my basic SEO checklist..

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Mattk1983

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May 16, 2006
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  • #1
    I'm very new to SEO, and am currently trying to compile a checklist of SEO basics that I can do myself to try and improve my website's ranking for some targetted keywords.

    SO far I have...

    - Page Description with specific keywords for each page
    - Meta Keywords, and Meta Description tags
    - H1 headers containing specific keywords for each page
    - Good quality unique content for each page (how keyword dense should this be??)

    - submit to Dmoz.org and Yahoo Directory (any other recommended directories?)
    - try and request links from 5 relevant sites every day - should I request all links pointing to home page?

    Any other basics to add to my checklist?

    Thanks

    Matt
     
    R

    RayB

  • #3
    In terms of onsite SEO, this is what I posted in another thread the other day:

    1. Canonicalisation - redirect the non www to the www (and the index.html/php to the root version)
    2. Search Engine Friendly URL's - e.g. www. mydomain. com/my-keyword/
    3. Facility to create a unique title and meta description for each page (meta keyword tag can be also be added but less important)
    4. Facility to add a H1 tag at the top of each page and also H2, H3 etc in body (nicely styled in your CSS)
    5. Facility to add alt tags to images and linked images
    6. Facility to put optional nofollow tags on internal and external links where required
    7. Robots.txt file
    8. Webmaster tools code
    9. xml sitemap
    10. Analytics tracking code
    11. CSS nav - no nasty javascript
    12. NO FRAMES or Flash (IMO)

    There are more but these are off the top of my head
    __________________
     
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    J

    jimmy555

    Free Member
    Jan 3, 2008
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    8
    London ,UK
  • #6
    mattyk50 said:
    I'm very new to SEO, and am currently trying to compile a checklist of SEO basics that I can do myself to try and improve my website's ranking for some targetted keywords.

    SO far I have...

    - Page Description with specific keywords for each page
    - Meta Keywords, and Meta Description tags
    - H1 headers containing specific keywords for each page
    - Good quality unique content for each page (how keyword dense should this be??)

    - submit to Dmoz.org and Yahoo Directory (any other recommended directories?)
    - try and request links from 5 relevant sites every day - should I request all links pointing to home page?

    Any other basics to add to my checklist?

    Thanks

    Matt
    Click to expand...

    H1 header can trigger extra google filters. Better avoid it if your website is a new one.

    Just an advice. <Strong> tag will yield better results than using <h1>.

    <h1> is more like hot cake of every spammer and google knows that for sure :redface:
     
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    R

    RayB

  • #7
    jimmy555 said:
    H1 header can trigger extra google filters. Better avoid it if your website is a new one.

    Just an advice. <Strong> tag will yield better results than using <h1>.

    <h1> is more like hot cake of every spammer and google knows that for sure :redface:
    Click to expand...


    With respect, this is the worst onpage SEO advice I have ever seen. (IMO)

    After your title tag the correct use of <h> tags, and especially the <h1> is the next most important part of onpage SEO (again IMO)
     
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    R

    RayB

  • #12
    JustOneUK said:
    really? ..remove yours and see how you get on. No time like the present for a test :)
    Click to expand...

    Mine ain't going anywhere - but that still does m=not make them more important than <h> tags - not even close :)


    I'm still trying to figure out what these have to do with SEO basics :|
    Click to expand...
    A webmaster tools and analytics account are both very important SEO tools IMO. They are used for a thing called ANALYSIS :p
     
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    R

    RayB

  • #14
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    R

    RayB

  • #18
    Earl,

    The meta description tag is vital for CTR, and I believe it also contributes to overall document quality score.

    But put a word like effruiofhi7824tr7802frhicenjj into a meta description on its own and it will not rank

    The post above said not to use <h> tags - which do influence SERP's - so that advice was nuts IMO

    Equally, to say a meta description is more important than using <h> tags properly with regards to SERP's is also incorrect IMO


    sirearl said:
    Oh you think so.In which case we must all be insane.:p:eek:

    http://www.shcl.co.uk/blog/2007/11/unsung-heros-meta-tags.asp

    http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=e...mportance+of+description+tag&btnG=Search&meta=

    Earl
    Click to expand...
     
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    Scott-Copywriter

    Scott-Copywriter

    Free Member
    May 11, 2006
    9,601
    2,671
  • #19
    mattyk50 said:
    - Page Description with specific keywords for each page
    Click to expand...

