Session 2 from RankAbove's SEO workshop for developers. Senior Analyst Kalman Labovitz covers tips for schema, on-page elements (default vs manual, marketing vs dev), breadcrumbs and internal linking, and server responses.

1. The SEO
Workshop
May 12, 2014
By: Kalman Labovitz

2. Overview
Schema On-page
Breadcrumbs Server responses

3. Schema - What is it?
• In short – HTML Markup to help search engines
understand content
• Instead of just <div> and <span>
• You have “items” like “Product”, “reviews” and a
whole lot more

4. Schema - SERPs
• Old
• New

5. Schema – Confusing?
- 8 out of 10 clients implement incorrectly
- Where to implement?
- Types to templates
- Example:

6. Schema - worth the effort?
• Search engines like it because it saves money!
• Three stages to SERP
– Crawl
– Index
– Display
• Clients has seen +50% increase in traffic

7. Schema - Break it down
– The standard stuff
• WebPageElement
– WPFooter
– WPHeader
– WPSideBar
– Your site focus
• Halo 4 – Product or CreativeWork
– Match markup to templates
• WordPress – single.php = /BlogPosting or /Article

8. Schema - Tips
– Always have the “Full Hierarchy” open when working -
build a plan of implementation
(http://schema.org/docs/full.html)
– Understand YOUR focus
• eCommerce
• Media
• Blog

9. Schema - Tips
• Create a table and match
• Do not forget itemscope and itemscope of an
itemscope
• Items not in the same <></> use meta tag
– Works now may not in the future

10. Schema - Avoid
– Markup for item page on listing page
– Multiple item pages on a page
– Double calls of itemscope

11. On-Page Elements
• Search engines spiders read books?
• On-Page elements (sample)
– Title <title>
– Headers (h1, h2, etc.)
– Alt tag <img alt=“”>
– File names

12. On-Page Elements - Control
• Default vs. Manual Control
• Bigger Question – Who responsible for the
website?
• Why not have both?

13. On-Page Elements - Control
• Example of default
– Buy [Product name] in [color/s] at [company Name]
– Shop [category] and find the cheapest products at
[Company Name]
• Allow for Manual Override
– Saved you the time to have to update the DB

14. On-Page Elements - Control

15. Breadcrumbs and Internal Linking
• Set links vs. Sporadic links
– Set link is a link within page structure that is (almost)
always there
• Head menu link, footer link, side link

16. Breadcrumbs and Internal Linking
– Sporadic (in-content) link
• Link that appears within main content of page
Same link, but
different value

17. Breadcrumbs and Internal Linking
• Some rules (but they can change)
– First link to page counts more
• So target the correct Anchor text
• Classic mistake – First link to Home Page usually image or
“home”
– PageRank takes into account total number of links
– Quality vs. quantity of links within content

18. Server Responses
200: OK
301: Moved Permanently
302: Found
404: Not Found
503: Service Unavailable

19. Server Responses – Control
• What is the best response?
• Who decides and who controls?
– Developers like scale
– Marketers like options

20. Server Responses – Control
• What is the goal?
– Rebrand
– Pivot
– Redesign
• Developers set the default
• Marketers have the override
– But they make mistakes
– You need to watch out for them

21. Server Responses – Situations
• URL structure changes
• Product discontinued
• Product updated
– i.e. iPhone 4  iPhone 5
• Category name change
• Etc.

22. Server Responses – Look out
• 301 redirect loops
• 301 to 404
• Are there backlinks?
– You might not need to 301 redirect everything

23. Contact Me
Email: kalman@rankabove.com
Twitter: @ffemtkl
LinkedIn: il.linkedin.com/in/kalmanlabovitz/
Company Website: www.rankabove.com