfield]
Field of Dreams
5

12. Search Engine Watch (02/2012)
6

13. Search Engine Optimization
“In my experience, the traffic difference from
position #1 to position #11 is…something
closer to 1/100th of the visits.”
Rand Fishkin
CEO & Co-Founder of SEOmoz
7

14. Is SEO Science or Magic
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from magic.”
Arthur C. Clarke’s Third Law of Prediction
8

15. Is SEO Science or Magic
“The technology behind Google’s search
algorithm is a closely held secret; no amount
of SEO work can guarantee top placement.
The only company that can guarantee you a
top spot in Google is Google.”
David Minton
DesignHammer
9

16. Is SEO Science or Magic
“Our most recent algorithm does contain
signals that can be gamed. If that one were
100 percent transparent, the bad guys would
know how to optimize their way back into
the rankings.”
Matt Cutts
Google
10

17. Is SEO Science or Magic
“Google works in mysterious ways.”
Stephen Pashby
DesignHammer
11

18. Types of SEO
12

19. Types of SEO
• Pay-per-click (PPC)
12

20. Types of SEO
• Pay-per-click (PPC)
• Organic Search
12

21. Types of SEO
• Pay-per-click (PPC)
• Organic Search
• Off-page optimization
12

22. Types of SEO
• Pay-per-click (PPC)
• Organic Search
• Off-page optimization
• On-site optimization
12

23. Types of SEO
• Pay-per-click (PPC)
• Organic Search
• Off-page optimization
• On-site optimization
• On-page optimization
12

24. Pay-Per-Click
13

25. Pay-Per-Click
• Largest: Google AdWords,Yahoo! Search
Marketing, and Microsoft adCenter
13

26. Pay-Per-Click
• Largest: Google AdWords,Yahoo! Search
Marketing, and Microsoft adCenter
• PPC results not based on website content
13

27. Pay-Per-Click
• Largest: Google AdWords,Yahoo! Search
Marketing, and Microsoft adCenter
• PPC results not based on website content
• Outside scope of presentation
13

28. Off-page examples
14

29. Off-page examples
• Incoming links from other websites
14

30. Off-page examples
• Incoming links from other websites
• Links from Tweets & other Social Media
14

31. On-site examples
15

32. On-site examples
• Keywords in domain name
15

33. On-site examples
• Keywords in domain name
• Keywords in file path
15

34. On-site examples
• Keywords in domain name
• Keywords in file path
• XML site map
15

35. On-site examples
• Keywords in domain name
• Keywords in file path
• XML site map
• Server availability and load times
15

36. On-page examples
16

37. On-page examples
• Keywords in page title
16

38. On-page examples
• Keywords in page title
• Keywords in headlines
16

39. On-page examples
• Keywords in page title
• Keywords in headlines
• Keywords in image and link attributes
16

40. Anatomy of SERP
17

41. Anatomy of SERP
Pay-per-click (PPC)
17

42. Anatomy of SERP
17

43. Anatomy of SERP
17

44. Anatomy of SERP
Organic Search Listing
17

45. Anatomy of SERP
18

46. Anatomy of SERP
18

47. Anatomy of SERP
Page Title
18

48. Anatomy of SERP
Page Title
URL
18

49. Anatomy of SERP
Page Title
URL
Description
18

50. SEO Philosophy
SEO is more than just #1 rankings.
19

51. Usability
20

52. Usability
“Usability means making sure something works
well, and that a person of average ability or
experience can use it for it’s intended purpose
without getting hopelessly frustrated.”
Steve Krug, Author — Don't Make Me Think:
A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
20

53. User Behavior
21

54. User Behavior
Top search
position
21

55. User Behavior
Top search
position
21

56. User Behavior
Top search
position
Profit
21

57. User Behavior
Top search
position
Profit
21

58. User Behavior
Top search
position
Profit
21

59. User Behavior
Top search
position
Profit
21

60. User Behavior
Top search
position
Profit
21

61. User Behavior
Top search
position
Profit
21

62. User Behavior
Top search Optimized for
position users’ search?
Profit
21

63. User Behavior
Top search Optimized for
Fail
position users’ search? No
Profit
21

64. User Behavior
Top search Optimized for
Fail
position users’ search? No
Yes
Enticing title and
description?
Profit
21

65. User Behavior
Top search Optimized for
Fail
position users’ search? No
Yes
Enticing title and
Fail
description? No
Profit
21

