On Thursday 19th June 2014 I gave a talk at Unified Diff (a monthly web/software development meet-up) in FoundersHub in Cardiff.
The structure of the talk allowed the audience to choose the topics of their choice. We only had time for 4 out of a possible 12, which were (in order):
- URL Parameters
- Canonicalisation
- Titles & Metadata Best Practice
- Status Codes / Redirects Best Practice
However this version of the deck contains the slides for all 12 topics, so if you were there on the night and were hoping that I'd cover a particular topic, well now you can see the slides at least!
Ensuring web sites are easy to find using search engines is important to ensure visitors will be able to find your content. This training gives some technical tips and suggestions how to optimize your sites for search engine visibility, for example:
* How to make sure search engines can find and process your content easily
* How to prevent duplicate content showing up in the search results
* How to make sure search results are rich and relevant
In this training you won't find the one weird trick to get to the top of the Google results but instead some practical tips how to ensure smooth experience for both human visitors and search robots.
Exove training by Johannes Siipola
The Advanced Internet Marketing Training Programme Digital Marketing Course provided by DIDM comes along with a guarantee 100% job security and placement as well as lifetime job assistance is also provided.
Learn advanced SEO tactics and strategies in this second installment of my Demand Quest course. Topics include local SEO, link building, and international SEO.
A practical guide to building SEO compliant websites before you hire an SEO agency. Understand the important aspects of technical SEO & find out the right questions to ask to make your website SEO friendly.
Advanced Technical SEO - Index Bloat & Discovery: from Facets to Javascript F...Kahena Digital Marketing
Ari Nahmani covers the latest in advanced technical SEO at SMX Munich (Muenchen) 2016. Discussions of the deprecated HTML snapshot, Javascript crawlability and indexing, new frameworks, prerendering, server side rendering, prerender.io, isomorphic javascript, and other technical issues related to the future of protecting your index health.
Ensuring web sites are easy to find using search engines is important to ensure visitors will be able to find your content. This training gives some technical tips and suggestions how to optimize your sites for search engine visibility, for example:
* How to make sure search engines can find and process your content easily
* How to prevent duplicate content showing up in the search results
* How to make sure search results are rich and relevant
In this training you won't find the one weird trick to get to the top of the Google results but instead some practical tips how to ensure smooth experience for both human visitors and search robots.
Exove training by Johannes Siipola
The Advanced Internet Marketing Training Programme Digital Marketing Course provided by DIDM comes along with a guarantee 100% job security and placement as well as lifetime job assistance is also provided.
Learn advanced SEO tactics and strategies in this second installment of my Demand Quest course. Topics include local SEO, link building, and international SEO.
A practical guide to building SEO compliant websites before you hire an SEO agency. Understand the important aspects of technical SEO & find out the right questions to ask to make your website SEO friendly.
Advanced Technical SEO - Index Bloat & Discovery: from Facets to Javascript F...Kahena Digital Marketing
Ari Nahmani covers the latest in advanced technical SEO at SMX Munich (Muenchen) 2016. Discussions of the deprecated HTML snapshot, Javascript crawlability and indexing, new frameworks, prerendering, server side rendering, prerender.io, isomorphic javascript, and other technical issues related to the future of protecting your index health.
There are a million ways to write HTML and CSS, and everyone has their own, but is there a right way? Our code needs to be well structured, written in an organized manner, and performance driven. Sharing code amongst a team should be a joyful experience, not absolute terror.
Shay talks about how to how to write tactical HTML and CSS, crafting code that is maintainable, flexible, and extensible. Covering new methodologies such as OOCSS and SMACSS learn how to architect websites which are manageable and performant.
Technical SEO for WordPress Developers, Designers and WebmastersHenry Visotski
Whether you build websites, manage them, or write web content, this presentation is full of actionable tips and standards. Includes an extensive WordPress section.
SEO AJAX Crawlability in a Responsive Publisher WorldEric Wu
With the emergence of heavy javascript / AJAX heavy frameworks and the growing popularity of things like AngularJS, Ember, Backbone.js, CanJS, and even JQuery; making sites and single page apps crawlable to search engines are becoming increasingly difficult. It doesn't have to be.
This presentation takes a look at some of the largest and trending publishers and some of the AJAX features they employ.
You've been tasked with developing a new front end feature. HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are nothing new to you, in fact you even know a few tricks to get this feature out the door. It doesn't take you long and the code works like a charm, yet you have a looming suspicion that some of the code might not be up to par. You're likely right, and you're definitely better than that.
