Top 5 ways of optimising SEO?

[sarasorrento]

Hi Guys

PPC campaign is going well, but after two months activity I am nowhere on SEO.

So I need to focus on improving the SEO rankings of our website. Can you suggest your top 5 ways of doing so (in order of priority).

Much appreciate you help.

Sara

 

[fisicx]

1. Read the google guide
2. Read the SEOmoz guide
3. Buy SEO for Dummies
4. Read the sticky on this forum
5. Pay someone to do it for you

This isn't being snarky, it's the way everybody else does it.

 

[SEO Lady]

Research. Research. Research. Many people fail to conduct ANY research at all in the first place. It's basic business acumen. Research your competitors.

SEO tasks include:

• Installation and reporting of Google Analytics
• Submission of URL to Google Webmaster tools, and code installed into your site to verify
• Similar code verification for Alexa & Bing
• Directory submission with full listing and photos, images, information
• <h1> using your target keywords, geographical area to suit
• Article writing (500 words) submitting to article sites and press release sites
• Blog creation on wordpress, Blog on Google (blogspot)
• Google Places directory verification and submission
• DMOZ submission
• Posting on forums, creating identities (like this)
• URL submission using a tool for global search engines
• Facebook, Twitter, social networking accounts, creating proper profilesand a optimised YouTube channel with videos for SEO
• Setting up Google Alerts for competitors and your own URL to track appearance on the internet
• Meta tags and meta description for your website, Alt tags on images,
• Web page copy composition using your keywords and unique meta info on each page

 

[KmkPro]

1. Read what others do
2. Try it
3. Think what could be done better
4. Try it
5. Go to point 1

 

[william04]

can anyone provide DMOZ listing tips?

 

[OldWelshGuy]

can anyone provide DMOZ listing tips?

get hold of a bent editor and pay him

 

[webgeek]

1) Do the keyword research (if you don't paint a target, you'll never hit the bullseye)
2) Do the on-page optimization (title, description, content, image tags....)
3) Add content
4) Build links (some brand mentions, some fluff, some keyword optimized)
5) Rinse and repeat steps 3 & 4 until satisfied, then return to step 1 and repeat everything again

 

[CustomJewelry]

More Quality content = Higher Quality Ranking | IMO

 

[Steve Sellers]

get hold of a bent editor and pay him

How much?

 

[captaincloser]

get hold of a bent editor and pay him

Is this what you call a scummy SEO practice OWG

 

[OldWelshGuy]

No it is what I call 'A bent editor' as it described what he is in relation to what he does.

 

[Ali-v-8]

Dmoz - submit once and leave it - if you resubmit then you may as well wait for months.

Your asking people to tell you how to optimise your website without showing it.
Its like saying increase the performance of my mode of transport - need more details.

 

[rihsatnum]

hi
I tell you 2 very effective way which was nobody told here. It will save your time and strength. 1st you must do backlinks 2. check your competitor's backlink and start giving all the backlink those same sites your competitor did. it will save your time and strength.

 

[ITsoldUK]

ever since the google penguin and panda updates i've been totally lost on how to seo

Ever since I became self employed I have been totally lost on how to seo

That is why I sell direct....

No seriously, I have read the G guide and found it very informative.

I also frequent a well know SEO forum run by Jill and a very well informed crew.

I am no Pro but I know that you never stand still as with most things it is a constant cycle of evaluation and action where required.

 

[Ali-v-8]

panda highlighted spam, penguin kicked it.
If you were spamming or were associated with it then google gave you the G slap.
The basics are stlll the same.

 

[Ian J]

panda highlighted spam, penguin kicked it.
If you were spamming or were associated with it then google gave you the G slap.

Unless Google's definition of spam is very different to everyone else's then I think that there is far more to it than that.

One of my sites has been unceremoniously dumped from the first page to the darker reaches yet I wasn't spamming, had no adverts and the site contained what I thought was good, original copy.

Website rankings will never be an accurate portrayal of what Google would like as long as it's all done via a computer algorithym and many genuine sites will suffer unnecessarily as well as many unworthy sites benefitting from the changes.

 

[fisicx]

But Ian, had you ever done any link building?

That's where most of the trouble originated. Google penalised all the junk sites which meant the inbound links to your site dissappeared. Or it may be just that google has decided if doesn't like your site anymore.

Google organic listings are free. Google can change the rules because it's their train set. There is no obligation for them to include or rank any site. All it means is that people need to fall back on traditional marketing methods.

 

[Latebloomer]

Not an expert with SEO but within 4 months I manage to go into first page with lottery syndicate. It is not that competitive though. I just made a good mixture of:
Articles
Forums
Bookmarks
Research your competitors
and most of all just improve your content. Use google analytics and see where visitors stay longest or goes.
Any of this if you have budget then just pay some people to do it for you.
If you don't climb in ranking, pay for yahoo or google adwords.

 

[webgeek]

Not an expert with SEO but within 4 months I manage to go into first page with lottery syndicate. .

You've done quite well with a minimum of link building, congrats!

You have a TON of keywords ranking bottom of page 1 and all over page 2 (not to mention below). With a bit of backlinks you could be seeing traffic from a massive swath of keywords...

 

[Ian J]

But Ian, had you ever done any link building?

That's where most of the trouble originated. Google penalised all the junk sites which meant the inbound links to your site dissappeared. Or it may be just that google has decided if doesn't like your site anymore.

