Basics of SEO – Search Engine Optimisation for WordPress * Understand search results (organic vs paid) * SEO versus SEM * Understanding search intent * Keyword research * Ways to improve search engine ranking * Using SEO plugin in WordPress Presented by Nadia Kerr @keepsmilyn at WordCamp Sydney 2018

2. Basics of SEO - Search Engine
Optimisation for WordPress
About me: Nadia Kerr
Web Developer @ Suretek Global + freelance Web Developer | SEO Specialist
● Full stack LAMP website developer with 20+ yrs in the technology industry.
● Background using various CMS platforms including WordPress.
● Experertise: theme development, RWD, global project management, SEO + more.
● Proven experience in delivery & maintaining of SEO strategies to improve
performance in search engines.
● WordPress trainer to small business owners & colleagues.
The presentation will be followed by a general Q&A session.

3. Basics of SEO - Search Engine
Optimisation for WordPress
- Understand search results (organic vs paid)
- SEO versus SEM
- Understanding search intent
- Keyword research
- Ways to improve search engine ranking
- Using SEO plugin in WordPress
Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with any search engine provider. All information provided in this presentation is based on own
research and knowledge from over 20+ yrs as a web developer and past small business owner. There may be better tools or
methods than those provided in these slides. Take from this whatever you find most useful and build upon it yourself. :-)

4. Common SEO Myths:

5. Common SEO Myths:
- Google is the only search engine worth submitting my site on
- My homepage needs more content (the kitchen sink approach)
- He/she has guaranteed my site the 1st position in search results
- My site changes will show in search engines immediately

6. Common SEO Myths:
- More links are better than more content
- The more pages I have the better
- Lots of links on other sites back to my site will increase ranking
- I don’t need a mobile optimized site

7. Understanding search engine results
What is the difference between organic (free) and paid search engine
results?
Organic search results are the web page listings that most closely match the
user’s search query based on relevance. Also called “natural” search results,
ranking high in the organic results is what SEO is all about.
Paid search results are basically advertisements — the website
owners have paid to have their web pages display for certain
keywords, so these listings show up when someone runs a search
query containing those keywords.

8. Understanding search engine results

9. Understanding search engine results

10. Understanding search engine results
Google Bing

11. Both processes aim in increasing visibility in search engines.
Search Engine Optimisation:
SEO is the process of optimizing your website for the purpose of getting free
(organic) traffic from search engines to your site.
An optimised website is more easily understood by search engine crawlers
and this increases the chances of ranking higher in SERPS (search engine
result pages).
SEO vs SEM

12. Search Engine Marketing:
SEM goes above and beyond SEO but it’s only a subset of your overall
Internet Marketing Strategy. So, SEM is the marketing process with a goal of
getting more visibility in search engines either by getting more free traffic
(SEO) or paid traffic (paid search advertising). SEM may incorporate SEO but
also includes paid listings.
SEO vs SEM

13. SEM
Search engine
marketing
SEO
Search engine
optimization
Did you know:
Ad results are not always the
most relevant to what you are
searching for online. Example
if you search for: ‘red sports
car’, an ad for “Porsche” or
“Ferrari” may comes up. Not
an exact match for ‘red sports
car’, but they have targeted
anyone searching for ‘sports
car’ with paid advertising.

14. How to optimize your content for search intent
SEO is a way to get more traffic to your
website.
By ranking higher in search engines, you
attract more visitors to your site.
Eventually, your goal is probably to sell
something, get subscribers or to attract
more regular visitors.

15. How to optimize your content for search intent
A nice tactic to get more traffic to your site
is optimising your content for words people
“actually” use.
However, to really convince people to buy
something, subscribe to your newsletter or
to come back to your website another time,
you should take into account search intent
as well.

16. Understanding “search intent”
Search intent has to do with the reason why people
conduct a specific search.
Who, What, Where, When, Why & How?
- Why are they searching?
- Are they searching because they have a question?
- Are they searching for a specific product?
- Are they searching because they want to buy something?

