Demystifying SEO for Government Agencies Demystifying SEO for - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Drupal GovCon 2018 Demystifying SEO for Government Agencies Demystifying SEO for Government Agencies

Why should you listen me? Jason Hamrick Senior Strategist Phase2 jhamrick@phase2technology.com Demystifying SEO for Government Agencies 2

How Google Tweaks search algorithm 500 times a year ➔ Releases Rarely announce changes in advance ➔ Updates Rarely describe impact or how to respond ➔ Demystifying SEO for Government Agencies 3

9:22 AM - 1 Aug 2018 Demystifying SEO for Government Agencies 4

We believe that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is not a separate activity from website management, but is the result of building the right digital experience for your audiences. Demystifying SEO for Government Agencies 5 5

Content SEO Community Code 6 Demystifying SEO for Government Agencies

CONTENT Demystifying SEO for Government Agencies 7

Understand your audiences goals and create content and experiences that encourage them to achieve those goals. Demystifying SEO for Government Agencies 8

Search Engine Optimization: Content Write for your audience ➔ Concise, scannable text ➔ Write in Highlighted keywords (hypertext links, typeface ➔ Plain Language variations, colors) Meaningful sub-headings (not “clever ones”) ➔ Bulleted lists ➔ One idea per paragraph ➔ The inverted pyramid style (start with the ➔ conclusion) Half the word count than conventional writing ➔ Demystifying SEO for Government Agencies 9

Search Engine Optimization: Content Almost 70% of voice searches with Google ➔ Assistant use conversational language Keep it Conversational language means users ask ➔ Conversational complete questions Those voice search questions can be used as ➔ page titles , section headers , and Frequently Asked Questions pages Demystifying SEO for Government Agencies 10

Search Engine Optimization: Content Make it Review your organization’s Language Access Plan and Multi-lingual create content that supports the languages outlined Demystifying SEO for Government Agencies 11

Search Engine Optimization: Content Well-tested information architecture Use Clean ➔ Engaging landing pages Interaction ➔ Clear content aggregation pages ➔ Design Encourage content exploration and conversion ➔ Demystifying SEO for Government Agencies 12

COMMUNITY Demystifying SEO for Government Agencies 13

Search Engine Optimization: Community Scan the site monthly to detect bad URLs , ➔ including expired offsite links Maintain Your Reduce 404 errors by eliminating dead links ➔ Onsite and Reduce duplicate content pages by adding 301 ➔ Offsite Links redirects and canonical URLs Review incoming links for quality. Disavow ➔ low-quality links Demystifying SEO for Government Agencies 14

Search Engine Optimization: Community Write page titles and page excerpts that ➔ encourage click through from Google Keep it Social. Create links off-site when appropriate ➔ Share Your Collaborate with your government and ➔ Content. non-profit partners Syndicate with HHS Digital Storefront ➔ Include social media in your outreach plan ➔ Demystifying SEO for Government Agencies 15

CODE Demystifying SEO for Government Agencies 16

Optimize for Safety and Speed ● Follow the federal mandate of SSL everywhere ● Avoid landing page redirects ● Enable compression ● Leverage browser caching ● Minify HTML, CSS, Javascript ● Optimize images ● Prioritize visible content ● Reduce server response time ● Use a content distribution network Demystifying SEO for Government Agencies 17

Introduce Schema Code Markup Demystifying SEO for Government Agencies 18

Search Engine Optimization: Code Follow established best practices ➔ ◆ Images : Descriptive and succinct alt text ◆ Navigation: Keyboard navigable with proper tab order Build for ◆ Page Markup : Headings are used properly Accessibility ◆ Audio/Video: The media on the page are available with a caption file or transcript ◆ Visual Design: Good contrast and properly-sized text Review monthly audit reports and resolve issues ➔ Demystifying SEO for Government Agencies 19

Search Engine Optimization: Code Choice: Provide options for how audiences can ➔ engage with a site, not forcing them down a single path. Context: Give more information about what they ➔ Build for are reading, watching, or listening so they are Accessibility confident that they’re going to get the content they are expecting. Clarity: What is the reader clicking, viewing, or ➔ watching? Can they easily understand and follow along? Demystifying SEO for Government Agencies 20

SEO does not start with keyword competition or paid rankings. Long-term success in SEO means demonstrating Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness Demystifying SEO for Government Agencies 22

SEO isn’t a thing we DO, it’s a thing we GET. Demystifying SEO for Government Agencies 23

Questions? Demystifying SEO for Government Agencies 24

Resources Plain Language Writing Digital Strategy Plain Language.gov Digital Services Playbook CDC Simply Put Digital Strategy at HHS Checklist of Requirements for Federal Websites and Digital Services Accessibility Section508.gov Conversational Search Phase2 Web Accessibility Playbook Is Your SEO Strategy Optimized for Voice Technology? How to Hack Voice Search: Use Long Tail Keywords Demystifying SEO for Government Agencies 25

For More Information Jason Hamrick Senior Strategist Phase2 jhamrick@phase2technology.com Demystifying SEO for Government Agencies 26