April 2019

SEO PROPERTIES IMPORT AND EXPORT GUIDE FOR TITAN CMS

SEO Properties Import and Export Guide (Apr. 2019) Page 1

OVERVIEW Are you having trouble keeping up with ever-changing SEO algorithms, standards and best practices? Most marketers and webmasters find this task daunting.

Titan CMS can cut it down to size. Managing your website with Titan CMS eases the pain of even the most complex SEO campaigns.

Please use this guide to make the most of what Titan CMS offers in SEO!

If you have any questions, please contact your Titan Administrator or Account Director.

CONTENTS Browse Views ................................................................................................................................................... 2

SEO Properties Browse View .................................................................................................................... 2

Export SEO Properties to Excel From SEO Properties Browse View ........................................... 2

SEO Problems Browse View ...................................................................................................................... 4

Export SEO Properties to Excel From SEO Problems Browse View ............................................. 4

Update SEO Properties and Import into Titan CMS ................................................................................. 6

Best Practices ............................................................................................................................................... 6

Update Lots of Data .................................................................................................................................... 6

Update Page URLs for Better SEO ........................................................................................................... 7

Update Page URL..................................................................................................................................... 8

Add Alias URLs ......................................................................................................................................... 8

Update URL and Add Alias URL ............................................................................................................ 9

Import SEO Properties into Titan CMS ................................................................................................. 10

Important Notes – Content Upload ................................................................................................... 12

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BROWSE VIEWS Use Browse Views to download the data you need to update for Search Engine Optimization.

SEO PROPERTIES BROWSE VIEW Use the SEO Properties Browse View to export key SEO data, including Page Name, Page Title, URL, Meta Description, Meta Keywords and Additional Metatags, Scripts, CSS, etc. You’ll find the SEO Properties view within the Web Content Management workstation module. This way, you can view key SEO data for your entire site in a single, easy-to-read spreadsheet.

EXPORT SEO PROPERTIES TO EXCEL FROM SEO PROPERTIES BROWSE VIEW

1. From the Web Content Management Module, navigate to the portion of the Site Map/Navigation Tree you would like to work with.

2. Click on the desired page/section.

3. From the Edit Pane/Browse View, click on the dropdown menu to change the view to

SEO Properties.

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4. You should see the following Property fields in the SEO Properties Browse View: Page Name, Page URL, Page Title, Metatag Description, and Metatag Keywords.

5. Click on the Download All Results To Excel button on the upper right of the screen:

6. The file will download to your computer.

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SEO PROBLEMS BROWSE VIEW The SEO Problems Browse View will let you know if there are SEO problems with your page titles and meta description. This information will be found under the Problems column. Use this information to help you to improve SEO.

• Only two property fields are reviewed for problems: Page Title and Metatag Description. No message will display if a page is missing metatag keywords.

• The Missing Page Title will show hint text if both the Page Title and Prefix from the Globe in Titan Admin are missing.

• Hint Text for Meta Description will or won't display based on if it's missing, too long or too short.

• The SEO Problems view will alert you if Meta description is too short or too long and if a Page Title is too long. It will also let you know what the optimal number of characters is for that field.

EXPORT SEO PROPERTIES TO EXCEL FROM SEO PROBLEMS BROWSE VIEW

1. From the Web Content Management Module, navigate to the portion of the Site Map/Navigation Tree you would like to work with.

2. Click on the desired page/section.

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3. From the Edit Pane/Browse View, click on the dropdown menu to change the view to SEO Problems.

4. You should see the following columns in the SEO Problems Browse View: Search Result

Preview and Problems.

5. Click on the Download All Results To Excel button on the upper right of the screen:

6. The file will download to your computer.

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UPDATE SEO PROPERTIES AND IMPORT INTO TITAN CMS After exporting your SEO data (as outlined above), you can make changes to SEO properties within your spreadsheet before uploading the changes back into Titan CMS. This saves a lot of time, especially when you’re updating extensive content; Titan CMS spares you the tedious task of updating SEO data by opening each page individually within the workstation.

BEST PRACTICES • Page Titles should be 55 characters maximum and should describe the page content. • Meta descriptions should be 140-185 characters maximum and should include a clear call

to action. They should inspire users to click on your page instead of a competitor’s. (View this blog entry for tips on writing compelling meta descriptions.)

• SEO-friendly URLs should include a clear keyword describing the content on the page. For example, if you have a page dedicated to red shoes, a strong, SEO friendly URL would be www.yourcompany.com/red-shoes.

• Keywords, once SEO gold, have fallen in search value. While it’s important to conduct keyword research to inform your content, adding them to your site’s meta data won’t improve rankings. Google doesn’t consider them when ranking sites, and they’re only a minor ranking factor for Bing. (They are, however, used as part of Titan CMS’s internal website search, so don’t ignore them completely.)

UPDATE LOTS OF DATA 1. Use the SEO Properties Browse View or SEO Problems Browse View to download key

SEO data in an Excel format. 2. Open the downloaded file. You should see something like this:

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3. Do not change the order of columns in the Excel file, or eliminate columns of data. The Page URL column should not be changed, as this field is how Titan CMS knows which line of data you are updating.