66. User Behavior
Top search Optimized for
Fail
position users’ search? No
Yes
Enticing title and
Fail
description? No
Yes
On target copy on
Profit
landing page?
21

67. User Behavior
Top search Optimized for
Fail
position users’ search? No
Yes
Enticing title and
Fail
description? No
Yes
On target copy on
Profit Fail
landing page? No
21

68. User Behavior
Top search Optimized for
Fail
position users’ search? No
Yes
Enticing title and
Fail
description? No
Yes
On target copy on
Profit Fail
Yes landing page? No
21

69. Google Panda
22

70. Google Panda?
23

71. Google Panda?
23

72. What is Panda?
24

73. What is Panda?
• Released February 2011
24

74. What is Panda?
• Released February 2011
• Affected about 12% of all search results
24

75. What is Panda?
• Released February 2011
• Affected about 12% of all search results
• Intended to penalize low quality websites
24

76. What is Panda?
• Released February 2011
• Affected about 12% of all search results
• Intended to penalize low quality websites
• Updated about once per month
24

77. What is Panda?
• Released February 2011
• Affected about 12% of all search results
• Intended to penalize low quality websites
• Updated about once per month
• Named for key engineer on team
24

78. How to get bitten
25

79. How to get bitten
• Incoming links from low-quality websites
25

80. How to get bitten
• Incoming links from low-quality websites
• Duplicate content on website*
25

81. How to get bitten
• Incoming links from low-quality websites
• Duplicate content on website*
• Low-quality content on website
25

82. How to get bitten
• Incoming links from low-quality websites
• Duplicate content on website*
• Low-quality content on website
• Low content to ad ratio
25

83. How to get bitten
• Incoming links from low-quality websites
• Duplicate content on website*
• Low-quality content on website
• Low content to ad ratio
• Content on your website on other sites
25

84. How to get bitten
• Incoming links from low-quality websites
• Duplicate content on website*
• Low-quality content on website
• Low content to ad ratio
• Content on your website on other sites
✴Solution discussed later
25

85. Off-page Optimization
26

86. Back links
With great power comes great responsibility!
27

87. Know your Links
28

88. Know your Links
28

89. Know your Links
28

90. Linking in Action
29

91. More than the Beatles
30

92. …and major sports
786,000,000 Football
415,000,000 Basketball
216,000,000 Baseball
131,000,000 Hockey
68,500,000 The Beatles
1,616,500,000
31

93. On top: Adobe Reader
32

94. On top: Adobe Reader
33

95. On top: Adobe Reader
33

96. On top: Adobe Reader
33

97. Why is this top result?
34

98. Incoming links
Tens of thousands of incoming links, like this:
“You will need Acrobat Reader to read or
print this document. To download Acrobat
Reader click here.”
35

99. Real life searches
36

100. Panda watch: Off-page
37

101. Panda watch: Off-page
• Look for high-quality, relevant links with a
diverse selection of keywords
37

102. Panda watch: Off-page
• Look for high-quality, relevant links with a
diverse selection of keywords
• Do not use link exchanges, paid links, or
request links from “bad neighborhoods”
37

103. Panda watch: Off-page
• Look for high-quality, relevant links with a
diverse selection of keywords
• Do not use link exchanges, paid links, or
request links from “bad neighborhoods”
• Offer content to other sites in exchange
for links (guest blog posts, articles, etc.)
37

104. Getting bitten by Panda
38

105. Getting bitten by Panda
• Active: requesting links from bad sites
38

106. Getting bitten by Panda
• Active: requesting links from bad sites
• Passive: content stolen by bad sites*
38

107. Getting bitten by Panda
• Active: requesting links from bad sites
• Passive: content stolen by bad sites*
• Evil: links submitted to bad sites by
competitors*
38

108. Getting bitten by Panda
• Active: requesting links from bad sites
• Passive: content stolen by bad sites*
• Evil: links submitted to bad sites by
competitors*
✴Monitor your back links!
38

109. On-Site Optimization
39

110. robots.txt
The gatekeeper of your content.
40

111. robots.txt
41

112. robots.txt
• Instruct crawlers on what not to crawl
41

113. robots.txt
• Instruct crawlers on what not to crawl
• Most important thing to get right!
41

