SEO presentation - Megan McDermott
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Search Engine Optimization December 3, 2008 Megan McDermott Communications & Public Affairs Lauren Harrison Housing & Residences Hello! Outline Part I: SEO Basics 1. How search engines work 2. UW search tools 3. Defining and implementing keywords 4. The importance of links Part II: Technical Details 1. Changing URLs 2. Blocking search engines 3. Using SEO tools Examples How search engines work • • • • “Bots” follow links around the web Index URLs Revisit URLs periodically Google uses over 100 factors to rank pages • Most important: – Titles – Headers – Links Search at UW • Two engines: – “Old” search: Google – “New” search: Google results with Yahoo backup + people search, manual keyword index – Various other tools (IST, library, math) Why are the results like this? • Results are straight from Google/Yahoo • UW websites are often poorly optimized – – – – Poor use of keywords Poor linking practices Old pages left on servers Old URL’s not redirected or redirected incorrectly This is not good! I’ll do the best I can … Defining Keywords • If someone was searching for your page, which words would they use? • Which words do you want to rank highly for? • Which words should you rank highest for? • Create a list of keywords that best represent your website – think about different variables of your keywords What is this page about? Writing good headlines • • • • Always use your <h> tags Ensure your keywords are included in the headline Be clear and specific Different from journalistic style – short and sweet, not wordy and creative • Headings should compliment your <title> tags Writing good title tags • • • • • HTML <title> goes in the <head> section Displayed in search results Be specific without being wordy (max. 65 characters) Avoid giving more than one page the same title Use the keyword first, followed by the department, then University of Waterloo Example: Grad Housing – Housing and Residences | University of Waterloo • In Contribute: Format > Page Properties Keywords in page text • Keywords should appear in the page text – If your page is about Grad Housing then the term grad housing needs to be used in you text some where. • Less important keywords and variations of your keywords should be used in the text • Always write for people first, it needs to sound natural. If you think you have over-used your keywords in your text, then you probably have! • Don’t try to hide keywords Meta tags • Have become less important in search rankings • Meta descriptions are shown in search results • It is better to have no meta description than a description that doesn't describe that page Example: Keyword | Department – A brief description of what your page is about. (max. 150 characters) Images • Use the ALT attribute (useful in identifying what the image is about, but also helpful to the visually impaired) • Be descriptive. Use your keywords. Do not leave it blank! • Example: alt= “6 students sitting in front of REV” • Keep your keywords in mind while naming your images. – Good image name: rev-double-room.jpg – Bad image name: DSC00_003.jpg • This is not only good SEO practice, but good web building practice in general Friendly URLs • When naming your folders and pages try to use your keywords • Never leave spaces or special characters in your file names • To separate our words use a hyphen – • Do not use an underscore _ GOOD: housing.uwaterloo.ca/grad-housing/grad-application.html BAD: housing.uwaterloo.ca/grad_housing/grad_application.html BAD: housing.uwaterloo.ca/gradhousing/grad application.html Internal links • Links inside the site (e.g. navigation menus, in-text links) • All pages should be linked from somewhere • Doesn't have to be on the navigation menu • More important pages should be linked to more often or from more important pages • If a page is easy for a search engine to find it's easy for people to find too • Anchor text (words displayed for the link) is important for ranking Inbound links • • • • These are links pointing to your site from other sites Important for discovery and ranking Each link is a “vote” Where to get inbound links? Part II Technical details Where did that page go? What to do when URLs change • • • • Remember: search engines index URLs Don't change urls; try to plan ahead Redevelop new content at the same URLs Check for file not found errors and redirect using .htaccess – 301 Redirect means the file has been moved permanently – Be careful: bad code can bring down your site • Contact other sites linking to you Using .htaccess • • • • Linux/Apache servers only A simple text file Turn on hidden files in your file manager Redirect folder: Redirect 301 /folder http://yoursite.uwaterloo.ca/newfolder • Redirect single file: Redirect 301 /folder/file.html http://yoursite.uwaterloo.ca/newfolder/file.html • More information: – http://www.webweaver.nu/html-tips/web-redirection.shtml Blocking search engines • Search engines will index any URLs they know about • Including old URLs – Old pages should be removed from the website or marked as historical – Redirect URLs to the appropriate page • Search engines shouldn't find anything that isn't linked, BUT: • Once they know about a URL they will index it until you tell them not to Blocking search engines with meta tags • The meta noindex tag tells search engines not to include that page in results • Goes in <head> • Useful if you want page to be available but not included in search results <meta name="robots" content="noindex"> Blocking search engines with robots.txt • Disallow in robots.txt • Block all robots from the entire site: User-agent: * Disallow: / • Block all robots from a particular folder: User-agent: * Disallow: /folder/ • More information: http://www.robotstxt.org/robotstxt.html Blocking search engines If there's something you really don't want search engines to index it shouldn't be on the website at all. Removing pages from the search results • Google takes time to discover that pages have been deleted • If page has moved, use .htaccess to redirect to the new URL • If page is removed completely, either: – Wait – Block with meta noindex and/or robots.txt – Submit a removal request using Google Webmaster Tools Using Search Tools • Which pages are indexed? Google site:http://yoursite.uwaterloo.ca • Which sites link to me? Yahoo linkdomain:http://yoursite.uwaterloo.ca Using Search Tools • Google Webmaster Tools www.google.com/webmasters/tools/ – Sign up with Google account – Follow instructions to verify your site • Tools available: – – – – – – File not found (404) errors Search terms used Crawl stats Duplicate title tags & meta descriptions Remove URLs + more This is some of what I know about your site Template adjustments • Optional: make page title <h1> and site title <h2> or lower on all but the home page; ensure CSS is updated to match Examples • Bad: – Graduate Scholarships & Financial Aid – Admissions – Undergraduate Calendar – Course descriptions – Application process – ELPE – Promissory note • Good: – Exam schedule – Distance education + Many more! Popular search terms at UW 1. schedule of classes 2. bookstore 3. watcard 4. exam schedule 5. quest 6. important dates 7. map 8. library 9. housing 10. campus map http://web.uwaterloo.ca/search/results.php Additional Resources • Google Webmaster Guidelines: www.google.com/support/webmasters/ • Google Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide: www.google.com/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf • SEOmoz Beginner's Guide to SEO: www.seomoz.org/article/beginners-guide-to-search-engine-optimization • SEOmoz Google Ranking Factors: www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors Advanced Resources • Google Webmaster blog googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/ • SEOmoz blog www.seomoz.org/blog • SEO Book www.seobook.com/ • Webmaster World forum www.webmasterworld.com/
