Project SEO Blog 18:

Project SEO

SEO Website Project url: https://k00121609.github.io//SEOEWT

Git-hub repository: SEOProject.

This Blog url name: creativemultimediaprogrammingsb.blogspot.com

_______________________________________________________________

April

1.   URL selection:

Address that visitors may type to find my site.

That Google looks at for understanding what site is about and ranking. That it has heuristic principles of being: memorable, recognisable and being professional as well as easy to access and use.

My url for this website is: https://k00121609.github.io/SEOEWT/

The GitHub Repository name is: SEOProject.

My blog name was my student k number at blogspot.com, however, as I h gained more knowledge through the process of this project, I updated the url name to be more keyword specific to: creativemultimediaprogrammingsb.blogspot.com

This contains the key words from the brief being targeted for i.e. “Creative Multimedia Programming.”

  From my research I have found that id numbers do not rank as highly as descriptive text. Also, if I    was to set up my url again, I would change the 'SEOEWT' to 'SEO' or a similar keyword. While it  makes sense to me, the project being SEO and the Subject EWT, I don't think it would be  recognizable for Google.

2.   Research and brainstorming for rich keywords:

This image from my research imbues a lot of the key phrases associated with “Creative Multimedia.” In addition to these are the Programming aspect which is not referred to above of our course which includes: Advanced Web Programming.

There is the full list of course modules which relate to many in the diagram, but, I am including them as specific titles to link to specific user query searches. These are: Evolving Web Technologies, Web Development, 3D Graphics, Interaction Interface Design, Web Programming, Project Management, Multimedia Database Systems and Design, Project, Work Experience, Blogs.

These all are primary key phrases. There are secondary phrases that are associated with these of: courses, jobs, art, Psychology, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After Effects, Brackets, CSS, HTML, JavaScript, DOM, PHP, SQL, Code Igniter, Microsoft Excel, Access, Word, PowerPoint, Balsamiq.

Keywords technical: I use rich keywords, especially in the metatag. The advice in the research is to look at user intent behind keywords.

Use my researched and brainstormed key words and phrases and those with most relevance from audience analysis. Using a keyword tag, record a primary and secondary keyword in the meta keywords tag.

Important: list key words in longest->shortest in length and separate by commas. I use medium-tailed keywords mostly for best SEO ranking effect.

Methods of keyword selection websites: Google, Yahoo, Moz, Quora, Wikipedia,

Keyword Tag Theory:

Not important for Google considerations. Is important for optimizing guidance and tracking over time. Putting the key words and phrases first, means that these will be the words most likely to appear in the search results. Having these key words that are relevant to users as per my audience analysis could increase the probability of after search the on-click to look further at the website content/answer a query.

 3. Audience analysis & resultant techniques to use to attract audience types:

Audience considerations to inform this SEO process:

·        What is my potential audience?

·        What are their expectations?

·        How can I enhance the user experience?

From conversations with people in my class and my own knowledge. Potential users are people interested in finding out about this type of course, people looking to find out more about the course, people looking at the course but also the context in terms of LIT facilities, general browsers.

The “Micro-moments” technique, also known as the “3 Types of User Intent” defines 3 types of intentions users have on visiting a website as:

·        Transactional

·        Informational

·        Navigational

I am using query language to target the website audience.

In practice these 3 factors translate into “go, know, do queries.”

·        “Go” is a query relating to the brand i.e. “Creative Multimedia”

·        “Know” for query searches for people know about the course and want more information. Programming.”

·        “Do” is a query search related to what the site does i.e. Postgraduate course etc.

Include call-to action (CTA) clarity in website: through the audience analysis and research, I have found that the main queries are: transactional, relational and navigational. This means in practice that they are about: go, know, do queries. Using this information, I have adjusted my website with <h1> queries rather than statements. From these it is clear for the three types of query what the call-to-actions are in the website.

4.   Create quality authentic content and an overview of the content:

Here in this section 4, I am talking about an overview of the content and the importance of authentic content for Google rankings. For the titles, descriptions, keywords and phrases and other such content, I will go into detail about these in the sections after these. 

From Google Console research it is important for rankings to create a unique perspective that adds value to the topic. My approach to this was to create a website about the required search phrase of this course 'Creative Multimedia Programming' but also within the context of LIT Campus, where this course is located. My idea was for a website that would be a welcome to LIT, with easy to browse information and further links for more information.  I think in Marketing terms that this will appeal to a wider audience and may stem further interest in the course by browsers looking at the course at LIT’s context.

