Drupal SEO: Improve Site Structure, Content, and Links for Higher Rankings & Increased Traffic!
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Presentation Transcript
Kristen Pol CruzTech, LLC (Freelance) Web, Drupal & SEO drupal@kristen.org Santa Cruz, CA drupal: kepol Drupal SEO
Improving your Site Structure, Content, and Links for Higher Search Engine Ranking Increased Traffic! Organic vs Paid Search Result = Marketing Message What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
First Position => Most Clicks Percent of Clicks Relative to 1st Position: 1 (First) 42.13% n/a 2 (Second) 11.90% 3.5x less 3 (Third) 8.50% 4.9x less 4 (Fourth) 6.06% 6.9x less 5 (Fifth) 4.92% 8.5x less Does Ranking Really Matter?
A LOT! • 200+ factors!!! • 12 changes to algorithm weekly • Don't worry about keeping up with search engine changes...worry about your content
Site Quality • Getting #1 in Google won't help if your site sucks! • Off topic • Outdated • Buggy / broken links • Confusing UI • Design your site for your users
(Some) SEO Factors • Content!(unique and on topic) • Page title <title> (mucho importante!) • Meta data (marketing blurb, robot control) • Keywords (chosen & used wisely) • Internal & external links (keywords/related) • Domain trustworthiness (age, links in&out)
Content • Relevant and unique • Timely/fresh • Well chosen and used keywords (don't spam!) • Link text is very important • How far page is from home page • Clean, readable links (with keywords) • Sitemap for finding content
Header & Meta Data • Page <title> tag!!! • Meta description = MARKETING message • Meta keywords – placeholder for your keywords • Robot meta data – nofollow, noindex, nocache
Connectivity • Link text is IMPORTANT • Inbound links (external links) • Outbound links (to trusted & relevant sites) • Internal links • Cross links – beware of link farms!
Techie Details • Clean URLs • SEO friendly theme • Valid HTML • No broken links • robots.txt – index control • nofollow – untrusted or unverified links • sitemap.xml – list of indexable pages
SEO Related Modules • Excerpt • Alinks • More Like This • Related Content • Featured Content • Glossify Internal Links • URL List • Custom Breadcrumbs • Pathologic • Automatic Node Titles • Menu Attributes • Links Checker • SEO Friend • SEO Checklist • SEO Checker • HTML Purifier • Google Analytics • Service Links • Nofollow List • RobotsTxt • Path • Path Auto • Page Title • Global Redirect • Path Redirect • Meta Tags • by Path • by Node Type • XML Sitemap • Search 404 YIKES!!!!!! http://www.kristen.org/content/drupal-seo-modules
Path – Clean URLs • Requires apache mod_rewrite • http://test/admin/settings/clean-urls • Off - http://test/?q=admin/settings/clean-urls • On - http://test/admin/settings/clean-urls
Path – path module • Optional core module • Enable • Edit page & specify in URL path settings text field • Use short, intuitive paths with good keywords
Path – pathauto module • Enable & Configure - site building > url aliases > automated alias settings • General settings – Update Action • Node path settings – default can be empty, patterns for specific content types • Edit a page - “automatic alias” will be checked (be careful if unchecking!) • Keyword relevant patterns => good URLs
Path – path_redirect • Enable • Configure pathauto Update Action • Create custom redirects • 301 redirects from old aliases to new aliases
Path - globalredirect • Enable & Configure – site configuration > global redirect • Will make sure duplicate URLs are handled with 301 redirects • node/1/ => node/1 • ?q=node/1 => node/1
Content - page_title • Enable & Configure – content management > page titles • Add patterns (site specific) • Check content types for text field • Edit page – enter page title – will follow pattern if specified • <title> tag is MOST important on-page optimization (marketing + search algorithms)
Content – nodewords • Enable & Configure – content management > meta tags • Tags to show on edit form (description, optionally keywords • Front page info • Edit a page and fill in meta tag text • Description shows up in some results (marketing!)
Tools - xmlsitemap • Enable (base module + submission and node) • Configure – site configuration > xml sitemap • Defaults okay • Run cron • Creates [domain]/sitemap.xml e.g. http://test/sitemap.xml • Provides list of pages for search engines
Tools – SEO Friend • Enable & Configure – content management > SEO Friend • Required, min/max length & words, duplicate checking • Pathauto checkbox (keeps track if unchecked) • Reports – reports > SEO reports • List of SEO modules installed • List of page titles and meta data and duplicates • Pathauto update action check • Open to new features!!!