We often write code without paying attention to the bigger picture, or overall code base. Upon stepping back we notice areas of duplicate code, ripe for refactoring. It's time to build more modular front ends, focusing on the reusability of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and to take maintainability to heart.
All too often writing HTML and CSS is an afterthought. Its the work that happens after design is finalized and the product has been developed. Its a necessary task in the process to building a website. Wrong.
HTML and CSS are the backbone to every website, and are equally as important as any design or development. At the end of the workshop and after spending time writing some of code attendees will be able to better organize their code, develop modular styles, and work with CSS specificity.
All too often writing HTML and CSS is an afterthought. Its the work that happens after design is finalized and the product has been developed. Its a necessary task in the process to building a website. Wrong.
HTML and CSS are the backbone to every website, and are equally as important as any design or development. In this workshop you will learn how to write modular HTML and CSS, and how reuse code to build maintainable websites. After spending some time playing with legos and writing some of code attendees will be able to better organize their code, develop modular styles, and work with CSS specificity.
The workshop is geared towards intermediate front end developers, with a love of legos, looking grow their skill set. A laptop and good attitude are preferred.
Countless beginner and advanced SEOs have printed it out, laminated it, and hung it on their walls as a quick reference to the most impactful best practices in search engine optimization. Web developers and software engineers also find it handy to easily reference SEO technical standards.
There are a million ways to write HTML and CSS, and everyone has their own, but is there a right way? Our code needs to be well structured, written in an organized manner, and performance driven. Sharing code amongst a team should be a joyful experience, not absolute terror.
Shay talks about how to how to write tactical HTML and CSS, crafting code that is maintainable, flexible, and extensible. Covering new methodologies such as OOCSS and SMACSS learn how to architect websites which are manageable and performant.
Technical SEO for WordPress Developers, Designers and WebmastersHenry Visotski
Whether you build websites, manage them, or write web content, this presentation is full of actionable tips and standards. Includes an extensive WordPress section.
SEO AJAX Crawlability in a Responsive Publisher WorldEric Wu
With the emergence of heavy javascript / AJAX heavy frameworks and the growing popularity of things like AngularJS, Ember, Backbone.js, CanJS, and even JQuery; making sites and single page apps crawlable to search engines are becoming increasingly difficult. It doesn't have to be.
This presentation takes a look at some of the largest and trending publishers and some of the AJAX features they employ.
You've been tasked with developing a new front end feature. HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are nothing new to you, in fact you even know a few tricks to get this feature out the door. It doesn't take you long and the code works like a charm, yet you have a looming suspicion that some of the code might not be up to par. You're likely right, and you're definitely better than that.
We often write code without paying attention to the bigger picture, or overall code base. Upon stepping back we notice areas of duplicate code, ripe for refactoring. It's time to build more modular front ends, focusing on the reusability of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and to take maintainability to heart.
All too often writing HTML and CSS is an afterthought. Its the work that happens after design is finalized and the product has been developed. Its a necessary task in the process to building a website. Wrong.
HTML and CSS are the backbone to every website, and are equally as important as any design or development. At the end of the workshop and after spending time writing some of code attendees will be able to better organize their code, develop modular styles, and work with CSS specificity.
All too often writing HTML and CSS is an afterthought. Its the work that happens after design is finalized and the product has been developed. Its a necessary task in the process to building a website. Wrong.
HTML and CSS are the backbone to every website, and are equally as important as any design or development. In this workshop you will learn how to write modular HTML and CSS, and how reuse code to build maintainable websites. After spending some time playing with legos and writing some of code attendees will be able to better organize their code, develop modular styles, and work with CSS specificity.
The workshop is geared towards intermediate front end developers, with a love of legos, looking grow their skill set. A laptop and good attitude are preferred.
Countless beginner and advanced SEOs have printed it out, laminated it, and hung it on their walls as a quick reference to the most impactful best practices in search engine optimization. Web developers and software engineers also find it handy to easily reference SEO technical standards.
This is the deck I used for my talk at NextStep 2012, OutSystems' global user conference. This session was targeted at developers and technical people that deliver web applications. I looked into 3 things that developers can do to help improve SEO for a web site or web application. Check it out and send me your comments or questions!
