1. Compose interesting content
This is twofold. Google likes it because people like it. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is all about getting visitors to your page but then what? You need to convert visitors to clients. Boring content will not do this. SEO Tips – put some thought behind what you write…
2. Compose unique content
Google can easily recognize a copy & paste job and if it does, it will, at best, just ignore it. SEO Tips – never C&P content…
3. Write structured sites
Structure your site so you have all your blue widgets separate from your red widgets. This is referred to as siloing and forms part of Latent Semantic Indexing. SEO Tips – use a clean directory structure and keep alike issues together…
4. Adding new stuff to your site
If you add content to your site and change things you will create a better standing with Google as compared to sites that haven’t changed in the last 5 years. The latter may be seen as stale whereas the first is seen as dynamic and current. SEO Tips – keep the interesting content coming regularly…
5. Choosing the right keywords
Choosing the right keyword or phrase is critical. Use tools such as Adwords to help you find key phrases. Adwords will tell you about the keywords, including how often it is searched for and the level of competition. SEO Tips – spend some time analyzing your keywords and phrases…
6. Choosing “niche” keywords
Some keywords are way too competitive to have a crack at. Start with niche keywords… They don’t come up as often but they are easier to optimize. It is also the best way to introduce your site to Google. SEO Tips – pick those niches well…
7. Pick a domain name that contains your keyword
Having your keyword in your domain name will help tremendously. For example, if your keyword is “apples” then your domain name should contain the word apple – apple.com (preferable) but derivations are good too – aus-apples.com.au. Note that older domains will always do better than new ones. SEO Tips – get that domain name that has your keyword in it…
8. Always use your key phrase in your title
Use your keyword at least 2 times in your title – perhaps in a different context. Consider your title for both Google as well as people. The title will often have to convince the potential visitor to click on your link. SEO Tips – use your keywords in your title tag…
9. Try to include your keyword in your URL
Try to put your keyword in your URL. For example, if your keyword is apples then try something like: https://www.your-domain.com/apples/apples.html. SEO Tips – Google will assign some value to this so put your keyword in your URL…
10. Repeat your keyword
It is extremely important that you repeat your keyword within your page. This is referred to as keyword density. As a rule, try to have your keyword density at around 3.5%. Use them more often and more prominently at the beginning of your page. This includes headers and other places you have your keyword displayed. Don’t overdo it! You may get penalized for “Keyword Stuffing”. SEO Tips – repeat those keywords throughout your page…
11. Put your keyword in headers <h1>
The <H1> to <H6> header elements are perfect for highlighting your keywords to visitors. This is why Google also likes to see them in headers. It denotes importance. SEO Tips – put your keywords in headers…
12. Put your keyword in your links
Links are great to develop some “Link Juice”. Putting your keyword in your link as well as the displayed text will help a lot. For example, if your keyword is “apples” then you should compose your link code line: <a href=”your-link” title=”apples”>apples</a>. Note that you may as well put your title tag in there with the same keyword. SEO Tips – use your keywords in your text links…
13. Develop “backlinks”
Get linked from other relevant sites that have a high “Page Rank”. Google assigns “Trust” to your site if other sites link to you. SEO Tips – ask for other site owners to link to your page…
14. Get linked from relevant sites
Only get linkbacks from relevant sites. If you sell apples then get a link back from the Tasmania Apple Growers Association; not the Bowen Mango Growers Association. SEO Tips – keep the backlinks relevant…
15. Get links from trustworthy sites