It is important that there is not duplication within the content. One of first things Google does to determine sites rank status.Visitors to the site to read the title and description and decide whether to check it out. Google favours less website with duplicate content, seeing it as not an expert website.  “Google Panda” as per logo below, screens for good/bad content, penalising low-quality content. Its algorithm checks for this & de-ranks sites with low-quality content.

                                                 
I started with the course itself and later modified the heading to a query rich heading, the text with article tags and within these, information about the course. My next step was to look for an original image preferably animated that from my perspective imbues the idea of LIT. I found this GIF, sized and compressed it and added it to the page. I think its animation may hold the interest of the viewer. The GIF itself consists of thin lines and a spiral motion. This spiral idea is similar to the circular imagery of the lit logo. Te first image here is the LIT logo and the second the GIF I added to the website:

Later on in this process I added a social media bar to enhance user interactivity of the website:

This is how this section of the website looks:

As you can see from the above, I am using a sticky navigation bar, so that it is always present on all the page sections as the user scrolls up and down the page. The navigation here brings viewers to these different sections on this long vertically scrolling website page.

In this screen as you scroll down the page, this is the second section on LIT Values: President's Welcome and Educational Philosophy of LIT, each with highlighted in blue read more links. I have included in this and the next screen-shots snippets of the sections above and below the section I am describing, to show the effect of this vertically scrolling page. There is a h1 query heading here for best SEO and the text is wrapped in article tags. The article tag is recognised by the “Structured Data Mark-Up Helper” in Google (in WMT Other Resources Section).

Screen of Section 2:

Screen of Section 3:

In this above screen I included a h1 query heading for voice search and optimum query search. There is a testimonial video (compressed in size) about Creative Multimedia next, which is also good for accessibility for users with visual impairment.

The next part of this section is another query h1 heading with primary text, with a bar of secondary text after it, which in terms of structure is good practice for HTML structure and for Google ranking find ability.

Screen of Section 4:

This is about modules in Creative multimedia Programming. Here, all images have been compressed and sized. There is a title and description after each image, which has a fluid layout and relevant information.

Screen of Section 5:

This is an extension of the previous section where I have added my own course work to the website. There are links to my blogs/websites and 2 compressed (for on-load speed) images of my 3D Graphics project accompanied by a description of the processes for this. This may have a good SEO ranking effect as from my research I have found that specialization information on topics is ranked well with Google.

Screen of Section 6:

This is the news section of the website. I have used cards in the design of this page to display the information in a grid format. The images are interesting and relevant and the content going with the current. I think that this would give a good impression of LIT. Google screens for ranking purposes news items of information.

Screen of Section 7:

This section is part of the above news section. In the design of this above screen I have a carousel feature in a loop about testimonials of what students say about their experience at LIT. I think this adds interactivity to the page, its a query question which is good for SEO.

Screen of Section 8:

Here I have 3 cards with categories about LIT. I think they present in a snap-shot LIT and its activities. The topics and locations are arranged as anchor links within the card. I decided on this way of presenting the information to be clear and concise without information over-load. Google also ranks links as well for SEO.

Screen of Section 9:

This is the contact section. Here I added up to date contact information for users of telephone and email and a form. The title is a h1 tag and a query heading, good for SEO and I used a Google Marketing style emotive phrase in the subheading h2 tag of 'looking forward to hearing from you.'

Screen of Section 10:

This is the last section of the page. It has the h1 query heading tag, tooltips for the user on how to use the map and a Google Map I created with an API from Google and I set the red location icon at LIT, Moylish, Limerick. I think this is good for user information and interactivity, where they can zoom in and out of the map relative to their location to LIT, and also use the yellow person icon to the right base of screen to click and drag onto the map to view pictures of any area.

5.   Images theory & Preparation:

I am formatting current images including an animated .GIF image currently on the website.

I am including images from my 3D Graphics project, which I will format, compress and minify to ensure that they do not interfere with on-load page speed. For these I will include titles and descriptions for the search engine to pick up on.

Format, compress, minify are the key actions through the following description of their characteristics should increase my on-load page-speed for current Images. The current speed is quite good. However, I will be adding more images to the project, hence, it will become more important to have the current images and the next to be added images formatted for optimal SEO.

As, one of the biggest issues on plus-sized websites is pictures. Unless they’re compressed and resized to suitable formats, they can be over-large and slow page speed to a crawl.

