fully optimized

Fully OptimizedCommonly-Missed Opportunities and New On-Page SEO Techniques

Jon Henshaw Co-founder of Raven Tools

@RavenJon

What’s the typical approach to optimizing sites for search engines?

Optimized URL naming convention domain.com/category/product-name/

Optimized Page Titles & Descriptions

Awesome content

All done!

I think I’ll sleep here the rest of

the day*

* Actual guy who slept there the rest of the day

Most sites have hundreds and even thousands of problems to

fix and optimize

Next step is to do a site audit

Find and fix with a site audit tool

Once you finish fixing and optimizing everything, you can…

…sit back, relax and drink tiny bottles of

wine

Wait! Not yet!…you’re still not done!

Hide irrelevant content

Are these pages relevant?

• About Us

• Contact

• Terms of Service

• Privacy Policy

Exclude irrelevant pages in robots.txt

Sanitize affiliate links

Google isn’t the biggest fan of affiliate links

Internally link to a disallowed folder and redirect to the destination

Choose a folder name like domain.com/go

Disallow the folder in robots.txt

Create a 301 redirect for the affiliate link

domain.com/go/timecapsule

WordPress Plugin

Redirection raven.link/redirection

Optimize how you code

Turn off JS and CSS

Code without style first

Use semantic elements to communicate context

<header>

<nav>

<article> <aside>

<footer>

Navigation

Advertising

List of HTML Semantic Elements raven.link/semantic

Predict the next ranking factors and implement them now*

* Even if they never become factors, your visitors will love you!

Google cares a lot about mobile and UX

Google also has a history of identifying and utilizing standards and accessibility

Form “input types” that enhance mobile UX fit that pattern

type=“email”

type=“date”

type=“time”

type=“tel”

All standard input type options raven.link/inputtype

Use frameworks that allow good code, are easy to configure and are responsive

Foundation

Custom Download raven.link/foundation

Add Breadcrumbs

Communicates context and enhances SERPs

Footer

Can go anywhere on your site

Google’s Breadcrumb Instructions raven.link/breadcrumbs

WordPress plugins

Yoast SEO raven.link/yoast

NavXT raven.link/navxt

Optimize images for mobile devices

Responsive images are

not optimized images

Optimization is serving a different image

Thankfully we have a new HTML standard called SRCSET

SRCSET can serve both smaller and completely different images to

improve speed and UX

Create smaller versions for mobile

1024px800px

550px360px

SRCSET is an attribute to the IMG element

<img alt="my awesome cat" src="image.png" srcset="cat-hd.png 2x, cat-med.png 640w, cat-med-hd.png 640w 2x" />

Specify device width

<img alt="my awesome cat" src="image.png" srcset="cat-hd.png 2x, cat-med.png 640w, cat-med-hd.png 640w 2x" />

Specify High DPI

<img alt="my awesome cat" src="image.png" srcset="cat-hd.png 2x, cat-med.png 640w, cat-med-hd.png 640w 2x" />

Customize image by device type

Mobile Desktop

WordPress Plugin

SrcSet Responsive Images raven.link/srcsetwp

Speed in general matters

Don’t use a 💩 hosting provider* and use a CDN to deliver assets

My old advice

* I still advise not using a 💩 hosting provider, but that’s not the point I’m trying to make right now

Use Cloudflare• Significant speed increase with HTTP/2

• CDN for your entire site, not just assets

• Security and DDoS protection

My new advice

Enhance SERPs with schema.org microdata

http://schema.org/Recipe

Integrate in HTML elements

JSON-LD makes it simpler

Use Schema App raven.link/schemaapp

Consider using AMP if you’re a publisher or blogger (and soon ecommerce sites)

ampproject.org

AMP strips out all of the unnecessary code and delivers content almost instantly to mobile devices

What it looks like via mobile

search

Google’s results are hosted by Google https://www.google.com/amp/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/36582770

Fortunately, you can add GA Tracking raven.link/ampga

Ads are also supported raven.link/ampads

Automattic has been actively working with AMP

They created a WordPress plugin for AMP raven.link/amp

For all others platforms, check out Mercury raven.link/postlight

Thank you!

Early access to Site Auditor raven.link/early

Jon Henshaw @RavenJon