SEO
For
2015:
Beyond
Links
&
Keywords
Presentation
Goals
Presentation
Goals
1. Specific
To
Education
Presentation
Goals
1. Specific
To
Education
2. Higher
Impact
Today
We’ll
Cover
7
Areas
Of
SEO
1. Setup
2. Local
SEO
3. Accessibility
4. Site
Speed
5. Mobile
SEO
6. Keyword
Targeting
We’ll
Cover
1
‐
3
Higher
Impact
To
‐
Dos
From
Each
Category
1. Setup
2. Local
SEO
3. Accessibility
4. Site
Speed
5. Mobile
SEO
6. Keyword
Targeting
1. Setup
2. Local
SEO
3. Accessibility
4. Site
Speed
5. Mobile
SEO
6. Keyword
Targeting
Set
up
Webmaster
Tools!!
https)
Use “canonical” version of site
(www vs non‐www, http vs https)
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/ and “Add a site”
(hint: try to use consistent Google accounts for all marketing – analytics, webmaster
Set
up
Webmaster
Tools
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35179?hl=en
The
Not
Provided
FIX
(sort
of):
Register
subfolders
as
“sites”
in
Webmaster
Tools.
Every “site” is the
same domain, just
Example:
Boston
College
–
www.bc.edu
http://www.bc.edu/schools/cas/
‐
Arts
and
Sciences
http://www.bc.edu/schools/gsas/
‐
Graduate
Arts
&
Sciences
http://www.bc.edu/schools/lsoe/
‐
School
Of
Education
Etc…
In Analytics, go
Click this – either you will be
connected already and you’ll see
data. Or follow the prompts to
Summary:
Your
Setup
To
Dos
1.
Set
Up
Webmaster
Tools
2.
Verify
Subfolders
1. Setup
2. Local
SEO
3. Accessibility
4. Site
Speed
5. Mobile
SEO
6. Keyword
Targeting
Implicit – Google “localizes” results based upon search IP address
A search for “health
science programs”
mixes in schools near
Local
SEO
Has
LOTS
Of
Ranking
Factors
From Moz’s annual study.
The
“Local
SEO
Ecosystem”
(15% ranking factor according to the study)
Verify
&
Maintain
3
rdParty
Listings
Moz Local
Can check for all listings that match school name + ZIP
You can then do the grunt work and update, or pay one of
Create
Unique
Map
Listings
For
Each
School,
One reason McCombs may rank here, is because they have a unique
This is actually encouraged by Google.
Use “Bulk Location Management”.
https://www.google.com/local/manage/
Step by step instructions here.
Summary:
Your
Local
SEO
To
Dos
1. Verify and maintain 3rd party listings
2. Create a unique Google Maps page for each department/entity 3. Link to that department page from their Google Maps page
1. Setup
2. Local
SEO
3. Accessibility
4. Site
Speed
5. Mobile
SEO
6. Keyword
Targeting
Accessibility
101
‐
Googlebot Needs
To
Be
The
Robots.txt File
Controls
Boston College is saying “no web crawler is allowed to look at the
But in Google’s Oct 2014 announcement, they state to not block
So they built a tool (in Webmaster Tools) to check this:
“Rendering” should look like your website – not like
this plain text/HTML version. This is a bad render and would
This broken page is especially bad because it has at least 13
Just a dumb SEO phrase that means “value from back links” or
sometimes called “PageRank”.
You can find these at scale with a tool like Open Site Explorer.
Summary:
Your
Accessibility
To
Dos
1. Don’t block access to CSS/JS and images with robots.txt
Summary:
Your
Accessibility
To
Dos
1. Don’t block access to CSS/JS and images with robots.txt
2. Find old broken pages with backlinks and 301 redirect them
Bonus Tip: Buy your developer a few coffees. And some donuts or pastry of
1. Setup
2. Local
SEO
3. Accessibility
4. Site
Speed
5. Mobile
SEO
6. Keyword
Targeting
Jon Colman (former SEO at REI) did this great page speed study
http://www.slideshare.net/jcolman/seo‐site‐speed‐and‐battlestar‐galactica‐searchfest‐
Improved crawl rate.
http://www.slideshare.net/jcolman/seo‐site‐speed‐and‐battlestar‐galactica‐searchfest‐
Content is crawled more often.
http://www.slideshare.net/jcolman/seo‐site‐speed‐and‐battlestar‐
Fixing
Images
Opportunity
Least
technical
speed
fix
Most
schools
are
weak
in
this
area.
Often
improves
speed
a
lot
Basic
rule:
Keep
images
under
200kb
in
file
size
for
absolute
biggest,
and
most
under
100kb
if
possible.