For photographs, with a wide number of colours and much finer details, .png can compromise the quality of the image. It is common to use .jpg files instead, or WebP, an open source image type format from Google, which supports both lossy and lossless compression.

Image checklist:

§  Name the images to relevant terms

§  Compress images for adjustment of file size (as they affect page speed)

§  Make sure all images have alt text and a title for the images

§  Think from the perspective of a user when naming my images

§  Focus on quality images

 6.   Images of my work in 3D Graphics:

Project 1:

This is an image of the 3D Scene I created with 3DS Max Software:

This is a screen-shot of the above scene image compressed as per screen below:

Alt text: ”3DS MAX Graphic Software Technically Designed Scene 1 Project”

Image title: “3DS MAX Software 3D Graphics View Scene”

Image description: 3D Graphics design project using 3DS Max Software to creatively produce a wall with enhancements. The units were set to real world units. The window was constructed of several parts grouped together as one unit. There was the design for a view in the window. Lights were used to light the scene. I placed a Willow tree to the left of screen which with the lights, produced shadows on the wall for light and shade effect. Two cameras were set up, one interior and the other exterior to capture the scene photographically.

Compression: Here I compressed the above image through website “compressjpeg.com” to “-35%” which is quite large. I maintained its .jpeg status for best image quality being a 3D graphics project.

Project 2:

This is another image of a 3D scene I created with 3DS Max Software:

This is a screen-shot of the result of the above image compressed:

Alt text: ”3DS MAX Graphic Software Technically Designed Scene 2 Project”

Image title: “3DS MAX Software 3D Graphics Fruit Bowl Scene”

Image description: 3D Graphics design project using 3DS Max Software of a still life food bowl. In this design, I created a wood opaque material and the fruit were designed and textured technically to look realistic. I used techniques of lathing for the bowl and wine glass, UVW Map and Unwrap, UVW modifiers for texturing and polygon meshes for the fruit objects. I then included a camera in the scene for recording the rendered view as seen in this image.

Compression: Here, using the same software as in Project number 1, the image was compressed by “-46%”, once again maintaining its .jpeg quality status as a 3D Graphics Project.

7.   Creative Multimedia LIT Testimonial Video:

Embed Code: <iframe width="360" height="203" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QBnQHTx3q70" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

From my research, on a “Search Engine Watch” article, it mentioned to use the <object> tag rather than the <iframe> tag, as search engines find it difficult to crawl the <iframe> tag. However, having uploaded iframes for other projects, I have not come across the option for the <object> version. I then read up on the <object> tag. Having obtained the iframe embed code I replaced it with the object data code, tested it on live preview and its output is just the same as using the iframe.

Object Code: <object width="360" height="203" data="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QBnQHTx3q70" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></object>

While this is not a “Creative Multimedia Programming” testimonial video, it is an LIT “Creative Multimedia” testimonial video which in targeting this multimedia should increase my Googles perception of the website and rankings.

Compression of video source app: https://clipchamp.com/en

I copied video URL to try that: https://youtu.be/QBnQHTx3q70 it did not support this type of video.

2. So, I selected software for “u-tube to mp4” to change the video to MP4 format as follows:

3. This was the result, an mp4 video ready to download:

From this I downloaded the video which is now in MP4 format and ready to put for Compression using Clipchamp.

4. I added the video to the compression software of Clipchamp and this compressed the video from 9.61MB to 7.84MB.

8. Images for Course Module Sections:

 (Compressed Images)

I have sourced and compressed all these images. They are both in .jpeg and .png formats. As the compression software “compressjpeg.com” does not support the .png, I am putt the .png image files into the program “Paint” and saving them as .jpeg format. The following is one of the images I have:

The next section is a table of compressed images as well as their titles and % compression when put through the “compressjpeg.com” software.

	Compressed Images for Modules Section of this Website	Image name (alt text)	Compression (%)
1		Web development Image	-2%
2		Evolving Web Technologies Image	-1%
3		Advanced Web Programming Image	-1%
4		Project Management Techniques Image	-36%
5		Multimedia Database Design Info-Graphic	-2%
6		Interaction Interface Design Info-Graphic	-37%
7		3DS Max Software, 3D Graphics Image	-0%

I have sized the images by width and height to what I require and inputted them in my website in a new section I created today called "What are the individual modules in creative multimedia programming about."

