SEO for Dynamic Websites - Make Web Not War 2011

Technical SEO for Dynamic Websites
MWNW, 2011

SEO FOR DYNAMIC WEBSITES
INTRO
Mohammad Hamad
Agency Hack with @nvi
Blogger/Geek @ mohamedhamad

SEO FOR DYNAMIC WEBSITES
INTRO
CT Moore
Marketing Hack with @nvi
Staff Editor with @revenews
Blogger/Geek @gypsybandito

SEO for Dynamic Sites
CONFOO
Agenda
Intro / Overview
SEO – 3 Core Principles
Information Architecture
Linkjuice 101
Coder Cheat Sheets
Do ’ s & Don ’ ts
Canonicalization Issues
Site Speed

THE SEO OPPORTUNITY
OVERVIEW
Search Behaviour
73% of users don ’ t go past 1 st page of SERPs.
71% don ’ t go past the first 5 results.
Only 10% go to the 3 rd result.
Only 4.5% go to the 5 th result.

THE SEO OPPORTUNITY
OVERVIEW
Americans spend 138 million hours a month searching. – AdAge, Aug. 2010

THE SEO OPPORTUNITY
OVERVIEW
78% of Canadians online will use search engines to research online and offline purchases
27% of those who researched product info online purchased online
45% of those that searched for product information online still purchase via traditional retail
In 2009, search represented over 41% of overall online revenue , $741 million in Canada
106 million search engine queries a day in Canada
77% of all Canadian Internet traffic starts from a search engine
98% of online users rely on search engines to find websites
Source : IAB 2010 & Comscore 2009.

FORECAST : US INTERACTIVE SPEND FROM 2009 – 2014
OVERVIEW
Source : Forrester ’ s Interactive Advertising Models, 4/09 and 10/08 (US only) .

SEO SEEN AS MOST EFFECTIVE IN GENERATING CONVERSIONS
Search
Most effective digital marketing tools for generating conversations Source: © C opyright FORBES 2009

SEO & PPC ARE THE MOST EFFECTIVE TACTICS WHEN IT COMES TO RESULT ACHIEVEMENT
Search
Results vs. expectations for digital marketing compaigns Source: © C opyright FORBES 2009

SEO FOR DEVELOPERS
CONFOO
Really? Why Bother?
SEOs often recommend developing more sites / widgets / apps
SEO needs ongoing web dev monitoring to preserve momentum
SEO revenues can crash after poorly executed site revamp
SEO = #1 strategy to grow user-base  more dev work
SEOs depend on web devs knowlege to create tools & tricks
SEOs always want the same stuff over and over (easy to please)
SEOs hate outsourcing to India

SEO “101”
CONFOO
Removing any hurdle to the crawlers is key for a perfect indexation
Map your site architecture in accordance with semantic verticals to reach ideal relevancy
Balance the q uantity, quality, aging & regularity of your linkgraph to maximize popularity
INDEXATION + RELEVANCY + POPULARITY

3 CORE PRINCIPLES OF SEO
CONFOO
INDEXATION
Technical Solution that respects SEO Best Practices
Site Architecture Mapped to Semantic Verticals
Archiving that preserves content integration & interlinking forever
RELEVANCE
Optimizing Keywords into Silos
Internal linking strategy that distributes SEO & PageRank value
POPULARITY
Quantity / Quality / Age / Frequency of links obtained
Semantics aspect of backlinks (anchor text)
Diversification of backlink entry points (hub pages)

Serious Stuff

SITE ARCHITECTURE
CONFOO
Building Content
Sites Categories
Content Siloing
Keywords & Categories
Short Tail vs Long Tail Keywords

SITE ARCHITECTURE - CATEGORIES
CONFOO
More than half of all traffic comes through search.

SITE ARCHITECTURE – SILOS
CONFOO
Categories should be defined by keyword themes.

SITE ARCHITECTURE – KEYWORDS
CONFOO
Shorter tail keyword = more competitive  they need more support from the long tail.

