A Search Engine Optimization
Checklist
To be an expert in search engine optimization (aka
SEO) is more than simply a skill - it requires constant
monitoring of the requirements of the individual search
engines and this is an ongoing task better left to those
dedicated to this.
But as a website owner / builder there are certain
aspects of SEO that you can ensure you are following and
our checklist will help you get good search engine
rankings so necessary if your website is to be found by
surfers.
1. Monitor your Stats
If you use cPanel, there is a Stats link on the main
page. Check that the search engines are able to index all
your pages. Click on the Error Log icon in your Control
Panel to see what pages are causing problems and correct
the problems. Your stats will also show you what search
terms visitors are using to find your site and these
keywords are the clue to what words you need to use.
If you have a Google Account, activate Analytics. It
provides really good statistical data.
2. Navigation for the Search Engines
Your site must have a robots.txt file, a sitemap.html
file and a sitemap.xml file. These files are all
supported by major search engines and ensure that the
search engine bots / crawlers index your site content
completely while avoiding those directories and files
that you do not want them to index.
In addition, in your links on your pages, make use of
the tag: rel="no follow" which most search engines
honor.
3. Open a Google Account
The reports you get in your Google Account are
invaluable and better still they are free. These reports
also allow you to monitor how long it is taking Googlebot
to access your pages, so you know if your page content is
too large or if there are server speed problems. You page
should load in under 15 seconds. If the search engine
crawlers are unable to call your pages up quickly there
is a good chance users are experiencing the same slow
load times and it is an established fact that most
surfers move on if they have to wait longer than 15
seconds.
4. See What The Search Engine Sees
The search engine does not see your website as it
appears to you on the screen; it is important that your
site is targeting its keywords correctly.
One of the best ways to determine just what your site
looks like to a search engine crawler is to go to this
search engine simulator URL and enter the full name of
your main page:
http://totheweb.com/tools/spider-test/index.php
This tool will also give you keyword density
details.
5. Use HTML for all your navigation links, not
javascript nor images
One of the most common mistakes in website design is
to use images for site navigation - your site navigation
is basically valueless for search engine crawlers and
they will not be able to follow the links to the
pages.
6. All Images Must Have an ALT Tag
Include a descriptive ALT text using your keywords as
not only is this important for accessibility for
vision-impaired users but search engines cannot 'see'
images and hence have no idea what they are; the ALT tag
will explain the image to them.
7. Use Flash sparingly, if at all
Search engines cannot index text or content within a
Flash file. So whilst Flash can do a lot for your website
presentation, from the SEO point of view it should be
used very sparingly (we would recommend not at all) and
certainly only on non-crucial content pages.
8. Each page must have its own, unique <
title> tag.
The TITLE tag should not be your website name ... it
should be the main keyword describing the content of that
page. For example, if the page is about selling blue
widgets, then that is exactly what should be in the Title
tag.
Whilst Google does not place a lot of emphasis on the
meta tags it does use the TITLE tag, so these tags need
to be carefully structured.
9. Each page must have its own, unique tag <
meta name="description" content="xxxx">
Google does not place a lot of emphasis on the meta
description tag but all other search engines do.
10. Each page msut have its own, unique tag <
meta name="keywords" content="xxx,yyy,zzz">
Google does not place a lot of emphasis on the meta
keyword tag but all other search engines do.
11. Your page content should follow a structure
similar to this:
Assuming your main keyword is "blue widgets" and your
secondary keywords are "blue metal widgets", "blue
plastic widgets and "blue fiberglass widgets"
Include at least one instance of your keyword in the
< H1> tag
Your keyword needs to be the first words the search
engine sees and it should o be in the 1st paragraph twice
(once bold, once in italics), then again in the last
paragraph. Your secondary keywords (and main keyword)
need to be sprinkled through the content, so that in the
end you have a keyword density of approximately 5%. Check
your density here:
http://www.adnerdz.com/tools/analyzer
12. Don't use frames
Search engine crawlers / bots will have trouble
getting to your content and indexing individual pages of
a frames-based layout; it is better to avoid frames if at
all possible.
There are many more aspects to SEO which we will deal
with in the coming days, but the points above give you a
good starting point.
To see an example of "successful SEO", visit http://www.google.com
and into the search box enter "hosting for dog
websites" ... yes, it's us! We are #1 out of
2,600,000 websites for that keyword phrase. This is what
you need to aim for. Spend time working out the keywords
that will bring you visitors, then optimize your page
accordingly, following the guidelines above.
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