35
SEO SEO 911! 911! 5 deadly SEO Mistakes (& solutions to fix or prevent them)

Seo mistakes911 fabella

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 3: Seo mistakes911 fabella

Don’t let this happen to you!

Page 4: Seo mistakes911 fabella

It Takes a Village...To Mess Things Up

Page 6: Seo mistakes911 fabella

“Let’s MakeTHIS Sitesizzle!”

flashflash

Page 7: Seo mistakes911 fabella

What Your Exec Sees

Page 8: Seo mistakes911 fabella

What a Search Engine Sees

Page 9: Seo mistakes911 fabella

Good Solution: Speak Geek

Page 10: Seo mistakes911 fabella

Better Solution: Speak Money

$$$

Dove’sCompetitors

Page 11: Seo mistakes911 fabella

“NOTHING’SGetting

Past me’”

ROBOTS.TXTROBOTS.TXT

Page 12: Seo mistakes911 fabella

Yes. This STILL Happens

Page 13: Seo mistakes911 fabella

Also Watch Out For• Placement errors

– Root domain vs. sub

• Character errors– Robots.txt vs. Robot.txt,– Extra spaces – Keystroke errors

• Definition and command errors– NOINDEX vs. Disallow– Robots.txt vs. NOINDEX– Disallow vs. Allow

Page 14: Seo mistakes911 fabella

“let’s backupThose URL’s”

CANONICAL TAGSCANONICAL TAGS

Page 15: Seo mistakes911 fabella

Common Canonical Tag Errors

• Pointing to wrong page– Home page

– Different places in site

– Inconsistency between www’s...

• Incorrect formatting/coding– Extra spaces, bad characters

Page 16: Seo mistakes911 fabella

“I’LL TELLYOU WHERE

TO GO”

SitemapsSitemaps

Page 17: Seo mistakes911 fabella

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

• Incorrect URL– www.abz.com VS. abz.com

• Incorrect sitemap protocol

• Invalid date, tags, URL...

• Incorrect sitemap type in Google WMT– i.e. Sitemap, News, ...

Page 18: Seo mistakes911 fabella

“trust me.I can hook You up.”

Link farmsLink farms

Page 19: Seo mistakes911 fabella

Link Building Gone Wrong

• There are no short cuts– Link building is relationship building

• Don’t fall for glitzy pitches– Beware of promises of “guaranteed” rankings– Tactic: Lots of links from “bad neighborhoods”

• Paid links violate Google’s webmaster guidelines– Search engines could levy penalty

Page 20: Seo mistakes911 fabella

“No worries.I’ve got

It covered”

Be the detectiveBe the detective

WHEN THINGS GO WRONG:

Page 21: Seo mistakes911 fabella

Start With What You Know

Page 22: Seo mistakes911 fabella

Do Your Detective Work

Page 23: Seo mistakes911 fabella

Culprit Caughtrel=“canonical”

Page 24: Seo mistakes911 fabella

Problem Solved

Page 25: Seo mistakes911 fabella

“we’ve got A situation

here...”

Crisis mode solutionsCrisis mode solutions

Page 26: Seo mistakes911 fabella

Crisis Checklist Development changes

Robots.txt

Sitemaps

Redirects

Canonical tags

Status Codes

NOINDEX tags

Server / Caching

Check w/SE user agent

Clues inWMT account

Page 27: Seo mistakes911 fabella

Post-Crisis Actions

1. Written documentation• Summarize details of problem & solution

• Include screen grabs

• Save FOREVER

2. Post-mortem with ALL parties involved

3. Email summary to stakeholders• Ok to be the hero, but don’t throw anyone under the bus

• You still have to work with these people!

Page 28: Seo mistakes911 fabella

“An ounce ofPrevention...”

Disaster preventionDisaster prevention

Page 29: Seo mistakes911 fabella

Regular Communication

– Daily or weekly meetings• A daily 15 minute checkup is sufficient

– Review upcoming & completed changes

– Carefully review code BEFORE launch

– Include ALL stakeholders

Page 30: Seo mistakes911 fabella

Training for Stakeholders

C-Suite• High level 101’s• Value of SEO • Patience with results

Project/Product Mgrs. • Emphasize SEO timing

in the development cycle

Designers• SEO consideration in

wire frames• Consequences of FLASH

Content Managers• Keyword research• Keyword placement• Anchor text

Developers• URLs (length, dupe

content, session IDs)• NOINDEX vs.

robots.txt• Sitemaps• Rel = canonical

Page 31: Seo mistakes911 fabella

Culture of Accountability

– Make the stakeholders your SEO “partners”

– Show examples of what could go WRONG

– Discuss consequences of errors and poor communication

– Provide developers with Google Webmaster Tools login

– Regular meetings will help

Page 32: Seo mistakes911 fabella

“I need backup.Now!”

referencereference

Page 33: Seo mistakes911 fabella

Reference DeskGeneral Google Help

http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/?hl=en

Google Help Forumhttp://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Webmasters?hl=en

Common Sitemap Errorshttp://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35738

Search Engines’ Viewpointhttp://www.seo-browser.com/

HTTP Checkerhttp://www.rexswain.com/httpview.html

Page 34: Seo mistakes911 fabella

ArticlesCanonical Link Element

• “Complete Guide to Rel Canonical - How To and Why (Not)”• SEOmoz Daily Blog; Lindsay Wassel

• “Why I Still Hate Rel=Canonical”• Search Engine Land; Ian Laurie

Robots.txt• “A Deeper Look At Robots.txt”

• Search Engine Land; Stephan Spencer

• “Serious Robots.txt Misuse & High Impact Solutions“• SEOmoz Daily Blog; Lindsay Wassel

In-House Processes• “Where SEO Belongs In The Web Site Development Cycle”

• Search Engine Land; Jessica Bowman

Page 35: Seo mistakes911 fabella

Allison [email protected]

404-526-2246TWITTER: @alli12

Thank YouThank You