I also spoke on how to not only inoculate yourself from the major updates at Google, but to go beyond that. To generate significant organic search traffic through other means.

Rather than embedding my deck over on SlideShare or DocStoc, I prefer to keep all my content local.  No disrespect to those fine services. Just that my content is my content, ya know?  And here I can present it to you without ads, or without having to pay them a fee to have no ads.

But I get to do even more.  I get to provide you not only the slides I used, but the notes I spoke from.  That’s a significant bonus to you because a slide deck by itself is pretty boring right? And I can even skip the intro slides and the “why I’m so great, you should respect what I’m saying” slide

So here, for your viewing pleasure, I present my Google Survivor tips presentation.

• Topic: Google Survivor Tips
• Slides: 24
• Presentation Length: 18 Minutes

When I was gathering this data, I reviewed sites that I’d coordinated the SEO on and sites that came to me after, so it’s a pretty good sampling of data.  Most interesting is the fact that while these sites had over 7 million pages indexed at Google, the sites NOT inoculated only had a tiny fraction of their pages indexed at Bing – I’ll touch on reasons for that in this presentation.

There are 2 kinds of SEO

And I’m not talking about “the hat which shall remain nameless”

I’m talking about Myopic SEO and Sustainable SEO.

SEO that’s got tunnel vision, and SEO that sees the bigger picture.

Here’s an example of a few sites that came to me after Panda.

Note how in two of these visitor trending snapshots, the sites took a significant hit from Google’s May Day update, and were subsequently hammered during the Panda cycle.

Personally, when I studied the May Day update and Caffeine, I saw the writing on the wall – and in fact, I spent several months inoculating my own client sites against what I knew was coming this year.  (Note – my client sites were NOT negatively impacted, however all indications from that update were that Google was turning up the heat in a big enough way that it meant bigger changes were coming.

Here’s trending charts from three of my pre-Panda clients.

The first launched shortly before last year’s May Day update and has been consistently performing ever since.

The middle one is for a seasonal site, with ups and downs reflecting those trends.

All three are great examples of sites properly optimized with Sustainable SEO.

So Lets Look at Myopic SEO

Several common factors  come up every time I see a site that was given the “Myopic” SEO treatment.  Either by a consultant or agency, or a site owner who “thinks” they know what SEO is.

Sometimes a site  has only a couple of these problems.  Most of the time, they’ve got nearly all of them.

What is Sustainable SEO?

Tight Topical Focus.  Clearly Seeded on and off site

And it considers User Experience.    Not YOU – You’re not the user.

And Diversity in what you do.  Or you create False Patterns

Patterns are everything.   Pandas  LOVE False Patterns

Here’s a great example of Myopic SEO

This is a case of Internal Link Poisoning.

Look at all them links.  Everywhere.  About Everything.

No Topical Focus on this page. The “main content area” is a tiny box of text surrounded by a sea of confusion.

And Link Poisoning causes Algorithms to Vomit.

Here’s a main category page from that same site.

The page was sliced in half for this presentation because it’s too long for one slide.

Note the “main content area” in that tiny box on the left (upper) portion of the page.

Again, it’s lost in a sea of links going everywhere imaginable on the site.

They’re confusing to users.

They overwhelm the senses.  Of Users And Search Algorithms.

Here’s another site that’s a great example of Myopic SEO.  Again, this is one page, split in two.

There’s just too much going on here that has nothing to do with the topical focus of this specific page.

And no effort went into getting comments, user generated content, on this one (or the majority of content on the site).

All the other unrelated stuff causes user and search confusion.

Here’s that same page cleaned up.

Much more main content.

Heavily Promoted User Generated Content.

Fewer Ads.

Which bring MORE clicks now.

Now it’s a Happy Page.

This is a page on a professional services site.  Note how there are NO Ads.

If you have a professional services site, there is no legitimate reason to have ads.

Best practices Structure all around

Section Specific Sub-Navigation is really important

Breadcrumbs confirm topical relationships

Lots of High Quality Content

Myopic SEO Inbound Links have ugly patterns

Here’s one where it’s mostly BRAND related anchors.

And the keyword anchors are really weak choices.