    Make sure your page description sells and grabs attention. It usually appears as the description in the SERPS.

    mattyk50 said:
    - Meta Keywords, and Meta Description tags
    Click to expand...

    I don't think search engines place much relevence on these tags. It's been said that Yahoo and MSN might take them into account a little bit but as far as I know Google has discontinued using them due to abuse (for measuring page relevency).

    mattyk50 said:
    - H1 headers containing specific keywords for each page
    Click to expand...

    Sounds fine to me. Make sure it's near the top of the page.

    mattyk50 said:
    - Good quality unique content for each page (how keyword dense should this be??)
    Click to expand...

    5-7% keyword density for your major keywords and 3% density for minor keywords is a good starting point. If you have a key-phrase then make sure the phrase appears a good number of times in the text (more weight is given if the words in the phrase are together as opposed to being individually dotted around in the text).

    mattyk50 said:
    - submit to Dmoz.org and Yahoo Directory (any other recommended directories?)
    Click to expand...

    You're best off searching for potentially hundreds of good PR directories, it'll take some time. Try and avoid directories which require reciprocal links (it severely reduces the weight of your backlink on their directory). Also you can pay for directory listings but only if the PR of the page is high, it's usually a good indicator as to the directory quality.

    mattyk50 said:
    - try and request links from 5 relevant sites every day - should I request all links pointing to home page?
    Click to expand...

    If you have specific pages you want to get high in the SERPS for certain keywords then it would be wise (if you had the opportunity) to place deep links on websites with the anchor text containing your chosen keywords. It will add a lot of weight to that perticular backlink.

    sirearl said:
    sorry Ray you been missing out big time.

    http://www.web2trends.com/the-most-important-html-tags-for-seo/

    Earl
    Click to expand...

    Sure seems like a big SEO authority with it's huge list of SEO services (http://www.web2trends.com/seo-services/) it's Pagerank of 2 and it's $250 SEO. The search results you listed contain mainly a bunch of threads containing the same spam post about meta tags :rolleyes:

    In my opinion you should have them but they aren't very important. Unless things have changed, Google doesn't even take them into account anymore when calculating page relevency.

    The description tag is important for your page summary in the search results though. So a good call-to-action should be written in there.
     
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    R

    RayB

  • #21
    Well said Scott :)

    The only thing I would differ on is it it VITAL to have them IMO (for the call to action sales copy reason)
    Scott-SCD said:
    Sure seems like a big SEO authority with it's huge list of SEO services (http://www.web2trends.com/seo-services/) it's Pagerank of 2 and it's $250 SEO. The search results you listed contain mainly a bunch of threads containing the same spam post about meta tags :rolleyes:

    In my opinion you should have them but they aren't very important. Unless things have changed, Google doesn't even take them into account anymore when calculating page relevency.

    The description tag is important for your page summary in the search results though. So a good call-to-action should be written in there.
    Click to expand...
     
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  • #22
    RayB said:
    Here is a more useful article on ranking factors (on and off site)

    http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors

    Also, put a unique made up word in a meta description tag alone (with it nowhere else on the page/code) - and post back here when it ranks :)
    Click to expand...

    well that lot can't agree on anything.:|

    looks like they need a good SEO.:eek:

    There's them that talk about it.

    and there's them that does it.;)

    Earl
     
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    Scott-Copywriter

    Scott-Copywriter

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    May 11, 2006
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  • #23
    Very true Ray. I was more refering to the use of them in ranking optimization (no harm in having them and some SE's might still take them into account slightly). But for the summary on your page you really do need it to get the right sales message on the SERPs, so you should have the description tag for that.

    RayB said:
    Well said Scott :)

    The only thing I would differ on is it it VITAL to have them IMO (for the call to action sales copy reason)
    Click to expand...
     
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    ken_uk

    ken_uk

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    Jul 27, 2007
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  • #25
    Heading tags are not a danger sign to google, and should be used.

    They are not just useful for SEO purposes, but help in other areas such as accessibility, they can help users of screen readers etc, and help search engines to understand the semantics of a document, which parts are important, what the different sections are about, and what weight you think they are worth.

    As with all things though, over use (as in spammy/trying to fool a search engine) of anything that is used in the google algorithm will be self defeating in the long run as it will end up triggering a filter at some point.