1.Important HTML Elements
2.HTTP Status Codes
3.Webmaster Tools
4.Canonicalization
5.Robots Exclusion Standard
6.Sitemap Syntax
7.Important Social Metadata
8.Rich Snippets and Structured Data
9.Targeting Multiple Languages
10.Mobile Web Development
As both search engines and users evolve, you likely want to optimize for different devices, or target users of a different region or language. The final page of the SEO Cheat Sheet introduces you to the basics of International and Mobile SEO.
Doing on-page SEO for your website? You may find this on-page SEO cheat sheet useful.
You can’t remember everything especially with that huge amount of new information we consume daily. It is always great to have a few sheets that list most essential data we often need to deal with (along with SEO tools). Below I am listing a few cool cheat sheets most SEOs will find useful: Visit here : websoles.com For SEO SERVICES
Going Solo - The Survival Guide for Freelance SEOs (Present & Future) | brigh...Steve Morgan
On Friday 10th September 2021, I gave a talk at brightonSEO Sept 2021, which was held in-person (the conference's first in-person event since restrictions eased following COVID lockdowns).
The talk gave advice to aspiring, new and established freelancing, covering topics such as the pros and cons of freelancing, what you should do to prepare going into freelancing, how to do networking and sales, and much more. There's also community, podcast and book recommendations near the end.
Links to bonus content:
https://anti-sell.com/brightonseo/ - 6 fellow freelance SEOs give their tips and advice as well (note: it's dated Oct 2020 because this talk is a redo of a talk that I previously gave virtually).
https://anti-sell.com/seo/ - 15 ways to find SEO clients as a freelancer.
Original talk description:
More and more people are getting into freelancing – whether as a side-income alongside their day job at an agency or in-house, or as their dedicated full-time income. Freelance life is amazing, but it can also be very challenging. Whether you’re considering going freelance, have only just started out, or have been in the game for a while, this talk will give guidance on how/when to ‘take the plunge’ and how to prepare for it, doing sales & networking, the business side of things, how to keep sane and involved in the industry, growing into an agency, and more. While mostly focussing on SEO freelancing, the tips and advice will apply to all industries. so there will be something to take away for all. Steve has been freelancing in the SEO industry since 2013, and has been asking other SEO freelancers for their pearls of wisdom, to make it as relevant and useful as possible.
Online Networking (Anti-Sell Style) | Cardiff Met Centre for Entrepreneurship...Steve Morgan
On Wednesday 22nd April I was the guest on a webinar hosted by Cardiff Metropolitan University's Centre for Entreprenurship.* In this version of my Anti-Sell talk, I focused on giving online networking tips, especially in light of the Coronavirus/COVID-19 and therefore the fact that the lockdown has put a hold on offline/face-to-face networking opportunities.
* The original plan was to run a networking workshop for Cardiff Met students - at their Cardiff Llandaff campaus - in mid-March, but it was inevitably postponed due to the lockdown.
How to (Anti-)Sell Yourself - Online Personal Branding & Networking Tips | Sw...Steve Morgan
On Thursday 17th October 2019 I spoke at Swansea Digital Marketing (a.k.a. Swansea SEO) at Old Havana in Swansea, South Wales. An adapted version of the talk that I gave at Freelance Heroes Day earlier in the year, this version has more of a personal branding/networking slant to it (with a few SEO-related tips in it for good measure) and was more broad in its targeting: agency employees, small business owners, in-house staff, etc. (i.e. not just freelancers).
Anti-Sell: Lead Generation & Networking Tips for Freelancers who Hate Sales |...Steve Morgan
On Thursday 16th May 2019 I spoke at Freelance Heroes Day 2019 at Grand Station in Wolverhampton, a yearly all-day conference hosted by the Freelance Heroes community. I gave sales, networking and lead generation tips in line with my newly published book, Anti-Sell.
Lightning Talk: The History of SEO (in 3 Minutes) | Cardiff SEO MeetSteve Morgan
On 17th November 2016 I did a lightning talk to raise money for charity. The talk covered 20 historical milestones in the history of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), including various Google updates and products being launched. Every 9 seconds the slides would auto-rotate, making talking about each one all the more challenging...!
SEO & Civil Law: Protecting Yourself from Unfortunate Client Disputes | brigh...Steve Morgan
While the vast majority of my client relationships have been healthy and happy, a dark cloud hung over me for most of 2015 when a client refused to pay me, resulting in us fighting it out in court (thankfully I won and I've since been paid). In this talk I gave advice on what to do to try and avoid disputes from happening in the first place, as well as how best to protect yourself should one happen, covering everything from contracts to courtrooms.