Which means you’re missing a lot of people who don’t know your brand

And this profile doesn’t match Google on-site understanding of what you’re site’s about.

It’s a disconnect.  Myopic.

This link profile is no better.

Look at those Ratios of Links to Root Domains.

High Link to Root Ratios are  BAD SEO.

Too many links coming from individual domains

If there’s a lot of them, it’s an indication you may be buying links.

Sustainable SEO requires better link profiles.

More diversity of brand, keyword and generic anchor text.

And much tighter Link to Root Ratios.

You can have SOME high ratios – for example – I blog.  A lot.  So I’ve got a lot of links from Search Engine Journal for example.

Every bio in every one of those articles, plus some in-content links – those are natural, so it’s valid to have a high ratio there.

Except it shouldn’t be the majority of your inbound link profile.

Because that’s not natural.

Sustainable SEO is so important to understand.

Get it and you’ll  not only ride the Google  Roller Coaster

You’ll get more visits.

Better Visits.

And more visits from other places

And more sales.

So Remember- only MYOPIC SEO is stuck in the Google Mud.

SUSTAINABLE SEO sees a bigger world out there.

With lots of opportunity from places appropriate to your market.

Maybe there’s location specific opportunities.

Or industry specific.  They’re out there.

Are you an adventurer, or are you a marketing wallflower?

Here’s some stats on sites I audited, comparing the quality of their SEO.

ODD, Isn’t ?

Myopic SEO caused sites to have  between 10% & 16% traffic from other search.

Oh Look.

Sustainable SEO brings between 20% and 49% of its traffic from other places

And that’s not cannibalized from Google.

It’s IN ADDITION TO Google.

If you’ve been stuck in the mud with Myopic SEO, you’d be surprised to know that Bing has a preference for inbound links that come from other sites Bing thinks are authoritative.  Which means that it’s good to take a look so that at least some of your inbound links come from sites that are actually ranking in Bing, not just Google.

Remember that the sites I studied had only 10% of their pages indexed in Bing.  – Actually some sites have MORE pages indexed in Bing than Google.  So don’t assume.

And Bing has a more difficult time discovering content without your help.

So take the time to submit those sitemap.xml files to Bing.  You’ll be glad you did.

And when you have strong site architecture, Bing is better able to index more pages as well.

Bing’s not just looking for “Likes” in social .  They want to see engagement.

Engagement = authority.

Let’s Talk About the importance of a variety of Anchor Phrases.

Look how easy it is to get many more pages indexed in Bing .

Again, this is just MY experience, and what I’ve found in my own audits.

It’s pretty consistent though.

So be sure to get more diversity in your anchor text.

And point it to the right content on your site.

Laser focus where those inbound links point to for topical relevance when you can.

And spread the anchor text love!

With Sustainable SEO, you need to be forward thinking.

It’s critical.  Because the search engines are only going to continue to care more about how they determine searcher intent AND Site owner intent.

People who are stuck in the mud see one thing or hear about one technique

And think

OMG  This Is The Answer To My Prayers….

Or they encourage bad business decisions.

Like too many ads on a page.

Sustainable SEO Requires Thinking Outside The Box

And planting a listening device in Matt’s Office.

And hires psychics to figure what Google and Bing will do next.

Seriously though – it’s like how I was able to realize that May Day and Caffeine were warning signs that Panda was coming.

Through the rest of this year and beyond, Google and bing are going to work to get these signals even more highly tuned.

So pay attention to these considerations when you’re doing SEO or auditing a site’s current optimization.

Sitting on the myopic couch has got to  end.

Your aunt Sally’s getting worried.

Because  search engines suck at evaluating content   And relationships

But Schema.org changes the paradigm.

Search engines are finally admitting in a HUGE way, they need our help.

So don’t wait til 2012

Get with the Schema Program this year.

And you’ll be  a winner in 2012.

AFTER CONFERENCE NOTE

I created this last slide the day I learned about Schema.  A week before the presentation.  I tweeted about Schema, referring to it as a paradigm shift. And I drilled it as a factor during that night’s #SEOChat.

And before flying up to Seattle, I wrote an SEJ article focused specifically on my prediction that Schema.org markup would be a ranking factor in 2012, and that article went live on the first day of the conference.