9.   Utilizing Anchor Links (internal and external):

In using internal and external links Check these on Google Console to see ratings within the website of most visited links.

In this website, I expect that visitors having opened the site will read the information and click on associated links for more information. I have tested this and all anchor links are working. Also, a user can navigate back to the website easily after selecting a link to view. It is important that the links are from reputable sources as Google scans for this purpose. I have added links to different specific area of the LIT website and to links to my websites/blogs which are all reputable.

In design terms, I have chosen a light-blue colour for these links that are plentiful in the website and text-decoration on hover of underline, to show these are links. Also, for design, they tie in with the headings which are in the same font colour, signifying that they are important. The first three examples below were originally 'Read More...'. From my research I read that more specifically named links rank better with Google. 

In these next cards, all the anchor links are in blue. This provides an opportunity for the viewer to gain an idea of what campus life is like at LIT, without having to read up too much information. I presented them in this way for this reason. The campus life I put into three categories: campus life, sports clubs and societies and locations. I maintained the LIT colour scheme with white, red, grey and black, so that when the viewer is reading this section they can identify that they are on the LIT website. This is important in terms of heuristic design principles for ease of use, memorability and recognisability.

Adding links I have found in the research, increases potential visibility of the website, with greater traffic and indexing in the Webmaster Tools. The external links I have added to my websites/blogs as Google recognises these well for websites and that for the user that they would give an insight into this Creative Multimedia Programming Course. This is in the website page section called 'Course Work Examples:'

For contact details, I have included the following information:

10.   Structured Data Mark-Up Helper:

Use the “Structured Data Mark-Up Helper” in Google (in WMT Other Resources Section). My actions for this are:

a.      Articles: apply article tag to articles I have in the news section of the website

b.   

d.      TV Episodes with Ratings: look to see if there’s any LIT ratings on their news page

e. 

f.       Software Applications: look at the Creative Multimedia recent competition winners

g.      Events: highlight my academic calendar of events that I have in the website and in the news section.

h.      Products: products derived from student fyp projects and similar. I’m adding two of my 3D Graphics projects.

i. 

Add “Micro-data Markup” involves highlighting text with the mouse, marking it and hit publish-then Google applies these “patterns” to the site.

Add “Micro-data Markup” involves highlighting text with the mouse, marking it and hit publish-then Google applies these “patterns” to the site.

11.   Turning Queries into action items:

In using the “Micro-Moments” technique of: “go, know, do.”

• “Go” is a query relating to the brand i.e. “Creative Multimedia.
• “Know” for query searches for people know about the course and want more information. Programming.”
• “Do” is a query search related to what the site does i.e. Postgraduate course …

This technique is also known as the “3 Types of User Intent: transactional, informational, navigational.”

Examples of what I am including are:

What is the programme about? Who is the programme suited to? Top 3 reasons? Did you know? Want to know more?

These are some examples next:

Theory behind these actions:

 This understanding of my target audience and categorizing user query types may enhance the user  experience of visiting the website. Here, with categories of query based searches considered, I am  aiming at three potential audience categories. With this Google can understand the websites  requirements.

“Google Hummingbird” checks this and produces more relevant search results by better understanding the meaning behind queries.

“Rank Brain” is a machine learning system that helps Google better decipher the meaning behind queries, and serve best matched results in response to those queries. It identifies the relevance factor of a page in the index and arranges the results respectively in SERP’s.

        Furthermore, for voice searches queries are important:

Voice Searches have implications for website designers and marketers in terms of SEO: In last year’s Google IO conference Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced that 20% of search queries were coming from voice search.

Terms returning voice search results are query words as would be used in natural speech rank highest:

12.   Technical syntax, text and typography and audience relevance:

(This section is related to “Section 1: Researching and Brainstorming for Keywords” & “Section 4: Creating Quality Authentic Content.”)

For my website, I have targeted <meta> tag, <h1> and <h2> headings for best SEO. This involved an the ordering of the HTML architecture and this update of my current heading tags. To do this I checked the site structure to confirm there are the right “headers,” “subtitles,” and in the heading hierarchy: h1, h2, h3 etc. are in the right order. Clarity of text structure is important for making it easier for search engines to analyse my site’s content.

