Leland Fiegel discusses the history and basics of SEO. He notes that early search relied on directories and keywords, but Google revolutionized search using links. He outlines on-site SEO like content and markup, and off-site factors like building links and reputation. Key advice includes having high-quality, consistent content, avoiding cloaking or spam, and using plugins to make SEO easy in WordPress. OpenGraph is also mentioned as a way to customize social sharing.

1. SEO Isn’t That Hard
Leland Fiegel (@lelandf)

2. About me
- I’m a front-end developer
- Co-organizer of the meetup
- Run an online community at WPChat.com
- Ranked in the top 3 for “WordPress themes”
- I never call myself an “SEO expert”

3. A little SEO history
- So back in the day, most people navigated
the web through web directories and
rudimentary search engines.
- Webmasters could set keywords.
- Google came along and based their
algorithm on links, destroyed everyone.
- Free, unlimited, targeted traffic

4. On-site vs off-site SEO
- Off-site SEO is everything you do, not on
your site. Building links, building your
reputation, creating relationships, etc.
- On-site SEO includes creating content, URL
structure, navigation, meta descriptions, title
tags, design, markup, etc.

5. Stuff not to do
- Be spammy
- Try to hide text on your pages.
- Cloaking (WSJ)
- Hire sketchy companies
- Have a terrible website
- Get hacked

6. Stuff to do
- Have a well-designed website
- Create awesome content
- Promote that content
- Be mobile friendly
- Be fast loading
- Be so ubiquitous, it would make Google look
dumb if they ever penalized you.

7. Some content advice
- Think quality over quantity.
- Think of blog articles as soldiers.
- Have some semblance of consistency
- Make it sound natural. Don’t obsess over
“keyword density.”
- Keep in mind alternative wording.
Flash/USB/thumb drive.

8. OpenGraph
- OpenGraph lets you
customize how your links
will appear in social
media.
- Featured image = higher
click through

9. WordPress (plugins) make(s) it easy

12. noindex and canonical URLs