Webpage SEO that you can do yourself by Sue Polinsky, TechTriad. ConvergeSouth2012

1. TOP TO BOTTOM SEO
Sue Polinsky, President
TechTriad.com
ConvergeSouth 2012 – Nonprofit Websites

2. WHAT IS SEO AND WHY DO I CARE?
 OWN THESE WORDS  THE TOP-TO-BOTTOM
 Search Engine Optimization  Page Titles
 Organic Search  Heading Tags
 Search Result  Content ,Content, Content!
 Site Ranking  Link Titles
 Pay Per Click  Meta Keywords
 SEM, SMM  Meta Descriptions
 Pictures

3. IF YOU CAN EDIT YOUR WEBSITE
 Increase your SEO
 Get found more easily on organic searches
 Get “better Google”
 Increase Bing search hits

4. START AT THE TOP – PAGE TITLE!
 Page Title  Your tagline in the title
Page Name
shows up in the
browser
Make it EASY to
find donations

5. USING ADOBE CONTRIBUTE
Change the page
title in “Page
Properties”

6. USING WORDPRESS
Easy way to
edit your
page title

7. USING WORDPRESS EXTRAS
Nice Google preview
Find your SEO under
the page text box.
Make a custom title.
If you don’t see any SEO options, tell your website
designer that you want that tool. It’s free and fairly easy.

8. CHECKUP
 Checklist for page titles
1. Make every page title unique
2. Make sure it matches the page
content
3. See your Analytics for keyword
searches
4. Use your tagline
5. Be sure your content has the title
words throughout – repeat them!

9. HEADING TAGS ARE YOUR FRIENDS
 “H” tags are read by browsers
 Put important words in <h> tags
 Put important words in <h> tags
 Use common tags, like <h1>, <h2>, and <h3>
 First words on page – use an <h> tag
 Sub-headings should be in <h> tag format
 Want to see what that looks like?

10. HEADING TAGS IN WORDPRESS
Drop down the list when you’re
clicked in the paragraph.
Now the search engines find “volunteer
TEDxGreensboro” more quickly and it will
be a “hit” on a search.
Use “h” tags judiciously. Only headings,
sub-headings and VERY important section
dividers should be in “h” tags.
More is NOT better. Quality rules.

11. HEADING TAGS IN CONTRIBUTE
You think people are interested in “granting programs?” So do I!

12. CHECKUP
 Checklist for heading tags
1. Use heading tags for titles & Poor, sad <h3> tag!
sections • What WHO does?
• What you do about what?
2. Use h1, h2, and h3 tags • Who do you do it to?
3. Be judicious – don’t over-use
4. Use important keywords in H tags
<h3>Helping Guilford County Nonprofits</h3>

13. HOMEPAGE – CONTENT RULES!
 Spend an inordinate amount of time writing the best
text possible for your homepage.
 This is a place to call in a favor from a PR bud or
board member.
 Homepage text matters. Treat it well.
 After all of that, change it on occasion!
(Like you don’t have enough to do, right?)

14. HOMEPAGE TEXT IN CONTRIBUTE
 Use your keywords!
You’d know these words if you
lived in Danville or the Dan
River Region!

15. HOMEPAGE TEXT IN WORDPRESS
 WordPress treats
homepage text differently
 It’s often found in a
widget or on a special
page
 Take ownership! Be sure
you know how to update
your homepage text.
 Be sure you have some
homepage text and not
just a slideshow.

16. CHECKUP
 Checklist for homepage text
1. Be sure there is editable homepage text
2. Edit the text from time to time
3. Use “h” tags for a descriptive homepage
title and sub-titles
4. Put a lot of thought (and keywords) into
homepage text
(get the keywords from your Analytics!)
5. Spend a LOT of time on all your page
content, but focus first on your
homepage and DONATE page

17. LINK TEXT – EASY SEO
 Link text is so abused: see “Click here”
 Use keywords in links. Sue’s rule.
 Write quality links
 Low quality link:
<a href="myPage.html">My Link Text</a>
 Let’s look at some high quality links

18. HIGH QUALITY LINKS
 Quality link:
<a href="/support-ymca-greensboro/support-ymca-
greensboro.html">See the healthy living programs for
boys and girls in Greensboro</a>
 The link text appears on the page like this:
Read more about the YMCA’s programs for youth and
see the healthy living programs for boys & girls in
Greensboro

19. CHECKUP
 Checklist for quality link text
1. Easily done in every web editing program
2. Use keywords in the link text that support your page
3. Write readable links that duplicate your message
4. Never use “click here” as your entire link
5. Which takes us to website structure…

20. FILE AND FOLDER NAMES
 You really can’t control the structure of your
site after it’s built, but you can optimize for
future pages and folders.
 Good folder name: “about-after-gateway”
 Eh… folder name: “about-us”

21. META TAGS: KEYWORDS & DESCRIPTIONS
 Keywords  Description
 Not a big deal anymore  More important to Bing
 You can use them anyway  Must match your page’s
 Customize per page content
 Use keywords (one more  (So, rewrite your content!)
time)  1-2 sentences that you
 Don’t use too many! want to see on a search
result

22. META KEYWORDS IN WORDPRESS
 WordPress isn’t fond of meta keywords
Google does not use the keywords meta tag in web ranking.
Some search engines don't use the meta tag information any more because
many people abused it. In fact, meta tags may not represent the content of
your site, but, it still doesn't hurt your status with search engines if you make
use of these little bits of information, and do so truthfully.
Without a doubt, content is the biggest contributor to search engine page
ranking, so if you want to raise your rankings, make sure you have quality
content.
Bottom line: get a WordPress SEO plugin.

23. META KEYWORDS IN CONTRIBUTE
 In editing mode, “Format/Keywords & Description”
A different page; how it
appears to your browser

24. SEO WITH PICTURES & MEDIA
 Video and pictures are good.
 Use them.
 TAG them.
 Use ALT text
 Because it’s the right thing to do
 Because it gets SEO
 Be sure your images are legal!

26. IMAGE PROPERTIES IN CONTRIBUTE
 Set or change image
properties in Contribute
 Use ALT text – it can be
picked up by search
engines
 Example:
Photo of peer counseling session at Win-Win Resolutions,
character building and conflict resolution in Greensboro, NC

27. FIND ME ONLINE
Dr. Sue Polinsky
President, TechTriad, Inc.
Phone: 336-852-4321
Email: sue@techtriad.com
Twitter: @suepolinsky, techtriad
Facebook: facebook.com/suepolinsky
facebook.com/techtriad
Google+: spolinsky@gmail.com
LinkedIn: suepolinsky
4Square: suepolinsky