Talk date: Friday 2nd September 2016
SEO & Design: Have Your Cake & Optimise It Too | Design Stuff CardiffSteve Morgan
On 23rd July 2015 I gave a talk at Design Stuff Cardiff, a monthly design meetup held at 10 Feet Tall, Cardiff.
I discussed SEO factors that affect and complement design, including image SEO, ways to optimise text-light websites and link building tips for designers. Additionally, I talked about SEO's 'bad rep' status (especially in the design community) as well as how good SEO is all about balance.
25 Posts in One Month: Co-ordinating a ‘Content Blitz’ Campaign on the Cheap ...Steve Morgan
In January 2015, I helped my parents’ IT recruitment agency to launch a ‘content blitz’ campaign, posting 25 posts in one month to mark the company’s 25th anniversary.
6 months in the making, we created and co-ordinated a plethora of content types beyond the usual bog-standard blog post, including guest posts, crowdsourced posts, a timeline, a list of local events, a list of local co-working spaces… and even a quiz.
Utilising free/cheap resources and WordPress plugins as much as possible to keep the budget nice and low, the campaign was intended to boost their site’s SEO as well as the company’s branding awareness, PR, social media followings and ultimately help them to earn new clients and candidates.
Talk date: Friday 10th April 2015
Google-Friendly Link Building Tactics For Online Sellers | Online Seller WalesSteve Morgan
A talk I gave at Online Seller Wales' OSWCardiff event (#OSWCardiff) providing white-hat link building tactic recommendations for eCommerce site owners, especially looking at opportunities where links might be sitting under your nose and there for the taking, such as links from association websites, links from the sites of the brands that you sell, gaining links from having funny/creative 404 pages and many more.
A talk I gave at Welsh ICE (as part of their Friday ICE talks) on 31st January 2014. As the slides are all pictures, here are the notes to go with them:
Slide 2 – Search
- If you Googled it…
- Not Hargreaves Services plc or Henoch-Schönlein Purpura (thank goodness!)
Slide 3 – Books
- No, I meant Highly Sensitive Person or Highly Sensitive People!
- Two books: one more general, the other more work-related
Slide 4 – Crying
- And no… Don’t just mean I’m touchy
- Not just about emotions – environmental stimuli, too
Slide 5 – Five
- It affects 1 in 5 people
- 20% of this room could be affected
Slide 6 – Women & Men
- Affects men & women equally, 50/50
- Harder for men to accept/distinguish
Slide 7 – Family
- This may not apply to you, but…
- If not, think of your husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, mum, dad, brother, sister, children
- Books dedicated to raising highly sensitive children, etc.
Slide 8 – Employees
- Not just family, but think of your employees
- HSPs may respond differently to how they’re treated compared to non-HSPs
Slide 9 – Bright
- We’re more easily affected by environmental stimuli
- Bright lights, glare, background noises…
- It affects us more than non-HSPs – attracts our attention and draws our energy
Slide 10 – Overwhelmed
- We’re more easily overwhelmed
- Non-HSPs might be able to handle stressful situations better
Slide 11 – Crowd
- Also overwhelmed by crowded places
- I think it makes a difference if we can easily escape, e.g. music festivals (tent nearby)
Slide 12 – Hugs
- Now onto some positives…
- We tend to be more empathetic
- We respond to people’s moods
Slide 13 – Moods
- Speaking of which, we are good at sensing people’s moods
- E.g. we might pick up on someone who’s upset when other people can’t
- And we can ask “hey, are you ok?”
Slide 14 – Detail
- We are also good at tasks that require attention to detail
- Very well suited to HSPs – might be boring for non-HSPs, but we (can often) relish them
Slide 15 – Spelling
- We are good at picking up on minor details
- This is good for noticing differences between different documents, or spelling mistakes
- We make good proofreaders!
Slide 16 – Concentration
- We often tend to be better to concentrate
- (So long as there’s no environmental stimuli to distract us, that is!)
Slide 17 – Creativity
- We tend to be creative people
- Writers, artists, musicians…
- You often hear the phrase “sensitive soul” around creatives
Slide 18 – Free Lance
- HSPs are better suited at self-employment
- A chapter in one of the books is dedicated to freelancing
- One of the reasons I went self-employed!
Slide 19 – Start
- Applies to startups, too
Slide 20 – Box
- I spoke to someone about how I was a self-diagnosed HSP recently and they said:
- “Why do you want to put yourself in a box?”