KEYWORDS – SHORT vs LONG TAIL
CONFOO
Long tail often has 5-10 times the searches of short tail root keyword – i.e. “ laptops ” vs “ buy HP laptop ”

Linkjuice
CONFOO
Link Basics
Search engines ‘ crawl ’ sites by following HTML and other links
They consider the quality and quantity of links pointing to a page = Link Popularity
Pages Need Link Popularity (or juice) to get indexed and rank
YOU get to control which pages on your site get indexed , and which ones get linkjuice .
A page being indexed by search engines is different from that page ’ s ability to accumulate or pass on link juice.

LINKJUICE - CHEAT SHEET
CONFOO
Tag/Command Indexation Linkjuice Robots.txt (file in root) EG: Disallow: /news/pdf-copies/ Stops pages or directories from appearing in Search Engine indexes Pages ‘ blocked ’ by robots.txt can still accumulate and pass linkjuice Block what you don ’ t want indexed: Session IDs / dupe URLs: Disallow: *partner=* Entire directories : Disallow: /news/pdf-copies/ Internal SERPs: Disallow: *car-search-query=* External affiliate links: Disallow: *GO.cgi* If excluded pages have external links, expect 'URL-only' listings: No title, snippet, size or cache. For no listing at all, allow bots & use Meta noindex

CONFOO
Tag/Command Indexation Linkjuice On-Page Meta No-Index (<head> of page) EG: <meta name= “ robots ” content= “ noindex ” > Stops the page from appearing in Search Engine indexes entirely. Pages ‘ blocked ’ by robots.txt can still accumulate and pass linkjuice. You may want to use Meta Noindex if: you can ’ t alter your robots.txt, or if robots.txt standard is not flexible enough, or if you don ’ t want URL listings.

CONFOO
Tag/Command Indexation Linkjuice On-Page Meta No-follow (<head> of page) EG: <meta name= “ robots ” content= “ nofollow ” > Stops spiders from following the links on the page (which may still get indexed via other links) The pages can still accumulate linkjuice (and rank), but can ’ t pass it on You may wish to nofollow an entire page like a list of paid sponsors.

CONFOO
Tag/Command Indexation Linkjuice Rel=nofollow (in an <a href> link) EG: <a href= “ http://non-trusted-site.com ” rel= “ nofollow ” > Stops spiders from following a specific link. They don ’ t crawl or discover through nofollow links. Stops Linkjuice from flowing through a specific link. Past controversy on its use within a domain to ‘ sculpt PR flow ’ and if that is still enforced by Google. For pre-established or efforts already in place, consider switching nofollowed links to javascript links to ensure a similar effect.

CONFOO
Tag/Command Indexation Linkjuice 301 Redirection ( many types of implementation ) EG: redirect /old/page.php /new_page.php [301, permanent] Spiders follow redirect and discover new pages. Search Engines transfer linkjuice from old pages to new pages . If any URLs change, this is the best way to shift linkjuice from old to new. 301s are the only way to transfer linkjuice from one domain to another.

CONFOO
Tag/Command Indexation Linkjuice Canonicalization tag (<head> of page) EG: <canonical = “ /proper/product/page.php “ > Spiders go to referred page like a 301 redirect . Does not work across domains. Search Engines transfer linkjuice from variation pages to real page .
A new approach to both indexation control and linkjuice control
Supported by The Big Three: Google, Yahoo, MSN
May be cheaper than redoing your entire site from scratch, for now
May see faster results than redoing your entire site
May become a maintenance nightmare
Can turn out to be as or more complex than doing it right from scratch

CONFOO
Tag/Command Indexation Linkjuice Javascript Link EG: <div onclick="document.location.href='http://www.domain.com/'"> Google tries to crawl and index if URL is easily to access – in onclick or href If crawlable, Google will try to pass linkjuice
Before rel=nofollow, many SEOs used uncrawlable JS links for sculpting. This is starting to get popular again.
May not carry as much weight, and should not be used as main navigation

FREE SEO TOOLS #1
CONFOO
Google Webmaster Tools
Identify Crawl problems (spider data over time!)
Find duplicate titles and meta descriptions
Quickly identify 404 issues
List your pages by internal or external links
Manage and find errors in sitemaps
Test your robots.txt file against specific URLs
Basic domain canonicalization (www to non-www)