The next morning, before my presentation, Stefan Weitz, Head of Search at Microsoft, talked about Schema.  And how it’s going to help them understand site owner intent more.

Which means they’ll be able to better match user intent to site content intent.

And that means it WILL be a ranking factor.

At the end of his keynote, I went up to him and we talked about it.

And we were in complete agreement that it’s amazing there are so many people who don’t yet accept Schema is both here to stay AND that it’s going to be a ranking factor.

Maybe it won’t be.  Maybe it will fail to get wide implementation.  Maybe lightening will strike the same place six times.

You never know.

Me, I’m going with it.

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Manu Sporny, W3C’s Chair of the RDFa group, read this article and provides a great response in the comment thread, to which I responded. So be sure to read the comments after reading the article.

________________________________________________

In an ideal world of “everything is free”, crowd-sourcing, and W3C standards, all major decisions that affect the masses should only be decided by consensus of the masses.  That’s a concept that, in regard to the evolution of the web, needs to be seen for what it is.  Fantasy. It’s not reality by any stretch of the imagination.

Schema.org was long overdue, because there were too many competing choices and the search engines desperately need help in the process of identifying quality content.  And by collaborating on the Schema model, the big three unilaterally set the stage for a major step toward that cleansing, in a way that traditional “open” standards could never do.

Tonal Disclaimer

This is one of my harshest articles in a while.  Some of you may get really upset at Alan going so dark on you.  Well, let’s just say that this is an article I believe would not have as much of an impact if I sugar coated it.  It’s an opportunity for some of you to pause and open your eyes.  And if you do, I also believe you’re going to thank me for it afterward.

Giddy With Laughter

When Schema was first going viral on Twitter, I jumped over there to see what the big 3 came up with.  And within a few minutes, it was crystal clear to me that we’re seeing a paradigm shift in the search industry unfold before our eyes.  As imperfect as this first iteration is, it solves so many problems that I was giddy with laughter.

I immediately sent a directive to my agency client’s dev teams – Schema.org – read it, learn it, implement it.  No arguments. No delay.

I then tweeted the urgency and the opportunity before the search community that night, during #SEOChat.  And then wrote an article for Search Engine Journal entitled “Anticipating SEO in 2012 – Competitive Advantage“.

In that article, which went live while I was up at SMX Advanced,  I communicated how I saw a situation where people who get with the Schema program are going to have a competitive advantage.  Because, in my opinion (at the time it was JUST an opinion – today I KNOW it will be), Schema is going to be a ranking factor for organic search.

Searcher Intent, By Itself, Is Half A Pie

Up at SMX Advanced this past week, I was on the Google Survivor Tips Panel.  And as part of my prep for that panel, I’d read Eric Enge’s interview of Stefan Weitz, Director of search at Microsoft.  In that article, Stefan described how they’re moving from reading words on pages as if they’re nouns, to a time in the not-distant future where they’re going to start reading them and interpreting them as though they’re verbs.

What that’s about is the need to better understand the intent of the site owner in what they’re communicating their product or service offerings are about.  Which, if successful, will allow the engines to better match that data with searcher intent.

And from that interview, it was clear to me already that people are going to have to do a better job at being crystal clear on the intent of their site’s message. Which I already knew. Because most of the sites I audit turn out to do a TERRIBLE job of communicating their highly refined intent.

Because it’s usually not very refined at all.  And with a plethora of coding methods out there, and no agreement on standardized solutions, sites struggle to communicate this.

Along Comes Schema.org – The Other Half Of The Intent Pie

During that initial review I did of Schema, Stefan’s words came back to me in the blink of an eye – here, in this newly launched system, was a very powerful way for sites to better communicate their intent! All the way down to the granular level, if you execute properly.  And not just in headers and off-page stuff.  We’re talking the beef of any web site – the core content.

Confirmation – It’s Going To Be A Ranking Factor

On the last day of SMX, the morning keynote (just before my session), featured Stefan Weitz.  He talked about Schema.org, and how it’s going to help the search engines understand intent so much more.  And when it came time for taking questions from the audience, I asked if my seeing the connection between his interview and Schema had been accurate, he said yes – absolutely.

And when asked if Schema was a ranking factor, he said not initially.  But it will.