How
To
Find
Large
Images
Or download Screaming Frog SEO Spider (limited features for free)
1. Reduce pixel size
1. Compress – use ‘save for web’ in photoshop or free tools like
How
To
Re
‐
upload
Fixed
Images
Save image with same file name and re‐upload via FTP directly to
Summary:
Your
Site
Speed
To
Dos
1. Find large images with WebPageTest or Screaming Frog SEO Spider 2. Reduce them to under 200kb
1. Setup
2. Local
SEO
3. Accessibility
4. Site
Speed
5. Mobile
SEO
6. Keyword
Targeting
Whether
we
want
it
to
or
not…
YoY Growth
Of
Higher
Ed
Searches
On
Mobile
Source: Google Ed Search Analysis –July 2014
November
18
th,
2014
– Google’s
Biggest
Push
Towards
Mobile
Thus
Far
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2014/11/helping‐users‐find‐mobile‐friendly‐
What
Makes
A
Mobile
‐
Friendly
Site
•Text needs to be big enough to read by default
•Text needs to be big enough to read by default
•They don’t want users to have to “pinch” to see content
•Text needs to be big enough to read by default
•They don’t want users to have to “pinch” to see content
•Users should be able to tap the links easily
•Text needs to be big enough to read by default
•They don’t want users to have to “pinch” to see content
•Users should be able to tap the links easily
•Content size should fit the viewport
•No rollover or hover drop downs – mice can do this, but not fingers on a
Use
The
New
Mobile
Friendly
Test
Example:
Search
Data
For
Oxbow
University
Use
PageSpeed Insights
To
Get
Mobile
UX
Recommendations
You
Can
Now
Get
Those
In
Too*
*currently only Android apps
Really?
People
will
click
on
App
results?
“Fifteen percent searches from signed‐in Android users now yield
App
Indexation:
Step
By
Step
Instructions
Summary:
Your
Mobile
SEO
To
Dos
1. Use Google’s Mobile Friendly Test to find and fix issues
2. Use Google PageSpeed Insights to find and fix more mobile UX issues 3. Index your Android app for discovery in Google search
Summary:
Your
Mobile
SEO
To
Dos
1. Use Google’s Mobile Friendly Test to find and fix issues
2. Use Google PageSpeed Insights to find and fix more mobile UX issues 3. Index your Android app for discovery in Google search
1. Setup
2. Local
SEO
3. Accessibility
4. Site
Speed
5. Mobile
SEO
6. Keyword
Targeting
Best
Area
Of
Opportunity:
Title
Tags
Non
technical,
easier
to
fix
Current
weakness
for
many
schools
Teaches
modern
SEO
thinking
Some studies have shown that click through rate (clicking on the
title) of search results may be a ranking factor.
Excerpt of a study by Rand Fishkin at Moz: http://www.slideshare.net/randfish/mad‐
You want the title to:
•Have your main keywords
•Be relevant for the searcher
4
Rules
•
Relevance
•
Location
•
Brand
1. Relevance
Cleary
state
what
the
page
is
about.
Complete
the
sentence…
“Users
will
2.
Location
Tell
us
where
this
class/program
takes
place.
Be
honest
and
accurate.
“Worcester,
3.
Brand
4.
Length
Nowadays
keep
under
60
characters
(It’s
really
512
pixels,
but
characters
are
easier
to
count).
Use this tool to test pixel size: http://moz.com/blog/new‐title‐tag‐
Assembling
The
Three
Elements
•
Relevance
– Performing
Arts
Program
•
Location
– Boston,
MA
[Performing
Arts
Program]
+
[Boston,
MA]
+
[Emerson
College]
•
Relevance
– Performing
Arts
Program
•
Location
– Boston,
MA
•
Brand
– Emerson
College
Apply
those
improvements
across
all
academic
pages
for
sitewide
improvement
in
relevance
and
click
through
rate.
More
in
depth
on
keyword
targeting
on
page.
http://moz.com/blog/visual
‐
guide
‐
to
‐
keyword
‐
targeting
‐
onpage
‐
Plus
&
“Search
Plus
Your
World”
For schools: create content, on your site, that you can share in Google Plus,
For schools: create content, on your site, that you can share in Google Plus,
that uses keywords your target audience may search for.
•Things to do in [city]
•How to study for [test/exam]
•History of [subject]
Learn more here: http://moz.com/blog/using‐google‐plus‐to‐appear‐in‐
Summary:
Your
Keyword
Targeting
To
Dos
1. Improve title tags with relevance + location + brand 2. Improve title tags by reducing to 60 characters or less
1. Setup
2. Local
SEO
3. Accessibility
4. Site
Speed
5. Mobile
SEO
6. Keyword
Targeting
What’s
The
Knowledge
Graph?
Use
this
code
for
the
logo
<script type="application/ld+json"> { "@context": "http://schema.org", "@type": "Organization", "url": "http://www.example.com", "logo": "http://www.example.com/images/logo.png" } </script> Details here: https://developers.google.com/webmasters/structured‐ data/customize/logosUse
this
code
for
social
profiles
<script type="application/ld+json"> { "@context" : "http://schema.org",
"@type" : "Organization",
"name" : "Your Organization Name", "url" : "http://www.your‐site.com",
"sameAs" : [ "http://www.facebook.com/your‐profile", "http://www.twitter.com/yourProfile", "http://plus.google.com/your_profile"] } </script> Details here: https://developers.google.com/webmasters/structured‐ data/customize/social‐profiles
Summary:
Your
Knowledge
Graph
To
Dos
1. Set your logo
Summary:
Your
Knowledge
Graph
To
Dos
1. Set your logo
