SEO for Drupal

Neil Cameron

Neil Cameron 1/27 29 October 2009

http://ndev.co.uk
What is SEO?

The
op'misa'on
of
your
site
for
search
engines,

with
the
goal
of
achieving
a
high
page
rank
in

search
results


Neil Cameron 2/27 http://ndev.co.uk

What isn’t SEO?

•  SEO
≠
magic

•  SEO
≠
expensive

•  SEO
≠
difficult

•  SEO
=
contested


Neil Cameron 3/27 http://ndev.co.uk

SEO for Drupal
1.  The
Single,
Most
Important
Thing.

2.  URLs

3.  Meta
Content

4.  Duplicate
Content

5.  Crawlability

6.  Further
Info

7.  Ques'ons


Neil Cameron 4/27 http://ndev.co.uk

SEO for Drupal

1.  The
Single,
Most
Important
Thing.

2.  URLs

3.  Meta
Content

4.  Duplicate
Content

5.  Crawlability

6.  Further
Info

7.  Ques'ons

The Single, Most Important "
Thing

Step
1/2:

Create
original,
engaging
and
useful
content.


Neil Cameron 6/27 http://ndev.co.uk

The Single, Most Important "
Thing

Step
2/2:

Get
it
out
there.
Get
it
linked.


Neil Cameron 7/27 http://ndev.co.uk

The Single, Most Important "
Thing

Unfortunately,
Drupal
can’t
help
you.


Neil Cameron 8/27 http://ndev.co.uk

SEO for Drupal

1.  The
Single,
Most
Important
Thing.

2.  URLs

3.  Meta
Content

4.  Duplicate
Content

5.  Crawlability

6.  Further
Info

7.  Ques'ons

URLs
Bad:


Good
:


•  URLs
should
be
clean
and
descrip've.


Neil Cameron 10/27 http://ndev.co.uk

URLs
Modules:

•  Path
auto

– Allows
for
automa'c

genera'on
of
URLs

– Following
a
set
paZern


e.g.
[content‐type]/[author
name]/[content
'tle]


Neil Cameron 11/27 http://ndev.co.uk

SEO for Drupal

1.  The
Single
Most
Important
Thing.

2.  URLs

3.  Meta
Content

4.  Duplicate
Content

5.  Crawlability

6.  Further
Info

7.  Ques'ons

Meta Content
What
is
meta
content?


Neil Cameron 13/27 http://ndev.co.uk

Meta Content
Title:

•  Not
a
true
meta
tag
but
important
none‐the‐less.

•  Consider
using
different
'tle
for
content
and
meta

content

•  e.g.


David
Beckham
‐>
Top
English
Footballers:
David
Beckham

October
Meetup
‐>
London,
October
Drupal
Meetup
(seminar)


Neil Cameron 14/27 http://ndev.co.uk

Meta Content
Descrip'on:

‐  Make
sure
the
main
pages
(front,
‘landing

pages’
or
‘channel
pages’)
have
an
accurate

descrip'on.

‐  Make
sure
the
descrip'on
is
automated
for

other
content
pages.


Neil Cameron 15/27 http://ndev.co.uk

Meta Content
Modules

•  Nodewords

– Automa'cally
or

manually
configure
'tle,

descrip'on
and
keyword

meta
informa'on


Neil Cameron 16/27 http://ndev.co.uk

SEO for Drupal

1.  The
Single
Most
Important
Thing.

2.  URLs

3.  Meta
Content

4.  Duplicate
Content

5.  Crawlability

6.  Further
Info

7.  Ques'ons

Duplicate Content
•  Duplicate
content
can
cause
Sandboxing*

•  But
where
is
the
duplicate
content?


