Best Practices for Drupal Search Engine Optimization and Driving
Site Conversions
Ben FinkleaCEO
Volacci Search Engine Marketing
@BenFinklea
Bryan HouseSr. Director, Marketing
Acquia
@bryanhouse
Agenda
SEO in Drupal
SEO Checklist module
Better On-Site Search with Acquia Search
Optimizing Landing Pages for Conversions
Wrap-up + Q&A
Introduction
Ben Finklea– CEO, Volacci Search Marketing
Making Drupal work for your bottom line
Best Practices for Drupal SEO & Driving Site Conversions
questions/feedback: @benfinklea / [email protected]
What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
SEO is communicating clearly to Google and site visitors what you are about and that you are important.
questions/feedback: @benfinklea / [email protected]
What is a Conversion?
A Conversion is when a website visitor does something that you want them to do.
questions/feedback: @benfinklea / [email protected]
Why SEO?SEO magnetically attracts buyers who are highly motivated to do business with you now.
questions/feedback: @benfinklea / [email protected]
SEO Magnet
Why Drupal?
Drupal enables fantastically gorgeous websites that convert visitors into paying customers.
questions/feedback: @benfinklea / [email protected]
Then shouldn’t we do SEO & Conversions on every Drupal
website we touch?
questions/feedback: @benfinklea / [email protected]
Why Drupal?
questions/feedback: @benfinklea / [email protected]
Configurable
Easy to Use
Clean Code
Easy Integration with 3rd Party Tools
Fights Spam
Landing Pages
Breadcrumbs
Community
Thriving ecosystem
Ready for the semantic web
questions/feedback: @benfinklea / [email protected]
“Anyone Can Cook.”
-Chef Gusteau
“Anyone Can Drupal SEO.” -Ben
The Modules
Global Redirect
Google Analytics
HTML Purifier
Mollom
MetaTags (aka Nodewords)
Page Title
PathAuto
questions/feedback: @benfinklea / [email protected]
http://drupal.org/project/seo_checklist
Path Redirect
Scheduler
Search 404
Drupal SEO Checklist
New XML Sitemap
Sitemap (Pla in Text)
More Modules I Like
questions/feedback: @benfinklea / [email protected]
Validation
Taxonomy Title
Menu Attributes
Apache Solr
Open Calais
More Like This
Google Website Optimizer
2 Free Chapters + Bonus: Volacci.com/webinar
“...any Drupal shop should have on the shelf...” -Greg Holsclaw
“This is definitely a reference guide that any Drupal
developer or site manager should read and then keep
within close reach.”--Lance Loveday
“...you will have an arsenal of answers to tough questions
you're inevitably going to get from potential customers
regarding SEO and managing content.”
--Chris ShattuckBook: $35 ebook: $25
Drupal is the best platform on the planet
for SEO!
questions/feedback: @benfinklea / [email protected]
Conversions
3 Major Types of Visitors = 3 Different Conversion Goals
Remember: A Conversion is when someone visiting your site does something that you want them to do.
2 Free Chapters + Bonus: Volacci.com/webinar
Conversions
questions/feedback: @benfinklea / [email protected]
Visitors want to know:
Is this what I expect to see?
Does this look credible?
What does this company do?
Do they offer what I want?
What should I do now?
How do I contact the company?
It’s critical that the first page your visitor sees leads them down the path to conversions.
questions/feedback: @benfinklea / [email protected]
© Acquia, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Why On-Site Search Matters
Site evolution
User experience
Content utilization
Conversions
© Acquia, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Unlocking Content with Acquia Search
Built on Apache Solr
Faceted navigation
Content recommendations
No server infrastructure
Landing PagesPutting Content to Work for SEO
Targeted – Is this what I expect to
see?
Multimedia– Is it engaging?
Actionable– What should I do now?
Landing PagesContent Recommendations Will Drive Click-Thru’s
Credible– Is there more content
here to explore?
