SEO Check List
As many of you know there are many tips and tricks out there to get good rankings. Consider this eBook a quick reference guide to make sure you are meeting SEO standards to get your site ranking. Now I’m not going to talk on and on and include a lot of fluff in this eBook. I’m going to simply name some of the most essential techniques that need to be met in order to rank. Through taking these steps I have been able to rank my sites within two weeks. I am not promising you will get the same results but if you take my advice you will be set to start ranking. 1. Domain: Before you even consider starting a site do some keyword research. Through this research you should see what keyword you want to target. Try to register a domain that includes at least one of your keywords. a. EXAMPLE: If you want to rank for the term “Good Food” then try to register http://www.GoodFood.com or something similar like http://www.Good-Food.com
2. Title Tag: In my opinion the Title tag is the most important tag you can have. You want to look at the keywords you are looking to rank for and include them in your title. Try to repeat it once to get a bit more density. Also I recommend you keep your title fairly short, the shorter the better because it is more focused and concentrated. Also make sure you have a unique tag for EACH page of your site. The more title tags the more keywords you are targeting site-wide. a. EXAMPLE: If you are targeting the term “Cook” you could use a title like “Cook with friends to learn how to Cook”. I have to admit that wasn’t the best example but it certainly works.
3. Meta Tags: Some SEO guru’s and pretty much everyone out there says that meta tags aren’t super important. Now I can agree with them and say while most search engines don’t use this as a major piece of weight, I think it’s still important to get yourself some correct meta tags. Make sure
to include your keywords but don’t stuff your meta data. Take a look at any standard site and look at the META tags that must be included. I recommend the description, keyword tags primarily. Make sure to alternate your keyword tags per page. 4. ALT Tags: Alt tags are used for images and you should make sure to tag all your images. Every bit helps and given competition is so stiff it is beneficial to take advantage of every piece of SEO strategy you can. a. EXAMPLE:
5. CONTENT: A lot of people miss the fact that it is VERY important to have content. You can’t just have a page with a bunch of links or a couple sentences. Hire an article writer if you can’t think of what to write. That will be the best investment you can make. Try to include a decent sized paragraph 200-500 words at the very top of your page. The higher in the page it is the better chance you have at a search engine like Google actually liking you and taking into consideration when it comes time for rankings. Try to mention your keyword multiple times in multiple ways. Try to use synonyms for your keyword as well. I believe search engines are smart enough to pick up on this, especially Google. So remember keyword density, try to keep your main keyword about 7-10% of the total number of keywords in your article.
6. LINKS: Now once you have done some of the ON-Page SEO mentioned above, there is a lot of OFF-Page SEO. Before I talk about this please take into consideration some of the ON-Page recommendations I have made, although this is not a comprehensive list I will try to release another eBook giving more information. a. Buying Links: I do not recommend buying links on every occasion. While buying some links are Ok, Google has been working harder and harder at understanding what links have been purchased and the last thing you want is to be hit with a penalty, that will void all the work you have done so far. If you are buying links try to keep it on relevant sites and if you primarily want traffic make sure they add a rel=”nofollow” tag to your link.
b. Directory Submissions: A very old school method but it is good to get your link out there somehow. Find directories that actually have PR rather than just submitting to any directory you can find. This will not only save you time but maybe get you some actual links that Google or other search engines will care about. c. Blog Commenting: This is another quick way to build back links. If you have time select a few blogs and leave some good comments. The problem is that some blogs do not approve your comments so don’t waste too much time here. Find good blogs, find posts with PR, leave detailed comments and drop a link. Make sure your “name” is the keyword you are targeting. d. Social Bookmarking: Social bookmarking is pretty good to get some form of viral marketing going on. If you have a good site then this won’t be a problem. I recommending Digging your site and also checking out StumbledUpon. Both are very good sources to get some links and hopefully some traffic. This traffic doesn’t really convert for sales or anything but it will help get some popularity to your site.
e. Link Building Sites: Another great source way of building links is by joining an exchange group. For example www.positionpusher.com, with a site like this you simply join, add code to your site and tell the site what anchor you want. The way it works is depending on a formula it gives you a score, based off your score you start displaying links on other members sites and get relevant links into your site. The higher your score the more links you get built to your site. The good thing about Position Pusher is that it doesn’t leave any trace on your website. Google or any other website sees them as natural links. If you want to save yourself time and definitely money you should check out www.positionpusher.com.