Crafting Modern SEO

You've worked hard to design a beautiful website for your client. Now, learn how to utilize SEO best practices to ensure that its viewed by potential customers. We'll discuss what SEO looks like in 2017, and how to implement it using Craft as an SEO management tool. From basic meta tags, sitemaps and OpenGraph to the more esoteric JSON-LD structured data, A/B split testing and GoogleBot crawl budgets, we've got you covered.

Related articles:

Modern SEO: Snake Oil vs. Substance

JSON-LD, Structured Data and Erotica

A/B Split Testing with Nginx & Craft CMS

Transcript

1. CRAFTING
 MODERN
 SEO Andrew Welch
2. FOL LOW-UP+ nystudio107.com @nystudio107 SpeakerDeck.com/
 nystudio107
3. Well, it’s a really big topic WHAT IS MODERN SEO?
4. WHAT THE CL IE NT THIN KS IT IS
5. WHAT DE VELOPE RS THIN K IT IS
6. WHAT IT R EAL LY I S
7. SO WHY THE DI SCONN ECT ? • SEO firms tried to game the system • Google ain’t stupid • “Can you get us on the first page
 of teh Googles?”
8. But like my wife always says to me…
9. IT JUST D OES N’T WORK T HAT WAY
10. IT JUST D OES N’T WORK T HAT WAY • It’d be the longest “first page” in the world • If it were really that easy, everyone would do it • By definition there’s only one “best” • Misunderstanding SEO
 = unrealistic expectations
11. LET’S JUST
 CALL IT
 “ GOOGLE” is Google, and the others follow anyway 86%
12. WHY DOES GOOGL E MAKE BANK? • People type something, Google finds what they want • It’s not just relevant pages • Google knows people want
 a fast page • Google knows people want
 a mobile-friendly page
13. GREY AR EAS • Google is a black box • We can only go by what they tell us • Allows for some “reading of the
 tea leaves” • SEO is constantly changing
14. DI ET PI LL S • Like diet pills, SEO promises shortcuts • What works is putting in the effort • Many SEO firms are
15. SEO I S ABOUT POTE NTIA L • The best SEO in the world doesn’t guarantee anything • SEO works in conjunction with promotion, not in place of it • Your job is to set things up for success
16. 10 THINGS
 YOU CAN DO!
17. CORR ECTN ESS • Check your pages with W3C Validator • Don’t make it hard for GoogleBot
 to understand • Invalid HTML can cause more than
 rendering errors • “Fetch as Google” in Search Console 1 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
18. CORR ECTN ESS 1 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO! • “Fetch as Google” in Search Console
19. PERFORM ANCE • Google PageSpeed Insights score is a SERP signal • GoogleBot has a crawl budget • It will only spend so much time before it gives up • Faster site = more pages GoogleBot consumes 2 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
20. CONTENT! • Use the marketing technique; attract the bees • The website needs good, unique content • The more content the better, if it’s unique • Content strategy can be part of your proposal • “Inbound marketing” = have good content 3 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
21. SITEMAP • Tells Google what to crawl • Set a low priority for pages that rarely change (crawl budget) • Google parses more than HTML
 (over 20 file types) • Use an image/video sitemap;
 images = 26.79% of searches • “Sitemaps” in Search Console 4 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
22. SITEMAP 4 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO! • “Sitemaps” in Search Console
23. META TAGS • <meta name=“title”> 10-70 characters • <meta name=“description”> 70-160 characters • Make them unique, and make them reflect
 the content • <meta name=“keywords”>
 is completely ignored • These tags are only a suggestion! 5 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
24. LINKS • <link rel=“canonical”> to avoid duplicate content • <link rel=“alternate” hreflang=“xx”> for multiple languages • <link rel=“amphtml”>
 for discoverability/clickthrough • <link rel=“publisher”> for Google SERP branding 6 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
25. LINKS • <link rel=“publisher”> (yay, Google+) 6 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
26. FAC EBOOK • OpenGraph lets you choose how your
 branding appears • Like meta tags, you can define a title,
 and a description • Image is critical; 1200 x 630 min,
 1.9:1 aspect ratio, 8mb max size • Validate using the OpenGraph Debugger 7 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
27. FAC EBOOK • OpenGraph Debugger 7 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
28. TWI T TER • Twitter tags let you add branding to any Tweet with your URL • Like meta tags, you can define a title,
 and a description • Image is critical; depends on the type of Twitter card, 1mb max for both 8 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
