SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation and the class will focus on these two Units of Competency:

ICAWEB413A Optimise Search Engines

ICAWEB424A Evaluate and Select a Web Hosting Service

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Today’s Class

  • Photoshop Work
  • Assessment 2 – Next term

Photoshop Work

We will use this class to inprove your Photoshop skills and you will be able to work on your website designs for class C1.

Assessment 2: Next Term

Assessment 2 will be conducted next term when you will have a better understanding of how to upload web content.

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Today’s Class

Assessment 1 – Work

Assessment 1

You will have time to work on assessment 1 in class. I will be available to offer assistance and answer questions.

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Today’s Class

Assessment 1 – Introduction

Assessment 1

The task will be posted here shortly: C2 – Assessment 1

Assessment 1 will cover these questions:

Instructions:

Develop a detailed SEO recommendation for AntiArt, a Melbourne-based website that retails illustrations, screen prints, lithographs and other Art prints by international, non-established and non-commercial artists and illustrators. The website will have sections based on the different print formats and sections based on the cultural origins of the artists (European, Australian, Aboriginal, Chinese, Indian, Latin American).

Clients need to be able to place orders for specific, unique and numbered art pieces.

The website will be available in English only.

The prints will be stored in Hong Kong and shipped from there. The website will promote Melbourne as the home base.

Please use the Google Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide as a reference.

Create a unique, accurate page title for the home page!Describe your choice and why it is suitable for   SEO.
Create a unique, accurate page title for the page on which clients can purchase screen prints!Describe your choice and why it is suitable for   SEO.
Create a unique, accurate page title for the page on which clients can purchase art   by European artists!Describe your choice and why it is suitable for   SEO.
How can you write description meta data for a web   page?Create an example in code.
Create a description for each of the 3 pages   above:

  •   Home Page
  •   Page for purchasing Screen Prints
  •   Page for purchasing art by European artists
Give an example of a good URL for the page for   purchasing screen prints!
List a set of keywords you would use for the home   page!
Describe how you can write better anchor text for   links used on the site!  (p16)
Give 3 examples for good anchor text for links   to:

  •   Screen Prints
  •   Art by European Artists
  •   Art by Aboriginal Artists
How can you use heading tags appropriately?Give an example what type of heading to use for   your most important text (eg. Screen Prints) (p20)
How can you use robots.txt effectively? (p21)
How can you guide mobile users accurately? (p26)

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Today’s Class

Due to me being sick I would like you to work individually through Google’s SEO Starter Guide.

Google Search Engine Optimisation Starter Guide

Please work through pages 14 – 19 on your own. This will include information on how to write better anchor text and how to write descriptive alt attributes for images.

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Today’s Class

Due to me being sick I would like you to work individually through Google’s SEO Starter Guide.

Google Search Engine Optimisation Starter Guide

Please work through pages 10 – 13 on your own. We will discuss anything in class that you did not understand. The XML file might be new to you.

On paper: try to create a directory or folder structure for your own website. Allow for a similar amount of folders as in the example on page 10. Do not just copy their names, but create folders that apply to a site of your own (use the examples of what we worked on in class or use something like Juanita’s School of Spanish.

Look up the links in SEO Starter Guide.

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Today’s Class

Today’s class will focus on SEO – Search Engine Optimisation:

  • Revisit basic HTML Structure
  • Online Editors
  • Google Search Engine Optimisation Starter Guide
  • Homework
  • Feedback

Revisiting Basic HTML Structure

I would like  to revisit basic HTML elements and foremost how a HTML document is structured.

Who would like to have a go at describing the overall built-up or anatomy of a HTML document? Think of it as in the anatomy of a human. Actually, we will do this as a team on the whiteboard.

Let us see if you can reconstruct a HTML document on the whiteboard. Use the correct syntax and apply as much as you remember from the previous class. Use the correct script and placement for the different elements.

If you missed this class and are just following it online, please attempt writing down HTML code (use the h and p tags and sample text) without the aid of W3Schools or your notes and see how much you remember. Then, correct it and place it as a comment on this post!

Online Editors

W3Schools editor: Tryit!Editor

Another useful online editor: Real-time HTML editor

The Offline Coder App is a good offline editor available as an app for the I-Pad and I-Phone. You can edit HTML, JavaScript and CSS and view the results in a preview. See the screen shot below:

Screenshot of Offline Coder App for I-Pad and I-Phone.
Screenshot of Offline Coder App for I-Pad and I-Phone.

Google Search Engine Optimisation Starter Guide

Last week’s homework was to open the links on page 5 (at the bottom) and read page 6: Make use of the “description” meta tag. Who has done it (and do not lie to me, I can smell a lie from 10 metres…) 😉

We will continue working  through the Google Search Engine Optimisation Guide. We will continue working through it in class:

  • Make use of the “description” meta tag (pages 6-7)
  • Improve the structure of your URLs (pages 8-9)

If you missed the class try to work through the sections on your own.

In class we created an example for the decription meta tag as suggested in the Google Search Engine Optimization Guide based on the fictional website for JSS – Juanita’s School of Spanish. We used the TryIt Editor – use this link and recreate the page as seen in the screen print below.