Not really and what link building I did was many years ago. I've just checked the back links using SEO Spyglass and the vast majority of the links listed seem to be signature links from UKBF and another forum

 

[fisicx]

There you go. Google has devalued these links which means you have no inbounds and your ranking has plummeted. There may be other factors as well but it seems you were relying on the fact that you had always ranked so always will. Google thinks differently.

Annoying but thats what happens when you rely on a free service for traffic.

 

[olliepeck]

1. Make sure you're targeting the right keywords - if you've done your market research this should be easy.

2. Make sure the content on the pages you want ranked is unique, high quality content that is relevant to the searcher. Try and include social buttons like Facebook LIKE buttons and Tweet buttons to improve the social signals for your content.

3. Make sure your on page SEO like title tags, descriptions, keyword density (don't worry about this too much, use your keywords naturally throughout the content and you'll be fine), URL relevance are all in place.

4. Start building links to your content. One way, inbound links with your keywords as the anchor text are best but make sure you vary the anchor text and use normal links as well (i.e. yoursite.com - called naked links). Here are a few ways to build links:

- Start a blog, your posts can include links back to your main content
- Add your blog RSS feed to RSS directories to syndicate your content and links
- Create videos and submit to video sharing sites, include a link in your description pointing back to your website.
- Micro blogging on sites like tumblr, blogger, posterous etc - you must use high quality unique content.

5. Install analytics to monitor your progress and see what keywords are bringing in the most traffic. Google Analytics is the best choice, and its free. Rinse and repeat.

Hope this helps.

 

[Webfire]

1) Do the keyword research (if you don't paint a target, you'll never hit the bullseye)
2) Do the on-page optimization (title, description, content, image tags....)
3) Add content
4) Build links (some brand mentions, some fluff, some keyword optimized)
5) Rinse and repeat steps 3 & 4 until satisfied, then return to step 1 and repeat everything again

I think Webgeek really hit it right on...the first thing that comes to mind is emphasizing the keyword research and also really studying your competition (those ranking for the keywords you want) by knowing exactly how they are optimized (onsite as well as backlinks) that gives you a better idea of what chance you really have of ranking for that keyword.

Take the time to identify which ones your market is searching for and then prioritize which terms you want to go for first depending on the current optimization of your site.

You can go for the easier keywords and then as you start ranking for those and building your own website strength, you'll be in a better position to go after more highly competitive terms.

Everything is based on that then all the traffic and ranking techniques you use will be more effective.

 

[essayservice]

1. Find good keyword for your website from google keyword tool.
2. Create meta tags.
3. Publish good and unique articles.
4. Bookmark your article submission link.
5. Last and final step build good and relevant backlink to your website.

 

[StephMoore]

You have to do On-page optimization (i.e. title optimization, meta tags optimization, html tags, keywords optimization, link optimization, image optimization) and Off-page optimization (i.e. forum posting, search engine submission, directory submission, social bookmarking, article submission, press release promotion) to your blog.

 

[martinseo]

1. Do on page analysis and put unique content.
2. Participate in Social networks
3. Do blog commenting.
4. Participate in forums.
5. Read Search engine optimization blogs.

 

[Dany87]

1. Read what others do
2. Try it
3. Think what could be done better
4. Try it
5. Go to point 1

That's how I learned everything in SEO

 

[DelaneySecure]

My top 5 are as follows
- find your tribe - posting in a forum might get you more business than all the Google SEO in a year (... why not visit me at DelaneySecure!). Understand how your tribe buys your product - online, networking, face to face
- become leader of your (small) tribe - focus on your niche and become super-niche e.g. yoga for rock climbers was a bit hit within days, yoga and rock climbing are too busy to be a hit
- Begin to set the direction for the tribe - start small and build it up, a post a week is better than 100 posts in one day. Start predicting the trends, what's the next wave in your super niche e.g. advanced yoga for high altitude climbers.
- Make the tribe better by defining a higher standard - if you have genuine followers, and you add genuine value then people will stay. Establish the Elite group, and lead it.
- Expand your tribe by lowering the barriers to doing business with you e.g. free trials, seminars, talks, etc

Its a momentum game, start small and all the things you to promote your work will come together. Be honest - do you believe your pitch? If not, why not? When you start believing, then go out and find your audience to convert to your way of thinking.

 

[JMRidley]

I am also searching for the same.

We sent our site to DMOZ in about May 2010. A couple of months ago we noticed through getclicky that we had had a couple of visits from DMOZ and a couple of days after that we were listed - hurrah!

 

[william04]

What factor's the page rank of a site depends?

 

[cody44]

Sign up with Open Site Explorer and use it for two months. Check out your competition who you know are doing well and analyse where they are getting their link Juice from.

Build on your backlinks but keep a balance between backlinks and article submissions to a number of article sites out there.

Try squidoo for your own articles - if written well it can give you good domain authority!

 

[GMTGuy]

1)The site should load fast (google page speed to test your sites speed)
2)It should have a good deal of content(to rank better for keywords)
3)You should have a health amount of backlinks on quality sites(I recommend you stay away from autofollows)
4)Your domain should be aged at least a few years, otherwise it makes it much harder to rank high
5)Make sure to not "over optimize" onsite and off, obviously with the recent updates Google is trying to penalize people for it.