This article started as an SEO checklist to jot down on paper what I have learnt about SEO over the past year or so. At first I thought this would be a succinct 10 point guide but soon became 20 and before long was creeping on towards 30. Some points are more important than others but I think this just shows what a time consuming exercise good SEO is and it overlaps many other disciplines like web design, media, PR, social media, analytics etc.
So without further ado here are the 25 points. Make sure you keep a score to rank yourself below…
SEO Checklist
1) Create content for people not search engines.
2) Use tools like Google Insights for Search and Keyword Estimator. They are invaluable for spotting opportunities, trending search terms and competitiveness.
3) Online press releases can sometimes be a good way to generate backlinks and secure a high ranking PR link using anchor text of your choice.
4) Optimise your Title, H1, H2, Alt and Meta Description tags. Make sure they are the correct character length and contain your key search terms.
5) SEO is to a large extent content. 50% of your traffic won’t come through your homepage as Google ranks pages, not sites. As a rough rule, more content = more traffic.
6) Link internally using a variety of anchor text to a diverse range of pages.
7 ) Make sure you utilise Google Webmaster Central. It’s essential.
Be patient – Many speculate that Google tends to favour an aged domain.
9) Use social media channels like Twitter and Facebook. People who read your site regularly are more likely to share your links across their social profiles.
10) High quality 3 way link exchanges are a good way to build links.
11) Do submit content to article submission sites. These can build good solid backlinks.
12) Keep your site and content fresh with regular updates.
13) Page load time is now a Google algorithm ranking factor. Make sure your site is optimised by having all CSS in one file, minimising calls to the server and a whole host of other techniques.
14) Link bait. Write content that others want to share! Think top 10′s, best of’s etc.
15) Make sure you have a Google XML sitemap and a standard HTML sitemap.
16) Use breadcrumbs to make it easier for search engines to spider your pages.
17) Check your competitions links using tools like Link Diagnosis. Then approach those sites to share links with your site as well.
18) When you share links make sure the site in question uses relevant anchor text.
19) Link diversity. Don’t send all inbound links to your homepage. Linking should be a natural process so if you send all inbound links to your homepage Google will deem it to be un-natural.
20) Submit your site to directories. If you can get in DMoz then you are laughing!
21) Make sure your code is clean, not bloated.
22) Use canonical URL’s. Pick a structure and stick to it.
23) If you are using WordPress make sure you are using permalinks.
24) Make sure you are using 301 redirects.
25) Install Google Analytics and use it religiously to analyse incoming traffic.
How did you score?
0-5 = Google, nah never heard of them.
6-10 = You think SEO is some sort of martial art or airport code.
11-15 = You are still living in a world of META Keywords and your favourite search engine is Alta Vista.
16-20 = Now we are talking. You are 5 steps from SEO nirvana.
21-26 = Congratulations. Your name is probably Matt Cutts, Sergey Brin or Larry Page. Either that or your work in SEO. Now tweet this link and get back to work.
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