- I found it liberating when I realised
- Box me up…!
When most people in the industry talk about online or digital reputation management, what they're really saying is Google search and PPC. And it's usually reactive, left dealing with the aftermath of negative information published somewhere online. That's outdated. It leaves executives, organizations and other high-profile individuals at a high risk of a digital reputation attack that spans channels and tactics. But the tools needed to safeguard against an attack are more cybersecurity-oriented than most marketing and communications professionals can manage. Business leaders Leaders grasp the importance; 83% of executives place reputation in their top five areas of risk, yet only 23% are confident in their ability to address it. To succeed in 2024 and beyond, you need to turn online reputation on its axis and think like an attacker.
Key Takeaways:
- New framework for examining and safeguarding an online reputation
- Tools and techniques to keep you a step ahead
- Practical examples that demonstrate when to act, how to act and how to recover
In this presentation, Danny Leibrandt explains the impact of AI on SEO and what Google has been doing about it. Learn how to take your SEO game to the next level and win over Google with his new strategy anyone can use. Get actionable steps to rank your name, your business, and your clients on Google - the right way.
Key Takeaways:
1. Real content is king
2. Find ways to show EEAT
3. Repurpose across all platforms
Most small businesses struggle to see marketing results. In this session, we will eliminate any confusion about what to do next, solving your marketing problems so your business can thrive. You’ll learn how to create a foundational marketing OS (operating system) based on neuroscience and backed by real-world results. You’ll be taught how to develop deep customer connections, and how to have your CRM dynamically segment and sell at any stage in the customer’s journey. By the end of the session, you’ll remove confusion and chaos and replace it with clarity and confidence for long-term marketing success.
Key Takeaways:
• Uncover the power of a foundational marketing system that dynamically communicates with prospects and customers on autopilot.
• Harness neuroscience and Tribal Alignment to transform your communication strategies, turning potential clients into fans and those fans into loyal customers.
• Discover the art of automated segmentation, pinpointing your most lucrative customers and identifying the optimal moments for successful conversions.
• Streamline your business with a content production plan that eliminates guesswork, wasted time, and money.
In this presentation, Danny Leibrandt explains the impact of AI on SEO and what Google has been doing about it. Learn how to take your SEO game to the next level and win over Google with his new strategy anyone can use. Get actionable steps to rank your name, your business, and your clients on Google - the right way.
Key Takeaways:
1. Real content is king
2. Find ways to show EEAT
3. Repurpose across all platforms
Search Engine Marketing - Competitor and Keyword researchETMARK ACADEMY
Over 2 Trillion searches are made per day in Google search, which means there are more than 2 Trillion visits happening across the websites of the world wide web.
People search various questions, phrases or words. But some words and phrases are searched
more often than others.
For example, the words, ‘running shoes’ are searched more often than ‘best road running
shoes for men’
These words or phrases which people use to search on Google are called Keywords.
Some keywords are searched more often than others. Number of times a keyword is searched
for in a month is called keyword volume.
Some keywords have more relevant results than others. For the phrase “running shoes” we
get more than 80M relevant results, whereas for “best road running shoes for men” we get
only 8.
The former keyword ‘running shoes’ has way more competition from popular websites to
new and small blogs, whereas the latter keyword doesn’t have that much competition. This
search competition for a keyword is called search difficulty of a keyword or keyword
difficulty.
In other words, if the keyword difficulty is ‘low’ or ‘easy’, there won’t be any competition
and if you target such keywords on your site, you can easily rank on the front page of Google.
Some keywords are searched for, just to know or to learn some information about something,
that’s their search intention. For example, “What shoe size should I choose?” or “How to pick
the right shoe size?”
These keywords which are searched just to know about stuff are called informational
keywords. Typically people who are searching this type of keywords are top of a Conversion
funnel.
Conversion funnel is the journey that search visitors go through on their way to an email
subscription or a premium subscription to the services you offer or a purchase of products
you sell or recommend using your referral link.
For some buyers, research is the most important part when they have to buy a product.
Depending on that, their journey either widens or narrows down. These types of buyers are
Researchers and they spend more time with informational keywords.
Conversion is the action you want from your search visitors. Number of conversions that you
get for every 100 search visitors is called Conversion rate.
People who are at different stages of a conversion funnel use different types of keywords.
Core Web Vitals SEO Workshop - improve your performance [pdf]Peter Mead
Core Web Vitals to improve your website performance for better SEO results with CWV.
