14 steps to successful SEO
Google’s goal is to match each search query with the best, unique content.
That can come from any site / author. (obviously NYT.com has advantage over ryanspoon.com)
But: the best content wins in the long term.
It’s that simple :)
2. Keyword Portfolio.
What queries do you want to target? Considerations:
- How realistic & relevant is the query?
- Will target customers search it?
- Is there enough volume for that query?
- Is it already too competitive?
- Who is the competition: big brands?
Once you target queries, build a corresponding keyword portfolio.
3. Findability.
Content is King….
But Google has to be able to find it!
Best practices:
- Link to content from high ranking / traffic pages
- Feature mix of popular, recent & ‘random’ content
- Create topical hubs, guides, and lists
- Leverage header, footer and/or sidebars
- Update robots.txt (overview coming, #4)
- Create Google Sitemap (overview coming, #11)
4. Accessibility.
- Not all content should be accessible to search engines.
- Robots.txt files declare what should / shouldn’t be crawled.
- Note: it’s a public file. Anyone can see what sections you ‘hide’.
5. URL Structure.
URLs are as important as the text!
Should be descriptive and reflect the content.
6. Page Titles & Headers.
Similar strategy to URL structure:
1. Remember your query goal / keyword mix
2. URL + Page Title + Header should be related
3. Short and crisp > long and descriptive
extra words are dilutive!
4. Headers should read like a newspaper:
- most important (H1) go atop
- declines left-to-right and top to bottom
7. Meta Tags.
- Less important than URLs, Titles and Headers…
- But meta tags are easy, small wins and can impact conversions by improving search result content:
8. Anchor Tags.
Anchor Tags are important for two reasons:
1. They’re hyperlinks so they improve findability
2. They give context to links
The same keyword targeting / optimization should apply to anchor tags as it does to URL, Title, Headers, Metas.
9. Google Sitemaps
Google Sitemaps are automated feeds that alert Google of new, updated content. Particularly useful for:
- large amounts of content (i.e. Yelp locations)
- dynamic content (i.e. eBay listing pages)
- tough-to-crawl sites (i.e. search driven, lots of AJAX)
Improves findablity and crawling.
…but does not affect rankings.
10. Indexing Images
Images are integrated into core search & in Google Images
Use Alt Tags to optimize images for surrounding target keyword(s)…
and to provide another route to accessing that demand: <img src=”URL.gif” alt=”shawn marion” title=”shawn marion dallas mavericks”/>
11. Blogging (Wordpress)
Blogging is a tremendously powerful. And under-utilized.
Wordpress is a great tool for SEO, traffic acquisition.
Tips:
- install All in One SEO Pack Plugin
- make sure site “visibility” & “pingomatic” are on
- Optimize URL permalinks (per step #5!)
12. Adopt New Media, New Formats
Search results pages continue to change.
Google wants the most relevant and current content & formats.
It’s your advantage to be a first-mover and to adopt new platforms & formats:
- Social: Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc
- Local: Yelp, Google Places, etc
- Images & media: ie YouTube
13. Track, Track, Track.
Look at the data to determine what’s working & what to target:
- Referring queries
- Rankings for those keywords
- Your competitors rankings
- Related keywords, queries
- Breakdown by source / search engine
Tools: Google Analytics, KISSmetrics, SEOmoz, Seobook
14. Bounce Rate.
Remember:
Traffic from search is usually a first time visit.
You must also optimize for retention, conversion.
The landing page must be descriptive, welcoming and actionable.
SEO is top of the funnel.
Reducing bounce means increasing conversion.
