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CRAFTING
 MODERN
 SEO Andrew Welch

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FOL LOW-UP+ nystudio107.com @nystudio107 SpeakerDeck.com/
 nystudio107

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Well, it’s a really big topic WHAT IS MODERN SEO?

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WHAT THE CL IE NT THIN KS IT IS

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WHAT DE VELOPE RS THIN K IT IS

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WHAT IT R EAL LY I S

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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?”

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But like my wife always says to me…

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IT JUST D OES N’T WORK T HAT WAY

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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

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LET’S JUST
 CALL IT
 “ GOOGLE” is Google, and the others follow anyway 86%

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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

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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

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DI ET PI LL S • Like diet pills, SEO promises shortcuts • What works is putting in the effort • Many SEO firms are

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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

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10 THINGS
 YOU CAN DO!

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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!

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CORR ECTN ESS 1 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO! • “Fetch as Google” in Search Console

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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!

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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!

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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!

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SITEMAP 4 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO! • “Sitemaps” in Search Console

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META TAGS • 10-70 characters • 70-160 characters • Make them unique, and make them reflect
 the content • 
 is completely ignored • These tags are only a suggestion! 5 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!

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LINKS • to avoid duplicate content • for multiple languages • 
 for discoverability/clickthrough • for Google SERP branding 6 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!

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LINKS • (yay, Google+) 6 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!

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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!

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FAC EBOOK • OpenGraph Debugger 7 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!

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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!

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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!

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TWI T TER • Use Twitter Card Validator to preview your cards 8 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!

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TWI T TER Other Social Media • Facebook and Twitter are the big two in terms of 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!

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DETAILS • Use https, it is a SERP ranking signal • Mobile friendly, Google now ranks based on its mobile index • Consistency between your content, tags, tags, and URLs 9 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!

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DETAILS • ALT tags for images (26.79% remember),
 and for accessibility • Use semantic HTML5 tags like , , etc. • Use a proper tag hierarchy, one

tag 9 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!

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DETAILS • tag hierarchy 9 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!

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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!

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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!

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STRUCTURE D DATA Microdata • Old, deprecated, and ugly 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!

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STRUCTURE D DATA JSON-LD • The new hotness 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!

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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!

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STRUCTURE D DATA So does it help with SEO? Not really. 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!

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STRUCTURE D DATA So does it help with SEO? Maybe. 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!

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STRUCTURE D DATA So does it help with SEO? It’s classified. 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!

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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!

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STRUCTURE D DATA Recipe “Rich Card” 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!

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STRUCTURE D DATA More Recipe “Rich Cards” (I like pie) 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!

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STRUCTURE D DATA Reviews “Rich Card” 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!

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STRUCTURE D DATA Corporate Contacts “Rich Card” 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!

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STRUCTURE D DATA SiteLinks Searchbox 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!

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STRUCTURE D DATA Articles “Rich Card” 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!

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STRUCTURE D DATA Article “Rich Pin” 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!

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STRUCTURE D DATA Product “Rich Pin” 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!

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STRUCTURE D DATA Recipe “Rich Pin” 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!

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STRUCTURE D DATA iOS Directions (from a visited website) 10 10 TH ING S
 YOU CAN DO!

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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!

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PHE W! (we covered a lot)

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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

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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

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FOL LOW-UP+ nystudio107.com @nystudio107 SpeakerDeck.com/
 nystudio107

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A NY Q U ES T IONS?