Everyone wants their website to rank at #1 in a Google search but after writing their site’s content they don’t know the next steps for competing with the other 1 billion+ websites on the world wide web.
Did you know that Google has a Keyword Planner tool that tells you how much or how little competition a certain search phrase will yield? Do you use a standard naming convention for files and media that you upload or embed? Are you ensuring that your CMS is generating the right HTML tags for your content? There are several simple steps you may be missing when it comes to optimizing your website for search engines.
Instead of immediately shelling out hundreds of dollars for an SEO strategist, take a deep breath and then implement these often under-utilized tricks for improving your organic search engine ranking. With time, you’ll find the traffic you’re looking for.
Takeaways: I want attendees to take home 5-10 new ideas for boosting their website’s search engine ranking. I’m hoping to keep these ideas accessible to non-tech/non-HTML workers but hopefully I can inspire some web programmers to rethink some of their own processes when working on their company’s or clients’ websites.
Attendee skill level: either some experience with content strategy writing or project management; a newcomer to web development or design
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Presented at MinneWebCon May 1, 2017 in Minneapolis, MN (http://minnewebcon.org/)
7. Amy Dalrymple • @pork_chop MinneWebCon 2017 • #NotMagicSEO
www.checkmycolours.com
LOW-VISION USERS
1. Macular Degeneration:
Central area of sight is “blocked.”
2. Glaucoma:
Loss of peripheral vision, sometimes
overall blurriness.
3. Diabetic Retinopathy:
Dark “patches” in field of vision.
4. Cataract:
Blurred or hazy vision
webaim.org/articles/visual/lowvision
8. Amy Dalrymple • @pork_chop MinneWebCon 2017 • #NotMagicSEO
www.hemingwayapp.com
LOW-LEVEL READERS
Ernest Hemingway's work scores as
low 5th grade, despite his adult
audience.What our measurement
actually gauges is the lowest
education needed to understand
your prose. Studies have shown the
average American reads at a tenth-
grade level — so that's a good
target.”
www.hemingwayapp.com/help.html
“
10. Amy Dalrymple • @pork_chop MinneWebCon 2017 • #NotMagicSEO
➤ The 5 Second Test
➤ Humans have a shorter attention span than
goldfish, often not even waiting for a webpage
to completely load before deciding whether it’s
a reliable resource or not.
➤ Scannable Content
➤ Website users rarely read a whole content
block, but look for visual clues to make
decisions and are likely to select the first best-
looking option.
IMPATIENT MUGGLES
www.fivesecondtest.com
11. Amy Dalrymple • @pork_chop MinneWebCon 2017 • #NotMagicSEO
USE INTUITIVE LINK TEXT.
12. Amy Dalrymple • @pork_chop MinneWebCon 2017 • #NotMagicSEO
click here.
YOU ARE MORE CREATIVE THAN
13. Amy Dalrymple • @pork_chop MinneWebCon 2017 • #NotMagicSEO
LINK TO INTERNAL CONTENT.
www.pottermore.com/features/pottermore-luna-lovegood-infographic
www.pottermore.com/explore-the-story/garrick-ollivander
www.pottermore.com/image/inside-moodys-classroom
www.pottermore.com/features/13-moments-that-prove-luna-is-as-sane-as-you-or-i
www.pottermore.com/news/newt-scamanders-brother-theseus-to-appear...
www.pottermore.com/features/the-forbidden-forest-quiz
14. Amy Dalrymple • @pork_chop MinneWebCon 2017 • #NotMagicSEO
…[Google is]
including a new
signal in our search
ranking algorithms:
site speed.”
LOAD IT QUICKLY.
developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights
“
webmasters.googleblog.com/2010/04/...
As of 2010…
15. Amy Dalrymple • @pork_chop MinneWebCon 2017 • #NotMagicSEO
SECRETS FOR SPEED
➤ Minify CSS, JS, and HTML files
➤ Optimize image files
➤ Reduce page redirects
➤ Enable browser caching
➤ Use a content delivery network (CDN)
16. Amy Dalrymple • @pork_chop MinneWebCon 2017 • #NotMagicSEO
HOW DOES IT
LOOK ON MOBILE?
22. “
Amy Dalrymple • @pork_chop MinneWebCon 2017 • #NotMagicSEO
Google will…use the meta description of a page in
search results snippets, if…it gives users a more
accurate description than would be possible purely
from the on-page content. … Wherever possible,
create descriptions that accurately describe the
specific page.”
support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35624
23. Amy Dalrymple • @pork_chop MinneWebCon 2017 • #NotMagicSEO
WHAT’S IN THE META DATA?
<head>
<title>6 reasons to get excited if you’re sorted into Ravenclaw -
Pottermore</title>
<meta name="description" content="6 reasons to get excited if you’re sorted
into Ravenclaw" />
</head>
<body>
<p>Ravenclaw is the house that champions those with a ‘ready mind’, yet it
has lived a little in Gryffindor's shadow. But there’s a lot more to
Ravenclaw than its reputation for intelligence. Here’s why… </p>
</body>
24. Amy Dalrymple • @pork_chop MinneWebCon 2017 • #NotMagicSEO
WHAT’S IN THE META DATA?