Inbound links coming from www.dpiw.tas.gov.au (Tasmania’s Agriculture Department) will be better than links from backyard-apple-sales.pro. Both are relevant and good backlinks but the .gov site screams TRUST. SEO Tips – try to create backlinks from trustworthy sites…
16. Develop lots of content
The more content you have the better, Google likes big sites that are well-linked both internally as well as from the outside. SEO Tips – keep that content coming…
17. Keep to your theme
If you are focussing on one theme you will find that Google assigns more credibility. If your site is about apples, then provide apple content; not content about oranges. See Latent Semantic Indexing for further information on this. SEO Tips – stick to one theme…
18. Age your site
The older your site, the better. You gain some trust if you have an old domain with a site that has been up for a long time. SEO Tips – keep your site up and clock up those years…
19. Make yourself a sitemap
A sitemap tells search engines about your site’s structure and the links you have created. There is no direct correlation between sitemaps and better ranking but it may help to get listed quicker. SEO Tips – create a sitemap…
20. Use 301 redirects
How you redirect is important. Using a 301 redirect tells Google you are moving the page permanently and any “Link Juice” will carry over. SEO Tips – use 301, not 302 redirects…
21. Increase your inbound links
Inbound links are important “off-page” SEO tactics. You cannot have too many links but remember, try to get links from sites with similar themes (relevance), and from high PR sites (quality), and remember this; slowly wins the race. SEO Tips – keep those links coming in…
22. Use your keyword in the first paragraph of your page
Placing your keyword at the beginning of your page will make it more relevant. Put it in your first paragraph and preferably at the beginning of this paragraph. SEO Tips – use your keyword in the first para…
23. Use your keyword sooner, rather than later
Place your keyword as soon as possible within your HTML; it means you mean business. SEO Tips – use your keyword early…
24. Use the “Alt” tag
Wherever possible, put your keyword in the “Alt” tag. For example with images. It denotes to visually impaired visitors what the image is about and this is why Google likes it too. SEO Tips – use your “Alt” tags well…
25. Make your keyword stand out by increasing the font size
Like headers, increased font sizes make your keyword stand out to your visitors. It highlights that it is important similar to your “bold” statement or your header elements. SEO Tips – adjust your keyword’s font size…
26. Make your keywords stand out
Similarly, you can use other techniques to make your keyword stand out. You can use <bold>, <strong> or <em> to show that your keyword is important... SEO Tips – make those keywords stand out…
27. Write your meta description for humans; not for Google
You have seen this; descriptions that do not look like English stuffed with keywords but as a description don’t make much sense. Remember that your description will be read by potential visitors and they won’t click on your link if your description is nonsensical. SEO Tips – make your description for humans; not bots…
28. Create internal links
Internal links are great but make sure you stick to one theme. Link all your apple pages with other apple-related pages. Equally important, don’t link them to oranges-related pages. SEO Tips – develop internal links but keep the theme…
29. Contextualise your links
Use your links wisely, and always try to contextualize them. Ie, in your paragraph about apples, create a link to other apple themes. SEO Tips – contextualize your links…
30. Try to get links from DMOZ and Yahoo
Links coming from these directories help your overall ranking in other search engines. It can sometimes be a battle to get listed but after you succeed you will see some benefits. SEO Tips – get yourself on quality directories…
31. Put a link in your images
Visitors intuitively click on images; it is just human behaviour. So link your image to somewhere relevant and use your “Alt” tag at the same time. SEO Tips – put links on your images…
32. Update your page regularly
Fresh content is what we all looking for so update your pages regularly. Google will assign some credit for your efforts because a stale website is not attractive. SEO Tips – update your site often…
