SEO for WordPress 2015

SEO for WordPressWordCamp NYC

October 31, 2015

• Anyone seeking to increase traffic to their website, online store or blog;

• Designers and developers who want a basic understanding of current SEO best practices;

• Business owners and managers thinking about hiring an SEO firm or consultant.

Who is this presentation for?

• What was/is SEO?

• How do I optimize my website?

• How do I do that with WordPress?

• Next steps, take-aways and resources

Overview

About Melissa Cahill

I’ve been building websites since 1995.

I run an SEO and Online Marketing agency. We help small businesses get better exposure for their products and services, capture leads and/or drive sales via the Internet.

I am also proud to be a Founding Member of Tadpole Collective.

About Tadpole Collective

We met in 2011 through the WordPress NYC Meetup.

We work on all sorts of WordPress projects, offering Help Desk support and custom development.

Tadpole specializes in CiviCRMintegration with WordPress.

What is SEO?

• Mid- to late-90’s gave us Yahoo and Google.

The Evolution of SEO

• “Black hat” SEO tactics thrived in the wake of early search technology.

• Backlinks (off site) continue to play a role.

• The aughts (that’s the 2000s) sees the rise of Google: maps, news, images, YouTube.

The Evolution of SEO

• Blogging and social media take off.

• Search engine algorithms start to improve to ensure the user (searcher) gets relevant results.

• Content comes back into focus.

• Universal Search: “blended” search results

• Personalization: localized results, search suggestions

• Semantic search: Google now predicts user intent

SEO Today

SEO Today

• Major algorithm changes at Google make connecting users with QUALITY CONTENT the new challenge for marketers.

• Widespread use of mobile devices (smartphones, tablets) make WEBSITE USABILITY the top priority for developers and webmasters.

SEO Today

SEO, when done right, is concerned with both.

How to Optimize a Website

The very basic basics:

• Your site must be crawlable.

• Your site must be well-organized.

• Your site must render well on mobile devices.

Onsite SEO

If your website runs on WordPress and uses a mobile responsive theme, you are already ahead of the game!

But there is still a lot of work to do…

Onsite SEO

Onsite SEO

The intermediate basics:1. What keyword phrases to use?

Targeted (to a specific product/service/audience)

Traffic-bearing (Average Search Volume [ASV])

2. Where to put them on your site?

Page Titles & Meta-Description Tags …

Implementation Locations

1. Domain name

2. Page URLs (permalinks):

(http://www.YourDomainName.com/YourPageName)

3. SEO Titles

4. Meta-Description

5. Headers (h1, h2, h3; descending importance)

6. Internal links (anchor text & titles)

7. Website copy & images

8. Bold and italicized text

Headers

h1, h2, h3, h4, h5

Descending importance for SEO

• h1 – usually the page title: try to get a keyword in

• h2, h3 – secondary/topical keywords

• h4, h5 – not crucial to use/embed

Keywords for Images

• File namewhitesalmon-rafting.jpg

• Alt attribute• Shows when image cannot be

loaded

• Tooltip text

alt = “Rafters plunging down HusumFalls on the White Salmon River”

• Title attribute

title = “Husum Falls on the White Salmon River”

<img src=“/images/whitesalmon-rafting.jpg” alt=“Rafters plunging down Husum Falls on the White Salmon River” title=“Husum Falls on the White Salmon River”>

Internal Links

• Can be helpful within the copy, especially at the end of articles

• Should not be overused

• Should have the same anchor text as your main navigation or inbound links

Internal Links

Permalinks (Page URLs)

All in One SEO Plugin

Title & Meta-Description

All in One SEO for WordPress

All in One SEO for WordPress

All in One SEO for WordPress

Great Help Documentation!

All in One SEO for WordPress

All in One SEO for WordPress

All in One SEO for WordPress

All in One SEO for WordPress

All in One SEO for WordPress

Hiring an SEO Consultant

What to ask SEO vendors?

Don’t trust anyone who makes guarantees

regarding rankings, especially if they promise

you one of the top spots in Google.

TIP!

What to ask SEO vendors?

• How do they conduct their keyword research?

• What’s included in their price?

• How do they monitor performance and how often will they make any necessary adjustments?

Resources You Can Use to Learn More About SEO

Learning SEO:• Beginner’s Guide to SEO (SEO Moz)

• Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide (Google)

Indispensible Tools:• Google Analytics

• Google Search Console / Bing Webmaster Tools

• SEO Book’s Collection of SEO Tools

Learn More About SEO

Semantic Search: • Changes to Google Search Demands Creating Content for People,

Not Bots

• SEO 101: What is Semantic Search and Why Should I Care?

SEO & WordPress:• 10 WordPress SEO Questions That Took Me 10 Years To Answer!

• Top Tips for Good On-Page SEO (All-in-One)

• The Definite Guide to Higher Rankings for WordPress Sites (Yoast)

Learn More About SEO

Thank you!

I hope you’ve found this presentation useful.

Keep Panoptic Online Marketing and Tadpole Collective in mind when shopping for and SEO or WordPress team to help you!

http://panopticmarketing.com

http://tadpole.cc