*
See:
hZp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandbox_Effect



Neil Cameron 18/27 http://ndev.co.uk

Duplicate Content
hZp://example.com/node/347
 hZp://example.com/path/to/content


hZp://example.com/node/347/
 hZp://example.com/path/to/content/


hZp://www.example.com/node/347
 hZp://www.example.com/path/to/content


hZp://www.example.com/node/347/
 hZp://www.example.com/path/to/content/


hZp://www.example.com/index.php?q=node/347
 hZp://www.example.com/index.php?q=path/to/content


hZp://www.example.com/index.php?q=node/347/
 hZp://www.example.com/index.php?q=path/to/content/


hZp://example.com/index.php?q=node/347
 hZp://example.com/index.php?q=path/to/content


hZp://example.com/index.php?q=node/347/
 hZp://example.com/index.php?q=path/to/content/


Neil Cameron 19/27 http://ndev.co.uk

Duplicate Content
Modules:


•  Global
Redirect

– Automa'c
redirec'on
for
“index.php?q=”,
trailing

“/”
and
“node/NID”.


•  Path
redirect

– Manual
redirec'on,
e.g.
from
legacy
sites


Neil Cameron 20/27 http://ndev.co.uk

SEO for Drupal

1.  The
Single
Most
Important
Thing.

2.  URLs

3.  Meta
Content

4.  Duplicate
Content

5.  Crawlability

6.  Further
Info

7.  Ques'ons

Crawlability
Make
it
easy
for
robots
to
crawl
the
site

i

•  Create
a
sitemap

•  Submit
it
to
Google
and
Bing

•  Module:
XML
sitemap
(warning:
buggy)


Neil Cameron 22/27 http://ndev.co.uk

Crawlability
ii

•  Use
clean
HTML
code
in
theme,
validate
as

much
as
possible
(validator.w3.org)

•  Ensure
user
entered
content
is
clean.

•  If
using
a
WYSIWIG
editor,
consider
‘HTML

purifier’,
‘paste
from
word
buZon’
or

educa'on.


Neil Cameron 23/27 http://ndev.co.uk

SEO for Drupal

1.  The
Single
Most
Important
Thing.

2.  URLs

3.  Meta
Content

4.  Duplicate
Content

5.  Crawlability

6.  Further
Info

7.  Ques'ons

Further Info
•  SEO
==
Scam:
(hZp://powazek.com/posts/2090
)
 •  Google
Webmaster
tools:
(hZp://google.com/webmasters/
tools/)

•  Drupal
+
SEO:


– hZp://pagerankandalexa.com/content/seo‐drupal‐page‐ •  Google
Analy'cs:
(hZp://google.com/analy'cs/)

op'miza'on


•  HTML
Validator:
(hZp://validator.w3.org/)

– hZp://'ps.webdesign10.com/basic‐drupal‐seo‐on‐site‐
op'miza'on

 •  Photo
credit:
(hZp://www.flickr.com/photos/'mcaynes/
– hZp://devbee.com/drupal_seo

 2734530841/)



– hZp://groups.drupal.org/search‐engine‐op'miza'on


•  About
Neil:
(hZp://ndev.co.uk)

•  Drupal
Modules:

–  SEO
Checklist
(hZp://drupal.org/project/seo_checklist)

–  Pathauto
(hZp://drupal.org/project/pathauto)

–  Page
Title
(hZp://drupal.org/project/page_'tle)

–  Nodewords
(meta
info)
hZp://drupal.org/project/
nodewords)

–  Global
redirect
(hZp://drupal.org/project/globalredirect)

–  Path
redirect
(hZp://drupal.org/project/path_redirect)

–  XML
Sitemap
(hZp://drupal.org/project/xmlsitemap)

–  HTML
purifier
(hZp://drupal.org/project/htmlpurifier)

•  Sandboxing:
(hZp://drupal.org/project/htmlpurifier)



Neil Cameron 25/27 http://ndev.co.uk

SEO for Drupal

1.  The
Single
Most
Important
Thing.

2.  URLs

3.  Meta
Content

4.  Duplicate
Content

5.  Crawlability

6.  Further
Info

7.  Ques'ons

Questions?

Neil Cameron
?
27/27 http://ndev.co.uk