Search Engine Optimization

brown bag for nonprofits

proudly presents the

Road Map

• Setting the context• Site structure• Site maps and Sitemaps• Optimize articles• Common mistakes

NPower Northwest

• Visiono A thriving community with high performing nonprofits.

• Missiono To strengthen the nonprofit sector by catalyzing innovation and

driving adoption of technology solutions.

Introductions

Stephen EggersHandsOn Tech AmeriCorp VISTAServing at NPower NWstephene@npowernw.org

Setting the context

Why bother with SEO?

• To get more visitors• To get more visitors that have mutual interests

• A cleaner, more structured site• A more accessible site

By-products of SEO:

Site structure

How is your site organized?

or...

Site structure

• Visitors and search engines like to have a sense of what role a page plays in the bigger picture of the site

• An organized directory structure is reflected in the URL• Allow for the possibility of a part of the URL being

removed 

www.npowernw.org/blog/5-simple-search-engine-optimization-tips www.npowernw.org/blog

• The site structure can also visualized with breadcrumbs

Home >> Blog >> 5 Simple SEO Tips

Site maps and Sitemaps

A site map is a human readable layout of the site

An XML Sitemap is designed for search engines to get a sense of the website

Site maps and Sitemaps

Example 1Example 2

The trick to SEO for articles

1.Write meaningful, useful, and unique content2.Compose helpful, exclusive articles 3.Express the purpose of your intent4.Use language to convey meaning5.Make impactful statements6.Communicate your ideas effectively 

Be honest. Write useful and unique content.

The trick to SEO for articles

SEO used to be all about keyword density

SEO used to be all about getting people to link to your site

Today's search engines are smart, and there are hundreds of factors that all go into play each time a user searches

Design your website and articles for your visitors, not for search engines

Optimizing your articles

• <title>Create unique, accurate page titles</title>• <h1>The header is very important!</h1>• <p>The first paragraph should

contain relevant keywords and explain why visitors would want to continue reading</p>

• <meta name="description" content="Alternatively you can use the meta tag to write a description and explain why visitors would want to continue reading">

Example:

From a visitor's perspective

Keywords:how-to, program, which language, first language, beginner, learn

Recap: What is important for single pages?

• The title• The initial header• The initial summary paragraph

• Useful and unique content

Common mistakes

Using images instead of text in critical locations, such as <h1>tags

Examples:     Cafe Royal     Google Cache     Jackson Place     Vision y Compromiso

Using images without alt text, descriptions, or appropriate file names

<img src="DSC_4280.jpg" alt="" />

<img src="saving-whales-puget-sound-8-8-2010.jpg" alt="A whale is found swimming around the Puget Sound in August 2010" />

<img src="savingwhalespugetsound1.jpg" alt="" />

Common mistakes

Relying solely on Adobe Flash, videos, images, .PDF's*, or other media to convey your message

Can be difficult for search engines to find and discover your content

Can be hard to view and access on mobile devices, tablets, screen readers.

Some require plugins or additional software or steps

Helpful resources

• Technical info and techniques to make sure your content is discoverable

• Evolution of search engines, an overview of how/why they work the way they do

• Lots of stats and numbers

• To diagnose and repair any crawl or index errors 

• To spot problems with your site• View keyword impressions/clicks

Any questions?

Is that it?!

photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/plasticrevolver/164351244/