Congratulations! You're about to embark on a fun and interesting journey into the world of online marketing. Whether you're trying to sell more products, generate leads, or get more pageviews on your sponsors ads, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) will take you where you want to go.
And, you're using Drupal 6! You've picked a great platform for building your web site. It's widely held that Drupal is one of the best choices if you want to rank well in the search engines. I personally believe that it's hands-down the best possible platform for SEO. I've seen clients triple their traffic within a few weeks of switching from a lesser platform. Believe it—Drupal is the best! But, you already knew that, didn't you? In this chapter, we're going to dive right in and cover some of the top tips for Drupal SEO:
Drupal—which version you should use
How to install 99% of modules
The essential SEO modules that you'll need for your Drupal site
Installing and using the SEO Checklist module
Setting up a Google account
Installing Google analytics and Webmaster Tools on your site
Some great paid tools to help you with your SEO
Note
Helpful web sites:
There are some great resources online to help you along:
www.DrupalSEObook.com: The web site of this book. Visit for additional tips, updates, module suggestions, and to discuss Drupal SEO. The author often participates here so it's a great place to ask questions.
groups.drupal.org/search-engine-optimization
: The Drupal SEO group on www.Drupal.org.
tips.webdesign10.com/drupal-seo
: Another resource for Drupal SEO tips.
The right tools make the project go smoothly. When you decide to SEO your Drupal 6 web site, you'll need the following:
You can download Drupal 6 from two sources:
Drupal.org
: This is where you can get the latest release of the open-source Drupal 6.Acquia.com
: Acquia is a company co-founded by Dries Buytart (the founder of Drupal) and Jay Batson. Acquia has produced a corporate version of Drupal, creatively called Acquia Drupal. Acquia Drupal has some of the better modules pre-installed and provides some great extra services like uptime monitoring, version updates, and advanced support to your installation and modules. Downloading and installing it is free but the services do cost a bit extra—starting at a few hundred dollars per year. That's well worth the extras you get.
Note
Are you running a corporate site and you're not quite up to speed on Drupal? Consider signing up for Acquia's support services. Acquia Network subscriptions provide commercial-grade support and network services for all Drupal 6.x web sites (not just Acquia Drupal) to help you implement Drupal with confidence. Visit http://acquia.com/ for more information.