brightonseo 2017 - seo quick wins from a technical check
TRANSCRIPT
@chloebodard | #brightonseo
301 REDIRECTS
ROBOTS.TXT FILE
OPTIMISATION SITEMAPS
Top Technical SEO Quick Wins
CANONICAL TAGS
@chloebodard | #BrightonSeo
+1,010%Organic transactions YOY
What Results To Expect?
● Amount of keywords ranking has increased by 90% over last 6 months
● This lead to a massive jump in transactions from organic traffic.
@chloebodard | #BrightonSeo
+138%Increase in organic goal
completions
What Results To Expect?
● Page 1 rankings for local terms.● Organic traffic is up 49% year on year● Goal conversion rate increased 60%
YoY
@chloebodard | #BrightonSeo
@chloebodard | #brightonseo
● New site?● Older domains?● URL structure changes?● Https migrations?● Relative links?
When Could You Have Issues?
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@chloebodard | #brightonseo
● Missing 301s● Redirect chains ● Broken 301s● 302s● Unnecessary Redirects
What To Look For?
@chloebodard | #BrightonSeo
@chloebodard | #brightonseo@chloebodard | #BrightonSeo
Site migration rushed - resulted in lots of redirect
chains/broken redirects
Redirect chains and broken redirects fixed
301s Case Study
@chloebodard | #brightonseo
● Set up 301s from old & 404 pages to new ones● Prevent redirect chains - URLs should 301 redirect straight to the final
version.● Update all internal links to point to the final destination URL to prevent
unnecessary redirects● Ensure site-wide 301 redirects are set up from non-preferred to
preferred versions (www, https & trailing slashes)● Ensure all redirects are permanent 301s and not temporary 302s
UNLESS the move is temporary
Redirection Tips
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@chloebodard | #brightonseo
Don’t just check and fix the redirects in your web crawl!Look way back…● Gather backlink URLs via tools such as Majestic● Gather previous domain URLs ● Gather top landing page URLs from Analytics ● If you’re not sure of the old URLs, check websites like Wayback
Machine which store domain website snapshots.● Gather 404s from Search Console
Consider old website versions too
@chloebodard | #BrightonSeo
@chloebodard | #brightonseo
Use Screaming Frogs List Mode to crawl your list of URLs.
Make sure ‘Always Follow Redirects’ is ticked in Settings. (Configuration > Spider > Advanced)
● Update Redirects which have multiple Redirect Chains● Create Redirects for key 404s (esp. Backlink or Landing Page 404s)● Fix broken/incorrect Redirects
Crawl your URLs
@chloebodard | #BrightonSeo
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User-agent: *Disallow:
Sitemap: https://www.yourwebsite/sitemap.xml
“Make use of the robots.txt file on your web server.”
Google Webmaster Guidelines
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● Disallowing full site post migration● Disallowing CSS/JS files ● Disallowing unexpected URLs● Not disallowing staging site
What Issues Could You Have?
@chloebodard | #BrightonSeo
@chloebodard | #brightonseo
● Site Disallow
● Unexpected URLs Disallow
● Disallowing CSS/JS files
What To Look For?
User-agent: *Disallow: /
User-agent: *Disallow: /index.php/
User-agent: *Disallow: */js/
@chloebodard | #BrightonSeo
@chloebodard | #brightonseo@chloebodard | #BrightonSeo
Robots sorted
Technical actions implemented
Robots.txt File Case Study
@chloebodard | #brightonseo
How to optimise your crawl budget?
1. Crawl your website.
2. Excessive URLs for users rather than search engines being crawled? i.e Add to Basket / Wish List / Parameterised URLsEg: /claim/?action=claim_listing&listing_id=33910 /claim/?action=claim_listing&listing_id=33911 /book-an-appointment/997 /book-an-appointment/223
3. Disallow these via robots.txt (after testing!)
@chloebodard | #BrightonSeo
@chloebodard | #brightonseo
Add pages irrelevant to search or that you don’t want crawled!
How to Fix It?
User-agent: *Disallow: /blog/tag/Disallow: /whishlist/
@chloebodard | #BrightonSeo
Option 1:Use the robots.txt tester in Search Console - this requires the robots.txt file to be actually updated.
Option 2:Use the custom robots.txt tool in Screaming Frog to test then and there.
Check the commands you are adding will work for the URLS you want to block.
@chloebodard | #BrightonSeo
How to test your robots?
@chloebodard | #BrightonSeo
For more info check out Liam’s blog on How to Improve Your Crawl Budget !
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Optimisation Quick Wins?
● Page titles● H1s● Meta descriptions for CTR.
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● Missing page titles/meta descriptions/ H1s● Duplicate page titles/meta descriptions/ H1s● Lack of keyword targeting● Meta tags improvement potential● Internal cannibalisation
What To Look For?
@chloebodard | #BrightonSeo
@chloebodard | #brightonseo
How to check?
● Crawl your site
● Look at overview report tab
● Download the SERP Summary report which you can then filter:
MISSING, DUPLICATED & LENGTH
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How to check?
● Main phrase at beginning of Page title?
● Main phrase/ variation in the H1?
● H2s semantically relevant?
● Close rankings for different pages?
● Organic traffic drop to one page & increase for a similar one?
KEYWORDS TARGETING
INTERNAL CANNIBALISATION
● Use SC Search Analytics report
● Check CTR - is rank high and CTR low?
● Do you have KW ranking on top of page 2?