After the keynote, I went up and spoke to Stefan briefly – and we shared a laugh about how obvious it should be that it’s going to be a factor and that some people just don’t get it.  Which was a bonus for me, because, as you can see from the image above, it was the very last slide in my presentation deck.  And having that slide perfectly matched by the morning keynote speaker just rocked my world

Angry Birds Flapping Their Wings Frantically – Fighting The Prevailing Winds

While some people got it, as I did, right away – like Aaron Bradley over at SEO Skeptic, many in our community just found another reason to rant. With the general tone this time being “wait and see” or “we already have microformats, RDFa, etc. – why do we need search engines dictating to us?” – and that’s the kicker.  It’s a typical reaction to change that’s so significant, so massive, that it’s unsettling.

And of course, since it’s something that the big 3 came out with, it’s another reason to hate on the big 3.  Evildoers, that they are. “What about the little guy, who’s going to be at an even bigger disadvantage?” “Oh why can’t we just do what we want?” “Why should I have to change?” “The only reason they’re doing it is to scrape our content”…

Birds of a Feather…

And as soon as this whole thing started really spreading, developers far and wide started screaming.  Not all – some saw the blessing that this really is. Yet many cried foul.  Insulted.  Put off.  Angry that they’re not going to be allowed to continue doing whatever the heck they please anymore.

Myopic Thinking Rears Its Ugly Head

In my presentation at SMX Advanced, I spent the majority of my time (a very generous 18 minutes, thank you very much Danny Sullivan!), I showed comparisons of two types of SEO.

And I wasn’t referring to “the hat that shall remain nameless”.

I was talking about Myopic SEO and Sustainable SEO.

To me, Myopic SEO is stuck in the mud.  It’s limited in its vision.  It’s a major hindrance to sites gaining maximum recognition for their content. Which means it falls way short when seen through the eyes of the search algorithms.

You remember those.  The processes by which search engines determine whether your content is the most relevant for a specific search.

Well, anyhow- some people are all up in arms, railing against Schema.org, wanting to “take back our web“.  Yes, that’s right. Manu Sporny, the Chair of the W3C group that created RDFa, wants to FIGHT BACK. Read his article.  Then come back.  But first, be sure to put down your coffee before reading his article,  else you spit coffee all over the place laughing.

Manu Sporny, I Feel Your Pain.

Look, I really understand why someone who spent years of his life championing one of several alternative markup solutions would be so upset.

RDFa was first proposed in 2004.  It took three years just to get to the first public working draft.

Another year to reach recommendation status.

That’s four years just to reach recommendation status!

As the Chair of the group, Manu probably has had more sleepless nights than many people experience in a lifetime.  What with all the bickering, and hemming and hawing, that’s inherent to the 20th Century methods required by W3C protocol, and of course, due to the fact that many people who participate in “open” standards have a hidden agenda, which gums up the process.

Then there’s archetypal reality in play – get ten code monkeys in a room, and you’ll get 14 “solutions” for a single problem. Throw a few Project Managers into the mix, a couple UX people, and some corporate spies forced to participate at the directive of their suit-and-tie employer, on the premise that “we have to have a say in this”…  Yeah – it becomes a long, slow, and completely bogged down process.

Except there’s a problem with RDFa.

it’s  just one of a variety of methodologies to come along over the years from the web community at large. And that is the bigger problem. Competing solutions, none of which reached, to this point, the status of “the only solution from a best practices perspective”.

“It’s Not My Problem” Syndrome

Over the years, as search has become exponentially more complex, from time to time, I’d hear someone say “it’s not my job – that’s Google’s responsibility.”  As if Google has the magical power to figure everything out, without our help.  Which is complete bullshit. For all the times we’ve heard “let google figure it out” (Even by Matt Cutts over and over), we all know search quality sucks for many topics. And it IS partially our responsibility.

Don’t believe me?

Why do you think Google invented the Canonical tag?  Or Sitemaps.org?  Why do you think they started encouraging the use of Breadcrumbs as a signal?  Or Microformats/microdata/RDFa in general?

Because they need our help.  #DUH

Sustainable SEO

In my presentation up in Seattle, I mentioned that Sustainable SEO is vital. It’s forward thinking.

