SEO for developers (session 1)
Download as PPTX, PDF0 likes1,249 views
The document is a comprehensive SEO workshop by Avromi Sommers, covering the evolution of SEO practices from the 1990s to present, emphasizing on-page and off-page strategies. It discusses key updates from Google, such as Panda and Penguin, and highlights the importance of site structure, sitemaps, and mobile optimization in current SEO best practices. Additional insights on how Google crawls and indexes websites, along with techniques for managing site content and speed, are also provided.
SEO for developers (session 1)
- 1. The SEO Workshop - Site Structure By Avromi Sommers Senior Analyst
- 2. About Me • RankAbove Employee #2 • Senior SEO Analyst / Director Training • SEO for Enterprise size sites Musician Married + 4 http://www.linkedin.com/in/avromisommers
- 3. Overview • History of SEO to date • Significance of on page search • How Google works • Site structure • Sitemaps • Mobile SEO
- 4. SEO in the 90’s • Yahoo, Alta-Vista etc. • Meta tag spam • Keywords Stuffing • Directory Search • Why was this bad? • NASA vs. Avromi
- 5. SEO in the 90’s • Google in 1997 • PageRank • Based on PhD theory • Quality and Quantity of inbound links • SEO - now a two part (very easy) game • Off page - buying building links • On page - keywords stuffing
- 6. 21st Century • 2003 • Florida Update - Googles first update to fight Spam - mostly on page spam • Need better quality and relevant links • Content is king • Yet also link importance – Google Bombs • 2005/2006 • Google officially says do not buy links • Starts penalizing sites for spam
- 7. 21st Century • 2007/8 • Penalized a whole bunch of link sellers • 2011 • Panda - aimed at sites with bad content • 2012 • Penguin - aimed at sites with bad back link profile • killed the concept off bad/ easy back links
- 8. SEO Today • Still a combination of off page and on page • Off page – more difficult • marketing oriented approach • On page • Now becomes very important - also more complicated • You have more control of on page
- 9. SEO Today • On page • Content • Site structure
- 10. Google needs to crawl you site • How does Google work? • Crawling, indexing, serve results
- 11. What can Google see? • HTML • Java Script – Not really • Any thing Google needs to execute the lower the chance • Google is getting better • Test using a text only browser to see what Google can see (lynx) • iframes are generally bad • Officially crawl-able and supported by Google
- 12. Blocking Google? • Blocking Google • Robots.txt • Meta no index
- 13. Blocking Google? • Common pitfalls • Blocking development sites • PW, IP block, robots, noindex
- 14. Internal Linking Structure • Has direct effect on SEO - important pages gets more links • Google needs to find all pages on site • Site Hierarchy • Pyramid • Web structure - i.e. Wikipedia
- 15. Internal Linking Structure Do both
- 16. URL Structure • Loosely follow hierarchy • Google will often try to understand from URLs • But to a point - keep em’ short • Ecommerce sites - only one product page
- 17. Duplicate Content • Caps • HTTPS • URL Parameters • Sorting • Referral strings • Canonical tags
- 18. Pagination • rel= prev & rel = next • infinite scroll - push state • View all • Canonical tag • Avoid Reusing content • For category pages - OK
- 19. Filters for Browsing • Problems with filters • Infinite number of pages • Auto generated • Stub & empty pages • Block to Google • AJAX • Filters • URLS
- 20. AJAX URLs • AJAX tabs • Make sure content on page • When can Google see AJAX URLs • # vs. #! • escape fragment • #! = ?_escaped_fragment_ • bidirectional • <meta name="fragment" content="!">
- 21. Be Careful! • Don't hide text/links • Scrape content • Comments/ comment spam • Malware on site • downloading things users don't really want • Cloaking - showing different info to Google then to user • JS redirects - looks bad • fine for login pages
- 22. Sitemaps • Helps Google find pages on site • Different types - News, Videos, images • Guidelines • Size limit - 50 MB & URL limit - 50,000 • UTF-8 encoding • Full URLs • No parameters, redirects or non canonical • Multiple sitemaps OK • Use sitemap Index file
- 23. Once Its Created • Submit Sitemap to Google Via Webmaster Tools • Or list in robots.txt • Google will crawl sitemap/site • Check status in WMT • Is Google processing correctly • Errors • Is Google actually indexing
- 24. Video Sitemaps • What information is needed? • Title • Description • Thumbnail URL • Player page URL • Location of raw video file • Recommended but not necessary • Duration, date published, family friendly
- 25. News Sitemaps • What information is needed? • Publication • Publications date • Access (if blocked) • Title • Recommended but not necessary • Meta keywords • Only within 48 hours • 1000 URLs max
- 26. Mobile Sites 1. Responsive design • Ideal for SEO 2. Different mobile URLs • Tell Googlebot to crawl with mobile- Vary HTTP header 3. Dynamically serving different HTML on the same URL • Annotation in HTML and Regular sitemap • <link rel="alternate" media="only screen and (max-width: 640px)" href="http://m.example.com/page-1" > • <xhtml:link rel="alternate" media="only screen and (max-width: 640px)" href="http://m.example.com/page-1" /> • Canonical tag from mobile URL
- 27. Mobile Sites – cont. • Speed is very important • Especially at the top of the page • Mobile sitemaps • For mobile ready pages only • Proper redirects to mobile site • JS pop ups, Flash • Tablet users generally prefer desktop version
- 28. Site Speed Site speed is a ranking factor • Page speed insights from Google • https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/ • Analytics
- 29. Foreign Language sites • TLD vs. Folder vs. Sub-domain language vs. Sub- domain country • Meta language tag <link rel="alternate" hreflang="es" href="http://es.example.com/" /> • Geo targeting in webmaster tools Multi Country Non-Multi Country Local Dependent TLD for each country One TLD with sub- domains per language Non-Local Dependent One TLD with sub- domains per language One TLD with sub- domains or folders per language
- 30. Additional Resources • Google updates - http://moz.com/google-algorithm-change • Webmaster central support - https://support.google.com/webmasters/?hl=en • Google Webmaster Videos - https://www.youtube.com/user/GoogleWebmasterHelp/videos • General Google Guidelines - https://support.google.com/webmasters/topic/6001981?hl=en&ref_topic=3309300 • Blocking Google - https://developers.google.com/webmasters/control-crawl- index/docs/robots_txt • Pagination - http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.co.il/2011/09/pagination-with-relnext-and- relprev.html • Escape fragment / AJAX URLs- https://developers.google.com/webmasters/ajax- crawling/docs/specification • Page speed - https://developers.google.com/speed/ • Page speed insights - http://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/ • Multi-regional sites - http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.co.il/2010/03/working-with-multi- regional-websites.html • Site-maps - https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/156184?hl=en • Mobile Sites - https://developers.google.com/webmasters/smartphone-sites/details • Tablet usability - http://www.nngroup.com/articles/tablet-usability/
- 31. Thank You! We are always available for questions! Avromi@rankabove.com http://www.linkedin.com/in/avromisommers