WordPress Wizardry: Tips, Shortcuts, & SEO Secrets for Tech - - PDF document
WordPress Wizardry: Tips, Shortcuts, & SEO Secrets for Tech Writers Alyson Harrold & Massimo Paolini Workshop Agenda WordPress Labyrinth The alchemy of themes, plugins & other CMS tricks Content Casting
○ The alchemy of themes, plugins & other CMS tricks
○ Casting spells via pages & posts
○ Charming bots for organic visibility
Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/karen_roe/7415396442
Strategy Analytics Technical User Experience
Strategy Content Brand User Experience
1. Alyson Harrold 2. Content & Brand Strategist at a Digital Agency 3. 20+ Years in Traditional Marketing & 10+ Years in Digital 4. Goal: Get ideas from other content creators & how online messaging fits into their strategies
company?
want from today?
Photo credit: https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4048/4353228184_09a2cefa72_z.jpg?z z=1
WordPress Backend
This is the interface you will use to navigate inside your WordPress website.
This also changes often. The image shows an administrator view, yours may be simpler.
Every WordPress Has a Theme
If WordPress is the foundations of your house, a Theme is the floorplan, wall color, roof, etc.
I also like to think of WP as a mannequin, themes as the clothes, and plugins are accessories. Will skip if nobody has Admin access.
upgrades
○ Patch Security vulnerabilities ○ Add features ○ Evolve with web behaviors
○ Keep WordPress and themes updated ○ Don’t modify core code ○ Use Child themes
Disclaimer: requires some technical skill & admin access
Keep WordPress and themes updated to take advantage of latest security plugs & newest features.
Will skip if nobody has Admin access.
Plugins
Plugins are like appliances in your
plugins that contain the features your site needs.
Will skip if no one has Admin access.
Evaluation Criteria
We won’t use plugins that are not updated often, or have poor reviews. Will skip if no one has Admin access.
1. View your content lists differently - CMS Tree View 2. Add menus to the editor 3. Security, blocking IPs known to be nefarious 4. GA, HotJar, etc Will skip if no one has Admin access. Photo Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pennuja/5363515039
Will skip if no one has Admin access. Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/stickergiant/3769771267
○ Relatively static pieces of content ○ Ideally navigate from menus
○ Topics tend to be timely like blog articles ○ Publish consistently, show date for freshness ○ Internal links support pages
Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/10154402@N03/15410499920
Pages
For evergreen content that help visitors understand your product/service.
Posts
For creating content like a blog post, news article,
information.
Interface
The editing interface is similar for pages and
similar to Word and is fairly intuitive to use. There are two views: visual and text.
This will change soon… The WordPress community is awaiting Release 5.0 which completely restructures the editing interface (e.g., content blocks, drag and drop features). This new interface is called “Gutenberg.” Here’s an article describing the interface: https://kinsta.com/blog/gutenberg-wordpress-editor/
Text
For the more technically minded, you can also directly edit code on the page or post. This can be useful to position formatting exactly how you want it.
Finding What You Need
Often there are many ways to perform a
and you’ll find what you need!
Categorize This
Categories are a way of
together into thematic bundles.
Magic Menus
You can add pages or posts to a navigation menu.
Note: You’ll need a menu plugin.
SEO
Search Engine Optimization
26
Search Engine Results Page
Serves up possible answers to a search phrase or question. Personalized for each searcher based upon IP and search history.
FYI - Google tests the SERP format often
in search query (aka keyword)
the page including image alt tags
structure
Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/belkut/4940893730
When in doubt, always err on the human side. Photo credit: Gideon Wright
Title Meta Description
Google is Testing Algo-Created Metas!
Google grabs if no metadata available Default settings of website SEO plugins Google is now testing metadata https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35624?hl=en
SEO Plugin
To make content
WordPress, you need an SEO plugin. We highly recommend WordPress SEO by Yoast.
WordPress SEO by Yoast; they have a free version and a premium version: https://yoast.com/wordpress/plugins/seo/
❏ Keyword (topic) ❏ URL ❏ Page Title (H1 in WordPress) ❏ Content (answer the question, use keyword & variants) ❏ Subhead (H2 or H3) ❏ Image Alt Text ❏ Internal & external link ❏ Title Tag (~50-60 characters) ❏ Meta Description (~150-155 characters) and first sentence
If you use this template, you’ve used the keyword 8 times before you’ve even started. Ideally, identify the keyword before writing the page or post. Also, know what variants are related. As a result, the primary keyword will naturally flow within the text. Include the keyword in one subheading. Visitors typically scan before they
them confirm the page matches their search query. It’s helpful to write the title tag and meta description last, as they create an implicit promise to the searcher. FYI - Google is testing algorithm-created meta; they often pull the first sentence on the page.
Headings & Subheadings
Shows hierarchy of
Subheadings are a way
important info and help your visitor scan for relevance.
Alt Tag
An Alt Tag is a way of translating an image into something the search engine can “see”. In one image, include the keyword as part of your image description.
Meta Description
The meta description is the text search engines display on a SERP. It’s primary goal to is entice a click from a user. It creates a promise to the searcher.
https://online-sales-marketing.com/online-sales-thru-live-chat-done- well/
Yoast
Simple to use Readability Grader Edit meta (via Snippet Editor)
○ Audience ■ Behavior, Geography, Technology ○ Acquisition ■ All Traffic, AdWords, Social ○ Conversions ■ Goals, eCommerce, Multi-Channel Funnels
Your GA account will give you insights into this data Google Analytics Demo account.
○ Clicks ○ Impressions ○ CTR ○ Position ○ Queries (keyword) on pages, site
Bing has a similar tool
Heatmaps
Software that visually shows where users go (or not) while visiting a page.
Recordings
Watch behavior on the
particular interest, frustration, or “blindness.” Can sort in various ways to better understand visitor flow through web pages.
https://www.semrush.com/ https://bloggerspassion.com/recommended/semrush
Alyson Harrold
alyson@spectrum-group-online.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/alysonharrold/
Massimo Paolini
massimo@spectrum-group-online.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/massimopaolini/
Slide Deck
https://online-sales-marketing.com/tc-camp-wordpress-wizardry-workshop/
Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeepersmedia/8046457830/in/photolis t-dg3czy-UTNMso
Photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kareneliot/2710464400