114. robots.txt (Drupal 7.x, 6.x)
42

115. robots.txt (Drupal 7.x, 6.x)
43

116. robots.txt (Drupal 7.x, 6.x)
44

117. robots.txt (Drupal 7.x, 6.x)
44

118. robots.txt (Drupal 7.x, 6.x)
45

119. robots.txt (Drupal 7.x, 6.x)
User-agent: *
Disallow: /
45

120. XML Sitemaps
Make it easy for the web crawlers to do their thing.
46

121. XML Sitemaps
47

122. XML Sitemaps
• Identify URLs to be crawled along with:
47

123. XML Sitemaps
• Identify URLs to be crawled along with:
• Last updated
47

124. XML Sitemaps
• Identify URLs to be crawled along with:
• Last updated
• Frequency of updates
47

125. XML Sitemaps
• Identify URLs to be crawled along with:
• Last updated
• Frequency of updates
• Relative importance
47

126. xml sitemap (Drupal 7.x, 6.x)
48

127. xml sitemap (Drupal 7.x, 6.x)
48

128. xml sitemap (Drupal 7.x, 6.x)
49

129. xml sitemap (Drupal 7.x, 6.x)
49

130. Clean URLs,
Path, & Pathauto
“You cannot travel the path until you have become
the path itself” — Buddha
50

131. Drupal Path Options
51

132. Drupal Path Options
• Core with Clean URLs disabled
http://example.com/?q=node/2/
51

133. Drupal Path Options
• Core with Clean URLs disabled
http://example.com/?q=node/2/
• Core with Clean URLs enabled
http://example.com/node/2
51

134. Drupal Path Options
• Core with Clean URLs disabled
http://example.com/?q=node/2/
• Core with Clean URLs enabled
http://example.com/node/2
• Path module (automated by Pathauto)
http://example.com/drupal-seo
51

135. Clean URLs (Drupal 7.x, 6.x)
52

136. Path & Pathauto (Drupal 7.x, 6.x)
53

137. Path & Pathauto (Drupal 7.x, 6.x)
53

138. Redirects, & Canonical
One path to rule them all.
54

139. Redirects
55

140. Redirects
• Redirect from one path to another (alias)
55

141. Redirects
• Redirect from one path to another (alias)
• Redirect an external URL (301 redirect)
55

142. Path Redirect (Drupal 7.x, 6.x)
56

143. Path Redirect (Drupal 7.x, 6.x)
57

144. Canonical
58

145. Canonical
• For websites with nodes (not paths) of
duplicate or very similar content
58

146. Canonical
• For websites with nodes (not paths) of
duplicate or very similar content
• Prevents dilution of incoming links
58

147. Canonical
• For websites with nodes (not paths) of
duplicate or very similar content
• Prevents dilution of incoming links
• Reduces chance of penalty by search
engines for duplicate content
58

148. Meta tags (Drupal 7.x)
59

149. Meta tags (Drupal 7.x)
Scroll down
59

150. Load Times & Caching
Google factors page load speed.
60

151. Page Load
61

152. Page Load
• Optimize images, CSS, and javascript
61

153. Page Load
• Optimize images, CSS, and javascript
• Test site for speedbumps
61

154. Page Load
• Optimize images, CSS, and javascript
• Test site for speedbumps
• Google PageSpeed
61

155. Page Load
• Optimize images, CSS, and javascript
• Test site for speedbumps
• Google PageSpeed
• YSlow!
61

156. Page Load
• Optimize images, CSS, and javascript
• Test site for speedbumps
• Google PageSpeed
• YSlow!
• Firebug/Web Inspector
61

157. Google PageSpeed (Chrome)
62

158. Caching
63

159. Caching
• Google crawls as anonymous user
63

160. Caching
• Google crawls as anonymous user
• Cache pages for anonymous users
63

161. Caching
• Google crawls as anonymous user
• Cache pages for anonymous users
• Consider Caching Server (Memcached)
63

162. Caching
• Google crawls as anonymous user
• Cache pages for anonymous users
• Consider Caching Server (Memcached)
• Consider Reverse Proxy (Varnish)
63

163. Performance (Drupal 7.x, 6.x)
64

164. Panda watch: On-site
65

165. Panda watch: On-site
• Use canonical tag for any duplicate content
65

166. Panda watch: On-site
• Use canonical tag for any duplicate content
• Don’t make stub pages
65

167. Panda watch: On-site
• Use canonical tag for any duplicate content
• Don’t make stub pages
• Monitor ad to content ratio
65

