Leveraging Plone for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Leveraging Plone for Search Engine Op4miza4on (SEO) Heather Wozniak, Ph.D. UCLA Oﬃce of Informa4on Technology design@heatherwozniak.com

Plone and SEO •  Good news: 1.  Many features built-‐in to Plone 2.  No add-‐ons required •  Caveats: 1.  Keyword research 2.  Training content providers/editors •  BoXom-‐line: Quality content will bring you traﬃc (and hold visitors’ aXen4on)

What maXers to search engines? •  Text: content is king! •  Posi4on: star4ng from top-‐le^ •  Structure: headings, strong/emphasis, lists, table headers, form labels, clean HTML •  This stuﬀ is good for accessibility too

What maXers to search engines?

What maXers to search engines? 1. Document 4tle

What maXers to search engines? 1. Document 4tle 2. URL

What maXers to search engines? 1. Document 4tle 2. URL 3. Page 4tle / ﬁrst heading <h1>

What maXers to search engines? 1. Document 4tle 2. URL 3. Page 4tle / ﬁrst heading <h1> 4. Descrip4on

What maXers to search engines? 1. Document 4tle 2. URL 3. Page 4tle / ﬁrst heading <h1> 4. Descrip4on 5. Content (headings <h2>-‐<h6>, <strong>, <em>)

What maXers to search engines? 1. Document 4tle 2. URL 6. Alt-‐text for images 3. Page 4tle / ﬁrst heading <h1> 4. Descrip4on 5. Content (headings <h2>-‐<h6>, <strong>, <em>)

What maXers to search engines? 1. Document 4tle 2. URL 6. Alt-‐text for images 7. Meaningful filenames for images and files (see #2) 3. Page 4tle / first heading <h1> 4. Descrip4on 5. Content (headings <h2>-‐<h6>, <strong>, <em>)

Great! How do I control this stuﬀ in Plone?!

EVERYTHING MATTERS: leave no ﬁeld blank

Don’t under-‐es4mate the value of Descrip4on Appears in • Google and other search results • Plone search results • Folder lis4ngs and collec4ons • Link mouseovers/hovers Can be hidden on page if it cramps your style

Adding a new content item

What maXers to search engines? 1. Document 4tle 2. URL 6. Alt-‐text for images 7. Meaningful filenames for images and files (see #2) 3. Page 4tle / first heading <h1> 4. Descrip4on 5. Content (headings <h2>-‐<h6>, <strong>, <em>)

Controlling the short name •  By default, the 4tle you enter upon ﬁrst crea4ng a page becomes the short name. •  IT DOES NOT CHANGE WHEN YOU LATER CHANGE THE PAGE TITLE. •  There are two ways to edit it: –  Managers only (default) –  Content contributors/editors

Managers can edit the short name by checking “rename” in the “Contents” view of a folder.

Or, you can enable short name edi4ng for users •  Cau4on: may result in broken links •  Under “Site Setup,” check “Show ‘Short Name’ on Content” •  Advise users to go to their “Personal Preferences” and “Allow edi4ng of short names” New ﬁeld

Adding images and files •  Fill in every field (4tle, descrip4on, etc.) –  For images, 4tle is used to generate alt-‐text (but you can change this at 4me of inser4ng image) –  For files, 4tle is used as link 4tle (displays on hover) –  Both 4tle and descrip4on display in site search and folder lis4ngs •  Use meaningful filenames: –  chancellor-‐block.jpg vs. image4035.jpg –  2010-‐annual-‐report.pdf vs. reporrinaldra^_a.pdf

Recap: elements you can control in Plone out-‐of-‐the-‐box •  Document 4tle (page 4tle + site 4tle) •  URL (short name) •  First heading (page 4tle) •  Descrip4on •  Headings for content •  Alt-‐text for images •  Meaningful ﬁlenames for images and uploaded ﬁles

Keyword Research •  No point op4mizing for terms that nobody searches for •  Iden4fy your target audience •  Know what they search for •  Use Google to gather intel

Google Tools for Keyword Research •  Webmaster Tools (webmasters.google.com) –  What does Google think your site is about? –  Where does your site rank for your target words? –  What terms does your site use most frequently? Too frequently? •  Analy4cs (analy4cs.google.com) –  What words actually bring visitors to your site? •  Adwords Keyword Tool ( adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal) –  What do users actually search for? –  What related terms and phrases could you adopt?

Implement the Keywords •  Armed with this knowledge, get your keywords into the content •  Op4mize each page for 1-‐2 keywords or key phrases •  Don’t use the keywords excessively: duplicate and distributed content will dilute your rankings •  Every page doesn’t need a target keyword; just ensure that each desired keyword does have a page

Train your content providers and editors! •  Since content ul4mately determines the search rankings and results, the people providing your content need to know all these concepts •  Ensure they use all the page elements correctly •  Ensure they know the short-‐list of primary keywords for your site •  Ensure they are thinking in terms of keywords each 4me they create a new piece of content •  Ensure they add links to external sites and cul4vate incoming links

Last but not least: site administra4on •  Use robots.txt to direct crawling •  Provide a sitemap (expose through Plone control panel) •  Setup 301 redirects for: –  Preferred domain (with or without www) –  Pages that are moved or renamed –  Don’t use aliases that allow the content to exist in two places at once •  Monitor your logs and search stats

Leveraging Plone for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

by Heather Wozniak on Nov 21, 2010

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Leveraging Plone for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) — Presentation Transcript