Decide on 4 or 5 primary keywords to use as main sub-sections : Ideally have an idea of 4 or 5 main keywords, call them your Primary Keywords and then try to position secondary keywords with the Primary Word most closely associated with it.
Be bold : Use the tags around some of your keywords on each page. Do NOT use them everywhere the keyword appears. Once or twice is plenty.
Do not purchase a new domain unless you have to : Due to Google's aging delay for all new domains, your best bet is to use your existing domain/website if at all possible. If you're redesigning or starting from scratch and you have to use a brand-new domain for some reason, you can expect to wait a good 9-12 months before your site will show up in Google for any keyword phrases that are important to you.
On-site basics : On-site refers to the code and content on your site. This is information you have complete control over. Make sure you do at least the basics. Have unique page title tags for each page. Make use of descriptive Alt attributes. Make sure your content is in text form (not images), and contains the search terms/phrases you’d like to be found for. Make sure your content is original and not copied from other sites. Address metatags such as “keywords” and “description”.
Be aware of image hijacking by google search : Image hijacking is where you dont display the image on your webpage, but have the image url embedded somewhere. Google thinks that the image is from your webpage and returns your domain name for the image in search, even though you dont have the image on your server or never showed it on your webpage! Not sure if this is a bug or feature :)
Do not spam the description or keyword meta tag by stuffing meaningless keywords or even spend too much time on this tag. SEO pros all agree that these tags are not as important today as they once were. I just place my headline once within the keywords and description tags.
Submit to the search engines yourself. Do not use a submission service or submission software. Doing so could get your site penalized or even banned.
Keep it Short - Limit your article to less than 1000 words. A long paragraph without breaks is boring. Best is to put things in short points (like the one you are reading) else you can break the article into small units, making the articles reader friendly. If its any longer consider break it into two posts.
Choosing right Title - If you are editing in HTML then give utmost attention to title. Title must contain keyword. Insert appropriate keywords in meta keyword. In meta 'Description', write about two sentences which describe briefly your article and contain the keyword at least once.
keyword research : Who is your target market? What words or phrases (keywords) would they use to search for your products and services on the Web? Do some research; you may be surprised by the results. To be found on the Web and communicate with your customers, you need to speak their language and address their particular needs. It's much easier to optimise web pages for keywords relating to a niche market's needs (e.g., Australian women looking for shoes size 10 and over, as opposed to people across the globe looking for general footwear). Google AdWords Keyword Tool
Meta Data – How many times have you heard someone claiming they know SEO because they know how to construct meta data? I know I have many times. Meta data isn’t half as important as it used to be. I’ve read recently that MSN is the only one who cares about the meta description tag anymore. Even if they don’t matter they’re still good to have because some search engines still use them. Also, meta description is used as the descriptive text in your search engine listing. Here’s an example of proper meta data:
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of studying the search engines in an effort to determine how to get your web site to rank high on user searches. Depending on the statistical information reviewed, search engines account for over 80% of the visitor traffic to web sites.
posted by Search engine optimization - seo @ 11:03 PM