<head>
<title>6 reasons to get excited if you’re sorted into Ravenclaw -
Pottermore</title>
<meta name="description" content="6 reasons to get excited if you’re sorted
into Ravenclaw" />
</head>
<body>
<p>Ravenclaw is the house that champions those with a ‘ready mind’, yet it
has lived a little in Gryffindor's shadow. But there’s a lot more to
Ravenclaw than its reputation for intelligence. Here’s why… </p>
</body>
25. Amy Dalrymple • @pork_chop MinneWebCon 2017 • #NotMagicSEO
WHAT’S IN THE META DATA?
<head>
<title>6 reasons to get excited if you’re sorted into Ravenclaw -
Pottermore</title>
<meta name="description" content="6 reasons to get excited if you’re sorted
into Ravenclaw" />
</head>
<body>
<p>Ravenclaw is the house that champions those with a ‘ready mind’, yet it
has lived a little in Gryffindor's shadow. But there’s a lot more to
Ravenclaw than its reputation for intelligence. Here’s why… </p>
</body>
27. Amy Dalrymple • @pork_chop MinneWebCon 2017 • #NotMagicSEO
WHAT’S IN THE META DATA?
<head>
<title>6 reasons to get excited
if you’re sorted into Ravenclaw -
Pottermore</title>
<meta name="description"
content="There’s a lot more to
Ravenclaw than its reputation for
intelligence. Find out why it’s
good news to be sorted into
Ravenclaw House.” />
</head>
MAXIMIZE SEARCH RESULTS.
www.seomofo.com/snippet-optimizer.html
28. Amy Dalrymple • @pork_chop MinneWebCon 2017 • #NotMagicSEO
USE CUSTOM META TAGS FOR SOCIAL CHANNELS.
Not Customized Customized
29. Amy Dalrymple • @pork_chop MinneWebCon 2017 • #NotMagicSEO
BE HYPER-RELEVANT.
within URL
within primary title
on page
within first paragraph
of main content
continued throughout
page content
31. Amy Dalrymple • @pork_chop MinneWebCon 2017 • #NotMagicSEO
WHAT ARE YOUR FILES NAMED?
Crookshanks_FH.png
hermione-crookshanks-cat.jpg
WB_F3_Crookshanks_HermioneWithCrookshanks_C240_51_UP_HPE3.jpg
32. “
Amy Dalrymple • @pork_chop MinneWebCon 2017 • #NotMagicSEO
Consider using punctuation in your URLs. The
URL http://www.example.com/green-
dress.html is much more useful to us than
http://www.example.com/greendress.html.
We recommend that you use hyphens (-)
instead of underscores (_) in your URLs.
support.google.com/webmasters/answer/76329
33. Amy Dalrymple • @pork_chop MinneWebCon 2017 • #NotMagicSEO
ALWAYS ASSIGN “ALT TEXT.”
<img src=“spectrespecs.jpg”
alt=“Luna Lovegood’s Spectrespecs”
title=“Spectrespecs help you see wrackspurts.”>
34. “
Amy Dalrymple • @pork_chop MinneWebCon 2017 • #NotMagicSEO
When you take away the colors, the fonts,
the kerning, the graphics, the images, and
the white space, good site design is really
about a great structure.”
blog.kissmetrics.com/site-structure-enhance-seo/
35. Amy Dalrymple • @pork_chop MinneWebCon 2017 • #NotMagicSEO
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF
GOOGLE’S TOOLS.
36. Amy Dalrymple • @pork_chop MinneWebCon 2017 • #NotMagicSEO
GOOGLE KEYWORD PLANNER
➤ Come up with ideas for keywords related to
your subject area.
➤ Get insight into how those keywords might
perform compared to others that are related.
➤ Insert keywords you’re already using to find
new, related keywords that are being used in
searches
INVESTIGATE THE COMPETITION.
adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner
➤ Google Keyword Planner
37. Amy Dalrymple • @pork_chop MinneWebCon 2017 • #NotMagicSEO
➤ Best Options:
➤ low/medium competition
➤ higher average monthly searches
➤ Insert the main keyword(s) into your
URL (or permalink).
➤ Use the main keyword(s) in image’s file
name.
➤ Repeat keyword(s) within your
webpage’s titles, primary content, and
links.
OPTIMIZE YOUR CONTENT.
38. Amy Dalrymple • @pork_chop MinneWebCon 2017 • #NotMagicSEO
SEE HOW YOU’RE BEING FOUND.
www.google.com/webmasters
39. Amy Dalrymple • @pork_chop MinneWebCon 2017 • #NotMagicSEO
ga-dev-tools.appspot.com/campaign-url-builder
TRACK INCOMING CLICKS.
➤ Campaign URL Builder
➤ Clearly track metrics for online campaigns in
Google Analytics
➤ Convert long URL strings into short easy-to-
share URLs with a service such as bit.ly