SEO Checklist for New Websites by Jocelyn Wilhelm

So you’re thinking about having a new website? I’ve put together 6 SEO Checklist for New Websites to guide you along the way and make sure your website is optimized for search engines which will help your customers easily find you online.

1. Accessibility

Make sure users and search engines can access your site easily and readily. If your page has a slow download time or if visitors are being directed to a page other than your own, people will most likely opt-out and not visit your site again. These are sometimes caused by missing or broken links on your site. Having too many plugins on your site, can also slow down your load time. Here are a couple of tools that you can use to check if your site is optimized for search engines: Google Webmaster Tools or SEOmoz Pro Web App.

Click on the image to go to their site!

2. Keyword Targeting

Have you worked on finding and using the right keywords to use on your site so your ideal customers can find you online? Base the content of your site on the products and services you are offering. And make sure that the keywords you’re using have good search volume, high relevance and low difficulty. So for example: You may have a better chance at finding your target market by using the word “thingiemabob” rather than “thingie”. You get my point!

3. Content Quality & Value

Does your site offer content in such a way that makes your customers happy? Did you offer them solution(s) to their problem(s)? Did you answer their question? Make sure your content is visually intriguing to your customers so they learn to trust you…so they’ll come and visit your site again…so they’ll tell their friends about you and your services.

4. Design Quality. User Experience and Usability

Unless you have a design background, maybe look into hiring someone that can help you with this. This is something you really can’t skimp on. Your website is an extension of you, for brand. You want this something that can provide an exceptional experience to your customers. Make sure it’s pleasing to the eyes, easy for people to navigate through, easy to read, and make sure it’s fast! I can’t stress this enough. If your customers are frustrated with your site, they’re not going to come back. And one more thing, make sure it’s viewable on mobile devices. Mobile marketing is on the rise, I’ll cover this on another topic. But if you want to succeed in this ever-evolving digital world, you need to exist where your customers are.

5. Social Account Set-up

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, SEO and Social Media makes for a very happy marriage. They’re a good complement to one another. And as such, using both in your marketing strategies will contribute to your overall online business success. It is so easy nowadays to share content across the web so at the very least, make sure you have a Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ accounts.

6. Link Building

OK, so you’ve spent so much time crafting your content and using all the right keywords, but what good is it if no one reads it? Learn some organic ways how to direct more traffic to your site, by reading my article about “Link Building Best Practices”.
Good luck! Hope these handy SEO checklist for your new website will help you become more successful with your online business and let major search engines know your website exist.
Feel free to post below if you have any questions or comments or if you want to share other suggestions. Thank you for stopping by!

‘Til next time….
Jocelyn Wilhelm, JW Social Media CEO

Source: JWSocialMedia.com

8 SEO buzz tips that boost your Business Website

SEO is the term search engine optimization, which helps to build your website according to search engine algorithm that works easy to promote your business website and providing better searching index. There are eight points written below which you can take knowledge what tips or suggestions we should take in our site to promote over the world SERPs or Internet. 

1. Write great content
Just write some great content naturally in Microsoft Word, don’t worry about keywords or anything like that. A good website should have upwords of ten pages each page should have at least 150 words but preferably 400-600.

2. Keywords
Choose some keywords that you want to rank high for. The best way to find out the most searched keywords is the Google AdWords Keyword Tool. Then choose one or two of the keywords for each page and make sure these keywords are used in the page title and the h1,h2 and h3 headings and throughout the page content. Don’t overcrowded the page with too high a keyword density and there is no need to start counting the number of keywords in your content just have them wherever it makes sense.

3. Internal links
Internal links are links to different pages in a website. They tell the search engine what the different pages are about as well as helping visitors to navigate around your site. When you are creating internal links you need to use keywords in them, never create internal links that say click here or read on if you linking to a page titled SEO advanced then use that title or the keywords in that page like search engine optimzation.

4. Incoming links
Search engine optimization is now a popularity contest because Google have changed their algarythem(the way they search and rank web pages). They changed this because people were abusing their search engine by packing their websites with keywords or doing link swaps(linking to another person’s website and them linking back). Although these are perfectly legal they weren’t bringing up the best results for searchers. So now the most important part of SEO is imbound links from other related and well ranked websites. So how do you get these links when it seems they are out of your control. One way is to write articles about topics in your site and publish them to relevant websites or article publishing sites.
       Make sure to link back to your website in these articles these links should also contain keywords. Another way is to join some social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter etc and link back to your site, you can also ask your friends on these sites to link to you. Of course the most effective way to gain links is to write great content people will want to recommend but make sure to get these people to link to using keywords. This is key in helping the search engines rank you higher. For example if you search click here in Google, Adobe will come up number one this is because so many people link to Adobe with click here. The best way to get people to link to you using keywords is to ask them in your content or to provide links for them although this will require some coding skills.