Snippet Example created in Tryit Editor with Description Meta Tag
Snippet Example created in Tryit Editor with Description Meta Tag

Homework

Make sure to practice writing a HTML document including a DOCTYPE declaration, html element with nested head and body element.

Learn the correct code for Meta tags:

<meta name=”keywords” content=”place keywords in here separated by commas“>

<meta name=”description” content=”write a description in here“>

<meta name=”author” content=”place the name of the author in here“>

Re-read the pages 3-9 of the Google Search Engine Optimization Guide and use the provided links to further your understanding.

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Today’s Class

Today’s class will focus on SEO – Search Engine Optimisation:

  • HTML Meta Tags
  • Finding HTML For a Web Page
  • Google Search Engine Optimisation Starter Guide

HTML Meta Tags

A powerful way to improve SEO is by adding metadata to a website. Metadata can be added in form of meta tags in the HTML code of a website. The metadata can be used by browsers (how to display content or reload page), search engines (keywords), or other web services.

Use the head section to include your metadata. Look at this link to see how to include it: Head Element With Meta Tags in HTML.

Examples:

  • Define keywords for search engines: <meta name=”keywords” content=”HTML, CSS, XML, XHTML, JavaScript”>
  • Define a description of your web page: <meta name=”description” content=”Free Web tutorials on HTML and CSS”>
  • Define the author of a page: <meta name=”author” content=”Hege Refsnes”>
  • Refresh document every 30 seconds: <meta http-equiv=”refresh” content=”30″>

Please use W3Schools Tryit!Editor to apply metadata to a HTML. (In class we picked tables without borders.) Click the link before and select from the list of HTML documents. Next apply the Meta Tags to the document in the head section. Follow your teacher’s instructions.

Screenshot W3School - inclass example

Finding HTML For a Web Page

The HTML code of most websites can be viewed in a web browser. You just want to look for the Source!

The latest version of Internet Explorer lets you access the source by pressing F12 or clicking Tools>Developer Tools from the drop menu. Try this out and find the Meta Data of a website in the HTML code.

Viewing the Source in Internet Explorer
Viewing the Source in Internet Explorer

Copy the HTML code and save it into a Notepad document. Change the metadata, change the title as well and save the file as a HTML file with the Encoding set as UTF-8 (this shows up as an option when you save the file in Notepad.)

Open the file in your browser and discuss visible changes.

Example of Notepad file
Example of Notepad file

Google Search Engine Optimisation Starter Guide

Download the Google Search Engine Optimisation Guide. Save it into your folder for this class. It is a PDF file that we will use in our learning. We will work in class through the first sections:

  • SEO Basics
  • Improving Site Structure

If you missed the class try to work through the sections on your own.

NOTE: In class we worked through the first section of SEO Basics:

Create unique, accurate page titles (pages 4 and 5). We discussed examples for page titles for our imaginary website: Juanita School of Spanish (Spanish for Beginners).

See the screen shot below. The ideas in brackets did not comply to Google’s suggestions:

  •  Accurately describe the page’s content

  •  Create unique title tags for each page

  •  Use brief, but descriptive titles

Most of the titles that we brainstormed were too short and not descriptive enough.

Screenshot from Class
Screenshot from Class
Screenshot from Class - Brainstorm
Screenshot from Class – Brainstorm

Homework

Open the links on page 5 (at the bottom) and read page 6: Make use of the “description” meta tag.

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Today’s Class

  • Introducing each other
  • Introduction to Delivery Format
  • Introduction to the Content
  • In-class Task

Introducing Each Other

Spend 5 minutes interviewing your colleague and another 5 being interviewed. Next introduce the student to the teacher and other students.

Next think about one thing that you have done that no one else has.

Introduction to Delivery Format

The classes will be delivered in 3 hour schedules. The content will be posted on this blog as well as on MyKangan. Tasks, discussions and research will be conducted inside the 3 hour slot and at home.

Assessments:

Important: You need to submit all your assessments on MyKangan. It is your responsibility to follow up due dates and access to MyKangan.

  1. Day 1 Task – this task is a simple comprehension task to establish student participation. (due: after the first class)
  2. Assessment 1 – Research SEO and Web Hosting
  3. Assessment 2

RAE – Research and Exploration or Class of Federico

This blog will be or main form of contact. It will be accessible from anywhere as long as you have internet access.

MyKangan

The unit title for this class will be combined in (the catchy name):

ICA40311-ICTITW4N-ITGEN-2013-ICAWEB413A-OPTIMISE SEARCH ENGINES

As you can see, the titles are long and hard to remember. The easiest is to look at the last segment with the unit code and title.

The unit itself will be structured in the same way, that you have classes listed as Class 1, Class 2, etc and assessments will be listed by title inside an assessment folder.

This is also where you will submit your assessments. You will find hyperlinks with names such as Submit Assessment  1 here.

You can send messages to your teacher and you can leave comments as well. I am always open to suggestions, so please feel free to forward ideas about content or software that you would like to cover.

Any questions?

Introduction to Content

These units will be covered:

Please click on the links and follow the in-class discussion.

In-class Task

Please download the attached Word document and answer the questions. Afterwards upload the file onto MyKangan.

SEO – In-class Task 01

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