About Me
•DNN SEO Strategist
•10 years working in SEO
•SEO strategy for DNN’s products
•SEO strategy for DNN’s website (dnnsoftware.com)
Twitter: @brucerchapman | @DNNCorp
24 Tips to Improve SEO
Simple EasyActual Work
Basic SEO StrategyStarting with the Right Plan
Tip # 1: Be on the Internet for the Topic at Hand
Have a website page on the topic
Make sure it’s publicly accessible
Make sure it’s indexableby Search Engines
Tip # 2: Your ‘SEO’ Pages, Not Your Entire Website
Optimize your home page for your most valuable search intent
Optimize all your other pages for specific search intent, and don’t overlap
Domain names give authority, but pages rank for keywords
Winning is done one URL at a time
Tip # 3: Develop a List of Key Phrases
3-Step Process
1. Understand what customers in your space are searching for
2. Compile a list of keywords and phrases that customers are using
3. Verify estimated traffic and choose the target keywords (and intent)
Tip #4: Sign Up for Google Webmaster Tools and Use It
Google/Bing have Webmaster Tools accounts
• Check for crawling issues
• Understand how search engines see your site
• Understand your Conversion Rate (CTR)
• View your search traffic based on keywords
Check often – put it in your calendar
Tip # 5: Sign Up for an Analytics Account and Use It
Google Analytics or other Analytics Product
Measure Organic Search Visitors
Understand how your search traffic is converting
>Use the results to modify your strategy
Google Analytics
Bing Analytics
Evoq 8 Content Analytics
On-Page SEO BasicsMake the Most of Your Content
Tip # 6: Start with On-Page Ranking Factors
SEO On-Page Factors: URL, Title, H1, Description, Alt Tags
http://www.dnnsoftware.com/products/evoq-content/content-personalization
Tip # 7: Tag Your Images with Alt Text
Tag each image element with alt text
(use a descriptive filename as well)
Works for the page, and works for the
image
Also helps with visually impaired visitors
Don’t do keyword stuffing
Alt Tags helps with Image search
Tip # 8: Know How Your Pages Appear to Search Bots
Bots render pages like a browser (not text browser)
Tools
Webmaster Tools includes ‘Fetch as Googlebot’
Tip # 8: Know How Your Pages Appear to Search Bots
Bots render pages like a browser (not text browser)
Tools
https://www.feedthebot.com/tools/• Useful page for reading bot results
Tip # 9: Check robots.txt File for Disallow on Resources
Robots.txt files can be forgotten after site setup
2014 – change in Google bot rendering for modern sites
Search engine bots respect the file – for all resources
Check to see that all resources are allowed - including script, image and CSS files
Mobile Visitors and SearchCan Your Visitors Find You?
Tip # 10: Know Your Mobile Visitors and Conversions
Understand what proportion of visitors are mobile
Use the Google Analytics Industry Comparison tools to assess position
Tip # 10 : Know Your Mobile Visitors and Conversions
Understand what proportion of visitors are mobile
Use the Google Analytics Industry Comparison tools to assess position
Tip # 11: Use a Modern Responsive Theme for Mobile Optimization
• What is responsive design?
• Responsive Design to match device display
• Can be separate site or separate page
• Fonts, buttons, images suitable for mobile devices
• Optimize search conversion with CTA first on mobile
Tip # 12: Use Mobile-Friendly Code and Components
Avoid flash – use HTML players instead
YouTube embeds –use iFrame not Object
Avoid any type of library or code that increases the page payload
Pictured: A website as seen on my desktop.
Tip # 12: Use Mobile-Friendly Code and Components
Avoid flash – use Html 5 players instead
YouTube embeds –use iFrame not Object
Avoid any type of library or code that increases the page payload
Pictured: That same website on my iPhone.
Wait, what happened?