Sustainable SEO anticipates, evolves.

And those of us who take the time to think like business owners, will have no problem understanding the importance of Schema.org or that it’s already here to stay.   It’s not one of those “wait and see” situations at all.

Welcome To The Business World

SO okay – they need our help.  Sue them.

While you’re suing them, I’ll be helping my clients push your site results even further down in the SERPs.  Because I understand that Schema.org is an answer to the search industry’s prayers.  And it’s an answer to site owners prayers.  Yeah – the people who pay all you developers and SEOs your salary, your hourly wage, your consulting fee.

That’s Right – Schema.org is a brilliant Godsend for business owners.  People without whom, you wouldn’t have a thriving and ubiquitous web, that now permeates every cell of your being 24x7x365.

It’s a Godsend because what amounts to a cumulative millions of hours of wasted search effort on the part of searchers is that much closer to being repurposed.  It’s a Godsend because more site owners are going to be able to rise to the top of search results.  Which will mean they’ll make more money.  And that money will partly go to pay their employees.  Who have families to feed.

It’s a Godsend to millions of Project Managers around the word, who won’t have to deal with bickering code monkeys when it comes to “which method do we choose”.

It’s a Godsend to me, because I’m going to work on a way to help developers automate as much of the implementation of filling in the data into Schema elements.  And that’s going to help me in the overall SEO consulting process because programmers who get it will love me for that.

And for ALL of these reasons, within the business realm, the big 3 took action that was long overdue.  And would still be years out if not for their unilateral decision.

But Open Standards Are Just Around The Corner

Yeah – that’s right Just recently, the W3C finally moved one step closer to reaching another standard.  Which, however, would not have stopped countless engineers from doing things their way anyhow.  Either by NOT implementing any micro-method at all, or by going with something other than the W3C standard.

How do I know this?  Look at the web today.  It’s a mess.  HTML 4 – yeah that competed against XHTML.  And still does.  Even as HTML 5 is rolling down the tracks.  And code validation in any of them still sucks for the vast majority of sites on the web.

So if, after sixteen years in this business, I have YET to see a single “standard” that’s come from the web dev community be handled properly, let alone reached critical mass as the single, consistent method of d0ing things, how the heck do you think you’re going to convince me that you can get it right this time?

Be Patient, You Say

Ha!  Be patient.  While the world moves forward, driven by the needs of the business world, you go ahead.  Keep that pipe dream alive.  In the mean time, the closer the big 3 can get to improving search quality, the sooner I can get back to playing some Madden NFL.

Sometimes Children Need To Be Told What To Do

When a business owner needs to get every competitive advantage they can in order to succeed, it’s that need that drives business decisions. And since many of us are already fully on board with the importance of Schema.org and how it solves so many problems (as imperfect as it is), you’re going to be very upset when you are fired by your boss/client when they hear you failed to get them higher up in search results because of your stubborn belief system.

But Its Too Complex

Some are saying it’s too complex.  To understand.  Or to implement.

That’s okay – you can start with the basics.  For now, they’ll only be using schema for display purposes – things like events, and recipe’s and business addresses and such.  And you can get an intro primer over at Authority Labs – where Dawn Wentzell did a great job in her “Implementing Schema.org Microdata” article.

And keep an eye open as more info comes out on rolling out microdata.  Because believe me, it’s coming.

The Bogus Call to Arms Against Schema.org is a post from: Search Marketing Wisdom All content copyright protected - all rights reserved.

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This advanced SEO panel, at what many people consider the single most important search conference in the U.S., will include Micah Fisher-Kirshner, SEO Manager, Become, Inc, myself and Mark Munroe, Director Search Audience, MerchantCircle.  And it’ll be moderated by Danny Sullivan himself, so I’m not only going to have to have a killer presentation, I’m even going to have to be on my best behavior – no tweet-rants allowed!

Topics I’ll Cover

During my presentation, using real world examples, topics I’ll cover that ensure success at Google, Bing and other key referrer sources include:

• Proper Information Architecture
• Content Organization
• Topical Separation
• Off-Site UGC (User Generated Content)
• Optimizing for Other Search Sources

Real World Data, Principles & Concepts

I’ll show real world data of what works, what doesn’t and why.  And I’ll help you understand why all of this boils down to the critical need to understand your user’s mind model.