Meta tags: these are html attributes that provide concise explanations of the content of web pages and preview snippets on SERP’s. The head section order is very important here. It is an advertisement for the website. From Search Engine Watch research it is advised to Write in a natural, clear and readable way so they will not appear as spam. The meta descriptive tag is added to the head of the HTML page. My choice of meta tag I have added is as follows:

    <meta name="description" content="A 1 year post-graduate conversion course at LIT, with the aim to provide students with skills and expertise for an expanding IT-Sector.">

This is to provide the heading used to link my site on search engines & how my page titles will appear on search engines. The purpose is also, to give users unfamiliar with my site an idea of its content, when clicking the title.

I have found that my website as it appears on the search page has not changed/updated with the new information of the description metatag and other heading changes I have made. Maybe this is due to the verification not working on the site recently. The screen as it has looked is in the following screen-shot:

From my research I found that the important key words should come first  to maximise real-estate and that these are the keywords that Goggle analyses first for searches. I originally had the title as "Limerick Institute of Technology" "Creative Multimedia Programming." I added my name as is required from the brief.

I refined this to "Creative Multimedia Programming." In the rankings I was at third place at this point. Then having read about the SERP cutoffs in Google and amount of characters recommended, I added many of my keywords from the brainstorming and research of Creative Multimedia Programming by testing on different search engines.

This theory is:

Title Tag: ~9 words. Put important words first (before the Google cut-off in the SERP ~600 px=~70 characters. (add update)

Description Tag: to include the most important information before SERP cut-off ~24 words/~160 characters (including spaces) making best use of real-estate here. Power words and direct relevance will help to provide an overview of my websites content. 

I moved to 7th position at this point. The result is this screen:

Then from my research in; Search Engine Watch' I realised that the order of the presentation of the above information needs to be changed with keywords first and more generalised sentences next. After this action, i was in third place in the rankings. This is the result (similar to the above, but within the context of the title and the navigation area)

Marketing Strategies:

Use emotive sentences to gain attention: emotive language in a naturally spoken sentence with plenty of action words/verbs such as: offers, rewards, challenging possibilities, learners, interested, in undertaking, Opportunity. Adding “User Engagement” to a website has been proven to optimize a site in search engine searches. Adding a selling point e.g. “Have you 20 seconds, would like to help testing this, just follow these quick suggestions…" This action I carried out including marketing style, emotive key words: welcome, exciting, innovative, great opportunities, ever expanding sector. 

Word count: check for other search results of the key words I’m using in this website, to see what a search engine sees as normal for word-count of this topic. ~450 words for an information website.

I have made sure that I am within the correct character count & my titles and descriptions are relevant to the page content.

This is important as if Google sees page titles and descriptions do not meet character count or were not correct for the actual page content, Google may choose other content from my page to plug in as the page title or description.

As Google checks for these with SERP cut-off points, it was important to maximise the points I am putting across for marketing strategy purposes.

Editing: checked spellings and proofreading for readability. For website to be viewed as professional, attention to detail, a voice that can be trusted.

Accessibility: for sight problems the video can be played as an insight into Creative Multimedia at LIT.

14.   Use Site-Maps:

I created this 'site-map' using 'XML-Sitemaps.com.'

In this image, there is the form data I have filled out for this site-map. I have entered the http address for my website in this form.

Next step-> to download the website site-map and to check that it is showing on the url as below, then to add this site-map to my url.

Next steps->

Download file into downloads folder, then, click and dragged onto my local route folder on the desktop and it appeared there, then the terminal update, then, I went to the Search Console and clicked ‘ADD/TEST SITEMAP’ and clicked test then to check it, then the ADD/TEST SITEMAP again and submit button. Site map added to the website folder SEOEWT.

 In my folder, it looks like this:

& in my Search Console it looks like this:

15.   Other search engines:

I have viewed my website in other websites including incognito mode. Here I would expect to see how different search engines interpret the website code and any patterns or trends emerging. These are the following search engines I have checked for my website and my website does not appear on any of them. Google is the only website it appears on.

Yahoo-similar to Google in its functions and capabilities.

Bing-has excellent video search capabilities.

DuckDuckGo-doesn’t retain user’s information, nor track users, nor manipulate results based on users behaviours.

Quora-advantage over other search engines in answering more complicated questions.

Vimeo-very good video sharing site and no ads.

