Optimising SEO for WordPress - Lisa Davis - WordCamp Sydney 2012

Optimizing SEO for Wordpress

How to include SEO in
Wordpress Builds

Lisa Davis ~ Wordcamp
Sydney University ~ July 2012

#wordcampsyd Follow me on Twitter @seonounou

A bit about Me…
Many roads have led me to here, Including my obsession as a Geeky Chick & the
love of Wordpress, I’m a Passionate Cook, Digital iPhone Photographer, Love
Listening to Air Traffic Control & Police Radio on my Phone, I have worked as a
Developer for over 20 years

Worked at Opentec – as a Developer, & at ISP’s
SEO Project Manager for Websalad
Involved in SEO & Social Media since 2005

Run my own Biz Developing Websites,
& integrating e-Commerce
& Social Media
& I LOVE my job

Privileged to work for Danny Sullivan's
SMX Sydney Australia, NZ & Singapore
(Search Marketing Conference & Expo)
Search Engine Bootcamp & Twitter Bootcamp
Sydney/Melbourne
With some bloody awesome SEO/SEM’s


How to include SEO in
Wordpress Builds


Optimizing SEO for Wordpress

Wordpress is a super cool tool for
developing Websites

Matt Cutts who heads up SPAM at Google
suggests using WP

Wordpress has great Usability as a CMS to
clients, friendly URL’S with updates
occurring in the backend for most Plug-ins.


What is SEO?

SEO refers to techniques
that help your website
rank higher in the
Organic/natural search
results.

Design Sites for People
Not Google's’ Algorithm


Its Like Baking a Cake

• SEO is like baking a Cake – You
have ingredients, mixing & baking

• You need all the right ingredients
to gain a final result

• Wordpress builds have no excuses
For poor SEO, as you have so many
attributes, Tags, Categories, Posts &
Pages to contribute to the Search
Engines


Shocking Sites

Simply
Frustra.ng

Poor
Naviga*on

Links
out
to
other
Sites


Great Sites

CTA
–
Call
to
Ac*on

Eﬀec*ve
clean
Naviga*on

Purchase/Sign
Up/Language

Content
&
H1,
H2’s

Referrals

Footer
contains
Internal

Links
&
Social
Media

Links


Ranking Factors

•  KEYWORDS IN TAGS H1, H2, H3, H4

•  Keywords in the Title Tag

•  KEYWORDS IN DOMAIN NAME

•  INTERNAL LINK POPULARITY

•  KEYWORDS IN IMAGE TITLES/ALT TEXT

•  QUALITY OF YOUR WEBSITE CONTENT

•  FREQUENCY OF CHANGE TO YOUR CONTENT


404 Pages

•  Create 404 Pages with a
Navigation back to the
Home Page, Contact
Details

•  Don’t make it boring –
Have content on there

•  + Site Map


301 Redirects

•  301 redirect is the most efficient and Search Engine
Friendly method for webpage redirection.

•  If you move a Page or Post or Delete make sure you
inform the Search Engines, Otherwise you will get 404
Pages.
•  These Pages can site in the Search results for some time

•  If you do Site Migrations – Look at your sites
performance.

•  Use a Plugin or Remove the page in Google Webmaster
Tools


Content

•  Content & good SEO is how the SERPs interpret your
site
(SERP)= search engine results page

•  SEO copywriting is the art of writing search engine
friendly content and adding the right keywords,
Title, tags & code.

•  Keywords should appear in the first 2 paragraphs &
should not go below the fold


Contextual Copy

•  Content is KING …..