29. TWI T TER • Summary Card = 120 x 120 pixels min • Summary Card with Large Images
 = 280 x 150 pixels min 8 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
30. TWI T TER • Use Twitter Card Validator to preview your cards 8 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
31. TWI T TER Other Social Media • Facebook and Twitter are the big two in terms of <meta> tags • Other sites like Pinterest, Slack, etc. also read the Facebook and Twitter tags • So get the big two right, and you’re halfway home 8 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
32. DETAILS • Use https, it is a SERP ranking signal • Mobile friendly, Google now ranks based on its mobile index • Consistency between your content, <h> tags, <meta> tags, and URLs 9 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
33. DETAILS • ALT tags for images (26.79% remember),
 and for accessibility • Use semantic HTML5 tags like <article>, <summary>, etc. • Use a proper <h> tag hierarchy, one <h1> tag 9 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
34. DETAILS • <h> tag hierarchy 9 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
35. STRUCTURE D DATA • Humans are good at context; computers are not • What does “Avatar” mean as a headline? • Structured Data lets you tell Google what something is • Google can integrate this data into its
 “Knowledge Graph” 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
36. STRUCTURE D DATA What is Structured Data? • schema.org defines the vocabulary
 for Structured Data • So everyone knows what we’re talking about • Structured Data can be represented
 in several ways 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
37. STRUCTURE D DATA Microdata • Old, deprecated, and ugly 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
38. STRUCTURE D DATA JSON-LD • The new hotness 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
39. STRUCTURE D DATA Advantages of JSON-LD • Browsers completely ignore it, bots digest it • It isn’t intermingled with HTML code
 and is easily generated • Google adopted it in 2015 and is using it exclusively for new features • Apple and other titans have adopted it 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
40. STRUCTURE D DATA So does it help with SEO? Not really. 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
41. STRUCTURE D DATA So does it help with SEO? Maybe. 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
42. STRUCTURE D DATA So does it help with SEO? It’s classified. 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
43. STRUCTURE D DATA What it does • Helps Google understand your page,
 rather than guessing • Not a ranking signal yet • Gives you “Rich Cards”/“Rich Snippets”
 on SERP • Used to specify gated/subscription content
 to Google • Is used in iOS 10 and 11 for maps and more 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
44. STRUCTURE D DATA Recipe “Rich Card” 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
45. STRUCTURE D DATA More Recipe “Rich Cards” (I like pie) 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
46. STRUCTURE D DATA Reviews “Rich Card” 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
47. STRUCTURE D DATA Corporate Contacts “Rich Card” 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
48. STRUCTURE D DATA SiteLinks Searchbox 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
49. STRUCTURE D DATA Articles “Rich Card” 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
50. STRUCTURE D DATA Article “Rich Pin” 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
51. STRUCTURE D DATA Product “Rich Pin” 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
52. STRUCTURE D DATA Recipe “Rich Pin” 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
53. STRUCTURE D DATA iOS Directions (from a visited website) 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
54. STRUCTURE D DATA Doesn’t matter if it helps SEO! • Structured Data is being adopted in a big way • It’s powering a whole lot of content • It’s driving SERP click-throughs with more appealing results • Many businesses are at a severe disadvantage if they don’t use it 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!
55. PHE W! (we covered a lot)
56. MAKE I T HA PPEN • Build it in to client proposals • You are providing extra value • Use tools like SEOmatic or Sprout SEO • Take business away from “SEO” companies • Remember, SEO is potential for marketing
 to tap into
57. TAKEAWAY • Make it correct • Make it fast • Have a content strategy • Implement technical SEO • Use JSON-LD Structured Data • Take business away from SEO firms
58. FOL LOW-UP+ nystudio107.com @nystudio107 SpeakerDeck.com/
 nystudio107
59. A NY Q U ES T IONS?