WordPress SEO Basics

WordPress SEO BasicsBeau Moffatt Web Strategist

Open Sky Web Studio

@beau_moffatt

@beau_moffatt

What is SEO?

• SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

• Optimizing your website and content to rank higher in search engine results for relevant searches

• Search Engines: Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc

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Where Do We See SEO Impacts? !

- SERP’s - Search Engine Results Page !

- Organic vs Paid Results

What Determines SERP Organic Results? !

- Google Search Algorithm - Updated hundreds of times per year - 2014 Major Changes http://moz.com/google-algorithm-change

So what, why is SEO important?

! •!SEO is a key way you connect your company, product, blog,

message, etc to your customers and potential customers who are searching for your stuff.!

!

!•!Especially those who are searching for what you have to offer but maybe not you directly.!

!

!•!yourwebsite.com vs what your website offers!

What Factors into SEO?

!•!Social Signals!! ◦!Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest,

Instagram links back to your site or post that are actively shared and used!

!•!User Signals!! ◦!How long are people staying on your

page? i.e. How good is your content related to what they searched for?!

! ◦!How long do they stay on your site?! ! ◦!Do they click to other pages on your

site or bounce off immediately?!

!•!Content, content, CONTENT!!!•!Technical performance & page

architecture!! ◦!page load times! ! ▪!hosting! ! ▪!waterfalls! ! ▪!CDN & caching plugins! ! ◦!content structure & readability! ! ▪!optimized images! ! ▪!H1, H2’s with keywords! ! ◦!Page Titles & Meta Descriptions! ! ▪!Sitemap submitted to Webmaster

Tools and crawlability!

! Google Analytics can be a

great resource to learn about your visitors and diagnose problems!

!•!Bounce rate!! ◦!lower is better! !•!Avg Session Duration!! ◦!higher is better! !•!Pages per Session!! ◦!higher is better (from an SEO

standpoint, may vary depending on your intended usage i.e. landing pages, etc)!

What Can I Do To Improve My SEO?

!•!Content is KING!! ◦! Actually, RELEVANT & Engaging content is King! !

! ▪! Gone are the days of “keyword stuffing” and hidden text on pages— and if they’re not gone, then it’s only working against you!

!

! ▪! Here are the days of engaging and interactive content that’s naturally keyword rich which people want to read, share, and link to on their own.!

!Keywords and Keyword Phrases!

!These are the words and phrases that people are using when they search…not necessarily what you WANT them to use but what they are actually using!

!Keywords and Keyword Phrases!

!•!Brainstorm in Word or Excel, ask your friends, pay attention to TV, Related Searches at bottom of SERP!

!•!Google Keyword Tool!!

!Keywords and Keyword Phrases!

!•!Example:!!•!portable toilet vs porta potty!!!

!Keywords and Keyword Phrases!

!! •! Higher is not always better! ! ◦!More competition means there are

more sites you have to rank higher than in order to show up for that keyword phrase. Sometimes you get a better return by targeting keywords more in the middle of the pack.!!!!

!!How do you get your keyword rich content to the masses?!

!

!•!On Page SEO!! ◦! Think about how your page is structured, length of content, url and slug, keyword

frequency and location, Are you making it easy for people to share your content with links to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc?!

! ◦! Content length target 350-1500 words…Keep keywords in mind but don’t write just for SEO!

! ◦! Use relevant outbound links! ! ◦! Use shareable content like infographics or catchy images! !!!!

!!How do you get your keyword rich content to the masses?!

!

!•!Messaging Calendar!! ◦! Current and regular posts - fresh content at least 2-4x/month! !•!Social Sharing Strategy!! ◦! Ex. New blog post on Monday! ! ▪!Tuesday - Share post on Google+! ! ▪!Wednesday - Share post on Facebook! ! ▪!Thursday - Share post on Twitter! ! ▪!Friday - Share post on LinkedIn or Pinterest, etc! ! ◦! As you build content, reshare "evergreen” posts! ! ◦! The goal is to drive interested traffic to your site

!WordPress SEO Plugins!!!

!•!WordPress SEO by Yoast, All in One SEO, etc!

!

!•!SERP example!

!WordPress SEO!!!

!•!Example Post!! ◦! Slug, content, optimized images, links, title, meta description! !

!!SEO Resources! !!!

! •!http://www.searchmetrics.com/!

!•!http://searchengineland.com/!!•!http://moz.com/blog!!•!http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing!!•!https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/40349?hl=en!!

!

WordPress SEO Questions???

Beau Moffatt Web Strategist

Open Sky Web Studio

@beau_moffatt