training google to love your website
TRANSCRIPT
TRAINING GOOGLE TO LOVE YOUR WEBSITEAn Brief Introduction to SEO4/9/2010
About Me
SEOInformatio
n Architectu
re
Wordpress & Omeka
Website & Software Developm
entJeanne Kramer-Smyth
MLS, University of Maryland
What is SEO?
SEO = Search Engine Optimization
Fancy way to say “making your web content findable
by search engines”
AnalyticsPage Construction
Building Blocks of SEO
Site OrganizationTopic & Keyword Research
What are people looking for?
AnalyticsPage ConstructionSite Organization
Topic & Keyword Research
World War II or World War 2?Keyword research can show you how people actually search – official vs popular version.Google Insight into Search:
world war 2
world war ii
Tools for Keyword Research Google Insight for Search Google Trends Google AdWords Keyword Tool Google Search-based Keyword Tool SEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool KeywordDiscovery ($) WordTracker ($) and Free Version SEO Book’s Keyword Tools Page
This site was built for crawling!
AnalyticsPage ConstructionSite Organization
Topic & Keyword Research
Tree Gives Content Clear HomePlants
Flowering Plants
Shade Loving Flowers
Gain Authority Via Internal Links
Red Flower Hub
Begonias
Roses
Tulips
XML SitemapsA list of pages available to be indexed by search engines – an index for robots that crawl your site.
Types of Sitemaps:General SitemapNews SitemapVideo Sitemap
SEO Checklist: Site Level All content can be found via crawling Current XML sitemaps submitted to
search engines Leaf pages point to hubs Child pages point to their parents Good anchor text, usually matches
target page title
Target each page!
AnalyticsPage ConstructionSite Organization
Topic & Keyword Research
Before you start building a page Physical home & URL Primary keyword target
Title & Description
<title>Macmillan: Robot Dreams: Sara Varon: Books</title>
<meta name="description" content="Macmillan: Robot Dreams: Sara Varon: Bonus Publisher Materials: Praise, Author Biography, Awards" />
TiITLE
META DESCRIPTION
SERP
Example: Many Pages – One Title
SEO Checklist: Page Level Clear primary keyword target phrase One URL per page Unique page title, less than 65
characters <H1> tag containing keyword target Unique meta description, less than 164
characters Content rich text Images have alt text
After the launch
AnalyticsPage ConstructionSite Organization
Topic & Keyword Research
Questions to ask after launch
Traffic Sources Bounce Rates SERP position for target keywords
Free Tools
Google Webmaster Tools: Register your sitemap
Google Analytics: Traffic sources & statistics
Google Feedburner: Tracking RSS subscriptions
Google Website Optimizer: A/B testing
Next Steps for YOU! Look at sites you like – could you
improve their SEO? Bake SEO into your web site design and
development process Follow some SEO blogs (RSS is your
friend!) SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog SEO Book Search Engine Land Google Webmaster Central Blog
Questions?Looking for me? Google Jeanne Kramer-Smyth!
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jkramersmyth
Blog: SpellboundBlog.comPortfolio: SpellboundProjects.comAudio Book Reviews: BooksForEars.com