•  Add your essential Keywords & include the
Longtail Keywords

•  Keep your copy realistic & relevant

•  Leverage your Header, Footer & Sidebars

•  Google’s Algorithm will penalize you for not
using natural language,
so keep it real


Keywords

•  Keywords are essential in making
your website be found by the Search
Engines

•  Keywords should be added into your
Contextual Copy, Title Tags,
Categories/Tags & Author on each
page.~ without being Spamy

•  Great WP Plugin – “Wordpress Meta
Keywords” (this adds a really nice
attribute on each Page/Post


Longtail

The
principle
of
the
Long
Tail
Hiking
=
Bushwalking

is
the
opposite
of
focusing
on
Singlet
=
Vest

the
top
10-‐20
keywords
for
Thongs
=
Flip
Flops

Keyword
Marke*ng

Tea
=
Dinner

Mobile
=
Cell

Fanny
=
Bum
(Bum
Bag

Be
sure
to
think
of
all
cultural
in
OZ/Fanny
Bag
in
US

&
geographical
local
terms.

Also
Include
Typos
ie.

“Quantas”
&
“Qantas”


Essentials of SEO

•  Keywords & Longtail
•  Image Alt Attributes
•  Contextual Copy
•  URL Structure
•  H1’s, H2’s
•  Crawling & Indexing
•  Title Tags & Anchor Text
•  Linking
•  XML Sitemaps & Robot.txt Files
•  Webmaster Tools & Goolge Analytics
•  Meta Descriptions


Images & Alt Text

Include a Keyword when you save
Images & upload
an image into
Posts/Pages/Widgets

This one on the right I have saved as
“sheldon-big-bag-theroy.jpg” as
opposed to 33558790.jpg

<img
src="sheldon-big-bag-theroy.jpg"

alt=”Sheldon"
width="304"
height="228"
/>

Images can be searched for by a term
as much as contextual data


Lets get to the basics…..


My top 2 SEO Plugins for WP

All-In-One SEO Pack – This allows you to do
Multiple titles & meta of Pages/Posts & Meta Data


Ok, so now how they function


The Plugin – SEO Yoast


Meta Keywords ie

•  Webdesign, Web Design, Web Design Manly, SEO,
Search Engine Optimisation,website design sydney,
website design sydney, web design manly, web
design brookvale, Wordpress Developers, web
design northern beaches,

•  Have fun with your Meta Description & Keywords &
look at your competitors page source


Wordpress SEO Yoast

Organic
Snippet
Preview
of

what
your
result
will
look
like.

Add
Keywords,
Local
info
like

Suburbs
&
Include
some

Telephone
Numbers
so
your

Biz
can
be
called
from

Smart-‐phones

Yoast
Report
Card

Title
&
Friendly
URL

Meta
Descrip.on


SEO Check List

Check on your site after
its being launched to run
a check of how the
Search Engines are
viewing your code

Here I have used
SEOmoz Tool bar for
Google Chrome as a
quick snap shot


Title Tags

• Title Tags are definitely one of the "big three" as far as the
algorithmic weight given to them by search engines; they are
equally as important as your visible Text copy and the Links
pointing to your pages.

• Use strong Keywords

• Location & Company Name

• Create these uniquely by using SEO Yoast for each Page/Post


Meta Tags

•  Meta Tags can be hard Coded or added by
adding to the Master of various Plug-ins

•  Yoast WordPress SEO, has a very effective Titles and
Meta Tags

•  Once set up it remains the master but can be
uniquely overridden on a Page


Permalinks & Search Friendly URL’s

Set your Permalinks
in the backend to
Custom Structure to
create SEO Friendly
Titles

/%category%/postname%/

ie.
www.frenhchomewares/frenchlinen/


Sitemaps

1.  Add your Sitemap
through Google
Webmaster Tools by
adding the URL.

2.  You must fist have the
Site Verified By
Google by adding a
Verification html page
in the root directory


Directories & Other Tools


Local Search

You
can
see
here

the
term
“computer

repairs
manly”

brings
up

Paid
&
the

Organic
natural

results


Add your Business to
Google Places

Google
Maps
&
Google

Business
is
gr8
for
Link
Juice

• Add
Business
Info

• Photos

• Reviews

• Google
+

• Will
appear
in
results

Organically

• Be
sure
to
monitor
results

for
Nega*ve
Reputa*on

Management??


