best practices for seo in drupal

2014 edition - penguin friendly!

L7 CREATIVE

seo never sleeps

“Focus on the user and all else will follow.”

“The perfect search engine would understand exactly what you mean and give back exactly what you want.”

Larry Page

this just in...

rich markupnatural languageover-optimization penaltiesmobile experiencepage speed

new developments in search for 2013-2014

seo basics?

meta tags?page titles?semantic markup?alt tags?

The “Perfectly Optimized” PagePage TitleDescriptionH1 (Primary Headline)

Images - Filenames & Alt Text

Body Copy

URL

seo strategy

what keywords do I want to rank for?what content will I be creating to help?what are the competing sites in my niche?

why drupal is great for seo

clean url structureelegant redirect handlingmassive flexibilityability to automate* important parts of content optimization

your #1 basic tool

your #1 basic tool

pathauto

pathauto: blogs

bad:blog/[node:title]

better:unicorn-news/[node:title]

best:unicorn-news/[node:created:custom:Y-m-d]/[node:nid]/[node:title]

page title

page title

page title

bad:[site:name] | [current-page:page-title]

better:[current-page:page-title] | [site:name]

best:[current-page:page-title] | [site:name] | [site:slogan]

redirects

xml sitemap

meta tags

meta tags

mediocre:[node:summary]

better:[node:summary]. [brief keyword-rich phrase appropriate for this content type]

help out your content admins!

where possible, “bake in” your basic optimization at a pattern / setting level for each content type

reca

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set

tings

your logo is not your h1

duplicate content!

commentssortsfacetspagerslogin / user pages

duplicate content!

unicorns.com/my-url?order=title&sort=asc

unicorns.com/search/apachesolr_search?filters=type%3Aall%20tid%3A132

unicorns.com/user/login?destination=/destination-url

duplicate content!

facets / sorts:noindex, follow

proximity search example

// Add custom "robots" meta tag for search results pages if ((arg(0) == 'take-action') && (arg(1) == 'search-results')) { if (isset($_GET['distance'])) { if (isset($_GET['distance']['postal_code'])) { $element = array( '#tag' => 'meta', '#attributes' => array( 'name' => 'robots', 'content' => 'noindex, follow', ), );

drupal_add_html_head($element, 'noindex_follow_robots'); } } }

Title for first page stays as-is.

For all subsequent pages, title formula should be: Page (n) of (x) for (title)

(n) is the current page(x) is the total number of pages(title) is the full page title of page 1 of that set

Example:Initial page: Unicorn Toys CatalogSubsequent pages: Page 2 of 9 for Unicorn Toys Catalog

paging

2013 developments

schema.orgstructured content

Type: MusicEventperformer startDate

doorTime

image

location

2013 developments

schema.org module

2013 developments

natural language vs. over-optimization penalties

write for humansoptimize for Googlebut not too much!

2013 developments

mobile experience2013 developments

On mobile search, Google is now taking your site’s mobile experience into account when ranking it

page speed2013 developments

Page speed is now a significant factor in rankings. Drupal can be slow when it’s not configured right. Be sure to optimize for performance!

Off-Page: 80%

On-Page: 20%

on-page vs. off-page

1. get your site right “on-page” so you’re not shooting yourself in the foot

seo checklist - get all your modules in place

configure your modules to help “bake in” your ongoing optimization

2. create share-able content and provide tools for your users to share it

3. look for ways to bring your users into the site so they will create and share their own content

4. seo never sleeps – keep informed of new developments, but focus on best practices – not the latest “gimmicks”

reca

p

thank you!

L7 CREATIVE

Harley OrionExec Producer + PrincipalL7 Creative

www.l7creative.com@l7creative