    Its not the 90's any more where you can rank page one for any term you want just by writing a novel in your metatags, if a technique gains popularity, and starts affecting the serps, all google has to do is alter their algo so people doing a certain tactic to a certain degree trigger a filter.

    As for meta tags, use them for the purpose they were designed for, and they will not harm ,and can only help (I reckon google will use ones they currently say they are not using, if they are not already, google does not destroy data, they keep it all - plus there are more sites out their than google..)
     
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    C

    Cathy

    Free Member
    Dec 29, 2007
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  • #27
    One thing I think this thread does show is that if you're doing SEO yourself, and indeed if you're a 'professional', you need to check carefully the 'authority' of what you read.

    There's a lot of c*** talked and the upshot is that no-one really knows.

    It's quite obvious that the minute a search engine posted a 10 step plan to get into its number 1 position on each page that it would be abused by spammers.

    If you're doing you're own SEO, read lots and lots, then read some more. Consider why you should believe Guru1 over Guru2 and remember that even if Guru1 is right 90% of the time, he or she won't be for the other 10%.

    And remember too that what 'seems' to work today for Google et al, won't tomorrow.

    By the way, and this isn't really relevant to this thread so apologies, but how soon before we see degrees in SEO?

    After all, if you're an accountant and want to get business you have all those letters after your name to show that, at least in theory, you know what you're talking about. But for SEO, as it stands currently, it's a bit more like 'trust me because I say so...'
     
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  • #29
    Cathy said:
    One thing I think this thread does show is that if you're doing SEO yourself, and indeed if you're a 'professional', you need to check carefully the 'authority' of what you read.

    There's a lot of c*** talked and the upshot is that no-one really knows.

    It's quite obvious that the minute a search engine posted a 10 step plan to get into its number 1 position on each page that it would be abused by spammers.

    If you're doing you're own SEO, read lots and lots, then read some more. Consider why you should believe Guru1 over Guru2 and remember that even if Guru1 is right 90% of the time, he or she won't be for the other 10%.

    And remember too that what 'seems' to work today for Google et al, won't tomorrow.

    By the way, and this isn't really relevant to this thread so apologies, but how soon before we see degrees in SEO?

    After all, if you're an accountant and want to get business you have all those letters after your name to show that, at least in theory, you know what you're talking about. But for SEO, as it stands currently, it's a bit more like 'trust me because I say so...'
    Click to expand...

    Your right Cathy .The only way I would consider an SEO's credability is by the actual results they have achieved on search engines with a wide variety of products and industries.;)

    Earl
     
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  • #31
    Valid points Cathy. I will hold my hands up and admit I don't know an awful lot about it BUT I do know there are a mass of contradictions.

    "And remember too that what 'seems' to work today for Google et al, won't tomorrow."

    Yes, I would agree with your statement from what I have read on here and elsewhere.

    Ah well, I'll just keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best. Thanks for starting this thread mattyk50!
     
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  • #32
    Hi all,

    I'm new to this forum, first day today, and browsing various topics of interest.

    I must say that I agree mostly with Earl and Cathy. There are alot of people who claim to have a secret knowledge of seo and yet the same people never have the results to back such claims up. You must always check that your so called 'expert' has a proven track record, preferably in a similar industry to your business.

    Fundamentally, the best way to achieve good results is to build a good website. One that is well defined, full of content with regular updates, accessible to all and generally inspires user interaction.

    If you stick to that basic principle, you won't go far wrong and the rest is tweakable. Any seo equivilent 'get rich quick' schemes will most likely result in a long term instability of your rankings. Forget all the miracle techniques, all they promote is the production of search engine spam which will inevitably be regarded as such. It's quite simple really, don't attempt to outsmart a company who has risen to over $15b in valuation. Google have more people with more knowledge, more experience and earning more money than any of your seo cowboys!
     
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    RedEvo

    RedEvo

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    May 12, 2007
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  • #38
    ChrisFresh said:
    You must always check that your so called 'expert' has a proven track record, preferably in a similar industry to your business.
    Click to expand...

    Checking the track record isn't always easy as SEO's who are achieving specific rankings for clients are not likely to tell you what they are - if they are doing their job properly. Conversely I always think a real tell tale of a poor SEO is when a company bleats about a SERP conquest on their website. Quite often when you research the so called success story you'll find the SERP is for a phrase with very little competition.

    d
     
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