Valuable– Should I invest more
time?
Landing PagesUsing On-Site Search to Drive Conversions
Seamless– Static and dynamic
results tied to SEO action
Actionable– Focus visitor on
specific call to action
…/search/apachesolr_search/mountain
Landing PagesPutting Search to Work to Drive Conversions
…/search/apachesolr_search/mountain
Landing PagesPutting Search to Work to Drive Conversions
Predetermined content to focus visitor on specific conversion activity
…/search/apachesolr_search/mountain
Landing PagesPutting Search to Work to Drive Conversions
Query results help visitor assess content value across site
…/search/apachesolr_search/mountain
Landing PagesPutting Search to Work to Drive Conversions
Dynamic query filters focus visitor quickly on content that’s valuable to them
…/search/apachesolr_search/mountain
Landing PagesUsing On-Site Search to Drive Conversions
Tie block region to search query terms
– Using content top region
…/search/apachesolr_search/mountain
Landing PagesUsing On-Site Search to Drive Conversions
Turn search result pages into keyword driven landing pages
– Use your top keywords to increase conversions
…/search/apachesolr_search/mountain
Performance Matters!
Drupal test siteHardware:•3.2 Ghz processor•1.7 MB RAM
Site:•10,000 content nodes•300 millisecond page load speed
Drupal core search
Acquia Search
Query result time:
1.5 - 7.7 seconds
Query result time:< 500
milliseconds
Performance gain with Acquia Search3x - 16x faster
Subscription Level Capacity
Basic 10 Slices
Professional 25 Slices
Enterprise Unlimited
New Packaging for Acquia Search
Increased capacity with every subscription level
Get started for less than $30 / month
Google website Optimizer
A B
2% 98%
1000 Visitors
2.3% 97.7%2 Free Chapters + Bonus: Volacci.com/webinar
Installing Website Optimizer
Google.com/websiteoptimizer
Drupal.org/project/google_website_optimizer
New SEO Stuff You Need to Know About
Site structure just got very important
Site speed is a ranking factor.
Video is the New Text
Bahoo/YaBing/Yahoo gives up
questions/feedback: @benfinklea / [email protected]
What is a Conversion?
Breadcrumbs just got really important
Site speed is a ranking factor.
Pagerank Sculpting is dead
Video is the New Text
Bahoo/YaBing/Yahoo gives up
questions/feedback: @benfinklea / [email protected]
“What if I do all that and the site is still not making
money Online?”
Volacci SEO Program• We wrote the book on Drupal
SEO.
• Over 95% of clients achieve positive ROI within 1 year.
• We focus on both traffic and conversions.
• Track record of success - HP, Acquia, Amazon, Inc Mag., eBay, service companies, ecommerce, etc.
• Not time consuming (for you).
questions/feedback: @benfinklea / [email protected]
Drupal is the best platform on the planet
for SEO!
2 Free Chapters + Bonus: Volacci.com/webinar
Upcoming Acquia Webinars
• Thursday January 14th
–A Look Under the Hood at Acquia Hosting for Drupal Sites
• Thursday January 21st
–Integrating Drupal with Enterprise Back-Office Systems to Deliver a Best of Breed e-Commerce Site
• Thursday January 28th
–Preview of Drupal Gardens
Register Today - http://acquia.com/webinars
Landing PagesDownload A Copy of Ben’s Book Today
http://www.volacci.com/webinar
QuestionsFor more information, visit each of us at:– http://acquia.com– http://twitter.com/acquia– http://twitter.com/volacci
Contact us:– [email protected]– 888.9.ACQUIA
Contact Volacci:– http://volacci.com– [email protected] – +1.888.736.4306
Download a copy of Drupal Search Engine Optimization• http://www.volacci.com/webinar
Sign up for a free 30-day Acquia Network Trial– http://acquia.com/trial
Today’s webinar recording will be posted at:
http://acquia.com/community/resources/recorded_webinars