When I’m done, you’ll have a much better grasp of the best way to not only optimize your current site, but how to anticipate where Google is moving down the road, so you can take proactive action BEFORE the next May Day / Vince  / Panda update on the horizon…

So if you’re attending SMX Advanced, be sure to attend this invaluable panel.  And if you’re not, be sure to tell @SusanEsparza she has to live-blog it for you!

Let’s Network!

And if you are attending, and we haven’t met yet, be sure to come by and introduce yourself, or better yet, contact me ASAP and let me know you want to join us for #EpicDinner – June 7th, at the four star Waterfront Seafood Grill at Pier 70, a stone’s throw from the conference!

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As far as I’m concerned, first and foremost, it’s their way of forcing more companies to get Place pages, so that millions of new pages will exist where Google can display more AdWords ads.  Pure profit motive.

Except in doing so, Google has given new life to Microformats. So I figure I would provide an overview of various forms of Microformats, followed by a long list of links to various Microformat resources that will hopefully help YOU implement Micforoformats.

MICROFORMATS JUST GOT TOP BILLING

Whether this latest Google move flies or not, it clearly shows why sites that use Microformats can have a major impact on search. LinkedIn uses Microformats.  So do Yelp, CitySearch, and many other local directories use Microformats for reviews, among other things.  And they dominate Google Place Page content.

STRONG SEO AND GOOGLE PLACE PAGE RANKING

Very early and preliminary testing to see how the Google Place listings appear and how individual sites rank within those appears to show, at least for some listings, that sites with stronger SEO are doing better in place pages.  I also see that sites with lots of reviews are showing up higher than sites without them, though if you click through the Place page listings, it ends up being a mixed bag regarding the reviews factor.

LOCAL SEO IS NOT DEAD

But as far as the SEO factor goes, it makes sense that this would be a signal to Google.  After all, the core of their algorithms has always been SEO as a factor. So this tells me that no, SEO is NOT dead. And even LOCAL SEO is NOT dead.  Think about it.  What better way to signal to Google that you deserve high placement in THEIR one page site about your company than to have a well optimized REAL site, that matches or expands upon what they’ve gleaned from Yelp or other local directories?

MICROFORMATS ARE NOT JUST A GOOGLE THING

And don’t forget – Google is NOT the only game in town.  Other search engines can make use of them as well.  Bing is using Microformats in their local listings, as well as in their rollover display of relevant content for individual results in the web listings…  And THAT is why I think having Microformats on YOUR site can also be of serious use, now more than ever.

MICROFORMATS BEYOND REVIEWS

Okay so you don’t do SEO for a Yelp or a review site.  Or maybe you do.  If so, you need to be implementing Microformats (or Microdata or RDFa protocols, both being acceptable methods to achieve similar results regarding search engines and their ability to read, and make use of various types of data).

Beyond Reviews, most of us are familiar now with navigation breadcrumbs.  – Sub-navigation links that help visitors quickly jump up in the organizational flow of a site. Well Microformats are a best practice method for displaying breadcrumbs, and in turn, for Search engines to evaluate your content and make use of it in the SERPs. But it goes much further than reviews and breadcrumbs…

MICROFORMAT RECIPES

MICROFORMAT EVENT LISTINGS

Here’s a SERP display for an event aggregation site with Microformats used to display upcoming events in San Francisco.

MICROFORMAT IMPLEMENTATION RESOURCES

The above examples are just that – a few examples of how Microformats can be used on web sites, and in turn, show up in search results. 

Here’s a short list of some of the more common Microformat implementation methods you may find useful.