CWV Topics include:
- Understanding the latest Core Web Vitals including the significance of LCP, INP and CLS + their impact on SEO
- Optimisation techniques from our experts on how to improve your CWV on platforms like WordPress and WP Engine
- The impact of user experience and SEO
Unleash the power of UK SEO with Brand Highlighters! Our guide delves into the unique search landscape of Britain, equipping you with targeted strategies to dominate UK search engine results. Discover local SEO tactics, keyword magic for UK audiences, and mobile optimization secrets. Get your website seen by the right people and propel your brand to the top of UK searches.
To learn more: https://brandhighlighters.co.uk/blog/top-seo-agencies-uk/
Digital marketing is the art and science of promoting products or services using digital channels to reach and engage with potential customers. It encompasses a wide range of online tactics and strategies aimed at increasing brand visibility, driving website traffic, generating leads, and ultimately, converting those leads into customers.
https://nidmindia.com/
Mastering Local SEO for Service Businesses in the AI Era is tailored specifically for local service providers like plumbers, dentists, and others seeking to dominate their local search landscape. This session delves into leveraging AI advancements to enhance your online visibility and search rankings through the Content Factory model, designed for creating high-impact, SEO-driven content. Discover the Dollar-a-Day advertising strategy, a cost-effective approach to boost your local SEO efforts and attract more customers with minimal investment. Gain practical insights on optimizing your online presence to meet the specific needs of local service seekers, ensuring your business not only appears but stands out in local searches. This concise, action-oriented workshop is your roadmap to navigating the complexities of digital marketing in the AI age, driving more leads, conversions, and ultimately, success for your local service business.
Key Takeaways:
Embrace AI for Local SEO: Learn to harness the power of AI technologies to optimize your website and content for local search. Understand the pivotal role AI plays in analyzing search trends and consumer behavior, enabling you to tailor your SEO strategies to meet the specific demands of your target local audience. Leverage the Content Factory Model: Discover the step-by-step process of creating SEO-optimized content at scale. This approach ensures a steady stream of high-quality content that engages local customers and boosts your search rankings. Get an action guide on implementing this model, complete with templates and scheduling strategies to maintain a consistent online presence. Maximize ROI with Dollar-a-Day Advertising: Dive into the cost-effective Dollar-a-Day advertising strategy that amplifies your visibility in local searches without breaking the bank. Learn how to strategically allocate your budget across platforms to target potential local customers effectively. The session includes an action guide on setting up, monitoring, and optimizing your ad campaigns to ensure maximum impact with minimal investment.
SMM Cheap - No. 1 SMM panel in the worldsmmpanel567
Boost your social media marketing with our SMM Panel services offering SMM Cheap services! Get cost-effective services for your business and increase followers, likes, and engagement across all social media platforms. Get affordable services perfect for businesses and influencers looking to increase their social proof. See how cheap SMM strategies can help improve your social media presence and be a pro at the social media game.
Financial curveballs sent many American families reeling in 2023. Household budgets were squeezed by rising interest rates, surging prices on everyday goods, and a stagnating housing market. Consumers were feeling strapped. That sentiment, however, appears to be waning. The question is, to what extent?
To take the pulse of consumers’ feelings about their financial well-being ahead of a highly anticipated election, ThinkNow conducted a nationally representative quantitative survey. The survey highlights consumers’ hopes and anxieties as we move into 2024. Let's unpack the key findings to gain insights about where we stand.
14. 3 Main Areas of SEO
•1) Off-site (links)
•2) On-site – copy
•3) On-site – technical
15. 3 Main Areas of SEO
•1) Off-site (links)
•2) On-site – copy
•3) On-site – technical
16. Facebook
Open Graph
& Twitter
Cards
Titles &
Metadata
Best Practice
Webmaster
Tools
Status Codes /
Redirects
Best Practice
URLs Best
Practice
Canonica
l-isation
URL
Parameter
s
Robots
Commands
Google+
Authorship
& Publisher
hreflang
(Internationa
l SEO)
Rich
Snippets, e.g.
