Download SEO is - Loyola University Maryland

Optimizing Your Site For Better
Search Results
April Arnold, Web Editor, Web Communications
Mike Tirone, ‘08, SEO Expert and Content Marketer,
R2Integrated
Kimberly Hall, Assistant Director/Web Content Manager,
Web Communications
Search Engine
Optimization &
Accessibility
LOYOLA UNIVERSITY MARYLAND
Content Owners Network Fall Event
October, 2015
SEO & Accessibility
SEO Overview
What is SEO?
How Search Engines Operate
How to Successfully Implement SEO
Successful SEO
Mike Tirone
•SEO Expert & Content
Marketer
•Seriously Energetic Optimist
•Loyola Alum
•Experience Seeker
•Self-declared Audiophile
About us
Stuff we love
Team
Seattle, New York
$32M
Guiding clients
Building deeper
Accelerating
Members
Baltimore, St. Louis
Revenue
through a complex
customer
marketing
marketing landscape
relationships
ROI
Silicon Valley
Analytics
and Insights
Our Difference
Design and
Development
Marketing
Technology Platforms
Search
Marketing
Marketing Automation
We develop digital experiences that intersect
with your customer’s buying behavior.
Web Content Management
Social Community Management
Media Management
Analytics
Customer
Experience
Management
Content
Strategy
Social
Marketing
Loyola & R2i
Four Years of a Digital Partnership
•
•
•
Digital Marketing Strategy
• Graduate Schools
• Undergrad School
Branding
Paid Advertising
• PPC
• Display
• Gmail native ads
•
•
•
Search Engine Optimization & User
Experience Strategy
Customer Experience Management Strategy
Sitecore Personalization Implementation
Search Engine
Optimization
SEO is “Empire Building”
What is SEO?
(And What it’s Not)
•
It’s not an overnight success agent
•
It’s not just keywords
•
It’s not just about rankings
•
It’s not something you can just
sprinkle on at the end
•
It’s not to be overlooked
Anything that benefits these two audiences can assist in SEO:
1)
2)
Humans – the users on the website
Robots – the search crawlers, spiders and robots looking at
the site’s backend/source code
93%
of online experiences begin with a search
engine
Search is the
#1 driver
of traffic to content
sites, beating social media by more than 300%
Why SEO
Matters
86%
of local business sales comes through
75%
of users never scroll past the first page of
70%
organic search
results
of the links search users click on are organic
SEO leads have a
14.6%
close rate.
Outbound leads have a 1.7% close rate.
Search Engine Landscape
“Search engines have two major functions:
crawling and building an index
How Search
Engines Operate
Providing search users with a
ranked list of the websites
they’ve determined are the most
relevant”
SERP = Search Engine Results Page
Search engines have hundreds of
algorithms to serve the most
appropriate results. These are a
general areas they assess:
What ends up
on the SERPs
(and Why)?
•
Geo-location
•
Search History
•
Keyword Context
•
Entity Search Behavior
•
Query Type (question
vs. statement)
•
Personalization
•
Device
•
Time
Importance of Content
& UX
Old SEO = backlinks & keywords
New SEO = more holistic concept of indexed websites.
Links, keywords are valuable but now more emphasis is
on Content & UX:
Content:
•
Unique concepts & keyword categories
•
Fresh, new content added to the site regularly
•
Engaging, resonating, shareable & snackable
User Experience:
•
Engagement rates: low bounce rates, high time on site,
high click-through rates
•
Mobile usability & functionality
How we interact with search engines
When do you use search engines?
Do you search differently on different devices?
(Mobile vs. desktop vs. tablet?)
Do you type a search query first or use
a bookmark?
Are your search queries unique or
auto-fill?
Real Life Search Example
From the Perspective of a Search Engine
From the Perspective of a Search Engine
Heading Tag 1 = “Item Title”
Page Title = “HTML Title Tag”
Meta Description = “HTML Meta Description”
Body Copy = “Body Text”
“Heading Tag 3 (H3)” = “Janet McDonell”
Technical
Content / On Site
Off Site
Mobile Usability
What are the main factors
that impact organic traffic?
What are some ways
we optimize for
search engines?
Page & URL Structure
Robots.txt & XML
Sitemaps
On-page Content &
Keywords
Crawl & Server Errors
Image Name & Alt Text
Multilingual
Capabilities
Internal Linking &
Anchor Text
Canonical Tags
Structured Data
Mobile Usability
What are ways that
YOU, as a Content
Owner, optimize for
search engines for
Loyola?
Page & URL Structure
Heading Tags &
Keyword Use
Image Name & Alt Text
Internal Linking &
Anchor Text
Ways YOU can optimize for search
engines? – Page & URL Structure
Page & URL
Structure
• Make URLs user-friendly & readable
URL structure Example A:
• URLs to have unique keywords
http://www.loyola.edu/admission/undergraduat
• Separate words with dashes in URLs
• Try to keep URLs under 100 characters
(with exceptions)
• Use all lowercase characters & avoid
query strings
e/about/strong-truths-well-lived
URL structure Example B:
http://www.loyola.edu/SchoolOfTheology/cours
e%20descriptions/id/4241?&q=courses
Ways YOU can optimize for search engines?
– Page Titles, Heading Tags & KW Use
Page Titles,
Heading Tags
& Keyword
Use
• Titles to be 50 – 65 characters
Page Title Example A: Loyola University
• Titles should always end with “ – Loyola
Maryland Public Safety Page
University Maryland”
• Meta descriptions to be 100 – 150
Page Title Example B: Public Safety –
Campus Police – Loyola University Maryland
character (MarComm responsibility)
• Both need to be unique to the page
• Don’t oversaturate your keyword use, use
variety to earn more keyword visibility
Meta Description Example A: Our mission is
to ensure safety on campus, maintain order,
preserve the peace, promote individual
responsibility….
Meta Description Example B: Find our Public
Safety resources, emergency phone numbers
& department mission for Loyola University
Maryland to protect you & the community.
Ways YOU can optimize for search engines?
– Anchor Text & Internal Linking
• Cross link between pages using rich
keywords as anchor text
Internal
Linking &
Anchor Text
Anchor Text Example A: For a full list of all
courses available, please click here…
• Link pages of similar topics
Anchor Text Example B: Please find our
• Use 2-3 keyword rich internal links on a
Sellinger School of Business courses list to
given page
• All links need to be absolute URLs
(containing the entire URL not a
shortened variation)
• Insert Alt Text with rich keywords (when
available)
help your class search.
Ways YOU can optimize for search engines?
– Image Naming & Alt Text
• Name all images and videos with
keyword-rich & description names
Image Name
& Alt Text
• Image file names should be descriptive
words, not numbers or query strings
Image name Example A:
Image name: “img452_Loyola.jpg”
Image name Example B:
Image name: “Loyola-logo-8x8-green.jpg”
• Alt Text: the “alt” attribute is used to
describe the contents of an image file.
Add this text to all multimedia
• Alt Text should also be descriptive but not
the same as the image name
• Keep Alt Text to under 60 characters
Alt Text Example A:
Image alt text: “school-of-education-syllabustable-of-contents”
Alt Text Example B:
Image name: “Sellinger School of Business
Syllabus 2015-2016 Guidelines”
Ways YOU can optimize for search engines?
– Social
• Connect dedicated social channels to
dedicated departments/sections of the
Social
website
• Create content that is shareable and
relevant that social media users would
enjoy
• Distribute content on social that links back
to the Loyola website
• Create a social distribution calendar (if
resources are available). Poor or
inconsistent social activity does impact
SEO
What Hurts Your
Rankings?
•
Duplicative content
o URLs
o Web content
o Page titles
o Heading tags
o Meta descriptions
•
Content lacking keywords
•
Empty Meta Fields
•
Keyword stuffing
•
iFrames/Dynamic content
•
Minimal or poor-quality backlinks
•
Stolen content
•
Non-mobile responsive sites
Education
Success Stories
General
Questions?
Thank You!
WEBSITE ACCESSIBILITY
Kim Hall
Assistant Director of Web Communications/Web Content Manager
What is Accessibility?
 Optimizing


