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Sources: video-subtitle-pipeline artifacts/beginner-wordpress-user/ - subtitles/: en, zh, bilingual SRT/ASS (100 files) - platform/: youtube SRT + bilibili BCC per video (75 files) - manifests/: per-video manifest.json (25 files) - quality/: quality reports (50 files)
407 lines
11 KiB
Text
407 lines
11 KiB
Text
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In today's session, we are going to look at how we can improve our SEO rankings.
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But what is SEO?
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Search engine optimization refers to techniques that help you make your website rank higher in search engine results.
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The aim is of course to get more visitors to your site organically.
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Search engines send bots to a site to crawl through it and find out what the content is about and where the site links to.
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They also check out what the images are about, test if the site loads quickly, and also investigate if the layout of a site is accessible and good for mobile devices.
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Once they are done crawling, bots figure out keywords from your site.
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And then record these keywords in the search engine database.
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So now, when anybody starts a search, search engines match a user's search query with the keywords in the database to recommend sites that are a close match.
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Let's look at some tips that we can implement.
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Firstly, make your way to settings, click on reading, and ensure that you have deselected the search engine visibility box.
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If this box is ticked, it will discourage search engines from indexing the site, and we don't want that.
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This option is only used when a site is still being created.
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The second thing to take note of is that search engines love sites with fresh content.
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So keep your site up to date with new content as much as possible.
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If your homepage and other pages really change, it is advised to have a blog page or news page and ensure that you frequently post about your products,
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your brand, your clients, and various other topics.
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The third tip is to make sure you have quality content on your website.
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Google has published an EAT guideline, which basically says that search engines look at expertise, authority, and trustworthiness.
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So let's first talk about expertise.
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Write about content you are knowledgeable and passionate about.
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What about authority?
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Well, if you have shown expertise, it will be viewed by search engines as authoritative if others link to your site, if people talk about your site in social media,
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and if you link to reputable sites in your content.
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Lastly, the T stands for trustworthiness.
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So make sure information that you share is trustworthy and factual.
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Here is an important question you can ask yourself.
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Is your content shareable?
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Things to consider.
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Is it funny?
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Is it maybe too long?
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Does it have good taste?
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Does it use plain language?
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Does it have a summary or too long didn't read at the top?
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It basically comes down to making sure your content is worth reading and worth sharing.
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Next, let's talk about keywords.
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Keywords and keyword phrases in your content make it easier for people to find your site via search engines.
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A well-optimized site speaks the same language as their audience, so to speak.
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We therefore need to know what folks are searching for and include those words or phrases on our pages and in our posts.
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Keyword research will help you know what keywords people search for when looking for similar sites.
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You can use free tools such as Wordstream or Google Keyword Planner to find those keywords that you can use in your content.
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The way you would go about finding keywords is to type the domain name of sites that are similar to yours.
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This will give you a hint of what words people use to search content on that site.
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Once you have identified these keywords, use them in your site's content.
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Search engines will prioritize what your content is titled when they decide keywords.
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But you can also use them in excerpts, headings and content.
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The way it is laid out here is generally the priority in which you want to use keywords.
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Remember to use keywords naturally and to avoid keyword stuffing or overusing keywords, as this will damage your SEO.
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Let's talk some more about linking.
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Search engines will travel through your links to understand your site structure and to look for more content.
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So, link to other posts already on your site as pages that are linked multiple times are considered more important by search engines.
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Also remember to set external links to sites that are reputable and also have good EAT, expertise, authority and trustworthiness, as this will make your site more credible as well.
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The next topic that we want to discuss is metadata.
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Metadata are tags in your page content that are visible to search engines.
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It is hidden behind the scenes, but it does give critical information about your site to search engines.
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You might not have known this, but meta descriptions is the information shown below each individual search result.
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Metadata is automatically created by WordPress, so it's not easy to edit directly.
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But most SEO plugins allow you to edit and modify the metadata to be more geared to your content.
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It's usually no more than two sentences.
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One of the things you can do is write an excerpt for a post, as WordPress uses these excerpts to create meta descriptions.
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So, it is advised to use your keywords and handwrite these excerpts.
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Otherwise, it just takes the top paragraph from your content.
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Next, site speed is important.
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Search engines definitely look at site speed when ranking sites.
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So, this is an important part of SEO.
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Here are a few considerations that will help you to improve your site speed.
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Does your host rank high with regard to site speed?
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Does your host have caching enabled, although you can also use a caching plugin?
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Is your WordPress theme quick to load?
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Some very snazzy WordPress themes that use a lot of plugins can drastically change your site speed, so be careful.
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Have you optimized images and videos?
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Have you installed wild-built plugins?
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And does your theme and plugins work well together?
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You can investigate your site speed by using tools such as GTmetrics or PageSpeed Insights.
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Image optimization is another piece of the SEO puzzle.
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Let's first look at a few steps that you can take before uploading images to your site.
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Number one, choose a good file format, such as PNG, JPEG or WIPP.
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In this example, I'm using the open-source website Squish to change the file format for free.
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It also has some other settings worth exploring.
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Number two, scale the image dimensions.
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Images that are too large will be resized when it shows up on people's browser and will affect the loading speed of your site.
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Make sure you shrink the dimensions of very large images, as most monitors in the world are no bigger than 1,920 by 1,080 pixels in size.
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Luckily WordPress does make three different size variations when you upload an image, but that large image still takes space up on your server.
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Number three, reduce the image file size.
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You want to reduce the file size of images without reducing the quality.
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You can use programs such as Tiny PNG or also Squish.
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And lastly, rename the image file so that it explains what the image is about.
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When an image has been uploaded to WordPress, it is advised to add alternative text or alt text and a description of the image.
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Search engines place a high value on alt text, and they use this information to understand the context of an image, what the image is about, and the purpose of the image.
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Images should also have alt text for accessibility purposes.
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You also want to ensure that at least one of your images has your key word or key phrase as part of the alt tag.
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The second last tip is about creating a site map.
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It is something search engines use.
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It is like a map or roadmap that helps search engines to figure out where all content is on your website.
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Site maps don't boost search ranking, but it does help search engines navigate the content on your site.
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Most SEO plugins will generate a site map for your site automatically, so it's not something you have to code if you are not able to.
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Finally, let's talk about local SEO to optimize your site to show higher in local search results, especially if your customer base is primarily located in the same city or metropolitan area.
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There are a few things that you can do.
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Do some local SEO keyword research, add your contact information in your footer or contact page, post localized content,
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and get local backlinks, meaning get local sites to refer or link to your site.
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All the best as you endeavor to improve your own SEO rankings.
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And don't forget to install and activate an SEO plugin that works best for you.
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