Schema.org
Pagination,
aka
rel="next"
Facebook
Open Graph &
Twitter Cards
17. Titles & Metadata Best Practice
• Page Title:
• Now determined by pixel width, not character limit (but still about 60-ish)
• Text is bigger following Google’s recent redesign:
• Make them unique site-wide
• [Source: http://moz.com/blog/new-title-tag-guidelines-preview-tool]
18. Titles & Metadata Best Practice
• Meta description:
• 155-160 characters – Google truncates the rest (similar to title tag)
• Google may not use it… Case in point:
• …Or Google may mix part of the meta description with a snippet from the
page:
http://seono.co.uk/2012/08/05/google-showing-combination-of-meta-description-body-snippet-in-
serps/
• Make them unique site-wide
19. EndReturn
Titles & Metadata Best Practice
• Meta keywords:
• …
• Don’t bother (seriously…!)
• Google ignores it
• If Yahoo!, Bing, etc. care, it’s not much
• Works against you – competitors can see what keywords are important to
you…
20. Webmaster Tools
• Google Webmaster Tools
• Submitting XML sitemaps
• Discovering 404 pages
• Seeing if you’re affected by
a manual penalty
• Setting URL parameters
• Demoting Sitelinks
• Requesting URL removals
• “Fetch as Google”
• Restore ‘dropped’ links
quickly
• And so much more…!
22. Status Codes / Redirects Best Practice
• Redirects
• Put simply:
301s = GOOD
302s = BAD!
• More info here: http://moz.com/learn/seo/redirection
23. Status Codes / Redirects Best Practice
• Soft 404s
• http://seono.co.uk/2014/04/23/4-examples-of-soft-404s-on-big-websites/
• When your Page
Not Found page
isn’t a 404…
• …So Google
indexes it.
• [Server header
checker tool link]
EndReturn
25. URLs Best Practice
• Other factors:
• Dashes > Underscores
• all lowercase > Capitalisation Throughout
• Feel free to remove the file extension (e.g. .html at the end)
• Therefore…
domain.com/example-page > domain.com/Example_Page.htm
28. Canonicalisation
• Useful for:
• www. vs. non-www.
• http:// vs. https://
• Duplicate homepage (e.g. www.domain.com vs.
www.domain.com/index.htm)
• With and without a slash at the end (e.g. /about-us vs. /about-us/)
• Search parameters (e.g. …?color=blue)
• Referral parameters
(e.g. …?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=profile&utm_campaign=website)
• Be careful not to:
• Canonicalise everything into the homepage
• Canonicalise a sub-domain into the main domain
EndReturn
30. URL Parameters
• In Google Webmaster Tools:
• https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/crawl-url-parameters
EndReturn
31. Robots Commands
• Remove a page from search engines (more effective than robots.txt):
<meta name="robots" content="noindex"/>
• Some other robots commands:
• NOFOLLOW = prevents SE bots from following any links on the page
• NOARCHIVE = prevents SEs from showing a cached copy
• NOSNIPPET = prevents SEs from showing a description alongside
the result
• NOODP = blocks the Open Directory Project description of the
page from being used in the description
• Can be combined (e.g. "noindex,nofollow")
• [Source: http://searchengineland.com/meta-robots-tag-101-blocking-spiders-cached-pages-more-10665]
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32. Facebook Open Graph & Twitter Cards
• Facebook Open Graph meta tags:
• [Source: http://blog.kissmetrics.com/open-graph-meta-tags/]
33. Facebook Open Graph & Twitter Cards
• Facebook Open Graph meta tags:
• [Source: http://moz.com/blog/meta-data-templates-123]
<!-- Open Graph data -->
<meta property="og:title" content="Title Here" />
<meta property="og:type" content="article" />
<meta property="og:url" content=" http://www.example.com/" />
<meta property="og:image" content=" http://example.com/image.jpg" />
<meta property="og:description" content="Description Here" />
<meta property="og:site_name" content="Site Name, i.e. Moz" />
<meta property="fb:admins" content="Facebook numeric ID" />
34. Facebook Open Graph & Twitter Cards
• Twitter Card meta tags:
• [Source: http://blog.kissmetrics.com/open-graph-meta-tags/]
35. Facebook Open Graph & Twitter Cards
• Twitter Card meta tags:
• [Source: http://moz.com/blog/meta-data-templates-123]
<!-- Twitter Card data -->
<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary">
<meta name="twitter:site" content="@publisher_handle">
<meta name="twitter:title" content="Page Title">
<meta name="twitter:description" content="Page description less than 200
characters">
<meta name="twitter:creator" content="@author_handle">
<-- Twitter Summary card images must be at least 200x200px -->
<meta name="twitter:image" content=" http://www.example.com/image.jpg">
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36. Google+ Authorship & Publisher
• Google Authorship, a.k.a. rel="author"
• Adding your face to Google’s search results:
• Benefits:
• No immediate ranking benefit* (yet), but…
• It’s eye-catching – increased click-through rate
• …Especially if you’re well-known in your industry
• * Personalisation – if you follow someone, you may see them higher(?)