168. On-Page Optimization
66

169. Page Title
Your most important tag for SEO.
67

170. Page Title
68

171. Page Title
• Top item in SERP listing
68

172. Page Title
• Top item in SERP listing
• Default in Drupal is :node title: | :site:
68

173. Page Title
• Top item in SERP listing
• Default in Drupal is :node title: | :site:
• Modules allow separate optimization
between the page title and the node title
68

174. Page Title
• Top item in SERP listing
• Default in Drupal is :node title: | :site:
• Modules allow separate optimization
between the page title and the node title
• Individually created for each page
68

175. Page Title
• Top item in SERP listing
• Default in Drupal is :node title: | :site:
• Modules allow separate optimization
between the page title and the node title
• Individually created for each page
• Procedurally created via tokens
68

176. Page Title (Drupal 6.x)
69

177. Meta tags (Drupal 7.x)
70

178. Meta tags (Drupal 7.x)
70

179. Meta Description
Entice searchers with carefully crafted content.
71

180. Meta Description
72

181. Meta Description
• If relevant, may be displayed as the SERP
listing description
72

182. Meta Description
• If relevant, may be displayed as the SERP
listing description
• Not counted for placement
72

183. Meta Description
• If relevant, may be displayed as the SERP
listing description
• Not counted for placement
• Allows content creators to craft a targeted
description of the page
72

184. Meta Description
• If relevant, may be displayed as the SERP
listing description
• Not counted for placement
• Allows content creators to craft a targeted
description of the page
• Individually created for each page
72

185. Meta Description
• If relevant, may be displayed as the SERP
listing description
• Not counted for placement
• Allows content creators to craft a targeted
description of the page
• Individually created for each page
• Procedurally created via tokens
72

186. Nodewords (Drupal 6.x)
73

187. Meta tags (Drupal 7.x)
74

188. Meta tags (Drupal 7.x)
74

189. Structure vs.
Presentation
Appearances may be deceiving
75

190. Structure tags
76

191. Structure tags
HTML tags used to identify the significance of
content, such as:
76

192. Structure tags
HTML tags used to identify the significance of
content, such as:
• <title> — document title
76

193. Structure tags
HTML tags used to identify the significance of
content, such as:
• <title> — document title
• <h1> — level one headline
76

194. Structure tags
HTML tags used to identify the significance of
content, such as:
• <title> — document title
• <h1> — level one headline
• <p> — paragraph
76

195. Presentation
77

196. Presentation
The style applied to content that affects the
way it looks. An example of a CSS style:
h1 {
! font: bold 24px arial;
! margin: 10px 0 10px 0;
}
77

197. Good Structure
78

198. Underlying Structure
79

199. Poor Structure
80

200. Underlying Structure
81

201. Panda watch: On-page
82

202. Panda watch: On-page
• Content should be main focus of page
82

203. Panda watch: On-page
• Content should be main focus of page
• Avoid machine generated content
82

204. Panda watch: On-page
• Content should be main focus of page
• Avoid machine generated content
• Avoid over optimization of content
82

205. Panda watch: On-page
• Content should be main focus of page
• Avoid machine generated content
• Avoid over optimization of content
• Create content for USERS, not ROBOTS
82

206. It Doesn’t End Here
The battle for SEO dominance never ends.
83

207. Other Hurdles
84

208. Other Hurdles
• SEO is a contest, there can only be one #1
84

209. Other Hurdles
• SEO is a contest, there can only be one #1
• You must beat others to move up SERP
84

210. Other Hurdles
• SEO is a contest, there can only be one #1
• You must beat others to move up SERP
• Without keyword research all efforts are a
shot in the dark
84

211. Other Hurdles
• SEO is a contest, there can only be one #1
• You must beat others to move up SERP
• Without keyword research all efforts are a
shot in the dark
• Content creators must buy in to succeed
84

212. Other Hurdles
• SEO is a contest, there can only be one #1
• You must beat others to move up SERP
• Without keyword research all efforts are a
shot in the dark
• Content creators must buy in to succeed
• Off-site factors can trump any on-site work
84

213. Conclusion
85

214. Conclusion
• Drupal best practices will provide a solid
framework for SEO efforts
85

215. Conclusion
• Drupal best practices will provide a solid
framework for SEO efforts
• SEO is fun!
85

216. Special thanks
86

217. Stephen Pashby
Follow us!
@DesignHammer
facebook.com/DesignHammer
www.designhammer.com
drupal.org/node/1128082
87