Google Sitemaps

Create an XML sitemap that can be submitted to
Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engines to
help them crawl your website better.

Include a Sitemap via SEO Plugins
or Thru specific WP Plug-in “Google XML Sitemaps”

Or

Directly through Google Analytics


Link Building

Its all about links

• Inbound, Outbound and internal Links create Link
Juice to the Search Engines

• In Wordpress there is a Links Tab – Include high
ranking links that a relevant to your site, & create links
in your contextual copy

• These might not be visible and displayed on your site,
Google will pick up the Link Juice

• Ask for reciprocal links to relevant Websites


Importance of a Robot.txt file

•  When a search engine crawler comes
to your site, it will look for a specific file
on your site.

•  The robots.txt tells the search engine
spider, which Web pages of your site
should be indexed and which Web
pages should be ignored.

•  Google Webmaster Tools allows you to
generate & download the file.
(Some Plugin’s have generators) User-‐Agent:
*

Allow:
/

•  In Google Webmaster Tools-Under Site User-‐agent:
*

configuration, click Crawler access. Disallow:
/cgi-‐bin/


White Hat vs Black Hat

White Hat SEO and Black Hat SEO
techniques can determine where you Ethical,
Honest
and
Compliant

website ranks in the search results for
your targeted keyword phrases.

•  Cloaking = White Text on a
white background

•  Google can penalize you
for this offence
Manipula*ve,
Shallow
&

somewhat
devious

•  Keep your code clean


Google Panda – Around April 36

According
to
Google’s
oﬃcial
blog
post
when
Panda
launched

This
update
is
designed
to
reduce
rankings
for
low-‐quality
sites—sites
which
are
low-‐
value
add
for
users,
copy
content
from
other
websites
or
sites
that
are
just
not
very

useful.
At
the
same
@me,
it
will
provide
beAer
rankings
for
high-‐quality
sites—sites

with
original
content
and
informa@on
such
as
research,
in-‐depth
reports,
thoughBul

analysis
and
so
on.

• Blog
Spamming

• Content
Farming

• SPAM
factors

• Keywords
Stuﬃng

• Over
Op.misa.on

• Low
Quality
Content


Social Media

• Social media influence increases
link sharing, which ultimately
results in better search ranking.

• Search Engines love to see
changes and regular updates on
your Website. Update Posts/News

• Google’s crawling, indexing and
rankings are directly influenced
by Tweeted links and Facebook
shares


List your Local Biz with True Local
& other Directories

List your Website and
Business In Free Directories,
Add as much information
including Photos
& Logos.

Ask friends and for referrals
on True Local as Directories
with the most Reviews List
the highest.

Use Special Offers, such as
“20% Off With any
Booking”


Importance of Geo-Caching

•  Make sure you include a an
Address in your footer

•  Google’s Algorithm will help
your result list organically by
suggesting Local Search
Results

•  This often occurs by the
location of your IP Address

•  When your logged into a
GMAIL Account your
search results will differ


Tools to Check your SEO

•  Screaming Frog – www.screamingfrog.co.uk

•  Xenu’s - Xenu's Link Sleuth/Integrity – Download

•  SEOmoz Tool Bar

•  Adwords Planner - Google Traffic Estimator

•  Google Chrome Web Develpoer Tools & Plugin to
use through the Browser:- SEO for Chrome, MOZBar


Keep up to date

www.seomoz.org

Danny
Sullivan

www.searchengineland.com/

Man
Cuns
–
Google

www.mancuns.com/blog/


Thank you
Lisa Davis

Web
Developer
and
SEO
&
Social
Media
Strategist

Email:
lisa@wisemonkeys.com.au

Mobile:

0405-‐236-‐021
Skype:

nounou1964

Website:

www.wisemonkeys.com.au

TwiNer:
SEOnounou

Facebook:
hnp://www.facebook.com/SEOnounou

Pinterest:
seonounou/

Instagram:
seonounou


Optimising SEO for WordPress - Lisa Davis - WordCamp Sydney 2012

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