Boardreader-returns results from forums, message boards and Reddit.
(add update)

16.   Social Media related to the course:

Here I have added a news section to the website with recent news streaming about LIT and I have displayed them on cards as from my research I found that Google ranks these kinds of structures well.
These cards contain links to various aspects of LIT, hence, the user can see and access at a glance information sought.
I have also included in this section a carousel of persona student testimonials:

17.   Addition of Social Media bar to Website:

This is to enhance the UX/UI experience of the website, increase their anticipation of returning to the website to see more tweets. Increase the opportunity that Google will rank site higher due to a discussion forum link. Enhancing the user interaction experience and Googles interpretation as an active website which may increase the sites search ranking. Search Engines rank higher sites with interactive and multimedia content.

Here I created a social media bar. I first researched icons and decided on using the Pintrest official code and favicon icons. Then I researched their official colors and obtained these in “hex codes.” I applied the hex codes to the icons, size them and put into the website page.

Setting up of a Twitter app for the website:
Step 1: 

Step 2:

Step 3:

Step 4:

Step 5: update settings

Step 6: Now I must wait for authentication of the Twitter App for my website.

18.   Add a Google Search bar to website:

Adds interactivity and usefulness to the website, as a source of further information.

<div class="border">

  Google Search Bar

    <gcse:searchbox></gcse:searchbox>

</div>

<div class="border">

    <gcse:searchresults></gcse:searchresults>

</div>

              

               <script>

              

(function() {

  var cx = '017643444788069204610:4gvhea_mvga'; // Insert your own Custom Search Engine ID here

  var gcse = document.createElement('script'); gcse.type = 'text/javascript'; gcse.async = true;

  gcse.src = (document.location.protocol == 'https' ? 'https:' : 'http:') +

      '//www.google.com/cse/cse.js?cx=' + cx;

  var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.pare

19.    Addition of Location Map using Google and add my API + code to the html:

For users to know location of the Creative Multimedia Programming course at LIT, Moylish. Using the Google map, to explore pictures of LIT. Using the Google feature of “Google Penguin” to use location and distance as key factors in ranking the results.

“Google Pigeon” launched in 2014 can provide high quality, relevant local search results.

Like the above launched in 2016, “Possum” delivers better, more diverse results based on the searcher’s location and business address. It uses physical location of the searcher and the phrasing of the query.

20.   Use the “Site-Booster App”:

This is another way of increasing possible site access through using the “Site-Booster App,” to make my site visible to potential customers nearby. It is a paid subscription, however, its good to know its there:

21.   Submit website to Google:

Using: http://www.google.com/addurl

This may speed up Google recognising my website. Google can take anything from 1-3 months to index new websites. This emphasises the importance of being specific about elements in the website. This method is where I can submit my website directly to Google. (important to do this after connecting a domain.)

Screen 1_this is the home screen of the above Google url address:

Screen 2_screen of my inputted website url:

Screen 3_Message from Google screen "Your request has been received and will be processed shortly:'

22.   Mobile Usage:

As this is now a “Mobile First World,” considerations of mobile usage are important.

• “Googles Mobile Friendly Update” gives mobile friendly pages a ranking boost in mobile SERP’s and de-rank pages that are not optimised for mobile. The following is a checklist i have used for mobile usage:
• I have checked my website in Google for mobile friendliness and it is mobile friendly.
• I have checked the mobile usability report to see how the site is performing on mobile devices (in the search traffic section of the Google Search Console). Here the majority of my visits were by desktop and few by mobile.

“Googles Mobile Friendly Update” gives mobile friendly pages a ranking boost in mobile SERP’s and de-rank pages that are not optimized for mobile. This is the analysis screen for the test for mobile-friendly. Result, page is mobile friendly.

23.   Mobile Site Configuration:

I checked the mobile site configuration and the content and mark-up for my site is the same on mobile as desktop.

This is important for consistency of viewing, and heuristic principles of memorability and recognisability.

24.   Look at AMP (Accelerated mobile pages):

This enables web pages to load instantly for mobile users. AMP pages get a ranking boost in the mobile search results.

During testing on the websites in a “Search Engine Watch” study, AMP was found to have a 71% faster load speed for blog posts, and a reduced page size from 2.3MB to 632kB.

Another “Search Engine Watch” study had these relevant findings:

This study compared ad performance on AMP and non-AMP mobile pages across 150 publishers.

The results are:

§  80%+ of the publishers realized higher view-ability rates

§  90%+ of the publishers drove greater engagement with higher CTRs

§  Most the publishers saw higher eCPMs (Impact and proportion of lift varies by region and how optimized the non-AMP sites are)

This is the starting page for creating AMP pages. This is something I may include for  SEO in future projects.