4. You can make changes to the following columns of data: a. Page Name b. Page Title c. Metatag Description d. Long Teaser e. Short Teaser f. Alias URL (See Add Alias URLs) g. Page URL (See Update Page URL) h. Additional Metatags, Scripts, CSS, etc. (in page HEAD)

This is an important field for schema, canonical URLs, etc. We use this field to add specific Schema.org markup to individual pages on a site, and it would be much faster to implement with the spreadsheet upload, rather than manually going to each page. If you have any questions about updating content in this field, please contact your Titan Administrator or Account Director.

5. Save your Excel file. 6. To complete the update, follow the steps in Import SEO Properties into Titan CMS.

UPDATE PAGE URLS FOR BETTER SEO • Titan CMS also provides the option of updating multiple page URLs with just a few clicks.

Updating page URLs will improve SEO because the URL includes a clear keyword describing the content on the page.

• For example, if you have a page dedicated to red shoes, a strong, SEO friendly URL would be www.yourcompany.com/red-shoes.

• Columns must be in this exact order in your Excel file or you will run into data errors: Page URL, New URL, Alias URL

• Special Characters: o The only special characters allowed in the URL are: ?, & and = o ? signals the beginning of the query string o At most, one ? is allowed, as it signals the beginning of the query string o Do not use & or = before the query string delimiter (?) o If you are using a ? to define a query string, you must have parameters. The URL

cannot end with a ? o & separates individual parameters

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• The imported item’s URL is created per parent Path (not updated). You won’t see a new Alias URL for the same reason you don’t see one when you change the first version’s Page URL before it has been published for the first time.

• With an upload of new page URL, if “Skip Workflow” is selected, the update should occur to same version. The Page URL will be updated and will not be retained as a URL Alias.

• Because we allow Data Uploads to create and update items, when you upload to a folder it wants to only process the Page URLs that look like they belong in that folder. That means the Page URLs need to look like they belong in that folder.

UPDATE PAGE URL 1. Download data following the steps outlined above. 2. Add a new column in the spreadsheet. The new column should have a header of New

URL and must be immediately to the right of the Page URL column.

3. You can include any number of real columns for that data (from the SEO Problems

Browse View) as long as you include Page URL and New URL. 4. Save your Excel file. 5. To complete the update, follow the steps in Import SEO Properties into Titan CMS.

ADD ALIAS URLS 1. Download data following the steps outlined above. 2. Add a new column in the spreadsheet. The new column should have a header of Alias

URL and must be immediately to the right of the Page URL column.

• You can include any number of real columns for that data (from the SEO Problems

Browse View) if you include Page URL and Alias URL. If you want to include more than one URL Alias in the file, they need to be separated by semicolon. The Browse view file should also use semicolon to separate. You could use separate line in file and add same Page URL for each.

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3. Save your Excel file. 4. To complete the update, follow the steps in Import SEO Properties into Titan CMS.

UPDATE URL AND ADD ALIAS URL 1. Download data following the steps outlined above. 2. Add a new column in the spreadsheet. The new column should have a header of New

URL and Alias URL. These columns must be in this order and immediately to the right of the Page URL column.

3. You can include any number of real columns for that data (from the SEO Problems

Browse View) if you include Page URL, New URL and Alias URL. If you want to include more than one URL Alias in the file, they need to be separated by semicolon. The Browse view file should also use semicolon to separate. You could use separate line in file and add same Page URL for each.

4. Save your Excel file. 5. To complete the update, follow the steps in Import SEO Properties into Titan CMS.

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IMPORT SEO PROPERTIES INTO TITAN CMS 1. Go back to the location in your Site Map/Navigation tree where you downloaded the file. 2. Click the Upload Content button on the upper right of the Edit Pane.

3. From the Content Upload window, click Browse to find the Excel file on your computer.

Once you find the file, click Open.

4. The data will load into the Content Upload box.

a. Parent Folder shows section where upload will occur. b. Select Data is the list of records with inputs to upload.

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c. Upload Options gives you the choice for workflow on the upload. d. Test Only is available to use to view results before actual Upload. e. Click the Upload button to process the upload.

5. We recommend you test your data upload before overwriting the data. This usually takes less than a minute (depending on how much data you are uploading).

6. A dialog box will show if there are issues.

7. Click the Upload button to trigger the update process. 8. When complete, you should see a confirmation message. Click OK.

9. If you selected Skip Workflow, Complete Workflow Immediately, or Publish

Immediately, the changes will take effect immediately. Otherwise, you will need to individually publish each item in the list.

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IMPORTANT NOTES – CONTENT UPLOAD

SKIP WORKFLOW • If you have this box checked and upload with a New URL, the change does not create a

URL Alias of old URL but does retain previous URL Aliases on record • If you do not check this box and upload a New URL, the change will retain the old URL as

the URL Alias but the URL Alias is only viewable after everything is published. If workflow is configured and publish is not selected, the uploaded results will be saved and the URL Alias will not be listed until the change is published. This will retain any previous URL Aliases on record.

DUPLICATE URLS • If the file’s New URL exists in your workstation as another Page URL, File URL or Data

Item URL, the Content Upload will result with an advisory message of “Failed: Duplicate URLS exist”

• If the file’s New URL exists in Titan as a URL Alias, the Content Upload will result with an advisory message of “Failed: Duplicate URLS exist”

SUCCESSFUL MESSAGE WHEN NO INPUT IN NEW URL • If the uploaded file includes a New URL column but no input in the column, the process

results with a success message but no changes occur.