WordPress SEO in 2014 - WordCamp Baltimore 2014
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This document contains the notes from a WordPress and SEO technical talk given at the Baltimore WordCamp on October 18, 2014. It discusses optimizing WordPress websites for search engines and users through on-page SEO techniques like optimizing page URLs, title tags, meta descriptions and internal linking. It also covers off-page SEO and recommends plugins to help with tasks like image optimization, caching, and XML sitemaps. The presenter's overall message is to make websites easy for users and search engines to access, understand and digest content.
WordPress SEO in 2014 - WordCamp Baltimore 2014
- 1. WordPress & SEO: A Technical talk Baltimore WordCamp / 10.18.14
- 2. Analytics Junkie Tracking stuff, using the data to make decisions SEO/UX Nerd Optimizing user & search engine experience WordPress Developer Building on top of an already awesome platform Team Evangelist Growing and having fun with our smart team Hi, I’m Arsham. Co-founder of WebMechanix, 100% nerd @WebMechanix @Arshammm #WCBalt
- 3. Cool, so what’s SEO?
- 4. Why show up organically? http://moz.com/ugc/how-to-get-more-clicks-with-low-rankings
- 6. Let’s make it simple
- 7. Your mission… Make it (super) easy for users and search engines to access, understand, and digest your website (content).
- 8. 1 2 3 1 The internet aka “off-site” 2 Your website aka “on-site” 3 Your webpage aka “on-page” Three layers of SEO
- 9. Off-site in 2 minutes pointblankseo.com/link-building-strategies Visit the site above and choose the options to fit your scenario. Start with low time to execution (1), high value impact (2), and low dependencies (3). Do many strategies at once. Win.
- 10. On-page SEO
- 11. Start with keywords http://adwords.google.com/keywordplanner
- 12. Keywords, not “blind blogging” http://keywordtool.io/
- 13. Anatomy of a well optimized page Page URL 1 2 Title tag 3 Meta desc tag 4 Page format: • Headlines • Paragraphs • Lists
- 14. WordPress plugins for SEO
- 15. Plugin: Custom Permalinks SEO Weight = 10/10 UX weight = ?/10 This is the permanlink… aka “slug” aka “URL” aka “web address” https://wordpress.org/plugins/custom-permalinks/ 1 Page URL
- 16. 1 Page URL Plugin: Custom Permalinks For nested pages Before: After: Notice how you can change the entire URL now.
- 17. Setting: Permalinks SEO Weight = 10/10 Cleanest, least amount UX weight = ?/10 of waste, keyword closest to the root URL. 1 Page URL Publishers, close your eyes.
- 18. Anatomy of a well optimized page Page URL 1 2 Title tag 3 Meta desc tag 4 Page format: • Headlines • Paragraphs • Lists
- 19. Plugin: WordPress SEO by Yoast Who saw that coming? https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-seo/
- 20. On page SEO using Yoast SEO Plugin SEO Weight = 10/10 UX weight = 9/10 2 Title tag 3 Meta desc tag SEO Weight = 7/10 UX weight = 8.5/10
- 21. Meta description examples Doesn’t answer your question.. Arsham get slap on wrist. YES! Thank you LinkedIn! *High Five*
- 22. Anatomy of a well optimized page 1 Page URL 2 Title tag 3 Meta desc tag 4 Page format: • Headlines • Paragraphs • Lists
- 23. Content that’s easy to digest 4 Page format Break up your content with headings (great to SEO too)! Use bulleted and numbered lists to display information.