37. Google+ Authorship & Publisher
• Google Authorship – three ways to implement (Step 1):
• 1) In the <head> (on any articles you’ve written)
<link rel="author" href="https://plus.google.com/109807087957970967076"/>
• 2) Add a parameter to an in-page link
<a href="https://plus.google.com/109807087957970967076?rel=author">Steve
Morgan</a>
• 3) Verify your email
• No longer an option…?
• Clunky as hell anyway…
38. Google+ Authorship & Publisher
• Google Authorship – three ways to implement (Step 2):
• Add the site to your Google+ profile’s ‘Contributor to’ section
(which is found under the Links sub-section of the About section)
My sites
Local society
Non-SEO
guest post
SEO social
media site
Old employer’s
blog
SEO guest posts
39. Google+ Authorship & Publisher
• Test it – http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/richsnippets
40. Google+ Authorship & Publisher
• Google Publisher, a.k.a. rel="publisher"
• Equivalent for Google+ Brand pages for branded searches…
41. Google+ Authorship & Publisher
• Google Publisher – two ways to implement:
• 1) In the <head> (homepage only)
<link rel="publisher" href="https://plus.google.com/109733829658465862616"/>
• 2) On-page? (possibly new – only just spotted)
<a href="https://plus.google.com/112544075040456048636" rel="publisher">Google+</a>
42. Google+ Authorship & Publisher
• Want to learn more?
• My talk from April 2013:
http://seono.co.uk/2013/04/22/getting-your-face-in-google-my-cardiff-internet-talk/
or
• My upcoming talk at Port80 Localhost,
Newport, August 2014 (date TBC)
http://port80events.co.uk/localhost-events/
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43. hreflang (International SEO)
• Use Google Webmaster Tools to geo-target domain…
• If a ccTLD (e.g. .co.uk) then already designated for you (United Kingdom)
• But… If gTLD (e.g. .com), you can choose!
• Choose your target country, or:
• ‘Unlisted’ = Global
• Working with a UK-based .com that only wants/needs UK traffic?
Be sure to change it!
• You can even geo-target sub-folders via GWT (e.g. domain.com/uk/)
44. hreflang (International SEO)
• Also: consider hreflang
(full name: rel="alternate" hreflang="x")
• Useful for side-stepping duplicate content issues for multinational
sites:
• English, UK (GBP £)
• English, Australian (AUD $)
• Potentially 99% identical content
• Implement via:
• <head>
• XML sitemaps - http://www.themediaflow.com/tool_hreflang.php
45. hreflang (International SEO)
• hreflang example:
• Top line: Global (English)
• Middle line: UK (English)
• Bottom line: Australian (English)
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="http://www.example.com/page.html" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-gb" href="http://en-gb.example.com/page.html" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-au" href="http://en-au.example.com/page.html" />
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46. Rich Snippets (e.g. Schema.org)
• Rich snippets summarised in 5 words:
THEY
MAKE
GOOGLE
LOOK
PRETTY
48. Rich Snippets (e.g. Schema.org)
• Example of implementation via Schema.org – before:
<h1>Beachwalk Beachwear & Giftware</h1>
A superb collection of fine gifts and clothing to accent your stay
in Mexico Beach.
3102 Highway 98
Mexico Beach, FL
Phone: 850-648-4200
49. Rich Snippets (e.g. Schema.org)
• Example of implementation via Schema.org – after:
<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/LocalBusiness">
<h1><span itemprop="name">Beachwalk Beachwear & Giftware</span></h1>
<span itemprop="description"> A superb collection of fine gifts and clothing
to accent your stay in Mexico Beach.</span>
<div itemprop="address" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/PostalAddress">
<span itemprop="streetAddress">3102 Highway 98</span>
<span itemprop="addressLocality">Mexico Beach</span>,
<span itemprop="addressRegion">FL</span>
</div>
Phone: <span itemprop="telephone">850-648-4200</span>
</div>
50. Rich Snippets (e.g. Schema.org)
• Test it – http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/richsnippets
52. Pagination (a.k.a. rel="next"/"prev")
• Tags to improve Google’s understanding of paginated content
• Example for http://seono.co.uk/category/seo/page/2/
• Built into WordPress as standard (not sure about other platforms…)
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