Quick Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Guide

The science of SEO is simple, but the art of implementing the science is the true challenge.

1. Eliminating Problems

A well optimized site, by definition, must be free of issues that can keep an otherwise good content optimization from delivering the type of results that are possible. To accomplish this, there are several areas that should get prime consideration.

a. Elimination of duplicate Content (Intentional or Otherwise)

Many sites suffer from lackluster rankings because of duplicate content and the mistaken belief that any content is good content. Good content may be king, but duplicate content is poison to the health of a website. Eliminate all and any duplicate content you may have on your site, whether the content was generated intentionally or it is just a function of bad information architecture design.

b. Short, yet descriptive URLs which are free of session IDs

URLs are a good way of telling visitors what the page is all about (if nothing else). A URL such as www.example.com/article.php&id=48887464579876412 tells the user nothing about the page. Why not use something like www.example.com/blue-widgets.html? There is no good reason for not using the short and descriptive URL. Aside from making the site more user-friendly, the short descriptive URLs will also be search engine friendly. The keyword in the URL will contribute to improved rankings.

c. Customizable titles tags

As the most important element of the on-site optimization process, the title tag should be utilized to the fullest extent, and this cannot be done unless each and every page on your site has an independently customizable title tag.

d. Independently customizable description and keyword meta tags

Even though the meta tags are the (much) weaker of the title tag, it is still advisable to customize the keyword and description meta tags. If for nothing else, the description meta tag can be used to provide the search engines relevant and optimized marketing text for the snippet displayed on the search engine result pages (SERPs).

e. Complex and non search engine friendly navigation

The search engines must be able to index your pages before they can rank them. So if the architecture of your website is a roadblock to the indexing of your pages, no amount of content optimization will help the ranking potential for your website.

Develop a simple to use and logical site structure, and make sure the navigation is not a hindrance to the search engine spiders (e.g. don’t hide your navigation in Flash or JavaScript), but a map for finding each and every page. Note: Even with a perfect navigational structure, you will still benefit from having an actual sitemap.

2. Keyword Research

a. Understanding your niche, the competition, and what your site is capable of

If you’ve recently started an auction site, ebay is not your competition. Keep that example in mind when you are trying to figure out what keywords to pick. If your site (a single page is not a website) is new (less than a year old), you will need to make some compromises about the type of keywords you can start your optimization process with. Going back to the auction site example, you would be well advised to stay away from the keyword ‘auction’. This is not to say that you should ignore the prominent keywords for your industry, but you also should not expect to see results for a long while.

b. Developing a list of 80 to 100 words (the list will be narrowed down)

Start with a large list of keywords and narrow down to pick the ones best suited for your site, product (service) type, service area, and so on. What follows is a list of quick tips for narrowing down the list of keywords.

1. Start with the most popular keywords in your industry

Use the myriad of research tools available online (e.g. Google Adwords Keyword Tool) to expand your list based on what you think are the most popular keywords.

2. Narrow down the list to areas you specialize in (if any)

If you sell shoes and specialize in walking shoes, don’t use the term "women’s shoes" just because it has more searches. This by no way means that you should not include "women’s  shoes", but perhaps your optimization will be better served if you used "women’s walking shoes". The search numbers may be much lower, but you’ll get the type of visitor that is much more likely to buy, once on your site.

3. Don't choose keywords solely based on the search volume

As stated above, don’t be swayed by big numbers. A keyword with a search volume of 20,000 per month will have a high level of competition and it may take your site a year or two to get to the first page of the listings (not even #1) , and even then you will only get a fraction of the 20,000 visiting your site. What if you pick a keyword that has only 1000 searches but you are able to rank #1 for it within a few months? Getting all or a big chunk of 1000 within a few short months is much better than getting little to none of the 20,000.

4. No matter how many products you have, don't start the initial stage of your optimization with more than 30-50 keywords

Selecting a reasonable number of keywords will help you better utilize your resources, and to build long term and sustainable success on short term achievements.

5. Choose a balance of low, mid and high competition keywords (based on your site's ranking potential*)

Though you should not ignore the high end keywords even if your site is brand new, the proportion of the hyper-competitive keywords should be smaller compared to the mid-range     and low-end keywords. Remember, do not get distracted by large search numbers.

3. Optimizing Your Website

These instructions are meant to be an introduction into the world of SEO. They can also be used to make sure that the SEO company that you have hired is doing a thorough job.

a. Customized Titles

In ‘Eliminating Problems’ portion of this tutorial we spoke about the ability to independently customize each and every page title. Take advantage of this capability and customize the titles of your pages to accurately describe the content of your pages.

b. Customized description and keyword meta tags

Similar to the title tag, but less important (as far as SEO is concerned), the description and keyword meta tags should be customized to reflect the content of the page they represent.

c. Customized headings and sub headings for your pages

Headings (H1-H6) can and should be thought of as titles and subtitles (or headings and subheadings), and should be used exactly as they were intended. The most important topic of your page would have an H1 heading, followed by a subsection of that topic which should have an H2 heading (and so on). This structure assumes that you have subsections to your topic on a particular page; if you do not then of course you would simply use an H1 as the main heading and leave it at that. Just like the  title,  and meta tags, the headings should be descriptive.

d. Well written, user-centric content.

When writing content, the most important thing is to make sure it is of high quality, unique, and useful in some way—it can be full of facts, ideas, entertaining prose or something that sets it apart from the other pages on the Internet that cover the same topic. If your content brings nothing new to the table, it won’t be allowed at the table at all—the table being ‘good rankings’.

Do not spend your time worrying about keyword density, and concentrate the quality. If you are writing about widgets, you cannot help but mention widgets in your text, just be mindful of the variety of keyword you are targeting and when appropriate use keyword variations to avoid overuse of a particular keyword.

e. Logical and helpful internal link structure (in-line links)

As with most (if not all) things in search engine optimization, logic is king. So when it comes to internal linking, logic should be your main guide. You should be able to justify In-line links in your content by the benefit they provide to the reader. Does a particular keyword mentioned in your content on page ‘A’ have a dedicated page (page ‘B’) on your site? Why not link that keyword to page ‘B’? In some cases you may want (or need) to develop new content to facilitate this process.