Presented at the Bristol Drupal User Group talk nights, this session provides insights into how you can optimise your Drupal 7 site for SEO purposes, covering modules to use, development techniques, and methods of structuring content.

1. SEO for Drupal Developers
Rick Donohoe, Microserve
@RickDonohoe

2. Search Engine Optimisation: think of SEO as “What can I do to help Google
promote my site?”
Introduction
SEO concepts are vast - won’t cover marketing, black hat, content writing etc.
Matt Cutts - Heads up the Google SEO team
“We can hypothesise, but nobody really knows”

3. Why is SEO important to me?
Project success: Increasing engagement and traffic is good for the client, but
also good for us.
Success = great reference, more work, more money.

4. Why is SEO important to me?
Other reasons may also include:
1. Whilst pitching for the business you used the phrase “SEO? That’s my
middle name”
2. Your client works with an SEO consultant, and the sudden increase in your
acceptance criterias’ complexity makes you want to punch your screen.

5. Drupal SEO Modules
-The “Must have’s”

6. Gathers all website data
Can provide great insights into the quality of your build – are the end-users
engaging with your website as you expect?
Good opportunity for AM/PM to pinpoint new development
Link search to pinpoint content struggles
Google Analytics

7. Pathauto
URLs are used by Google as a factor in ranking for keywords.
URls also help the user know where they are on the site and what your
content is (e.g. /event/EVENT-NAME)
[node:menu-link:parent:url:path]/[node:title] trick. E.g./cycle ,
/cycle/where-to-ride
Global Redirect – use this to automate a canonical URL to reduce the
likelihood of Duplicate content.

8. URL Redirect
Simply put allows your client to fix 404s with redirects.
Useful tip 1: Your client can use this to create their own print short URLs.
Useful tip 2: Your client WILL change page titles, which will likely change the
URL. This module adds an automatic redirect.
Need to import redirects? Try Path redirect import module to use a
spreadsheet. Even better, let your client do this!

9. Metatag
Used for SERPs ->
Allows your client to set their own Meta title and Meta descriptions.
Title should be between 10 and 70 characters, and description should be
between 70 and 160 characters.
Set defaults per content type using [tokens]
Sub-modules allow you to put a whole range of metatags in. More on that
shortly…

10. SEO Principles applicable
to the build phase

11. Getting the HTML structure right
How Google “sees” your content (H1, H2, H3…)
For each page, ensure a single H1 exists, then use remaining heading tags
to structure content. Often the logo is used as the homepage H1.
Limit the WYSIWYG formats to H2 and H3, that way your client doesn’t add
H1’s like they’re going out of fashion.
For all content choose wisely between a content type and an entity

12. Getting the HTML structure right (2)
Remove unnecessary HTML where applicable, as it bloats the page and
affects HTML/text ratio.
If you want to go a step further, ensure headings are only used for unique
content (e.g. no sidebar, header or footer headings).

13. Getting links right
Save yourself a nightmare by making the client's job easier:
Pathologic - Prevents linking to wrong environments
CKEditor link - Provides WYSIWYG autocomplete link style
Ext Link - Automatically opens all ext links in a new tab

14. Promoting content
Sitemap and XML Sitemap
- Can be good for an overview
ShareThis
- Beware of performance implications and “Measure
copy & shares of your site's Content” default setting

15. Optimising content for
Social Media Channels

16. OG tags (Facebook)
Requires Metatag: Opengraph sub-module with the
following fields set per content-type at a global level:
Content type (Article)
Page URL
Content Title
Content Description
Image URL / Secure Image URL

17. Twitter cards
https://dev.twitter.com/cards/types/summary-large-
image
Requires Metatag: Twitter Cards sub-module with the
following fields set per content-type at a global level:
Twitter card type
Creator's Twitter account
Page URL
Title
Description
Image URL

18. Schema
“When your web pages include
structured data markup, Google
(and other search engines) can
use that data to index your
content better, present it more
prominently in search results,
and surface it in new
experiences like voice answers,
maps, and Google Now.”

19. Other

20. Other
Other things that SEO tools will look for...
Impact of Responsiveness, Performance and Security
403 and 404 pages
Alt tags - http://www.mediacurrent.com/blog/describing-images-improved-web-accessibility
Touch Icons

21. Getting ready for launch day

22. Getting ready for launch day
Don’t get caught at the last hurdle:
Make sure robots.txt is fully accessible
Check your XML sitemap is correct and not cached to a dev URL
Ensure all applicable domains redirect to a single www domain (or non-www
if that floats your boat!)
Ensure your GA code is correctly set
Ensure all redirects are added - tip use site:example.com in Google.
Check your error logs and 404 report – You can spot any issues and/or URLs
missed.

23. Post-launch
“It’s launched we can all go home now”
- This is a bad attitude to have!
Measure usage data and recommend
improvements.
Use Google Analytics to help you .

24. That’s all folks!
Any questions?