- 24. Anatomy of a well optimized page (2) Other VERY important attributes Internal linking Image alt tags 5 6 Internal linking Image alt tags
- 25. Plugin: Yet Another Related Post Plugin 5 Internal linking https://wordpress.org/plugins/yet-another-related-posts-plugin/
- 26. Plugin: Yet Another Related Post Plugin 5 Internal linking Configurable with options, visit the settings page to adjust. Ultimately it outputs this at the bottom of your post
- 27. Plugin: Add posts to pages 5 Internal linking https://wordpress.org/plugins/add-posts-to-pages/
- 28. Plugin: Add posts to pages (shortcode) 5 Internal linking In the post editor: What it looks like on the page:
- 29. Anatomy of a well optimized page (2) Other VERY important attributes Internal linking Image alt tags 5 6 Internal linking Image alt tags
- 30. 6 Image alt tags Using alternative tag on images No plugin needed, just discipline J Use the “alternative text” to describe the image.
- 31. Anatomy of a well optimized page (2) Other VERY important attributes Internal linking Image alt tags 5 6 Internal linking Image alt tags
- 32. Plugin: Shareaholic (social sharing) https://wordpress.org/plugins/shareaholic/
- 33. On page SEO using Yoast SEO Plugin On page SEO guideline… use this like you use the pointblankseo.com link building strategies. Grain of salt.
- 34. On-site SEO
- 35. 1 Submit sitemap • Data highlighter #SemanticSearch • HTML improvements #MadeEasy • Content Keywords #Relevancy https://www.google.com/webmasters
- 36. Back to Yoast SEO General site settings, good for indexing what shows up in Google. Social signals, very good for ranking. Really good for indexing! Tread cautiously. } Danger: Experts only. Danger: requires developer.
- 37. Yoast SEO: Titles & Metas -> General
- 38. Yoast SEO: Titles & Metas -> Home Probably the most important thing you can do for a new website.
- 39. Yoast SEO: Titles & Metas -> Post Types If you check these boxes, Google will not index your site… and other bad things will happen.
- 40. Yoast SEO: Titles & Metas -> Taxonomies These pages aren’t unique content, so they likely won’t rank… save Google the effort of indexing them by checking these boxes. Unless you do something unique.
- 41. Yoast SEO: Titles & Metas -> Other These pages aren’t unique content, so they likely won’t rank… save Google the effort of indexing them by checking these boxes. Unless you do something unique.
- 42. Yoast SEO: Social -> Facebook & Google Associates your website with your Google+ page… guess who likes this?
- 43. Yoast SEO: Social -> Twitter card
- 44. Yoast SEO: XML Sitemaps Sure, why not? Sure, why not? #OneLessPlugin
- 45. Impacts of faster sites/pages Faster websites lead to higher visiter engagement, retention, and conversion. All the things you want! Don’t you love it when a site loads quickly? Don’t you hate it when a site loads slowly or fails to load?! 45 Site speed optimization Because fast is (usually) better Page load slowdown of one second could cost $1.6 billion in sales. Slowing its search down by just 4/10’s of a second could lose 8 million searches per day. http://www.fastcompany.com/1825005/how-one-second-could-cost-amazon-16-billion-sales
- 46. Plugin: WP Smush.it https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-smushit/ https://wordpress.org/plugins/ewww-image-optimizer/
- 47. Plugin: W3 Total Cache https://wordpress.org/plugins/w3-total-cache/
- 48. W3 Total Cache: General Settings Makes it so WordPress doesn’t have to “build” the page every time someone visits. Think of it like a prefixe menu. Combines JS & CSS files into one, reducing the number of “trips” your browser needs to make to the server. Less round trips, faster load! Tells browser to save the static files. When user navigates or comes back, it loads from their computer. Deliver locally for speedy site. BE CAREFUL: If you have a dynamic site (mobile, personalization, gated content, etc..) – Caching MAY NOT be a good idea.
- 49. W3 Total Cache: CDN BE CAREFUL: Only cache static files.
- 50. Google PageSpeed module Super techies only J https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/module
- 51. Testing your website speed http://tools.pingdom.com/ https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/
- 52. Don’t forget…
- 53. Your mission… Make it (super) easy for users and search engines to access, understand, and digest your website (content).
- 54. Questions? Thanks for listening! @webmechanix @arshammm #WCBalt http://webmechanix.com