17. Keyword Research
Doing keyword research is a vital part of your content SEO strategy, but can
be a long and difficult process. Keyword strategy is about the decisions you
make on the basis of that keyword research.
- Think about what words and phrases your
website audience may use to find your website?
- What is their intention when searching?
- Check whether it’s realistic to rank for a certain
keyword, especially if there’s heavy competition.
- Remember: you don’t have to add all of them!

18. Why is keyword research important?
Proper keyword research is important because it
will make clear which search terms your audience
uses.
It doesn’t make any sense to optimize for words
that people don’t use.
Often business owners use one set of words when
describing their products, while their target
audience use a completely different set of words.
These sites aren’t found by their potential
customers because of a mismatch in word use.

19. Keyword Research Tools
- Google AdWords Keyword Planner: is like a workshop for building new
Search Network campaigns or expanding existing ones.
https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner
- Free Keyword Research Tool
https://serps.com/tools/keyword-research/
- Keyword Planner Alternative For SEO: Find Great Keywords Using Google
Autocomplete
https://keywordtool.io/

20. Keyword Research Tools
- KWFinder: is an easy-to-use keyword research tool bringing perfect
keyword ideas.
https://kwfinder.com/
- Google Trends: compare the traffic for sets of keywords. Useful for
seasonal trends.
http://www.google.com/trends/
- Search on popular search engines and see what keywords and
phrases competitors are using.

21. Why are my changes not showing on the search results?
Whenever you make changes to your website, you’re
probably eager for these changes to show instantly in
the search results.
Unfortunately, it can take a while for search engines to
crawl your site again and until then, it will show the
indexed version of your site in the results, without the
changes. Of course, when people click a link through to
your site they will see the changes, but you want them to
be visible in the results pages and update your ranking
too.

22. Why are my changes not showing on the search results?
- Force google to recrawl your website sooner
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/submit-url
- Submit an updated sitemap file to Google Webmaster
Tools
https://www.google.com/webmasters/

23. Ways to improve search engine ranking
- Eliminate duplicate content (meta descriptions, meta titles, or meta
keywords, body copy).
- Eliminate broken links
- Increase page (and site) load speed
- Update Sitemap xml
- Improve mobile-friendliness
- make it user friendly to keep visitors returning

24. Ways to improve search engine ranking
Useful tools:
- Google Webmaster Tools:
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/siteoverview
- Google Page Speed Test:
https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/

25. Using an SEO plugin to further optimise your site
Two of the most popular and easiest to use SEO plugins for WordPress are
‘Yoast SEO’ and ‘AIO SEO’. Both offer valuable features in their free version.
- Yoast SEO Plugin:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-seo/
- All In One SEO Plugin:
https://en-au.wordpress.org/plugins/all-in-one-seo-pack/

26. Post title vs SEO title
It is important to realise that your SEO title doesn’t necessarily have the
same purpose as the title of your post or page.
Your post title is usually meant for people that are already on your
site. It provides a title for what the page (or blog post) is about.
Search engine
also find this
useful!

27. Post title vs SEO title
It is important to realise that your SEO title doesn’t necessarily have the
same purpose as the title of your post or page.
Your SEO title, on the other hand, is
meant for people who are not yet on
your website. It will be shown to
people in search engines. The
purpose of your SEO title is to make
people click the link, come to your
website and read your post or buy
your product, etc.

28. Further reading:
- SEO Basics: What does google do?
https://yoast.com/seo-basics-what-does-google-do/
- Beginners Guide to SEO from Moz
https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo
- The Ultimate Guide to On-Page SEO (on-page vs off-page SEO)
https://www.thehoth.com/on-page-seo/

29. Further reading:
- Keyword research for SEO - The Ultimate Guide (by Yoast):
https://yoast.com/keyword-research-ultimate-guide/
- How to choose keywords that’ll attract traffic
https://yoast.com/how-to-choose-keywords-thatll-attract-traffic/
- 7 Keyword Research Mistakes to Avoid:
https://yoast.com/7-keyword-research-mistakes-avoid/

30. Basics of SEO - Search Engine
Optimisation for WordPress
Thank you for attending.
Don’t hesitate to ask any questions!
If your question doesn’t get answered today, feel
free to connect with me at WordCamp or online.