FREE SEO TOOLS #2
CONFOO
Xenu Link Sleuth
Find broken links (sort by status)
Find duplicate title tags (sort by title)
Find heavy pages (sort by size)
Find pages too many clicks from home (sort by level)
Find pages with too few internal links (sort by In links)
Find images without ALT text (sort by type, scan title field)
Test non-canonical URLs (from a text file) and view status
Find outgoing links to broken pages or expired content
Find bot traps (like open ended calendars)

Free SEO Tools #2
CONFOO

DO ’S & DONT’S – 101
SEO
TOP 5 FACTORS
Keyword Focused Anchor Text from External Links
External Link Popularity (quantity/quality of external links)
Diversity of Link Sources (links from many unique root domains)
Keyword Use Anywhere in the Title Tag
Trustworthiness of the Domain Based on Link Distance from Trusted Domains
Source : SEOmoz Search Ranking Factors 2009
TOP 5 NEGATIVE FACTORS
Cloaking with Malicious/Manipulative Intent.
Link Acquisition from Known Link Brokers/Sellers
Links from the Page to Web Spam Sites/Pages
Cloaking by User Agent
Frequent Server Downtime & Site Inaccessibility

DO ’S & DONT’S – ONSITE
CONFOO
SEO To-Do
Define your IA and determine canonical URLs for hub pages across all major categories, with expansion ability
Use breadcrumb style navigation – Put all new content in it!
EG: Home > Kitchen > Major Appliances > Stoves
Include relevant category-specific navigation at each level
Make interlinking mandatory! Include in-content links to similar pages around the site, and give links from other pages
Keep updated HTML and XML sitemaps for all new content
Learn all the (new) ways to control indexation and linkjuice flow

DO ’S & DONT’S – ONSITE
CONFOO
SEO Don ’ ts
Let the same content appear on more than one URL
Just throw content up without linking to it, or linking from it
Spread your linkjuice thin over pages without unique content
Leave open ended page scripts like calendars
Archive poorly (or not at all) without respect to your IA
Return server headers other than 404 for error pages
Think you can fix linkjuice distribution issues with robots.txt

CANONICALIZATION ISSUES
CONFOO
Duplicate Content
Domain.com VS www.domain.com VS www.domain.com/ VS www.domain.com/index.php
Category & Product Pages
… /product.php?category=clothing&sub-category=pants&gender=mens
… /product.php?gender=mens&category=clothing&sub-category=pants
… /product.php?category=clothing&sub-category=pants&gender=mens&color=blue

CANONICALIZATION ISSUES
CONFOO
Quick Checklist
No Capital letters, special characters, or spaces  use dashes
Parameters in URLs are fine but only if variable order / useless variables are taken care of – try to also limit to up to 5 parameters
Use standard HTML tags (<H1>, <ul>, <a>)
Session ID variables should likely use the canonical tag
Avoid code-bloating: place visible content higher in the code

ROADBLOCKS 101
CONFOO
In the Web Developer Toolbar for Firefox , turn off javascript and Meta Refresh. Visit your homepage again. Ensure you get the same page and not a blank one.
Leave javascript turned off and click around your site. If navigation is fluid, fine. If you are not able to navigate for your main pages, fix it.
Ensure that there is no content that can only be reached after filling a form or xyz signup.
Make sure your www.yourdomain.com/robots.txt file doesn ’ t block all visiting spiders. This is the most deadly and most common mistake when a website relaunch occurs.
Ensure you have installed Google and Bing webmaster tools and that both of them run without any major crawling issue. Fix everything!

SITE SPEED
CONFOO
Page speed matters (now). So benchmark yourself against leaders. In a way, that ’ s fun, you can create “ Page speed contests ” now.
To do so, install Google Page Speed and Yahoo ’ s Yslow.
Run them on your home page and at least a few random internal pages
Follow every recommendations for: image optimization, gzip compression, javascript “ minification ” , CSS “ minification ” .
Once this is done, look at subtler speed improvements they recommend.
Moving to a stable Cloud environment isn ’ t a bad idea either.

CONTACT COORDINATES
OUTRO
Email:
[email_address]
M h [email_address]
Site: NVIsolutions.com
Blog (EN): NVIsolutions.com/BLOG
Twitter:
@nvi – @gypsybandito – @mohamedhamad

SEO for Dynamic Websites - Make Web Not War 2011

by NVI on May 07, 2011

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SEO for Dynamic Websites - Make Web Not War 2011 — Presentation Transcript

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