33. Don’t make your URLs stray from your root
Keep your pages as close as possible to the root directory. www.you.com/page.html is better than www.you.com/your-directory/your-directory/your-directory/page.html. SEO Tips – keep pages close to your root directory…
34. Utilise your keyword meta tag
Meta tags are great to show bots what your website is all about. Your keyword meta tag tells bots what you think are the main keywords on your page. However, this is pretty useless in isolation. You need to follow up your keyword meta tag with action including actually using your keywords correctly in your page content. SEO Tips – use your keyword meta tag…
35. Utilise your description meta tag
Include your keyword in your description meta tag. You can use it 2 or 3 times; perhaps in different variations. Again, this is useless if you don’t have your keyword managed within your page contents. SEO Tips – put your keyword in your description meta tag several times…
36. Set your language
Utilize your language meta tag particularly if you have a language other than English. The less recognized the language, the more important this meta tag becomes. SEO Tips – use your language meta tag…
37. Pick a few secondary keywords
After you have optimized your site for your main keyword, you can start on optimizing the page for some secondary keywords. Make sure you do not make these as prominent as your main keyword for fear of confusing Google. A word density of no more than 1.5% is recommended. SEO Tips – optimize for secondary keywords…
38. Try to use some synonyms
Using synonyms is a good way to expand your content and keep it focussed. You can look at Latent Semantic Indexing for more detailed information on this. So if you sell cars, don’t be holding back on using synonyms like “vehicle”, “auto-mobile”, “auto”, “sedan”, “coupé” or whatever is appropriate for your content. SEO Tips – use synonyms of your keyword…
39. Pick the right domain type
There is some evidence that a .com domain outperforms a .pro or .biz domain (all other things being equal). There is also some evidence that a .com.au may outperform a .com domain if your content is Australian focussed. SEO Tips – give some consideration to your domain type…
40. Separate the words in your domain name with hyphens
“wesellapples” doesn’t mean much to a bot. “we-sell-apples” look a lot better in bot language and the bot will recognize your keyword “apples” more easily. Hyphens ( – ) are generally there denoting the end of a word. Underscores ( _ ) on the other hand are often seen as part of a word. SEO Tips – use hyphens to separate your words…
41. Separate your words in your URLs with hyphens
The same principle applies here. Use hyphens to separate your words within your URL. For example, www.you.com/we-sell-apples/apple-R-us.html. SEO Tips – separate your keywords in your URLs…
42. Write many, but short pages
Very long pages load slowly which is bad for visitors and therefore bad for Google optimization. You will also find it hard to manage your “Word Density” when you have a lot of content on one page. So if you genuinely have a lot of content, consider splitting this up into several pages. If your page is over 50KBs then start thinking to link. SEO Tips – keep the size of your page manageable…
43. Use transcripts for none readable files
As we all know, search engine bots can’t understand what an image is all about or a screen-cast or Flash so let Google know by including a transcript of what your element is all about, and obviously use your keywords as appropriate. SEO Tips – transcripts to explain your content to bots…
44. Don’t pick the wrong hosting company…
Don’t sign up with a hosting company that is not on your side. You should consider the following point about your hosting. Don’t choose a host that:
- allows spamming – your IP may get into trouble by being put on a “blacklist”,
- has excessive downtime – 99.9% uptime a the industry standard but consider “Cloud Hosting” for best performance, and
- has slow connectivity.
SEO Tips – pick your host carefully – I use EZiHosting of course!
45. Avoid content in JavaScript
Although you may not be penalized for using JS, you should try to avoid rendering your content using JS as most search engines will simply ignore this… SEO Tips – use JavaScript for functionality, not rendering content.
