1. Unit 1: Web Fundamentals
Lesson 6: Search Engine Optimization
August 21, 2013
2. Lesson 6: Search Engine Optimization
2
Introduction
to HTML
Learning to
Use HTML
HTML and
Email
History and
Future of the
Web
HTML and
Forms
Search
Engine
Optimization
Learning to
Use CSS
Introduction
to CSS
Reusing
Code
3 Ways to
Use CSS
Separation of
Concerns
Launching
Your Own
Website
Lesson 1 Lesson 2 Lesson 3 Lesson 4
Lesson 8 Lesson 7 Lesson 6 Lesson 5
Lesson 9 Lesson 10 Lesson 11 Lesson 12
Build understanding Develop skills
3. Recap from last time (I)
3
• HTML is important not just for receiving information, but also for
sending data to a server
• Forms allow us to actively engage with the internet, both sending
and receiving information as we browse websites
Amazon
server
Amazon
database
4. Recap from last time (II)
4
• There are many different types of forms – these allow for many
features such as account login and search bars
• User information is stored in databases, which are similar to filing
cabinets with a different file for each user
Google search Gmail sign-in
5. How to attract visitors to your website?
5
• We’ve already looked at how to view, interact with, and send data to
websites
• But if you’ve built a website of your own, how do you get people to
actually visit your page?
Not very effective…
6. One of the best ways is to show up in search
results
6
• Search engines such as Google and Yahoo want to show the most
relevant websites to their users
• If a user searches ‘lawn chairs’, they should expect to see results for:
Companies selling
patio furniture
Pictures of lounge
chairs
But not a TSwift
music video!
7. Meta tags
7
• To help Google decide what a website is about, they look at meta
tags, which are words that describe the content on your site
• Meta tags can be used to tell what language a page is written in,
who authored the page, or even the location of the business or site
owner
8. A few examples of meta tags
8
Type of meta tag Example
Locations served
by a business
Type of content
Keywords describing
the page
9. Where to find meta tags? (I)
9
1. Go to the Apple homepage at www.apple.com
10. Where to find meta tags? (II)
10
2. Right click on an empty region (make sure your cursor looks like
and not ). Click ‘View Page Source’ to view the HTML.
Click here
11. Where to find meta tags? (III)
11
3. Now you should be able to see the HTML of the page. The meta
tags are located near the top of the page.
Let’s take a
closer look…
12. Where to find meta tags? (IV)
12
4. You should see the meta tags underneath the <head> tag.
<head> tag
Meta tags
13. Where to find meta tags? (V)
13
5. Without knowing too much about meta tags, we can already guess
what some of these mean:
A short description
of Apple and the
page are about
The author of the
page is “Apple Inc.”
14. Which keyword meta tags should I use? (I)
14
What you should do What you should NOT do
Use keywords that describe your
website’s content
Choose keywords that are specific to
your page
Consider what users will think to
search when they want to find you
15. Which keyword meta tags should I use? (II)
15
What you should do What you should NOT do
Use keywords that describe your
website’s content
Choose keywords that are specific to
your page
Use keywords that are unrelated to
your website
Choose keywords that are too
general or vague
Consider what users will think to
search when they want to find you
Pick keywords just because they’re
popular search terms
We want to make sure the RIGHT users
are able to find our website
16. Exercise: brainstorming keyword meta tags (I)
16
• Suppose you are the owner of the website for Pixar Animation
Studios. You need to brainstorm 5 keyword meta tags to use. What
would they be?
• Hint: think of words or phrases that describe your page’s content
17. Exercise: brainstorming keyword meta tags (II)
17
• There are many great keywords you could have used. Below are
just a few examples of good and bad keywords
Good keywords Bad keywords
Pixar
Animation
Toy Story
Nemo
Buzz Lightyear
Brown
Hat
Andy Murray
Tesco
Microsoft
Company name
Name of Pixar film
Names of Pixar
characters
Woody may be
wearing a brown hat,
but these words are
not specific to Pixar
These keywords
aren’t relevant at all
18. Search engine optimization (I)
18
• In the past, to get to the top of the search results, you just needed to
choose the right keyword meta tags
• Now search engines no longer look at meta tags to decide what
order to display search results
19. Search engine optimization (II)
19
• Search engines now use complicated algorithms to determine which
websites are most important
• Search engine optimization (SEO) is how website owners improve
the rank of their page in search results
One of these algorithms
looks at links between pages
to decide which pages are
most important
20. Meta tags are still important
20
• Even though meta tags no longer affect a page’s ranking, they are
still very important!
• Meta tags will appear in search results to describe your page to
potential visitors
• Good meta tags can help attract the right audience to your site!
This is the meta description tag
21. Summary (I)
21
• Meta tags describe the content on your website and can help you
attract the right audience
• Meta tags appear in the <head> section, usually near the top of the
HTML code
• Good meta tags are specific and accurately describe the content on
your page
22. Summary (II)
22
• Good search engine optimization (SEO) can help your site get more
visitors
• While search engines used to rely on meta tags, they now use
complex algorithms to determine how to order search results
One of these algorithms
looks at links between pages
to decide which pages are
most important
23. What to do on your own
1. Go to URL to complete the Codecademy course online
2. Do the practice set on the material learned
1. Take the follow-up quiz to test your understanding
23
Get ready to learn CSS!!
