MASTERING THE MEGA-SITE WHOLESALE REDESIGN

BARON GINNETTI @baronginnettiDirector SEO & Content Distribution: Break MediaDeck Design: http://lubomiramilkova.com/October 4, 2012

IN THE BEGINNING THE WORLD IS GREAT

LIFE IS GOOD.

SILKY SMOOTH SEO MATRIX CHECKLIST

ANYONE INVOLVED IN THE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

PRODUCT MANAGERS

DEVELOPERS

QA ENGINEERS

WHO DOES IT HELP?

IT’S CHALLENGING TO SUCCEED EVEN WHEN PROCESS FLOWS ARE PERFECT

THEN THE WORLD CHANGES

NEW MANAGEMENT

LESS SEO AWARENESS

NEW PRIORITIES

COMPANY IS LESS FLAT

MISCOMMUNICATION

STAY CALM.

SEO

HUNDREDS OF DIFFERENT REASONS THAT YOU CAN GET LEFT OUT OF THE LOOP WHETHER IN-HOUSE OR AGENCY.

AND THIS IS A WORST-CASE-SCENARIO PROJECT PROCESS FOR A PROJECT… LET’S SAY SOMETHING SMALL: LIKE A WHOLESALE REDESIGN

REALLY HARD PROJECTS UNDER REALLY DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES

SO YOU’VE GOT A 5MM PAGE SITE IN THE MIDST OF A WHOLESALE REDESIGN ON YOUR HANDS AND YOU’RE LAST ONE INVITED TO THE PARTY.

WHAT DO YOU DO NOW?

BIZ NAVIGATION: SHOOT UP A FLARE

SOUND THE ALARM.

BIZ NAVIGATION: LOUD BITE-SIZE METRICS EXAMPLE

NEW VERSION OF SITE:

ONLY 5% OF THE CONTENT IS ACCESSIBLE TO SEARCH ENGINES.

CONTENT = TRAFFIC = $$

WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS? « WHAT WILL YOU DO? « WHAT DO YOU NEED?

OKAY… NOW THEY GET IT. THEY’LL FOLLOW YOUR

LEAD.

$$

PARITY

OVERALL GOAL

SITE VS. SITE AUDITAUDIT REDESIGN COMPS AS IF THEY ARE A LIVE SITEAUDIT OF EXISTING SITE

CONFIRM: PAGE SPEED MONITORING OF EXISTING SITE AND SET UP TRACKING FOR NEW.

CONFIRM: SERVER LOG STORAGE, BOT VISIT TRACKING

NEXT STEPS

# OF HOMEPAGE ACCESS POINTS/LINKS

# OF HOMEPAGE ACCESS POINTS/LINKS TO DIFFERENT

ACCESSING DIFFERENT CONTENT TYPES

AVG. CHARACTER COUNT PER PAGE

REQUIRED KEYWORDS IN NAVIGATION

NUMBER OF LINKS PER PAGE

NUMBER OF BOT ACCESSIBLE LINKS PER PAGE

CONTENT UPDATE RATES EXISTING VS. PLANNED FOR

NEW

RELATED MODULE OR OTHER MODULE POPULATION

RULES

ULTIMATELY PAGE LOAD TIME/TEMPLATE VS. TEMPLATE

ETC.. EVERY SITE IS DIFFERENT

NEXT LEVEL AUDIT: TEMPLATE VS. TEMPLATE

DEVELOP CORE SEARCH REQUIREMENTS INFORMED BY AUDITS & PARITY GOALSIMPLE CORE REQUIREMENT EXAMPLES:

PRODUCT PAGES MUST HAVE SAME NUMBER OF LINKS

RETAIN BREADCRUMB AND REPRESENT BY CATEGORIES

PAGINATION MUST EXPOSE SAME NUMBER OF LINKS/PAGE

RELATED ALGOS STAY THE SAME

LINKS IN MODULES LOADED BY ASYNCHRONOUS AJAX OR IN IFRAME MUST BE CODED THE SAME WAYLIFE SAVER.

YOUR BULLET PROOF “MUST DEVELOP” AND INTEGRATE

CORE REQUIREMENTS LIST

BIZ NAVIGATION: IT’S A BIG LIST: WHAT IF I GET KICK BACK?

BE PREPARED TO ANSWER EACH REQUIREMENT WITH SUPPORTING METRICS

IF THOSE METRICS CAN BE CORRELATED TO USER BEHAVIOR EVEN BETTER

DON’T FORGET ABOUT METRICS THAT CORRELATE TO NEGATIVE PAST EVENTS ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAD A STRONG CORRELATING CORRECTION

WHAT TO COLLECT?EVERYTHING YOU WISHED YOU’D HAD DURING TROUBLE-SHOOTING BUT DIDN’T

PREP FOR TROUBLE SHOOTING: METRICS ARCHIVING

DEEPER DIVE ON: INTERNAL LINKS ARCHIVING

TOP 100 TRAFFIC DRIVERS BY TEMPLATE

MIDDLE 100 TRAFFIC DRIVERS BY TEMPLATE

BOTTOM 100 (LONG-TAIL) DRIVERS BY TEMPLATE

DETERMINE: AVG # OF INTERNAL LINKS FOR EACH

DETERMINE: WHAT PERCENT OF LINKS ORIGINATE FROM WHERE.

SAMPLE RESULT

PERCENTAGES

REDESIGN: SEO PROCESSES

SEND WEEKLY BULLETINS (EVEN IF BAD NEWS) ABOUT EVERYTHING YOU CAN KNOW/QUANTIFY WITH RELEVANT EXECUTIVE TEAM MEMBERS

IF DEPRECATED CATEGORIES OR CONTENT THEN CALCULATE QUANTIFIABLE KNOWN LOSSES X% TRAFFIC, Y% SALES/CONVERSIONS

HIGH VALUE KEYWORDS IN NAVIGATION ARE GONE. WHAT ARE THOSE TERMS WORTH? CALCULATE AND SHARE..

BIZ NAVIGATION: SHARE BULLETINS

QA YOUR REQUIREMENTS PERSONALLY!

DON’T RELY ON THE BEST QA TEAM TO UNDERSTAND WHETHER YOUR REQUIREMENTS ARE WORKING CORRECTLY OR NOT.

QA YOUR REQUIREMENTS AFTER EVERY PUSH TO DEV STAGE.

SUBMIT A CHECK LIST OF “VALID” OR DETAIL WHY INVALID.

FOLLOW UP WITH REPORT IN PERSON

QA

PUSHING THE REDESIGN TO PRODUCTION

DON’T SEND OUT PREMATURE TRAFFIC UPDATES

SOCIALIZE THE EXPECTATION OF VOLATILITY

DON’T TROUBLE SHOOT PREMATURELY

WHEN TRAFFIC SETTLES… ACTIVATE ALL OF YOUR ARCHIVED METRICS

TO MONITOR « TO TROUBLE SHOOT « RINSE - REPEAT