BREADCRUMBS

Google provides a quick overview for implementing Breadcrumbs

Microformats.org entry on blog post formats for breadcrumbs

CONTACTS

Here’s Google’s overview and sample code for implementing Microformats for Contact information

Microformats.org has more comprehensive information on the hCard Standard for Contact Info

And for the lazy among  us, use this great Microformat Generator for Contact Info using the hCard method

Joomla Extension Directory download for porting hCard microformat data to Joomla

ADDRESS INFORMATION

Here’s the Draft Microformat Specification for Addresses

REVIEWS

Google’s Implementation Guide for Microformat Reviews

The official Microformats hReview spec

Yoast’s Guide to implementing hReviews in your WordPress Theme

And the handy lazy-way Microformat Generator for Reviews using the hReview method

Opera Developer Community article on how to Style hReviews

PRODUCTS

The official Microformats.org hProduct draft specification

Yoast’s article on implementing hProduct and hReview in Magento

EVENTS

Google’s Implementation Guide for Microformat Event listings

The official Microformats.org hCalendar Standard for Events

Joomla Extension for the hCalendar Microformat

GEO DATA

The official Microformats.org Geo draft specification for geographic coordinates

RECIPES

WordPress Plug-in for implementing Microformats for Recipes on your blog

Official Microformats.org hRecipe draft specification

RESUME’S

WordPress Plug-in for implementing hResume Microformats

Official Microformats.org hResume draft specification

ASTRONOMY

The Virtual Astronomy Multimedia Project (VAMP) project is currently defining meta data standards to tag astronomical images used for education and public outreach.  Check out their Astronomy Visualization Metadata Standard draft for Microdata.

ADDITIONAL MICROFORMAT RESOURCES FOR DEVELOPERS

PHONE NUMBER SKYPE AUTO-DIALER FOR WEB SITES

Here’s a neat VOIP phone dialer Greasemonkey script you can add to your browser so when you come across phone numbers embedded in an hCard, you’ll be able to automatically call that number through VOIP.

MAC USER MICROFORMAT HIGHLIGHTER

Here’s a CSS implementation you can use in Safari that will highlight Microformats as you surf the web

MICROFORMAT PARSERS FOR DEVELOPERS

Here’s a link to the official Microformats.org parser resource page covering several programming languages, including .Net, Java, JavaScript, Sumo, Perl, HTML, XML, Swignition, PHP, XMFP, hKit, Python, Ruby, XSLT, and several others…

RUBY ON RAILS MICROFORMAT HELPER

Are you a Ruby On Rails developer?  Here’s a Ruby On Rails Microformat Helper Developer Plug-in

COLDFUSION MICROFORMATS CFC

Here’s a handy Microformats CFC For all you ColdFusion developers

YOAST ON MICROFORMATS

Joost De Valk has (of course) a great article from earlier this year on implementing Microformats

RICHARD BAXTER’S ARTICLES
Richard Baxter (aka SEOGadget) has written several articles on Microformats you’ll find helpful

TESTING MICROFORMATS

If you want to test whether your implementation of Microformats works for Google, use their handy  Rich Snippets Testing Tool

MORE MICROFORMAT SPECIFICATIONS AND DRAFT SPECS

Microformats can be used for much more than I’ve covered here.  If you’re curious, check out the official Microformats.org Resources page.

And finally, I leave you a link to a great PDF Microformat Cheat Sheet from Brian Suda

ADD YOUR EXPERIENCE / RESOURCES

Have a bad experience with Microformats?  Or a Good one?  Let us know…

And if you know of any resources for implementing Microformats on Drupal, Joomla, Magento, or any other CMS platform that I haven’t covered here, or if you’ve got any other confirmed Microformat resource you think would be beneficial, please leave a comment and share!

Microformat Reference Guide for SEO and Developers is a post from: Search Marketing Wisdom All content copyright protected - all rights reserved.

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When I am working with a developer for the first time, I use the following rules and techniques as my ideal.  Every aspect of these rules that can be applied, or adapted as necessary based on technical or budgetary limitations, adds one more SEO element to the online catalog system.

OPTIMIZATION IN THE EXTREME

There are several recommendations I’ve listed here that you may find are “optimization in the extreme” or don’t fit with your personal view of what optimization really calls for.  In those situations, feel free to adapt what you want and leave the rest behind.

Also, there are many other aspects of the complete SEO process that applies to any site, eCommerce or otherwise which I have not included here, so it’s up to you to know or learn the broader SEO requirements that go beyond the scope of this article.

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1. ADVANCED HTML BASED NAVIGATION

Site Navigation for product Categories, Sub-Categories, and Products, as well as the links for each (and thus the resultant URL) should be dynamically generated rather than using graphic images.