@chloebodard | #BrightonSeo
METAS OPTIMISATION
@chloebodard | #brightonseo@chloebodard | #BrightonSeo
Page Titles, H1s & Meta descriptions Updated
+46% increase in organic traffic
since!
Optimisation Case Study
@chloebodard | #brightonseo
● Ensure ALL pages have a unique Page title, meta description and H1s.○ Targeted keyword should be at the start of the page title & in the H1○ Look at top rankers !!○ Seize improvement opportunities from SC○ Make meta descriptions engaging & with a CTA.○ Include KW & semantic variations in H2s
● Ensure page titles & meta descriptions are within recommended length (up to 61-63 characters now)
● Ensure each page targets a different phrase to avoid internal cannibalisation● Push pages ranking on top of page 2 to page 1
Optimisation Quick Wins
@chloebodard | #BrightonSeo
@chloebodard | #brightonseo
● Relative URLS● 404s and 301s● Non-preferred domain● Listing URLs canonicalised to the first page
Issues To Look For?
@chloebodard | #BrightonSeo
@chloebodard | #brightonseo@chloebodard | #BrightonSeo
Tech changes made and canonicals set to non preferred (http) version
Canonicals updated to avoid 301s and point to preferred version (https)
Canonical Tags Case Study
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How to check?
Run a DeepCrawl Canonical Report to highlight:● canonical errors, ● orphaned canonical URLs ● pages without a valid canonical tag
Use Screaming Frog to:● Identify canonicalised URLs ● Check for errors by exporting the Canonical Errors report
@chloebodard | #BrightonSeo
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● Use absolute rather than relative URLs● Make sure your canonical matches your preferred domain (http or
https) ● Update canonical tags if you migrate. ● Don’t canonicalise listing URLs to the first page - they are not
duplicate content, use rel=”prev” & rel=”next” tags● Canonical tags should not point to a 404 or 301 redirect● Add self-referencing canonical tags to non canonicalised pages
Implementing Canonical Tags
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9"> <url> <loc>http://www.example.com/</loc> <lastmod>2005-01-01</lastmod> <changefreq>monthly</changefreq> <priority>0.8</priority> </url></urlset
A standard sitemap as shown within Sitemaps.org looks like this:
● Does not improve rankings● Does provide a key list of your important pages to Google. ● There can be lots of hidden issues within your sitemap.
@chloebodard | #BrightonSeo
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● Errors in your sitemap, such as 404, 301s or canonicalised URLs
● Orphaned URLs that you may / may not want to be indexed ● Missing/inaccurate Last Modified Date● Missing key pages● Noindex pages & URLs blocked by robots.txt file
Issues To Look For?
@chloebodard | #BrightonSeo
@chloebodard | #brightonseo
How to check?
Use DeepCrawl to analyse your sitemap. Sitemap report will:
● Highlight any orphaned URLs to be linked ● Pages missing from your sitemap to be added ● Errors within its pages to be fixed
Use Search console to submit it & check for errors:
● Check for warnings & follow recommendations● Look at number of URLs submitted vs indexed
@chloebodard | #BrightonSeo
@chloebodard | #brightonseo
● Best type of Sitemap is dynamic - automatically updates!● Check for errors in your sitemap, don’t include 404, 301s or
canonicalised URLs● Beware of orphaned URLs that you may not want to be indexed ● Include an accurate Last Modified Date ● Make sure your key pages are in there & use child sitemaps to
separate sections/large list of URLs.● If multiple types of content, use additional sitemap types (image,
video & mobile )
Sitemap.xml Guidelines & Quick Wins
@chloebodard | #BrightonSeo
Choose Yoast for beautiful dynamic sitemaps, but...
Default settings include EVERYTHING that isn’t set to noindex!
● URLs you never knew existed like layout & slider sections? Likely to be in the sitemap.
● PPC pages that you’ve created but not linked internally? Likely to be in the sitemap.
● Old pages you’ve used but haven’t redirected? Likely to be in the sitemap
● Test pages you’ve made for fun? Likely to be in the sitemap
@chloebodard | #brightonseo@chloebodard | #BrightonSeo
Using Wordpress?
● Always check your sitemap settings, crawl your sitemap for the list of URLs that you’ll be submitting to Google.
● Any URLs you don’t agree with? Remove via settings or noindex them (will remove them from Yoast).
@chloebodard | #brightonseo@chloebodard | #BrightonSeo
Optimising Yoast Sitemaps
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Check out Michelle’s AWESOME Sitemap Guide!
@chloebodard | #BrightonSeo
BRAUMGroup 56
301 Redirects
● Don’t forget about 301s for
migrations & preferred version
site-wide rules
● Eliminate redirect chains, check
for redirects from internal links
● Don’t forget about old domains!!
Key TakeawaysTop Technical SEO Quick Wins (Part 1)
Robots.txt File
● Check & test your robots.txt file
● Optimise your crawl budget
Optimisation
● Optimisation should be unique, strategic, user friendly & tailored to competition
● Overuse SC’s search analytics report
@chloebodard | #BrightonSeo
BRAUMGroup 57
Canonical Tags
● Use absolute links for canonical tags
● Beware of canonicalising pagination links
Key TakeawaysTop Technical SEO Quick Wins (Part 2)
@chloebodard | #BrightonSeo
Sitemaps
● Beware of hidden errors within your sitemap(s)
● Ensure all important pages are included in the sitemap, that there are no orphaned pages, nor unwanted pages
● Use Last Modified date to notify Google of page updates