your site for people with disabilities
People with low vision or blindness may use JAWS
People with physical limitations may use voice commands
 Giving
everyone equal opportunity to access the same material
Why is Accessibility Important?
 Helps
people
 Supports SEO
 History of high-profile lawsuits targeting accessibility
 Section 508 law and WCAG 2.0 guidelines
 University policy
Loyola’s Accessibility Policy
 Currently
undergoing review
 Policy covers websites, course materials, etc. (anything we create or
provide for public consumption)
 Expect to announce later this academic year
 Phased implementation
 Trainings will be available
How Do I Make My Sitecore Site Accessible?
 Marcomm
provides a template that we test and optimize for accessibility
 You ensure the content, images, and documents you add or edit are
accessible
 April and I will be auditing all sites and providing guidance to you as the
policy goes into effect
Add Alt Text for Images
Never Put Text in Images
Make Links Descriptive
Use Heading Styles
Incorrect Use of Heading Styles
Use Table Headers
Additional Content Guidelines
 Break
up content into short paragraphs and bulleted lists (only where
appropriate)
 Don’t overuse bold and italics
Transcribe or Close Caption Videos
“I am a killer” = I am Michaela
In Summary:
 Images


Add alt text for images
Never put text in images
 Content





Make links descriptive; never use “click here!”
Use heading styles, but don’t overuse them
Use table headers
Break up content into smaller paragraphs
Do not overuse bold or italics
 Video

Transcribe or Close Caption (CC) videos
Where to Get Help
 Accessibility


Contact April Arnold or Kim Hall
Visit www.loyola.edu/con
 Faculty

Support for Course Material Accessibility
Office of Educational Technology
(ext. 5305, Knott Hall 105, 106)
 General


in Sitecore
Accessibility Questions or Training
Technology Training Center (TTC)
(ext. 5600, Knott Hall 104, [email protected])
www.loyola.edu/accessibility
Questions?
Content Owners Network: www.loyola.edu/con
R2Integrated: www.r2integrated.com/
April Arnold, [email protected]
Kim Hall, [email protected]
Mike Tirone, [email protected]