25. Google console:
a. Search Traffic Queries:

This gives more detail and links that I would see compared to performing a regular search of my sites url.

b.  Google Index: Index Status:

This allows me to track the status of my site within the Google Index. Look for any trends on this.

c. Fetch as Google:

Here I can view my pages as Google sees them. They return the HTTP response, date and time and HTML code (including the first 100kb of visible text on the page. (If the page looks as I expect it to I can submit it to the index).

d.   Robots:

Test out current robots.txt comparison to verify if pages are being crawled or not.

e.   Use Instant Preview:

This tool allows me to see how the website looks using Google’s Instant Preview feature (this is the view of my site that can be seen in the search results when I mouse over the double arrows that show up next to a result).

f.   Metrics:

Bounce rate, average time on site, pages per visit. “User engagement metrics” evidenced to improve rankings.

SUMMARY:

§  Identify my audience, create personas, make a moments map (i-want-to-do, I want-to-know, I-want-to-go, I-want-to-buy etc.) that will allow  me to create content that answers all of my user’s needs.

§  Structure my content in a succinct way to clearly show the answer and steps to get to that answer if required with the necessary meta data and header tags.

§  Eliminate roadblocks that will stop my users from doing what you want them to do; click through to the rest of my website, spend more time on my website and not bounce.

§  Be holistic; create a great mobile and desktop experience that translates across the entire user journey – do not make this content great and leave the rest of my website with uninformative content.

Ranking:

Objective would be to rank in the top 20

Questions:

Objective to answer the question in one sentence.

Creating content that answers the how-to, i-want-to-do, i-want-to-buy and the i-want-to-know micro-moments that we, as humans, will always encounter and have the need to search for.

Additions:

Other videos by students on the website-add these to my website to enhance its value.

Add an “Other Information” section listing the awards and accomplishments of students from Creative Multimedia of our course/ the undergrad version of Creative Multimedia course.

Google Algorithm Updates – guide for Google penalties and changes. (Link-Assistant.com)

My Findings/Analysis:

Initially, when I added my website to GitHub and linked it to Webmaster Tools, it appeared on the search the class are using which is:

“creative multimedia@github.io.” Averaging at sixth place in the Google rankings.

Using Video and its mark-up in html: -nb don’t use <iframe> as search engine cannot crawl it, use <object>
Using schema.org markup for videos

Optimization at the intersection of search, content, social, mobile and local in 2017.

Relevance on Optimizing site-speed:

A massive 79% of shoppers who have been disappointed by a site’s performance say that they’re less likely to use the site again. But what constitutes ‘disappointed’? “If an e-commerce site is making $100,000 per day, a 1 second page delay could potentially cost you $2.5 million in lost sales every year.”

Poor optimization is associated with outdated web protocols, unresponsive pages, and bloated page size.

Awards in similar courses:

My subscription to “Search Engine Watch”:

Events and things learned from the project:

1.      Learned to create a website in considerations of lectures covered in class that would be suitable for SEO.

2.      Seeing how theoretical concepts in lectures translate into practice using modern web development practices and packages such as: Brackets, GitHub, Google Webmaster tools.

3.      As we are living in a “mobile first world,” I created a website that would be suitable for Desktop and Mobile.

4.      I increased my understanding of design techniques for effective CSS3 web page designs.

5.      To learn the importance of HTML5 Technologies including: web storage, real-time communication, file/hardware access, semantics and markup, graphics and multimedia.

6.      I learned more about using web frameworks such as: *****

7.      Active learning for a clear understanding of Search Engine Optimization Techniques.

8.      I learned through the assessing of the HTML5 technology architecture and CSS3 applications how best to optimize my website for Web Marketing purposes. These include: composition, page layout, grid systems, fluid designs, mobile appreciation.

9.      I learned how to distinguish between and apply these to my website.

10.   Look at email description of my query as I was exploring the webmaster tools capability.

11.   To distinguish whether an action would improve or dis-improve my ratings and whether ratings where higher or lower due to my classmates moving up and down the rankings.

12.   To evaluate the use of current social media technologies in various web contexts, where the core function of social media is to share content with others. Social Media’s other key feature is to provide a personalized and relevant, using the analogy “Table of Contents,” to discover, update and keep up to date with news of various types and genres.

13.   I learned to index content with hash-tags.

Next: update Blog 19 with screens and details of changes and update these paragraphs also.