46. Don’t leave the image “ALT” tag blank
Image ALT (alternative) tags tell visually impaired users what the image represents. So Google will assign rank value to this description if it is relevant to your keyword. SEO Tips – always use your image ALT tag …
47. Don’t use misspelled words in your content
To find your niche keyword you may consider a misspelled variety. For example, if you sell accommodation you will find that a lot of visitors will type in “acommodation” or “accomodation”. So it makes sense to optimize for this misspelled word as it will bring visitors to your site. However, you will take a big hit in your credibility rating with your potential customers if they find you can’t spell. SEO Tips – don’t use misspelled words in your content…
48. Don’t dilute your keyword mix
Optimize your page for 1, 2 or 3 keywords – no more. If you have 10 different keywords on one page you just confuse Google and none of them will rank well. SEO Tips – keep your keywords per page to a maximum of 3…
49. Don’t overdo it with your keywords
“Keyword Stuffing” is bad. If you have your keyword appear too many times in your content then Google may actually ignore your page (at best). Google doesn’t like to be manipulated by smarty pants SEOer. SEO Tips – keep your “Keyword Density” balanced…
50. Don’t count on inbound links from the same IP address
Links are good. However, if you have a lot of links from the same IP address (yourself) then your “Link Juice” may not flow as liberally as you would hope for. SEO Tips – get external links from IPs that are unrelated to your own…
51. Don’t make your URLs too long
Don’t “Spam” your keyword into the URL. For example, don’t go for something like this if you are optimizing for the keyword “apples” – http://www.you.com/apples/apples/apples/apples.html. Your clearly spamming and keyword stuffing and Google will respond with “computer says no”. SEO Tips – don’t spam your keyword in your URL…
52. Try to avoid dynamic URLs
Dynamic URLs are generated on the fly and are a bit hard for search engines to interpret. Some CMS have the ability to also add static URLs. If this option is available then use it. SEO Tips – don’t use dynamic URLs…
53. Don’t count on Google AdWords and AdSense for SEO
Although AdWords and AdSense are great tools, they do nothing for your search results. SEO Tips – AdWords and AdSense will not aid in your SEO strategy…
54. Don’t use “Link Farms”
“Link Farms” are specially set up to create thousands of backlinks to your site. However, you are trying to manipulate and outsmart Google – bad idea. With linking strategies, it is “slowly wins the race”. Add links consistently and steadily and only from relevant sites and preferably from high PR sites. Other linking don’ts:
- Don’t link TO link farms.
- Don’t have pages just with links.
- Don’t overdo your “Word Clouds”.
- Don’t establish “Link Circles”.
- Don’t have broken links.
SEO Tips – watch those links…
55. Avoid using the meta refresh tag
The meta refresh tag tells the browser to redirect to a different page. For example, <meta http-equiv=”refresh” content=”2;url=http://you.com/spam.html/”>. This strategy was used years ago when unscrupulous SEOers created thousands of “Landing Pages” that all simply redirected to a proper page. SEO Tips – although there may be a legitimate reason to use the meta refresh tag, you need to use it sparingly if at all…
56. Avoid 302 redirects
302 redirects are temporary by nature so Google will treat them that way. This means that any “Link Juice” will not be passed on to your new page. SEO Tips – avoid 302s…
57. Don’t use your site’s content more than one time
Google loves original and interesting content. Don’t copy & paste your content. SEO Tips – keep your content unique and interesting…
58. Never use images your visitors can’t see…
Spammers created 1 x 1 pixel images and attach some keyword-rich ALT tags and link text to them. Alternatively, they rendered a small pure white image on white background. Good for Google and it won’t harm the visitor's experience. WRONG! Stay away from doing anything to deceive Google. This is now definitely seen as “Spamming” and/or “Keyword Stuffing” and you may get banned! This is applicable to pure HTML as well as CSS image rendering. SEO Tips – don’t deceive Google with images your visitors can’t see!
59. Don’t hide text
Similarly, you could create text with the same colour as the background. The result is that visitors will not see it. What harm is done I hear you ask? You get banned, is the answer. Again, this applies to both HTML and CSS rendered text. SEO Tips – never use invisible text.
60. Never create “Doorway Pages”
A doorway page serves one purpose only; it is a optimized landing page that directs the visitor to your main site. This is old-school SEO from 15+ years ago. Google is way too sophisticated and will see straight through it. SEO Tips – never use doorway or special landing pages …
61. Don’t render separate content for browsers and spiders
Generally, if you think you found a clever way to fool Google then seriously consider yourself somewhat naive. Google has sophisticated algorithms to detect genuine and non-genuine content. Better to concentrate on providing original and interesting rich content. SEO Tips – write your content for visitors – not for the Google bot…
62. Don’t cloak
Cloaking your site is cheating. Trying to make your site look like something it is not is cheating. Cheating will get you banned! SEO Tips – focus on writing unique material that is interesting and is linked to other such sites…