Tip # 13: Test your Pages for Google Mobile-Friendly Attribute
• Google Mobile Friendly Test
• Check the preview image
• Test all your pages, particularly those which convert search traffic
• Check for ‘Mobile Friendly’ marker on mobile search results
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/
Tip # 13: Test Your Pages for Google Mobile-Friendly Attribute
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/
Web Page PerformanceThe Web Likes Fast Pages
Tip # 14: Concentrate on Page Performance
Measure your page load speed
• Page speed is a ranking factor
Time To First Byte (TTFB) and rendering time is critical
• Google recommends < 200 msTTFB
Tip # 15: Analyze Slow Loading Pages and Identify and Implement Fixes
Tools:
Google Pagespeed (part of Chrome developer tools)
YSlow Plugin (published by Yahoo)
Identify the worst areas that are easiest to fix.
Iterate as changes are made and score improves.
Tip # 15: Analyze Slow Loading Pages and Identify and Implement Fixes
Tip # 15: Analyze Slow Loading Pages and Identify and Implement Fixes
Tools:
• Google Pagespeed (part of Chrome developer tools)
• YSlow Plugin (published by Yahoo)
Identify on the worst areas which are easiest to fix
- Tools provide suggestions
Iterate as changes are made and score improves
Conversion Optimization for SEOGetting Your Visitors to ‘Yes’
Tip # 16: Measure the Value of Organic Search
What is the search intent of visitors?
Are visitors converting to outcomes?
Tasks
Determine search intent by page
Set up goal measurement and reports in Analytics product
Tip # 16: Measure the Value of Organic Search
Tip # 16: Measure the Value of Organic Search
Tip # 17: Optimize and Test Conversion for Organic Search
•Try different page elements to measure and test conversion
• Links, Buttons, calls to action
•Use tools like Google Analytics or Optimizely to measure results
•Understand Statistical Significance when doing tests.
Tip # 17: Optimize and Test Conversion for Organic Search
Pictured: a test we performed on our “Employee Intranet” page.
The Search Long TailCapturing Different Searches with Content Creation
Tip # 18: Long Tail Keyword Research
Long tail keywords are used infrequently but are large in aggregate
Do research around search intent with different modifiers:
Action words: buy, compare, install, customize
Tools: mine your Webmaster tools data – it’s already full of long tail keywords
Head
“widgets”
Tail
“how do I upgrade from widget 1.4 to widget 2.4”
Potential : higher traffic, lower competition
Tip # 19: Create Content to Target Long Tail
Blogs are an excellent way to capture long tail
• Categories/Tags for specific topics
• Change theme if different look/feel desired
Microsites for strategic use:
Conference, Special Event, Promotion
Content Management Systems excel at long tail targeting by creating and managing content.
Tip # 20: Tap Into User Generated Content
Community Features on your site create content
Content is relevant, trend following and full of key phrases matching search intent.
Why Online Communities help lift SEO
Specific Case HandlingHow To’s
Tip # 21: Use Structured Data to Enhance Search Results
• Structured data is annotations to your html markup to provide context to data
• Also known as Microformats
• Can provided enhanced results with extra information
• Find data formats at http://schema.org/docs/schemas.html
• Restaurants
• Recipes
• Authors
• Product, Event, Place
Tip # 22: Use DNN to Help with SEO
DNN can help with many of these strategies
See my blog post ’10 Ways DNN Can Improve Your Website's SEO’
Tip # 23: What Should I Stop Doing?
SEO – what might have, but no longer applies
• Meta keywords data is not a ranking factor
• Googlebot can read:• Querystrings / Dynamically Loaded Content / Javascript/Css
Cloaked Content
• Google Toolbar PageRank score is not updated anymore
• Press Releases won’t give inbound links
• Search Engine Submission isn’t required
• Cloaking/Keyword Stuffing/Link Spamming
Tip # 24: Fix the Problems You Find
Identify 3-5 (or more!) tips from this presentation and apply them to your website.
NOW.
Why not?
Thanks for reading!
Next Steps
Read Related Blog Posts:
10 Ways DNN Can Improve Your Website SEO
A Q&A with Groupon on Their SEO and SEM
Strategies for SEO Keyword Research