DIY SEO Using Word Press

DIY SEO using WordPress
Presented by Melissa Cahill
Panoptic Online Marketing, LLC

WordCamp NYC
Baruch College (CUNY)
June 9-10, 2012

This presentation aims to help the small business
owner, non-profit webmaster, or personal blogger
understand some basic principles and best practices
around SEO.

DIY, or know the right questions to ask before paying a
SEO specialist.

• Basic SEO concepts
• Keyword research: How to select effective
keywords
• Keyword implementation: Understand the purpose
of each implementation location, and learn how to
use the Yoast SEO plugin
• Things to consider when hiring an SEO company
• Learn More About SEO (Free Tools and Resources)

Search Engines vs. Users
Search Engine Optimization

Search Experience Optimization

Search Engines Users

Love content. Love content.
Use keywords to generate listings. Use keywords to find information.

Can’t access a poorly designed site. Hate browsing a poorly designed site.

Everything you do on a website should have the dual purpose
of satisfying USERS and search engines (yes, in that order!)

Google says that the right kind of SEO is fine
Many people confuse search engine optimization with spamming. Spamming and SEO
are two totally different things. A recent announcement from Google contains a
statement about “white hat” SEO:

Effective search engine optimization can make a site more crawlable and make
individual pages more accessible and easier to find…
“White hat” search engine optimizers often improve the usability of a site, help
create great content, or make sites faster, which is good for both users and
search engines.

Watch Google’s Matt Cutts talk about SEO on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&
v=BS75vhGO-kk

How Do I Improve My Ranking?
On-Site Factors:
• What you say about yourself
– Keywords you use on your website

Off-Site Factors:
• What other websites say about you
– Inbound Links (and words they use in the link)

SEO Basics
• Off-site SEO (link building):
– Legitimate
– Credible
– Relevant

Google’s recent “Penguin” update penalized
websites undertaking black hat SEO tactics
and those with otherwise low-quality content

On-Site Factors for SEO

1. What keywords to use?
– Targeted (to a specific product/service/audience)
– Traffic-bearing (Average Search Volume [ASV])

2. Where to put them on your site?
– Page Titles & Meta-Description Tags…

Keyword Research
What keywords to use?
– Targeted (to a specific product/service/audience)
– Traffic-bearing (Average Search Volume [ASV])
– Not ridiculously competitive

TIPS!
• Brainstorm, but keep it simple.
• Don’t spread yourself too thin.
• Be specific about what you’re selling.

Implementation Locations
• Where should I use keywords?
1. Domain name (http://www.YourDomainName.com/)
2. Sub-page URLs (permalinks):
(http://www.YourDomainName.com/YourPageName)
3. Title
4. Meta-Description
5. Headers (h1, h2, h3; descending importance)
6. Internal links
7. Website copy (written content on the page)
8. Bold text

Keyword Implementation Rules
• Don’t overdo it!
• Only target 2-3 phrases per page on site
• Don’t make text read like you are spamming!

We’re a coffee shop in New York City and our coffee shop in New
York City serves good coffee.

Title & Meta-Description
• Title is essentially #1 for keywords
• Meta-Description relatively low on the list

TIP!
Unless your business name is a widely
recognized brand, keep it out of the Title, but
include it first in the Meta-Description

Headers
h1, h2, h3, h4, h5
Descending weight on SEO

• h1 – One of the main keywords of page
• h2, h3 – secondary/topical keywords
• h4, h5 – not crucial to use/embed

Website Copy
• At least one paragraph of copy should be
found on each page

• Keyword Density
– Not imminently important

• Learn how to write copy for the web

Keywords for Images
• File name
…“whitesalmon-rafting.jpg”
• Alt attribute
• Shows when image cannot be
loaded
• Tooltip text
alt = “Rafters plunging down Husum
Falls on the White Salmon River”
• Title attribute <img src=“/images/whitesalmon-
title = “Husum Falls on the rafting.jpg” width=“250” height=“150”
alt=“Rafters plunging down Husum Falls
White Salmon River” on the White Salmon River”
title=“Husum Falls on the White Salmon
River”>

Internal Links
• Can be helpful within the copy, especially at the
end of articles
• Should not be overused
• Should have the same anchor text as your main
navigation or inbound links

Consider a “related posts” plugin:

Update Services
Alert update services (“ping”) that you have new content.
The WordPress Codex keeps a list of valid ping services that
you can cut and paste into your blog’s settings:

http://codex.wordpress.org/Update_Services

Advanced Features
1. Robots Meta configuration
2. Canonical
3. Breadcrumbs
4. Permalink clean up
5. XML Sitemaps
6. RSS enhancements
7. Edit your robots.txt and .htaccess

What to ask SEO vendors?
TIP!
Don’t trust anyone who makes guarantees
regarding rankings, especially if they promise
you one of the top spots in Google.

• How do they conduct their keyword research?
• What’s included in their price?
• How do they monitor performance and how often will
they make any necessary adjustments?

Learn More About SEO
SEOMoz’s Beginniners Guide to SEO
- Chapter 5: Keyword Research

Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide (PDF)

Yoast’s SEO for WordPress Plugin
- The Definitive Guide to Higher Rankings for WordPress Sites

Google & SEO-Friendly Page Titles (Video)

CopyBlogger Copywriting 101

Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, and SEO

About Tadpole
We are a Worker Cooperative, a partnership of five
professionals who pool our talents and tools to make things
better for our clients (and easier for ourselves).

We share a strong belief in open-source software, collaborative
effort and empowering the individual WordPress user. We
offer WordPress Design/Development, Hosting, Training and
Support for individuals, small business and non-profit
organizations.

Visit us at http://tadpole.cc

DIY SEO Using Word Press

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