MULTIPLE FIELDS

To get maximum value out of each Category or Sub-Category we need to have new fields in the CMS that allow us or the client to provide variations on naming that will then show up in different ways on the front end of the site.

Example:

CATEGORY URL

When they click on Banner Stands it might take them to that category page if it exists – if so, the URL would be:

http://www.ClientDomain.com/Trade-Show-Banner-Stands/

SUBCAT URL

If they click on the Sub-Category they would see:

http://www.ClientDomain.com/Trade-Show-Banner-Stands/Rotating-Banner-Stands/

PRODUCT URL

And if they click on the Product name it would take them to:

http://www.ClientDomain.com/Trade-Show-Banner-Stands/Rotating-Banner-Stands/Marquis-Banner-Stand

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2.  ECOMMERCE SECTION HEADER AND CONTENT

Because of the fiercely competitive nature of ecommerce, we need to go the extra mile in creating proper maximized Page Titles, Footers, Meta content and Page Content for each Cat, SubCat and Product.

To this end, we will need the ability in the CMS to add unique content for each of these three fields within each section.

CATEGORY SEO HEADERS

SUB-CATEGORY SEO HEADERS

PRODUCT DETAIL SEO HEADERS

ABOUT PRODUCT IMAGES

Sometimes an eCommerce system calls for multiple photos for any single product.  Because of this you’ll need to ensure that the content management system is adapted to allow a unique and appropriate Alternate Attribute for each product image posted.

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3. AUTOMATING 301 REDIRECTS

If any URL is dependent upon a site owner’s text entry, the system will need to automatically handle 301 redirects so that old URLs which are no longer valid, don’t end up becoming 404 not found pages.

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4.  AUTOMATING SITEMAP.XML GENERATION

When you have a dynamic web site, eCommerce or otherwise, if the site owner is able to add, modify and delete pages, or add, modify and delete categories, sub-categories and products, you’ll need to work with them ensure that the sitemap.xml file(s) is/are auto-updated.  This will need to happen either as soon as the content additions or deletions are generated, or on a set schedule.

You’ll also have to decide how many URLs the system should include in a single file before it automatically generates another one.  Just because you can include 50,000 URLs doesn’t mean you should.  Especially if the server the site is on is less than robust, or if the actual files are generated on the fly…

BEWARE – I’ve gone through this with a number of development companies.  Some of them get it and others “think” they do, only to have me find during testing that a sitemap.xml file either throws an error or is missing half the URLs, or has the incorrect version of some URLS included.

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5.  AUTOMATING CUSTOM DATA FEEDS

Depending on the client budget, you’ll want to consider whether the site should automatically generate custom data feed files for distribution of product data to 3^rd party shopping aggregation sites, such as Shopping.com or Google Base.  There are several other similar sites as well.  Each one to be considered will need to be checked to find out what the feed submission process will entail.  And you’ll then need to coordinate with the site’s developer to get the feed implemented for each one.

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6.  TESTING TESTING – IS THIS THING ON?

Just because I’ve outlined the most important ways to implement high value SEO for eCommerce does not mean that you can just pass this information to the developer and walk away.  You’ll need to be a participant in the process from start to finish, most especially when it comes to Quality Assurance testing BEFORE site launch and AFTER.

One of the most common mistakes I’ve seen in the execution of this type of functionality is that developers leave out various tasks, or they make assumptions about what or how they should do the work, only to cause the end result to be a mess of invalid URLs, mis-interpreted placement on the front end, or duplicate content.  When that happens, it will be your responsibility to make note of the problems, and be able to explain why things need to be changed.

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THE BOTTOM LINE

So there you have it – the core tasking I include whenever I can in working with 3^rd party developers to help make an eCommerce site as optimized as possible.

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Alan Bleiweiss has been an Internet consultant since January 1995, and has been specializing in SEO since early 2001.  Some of his most notable clients include Weight Watchers International, Starkist Tuna, Fortunoffs, and Publishers Clearing House.  For more information contact Alan Bleiweiss at www.HeyDudeWheresMySite.com or visit Alan’s Blog at http://SearchMarketingWisdom.com

Six Rules for Custom eCommerce SEO is a post from: Search Marketing Wisdom All content copyright protected - all rights reserved.

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