5. Create and submit a site map
When you have built your site and are happy with your content you need to create a site map as it helps the search engines crawl through your site. Here’s an example of a site map, if you are using Microsoft Web Expression then simply use a template and your site map page will be there for you if you aren’t using Web Expression then head over to gsitecrawler to create a free site map. Once you have created your site map then you need to submit it to Google manually you will also need to submit it to the other search engines just search for the search engines webmaster tools.

6. Meta tags and headings
Every page needs it’s own title meta tag e.g. The title of the page, lots of keywords the page also needs a keyword tag e.g. meta name=”Keywords” content=”all the keywords you want the page to rank high for with the most important ones first”> and a meta decripton tag meta name=”Description” content=”This webs page explains how to rank higher in the search engines”> All pages also need h1,h2 and h3 headings these are the headings in bold on a web page not only do they look good to visiters they are crucially important to the seach engines all headings must contain keywords but remeber they need to be readable to the visiter. H1 headings are the larhest and are found at the top of the page.

7. Name your pages
You need to name your pages using keywords e.g. “www.websitename.com/keyword” as opposed to “www.websitename.com/book.html?isbn=9781590592045.”

8. Get Indexed
To come up number one on Google you have to be registered on Google or the other search engines. When you are happy with your SEO submit your site to Google in webmaster tools, and last thing to must give back feedback of this article!

On-Page Optimization makes the perfect Keyword Targeting site rank

How Do I Build the Perfectly Optimized Page?

If you're in SEO, you probably hear this question a lot. Sadly, there's no cut and dry answer, but there are sets of best practices we can draw from and sharpen to help get close. In this blog post, I'm going to share our top recommendations for achieving on-page, keyword-targeting "perfection," or, at least, close to it. Some of these are backed by data points, correlation studies and extensive testing while others are simply gut-feelings based on experience. As with all things SEO, we recommend constant testing and refinement, though this knowledge can help you kick-start the process.

HTML Head Tags

• Title - the most important of on-page keyword elements, the page title should preferably employ the keyword term/phrase as the first word(s). In our correlation data studies, the following graph emerged:
  
  
  Clearly, using the keyword term/phrase as the very first words in the page title has the highest correlation with high rankings, and subsequent positions correlate nearly flawlessly to lower rankings.
• Meta Description - although not used for "rankings" by any of the major engines, the meta description is an important place to use the target term/phrase due to the "bolding" that occurs in the visual snippet of the search results. Usage has also been shown to help boost click-through rate, thus increasing the traffic derived from any ranking position.
• Meta Keywords - Yahoo! is unique among the search engines in recording and utilizing the meta keyword tag for discovery, though not technically for rankings. However, with Microsoft's Bing set to take over Yahoo! Search, the last remaining reason to employ the tag is now gone. That, combined with the danger of using keywords there for competitive research means that at SEOmoz, we never recommend employing the tag.
• Meta Robots - although not necessary, this tag should be sure NOT to contain any directives that could potentially disallow access by the engines.
• Rel="Canonical" - the larger and more complex a site (and the larger/more complex the organization working on it), the more we advise employing the canonical URL tag to prevent any potential duplicates or unintentional, appended URL strings from creating a problem for the engines and splitting up potential link juice.
• Other Meta Tags - meta tags like those offered by the DCMI or FGDC seem compelling, but currently provide no benefit for SEO with the major engines and thus, add unnecessary complexity and download time.

URL

• Length - Shorter URLs appear to perform better in the search results and are more likely to be copied/pasted by other sites, shared and linked-to.
• Keyword Location - The closer the targeted keyword(s) are to the domain name, the better. Thus, site.com/keyword outperforms site.com/folder/subfolder/keyword and is the most recommended method of optimization (though this is certainly not a massive rankings benefit)
• Subdomains vs. Pages - As we've talked about previously on the blog, despite the slight URL benefit that subdomains keyword usage has over subfolders or pages, the engines' link popularity assignment algorithms tilt the balance in favor of subfolders/pages rather than subdomains.
• Word Separators - Hyphens are still the king of keyword separators in URLs, and despite promises that underscores will be given equal credit, the inconsistency with other methods make the hyphen a clear choice. NOTE: This should not apply to root domain names, where separating words with hyphens is almost never recommended (e.g. pinkgrapefruit.com is a far better choice than pink-grapefruit.com).

Body Tags

• Number of Keyword Repetitions - It's impossible to pinpoint the exact, optimal number of times to employ a keyword term/phrase on the page, but this simple rule has served us well for a long time - "2-3X on short pages, 4-6X on longer ones and never more than makes sense in the context of the copy." The added benefit of another instance of a term is so miniscule that it seems unwise to ever be aggressive with this metric.
• Keyword Density - A complete myth as an algorithmic component, keyword density nonetheless pervades even very sharp SEO minds. While it's true that more usage of a keyword term/phrase can potentially improve targeting/ranking, there's no doubt that keyword density has never been the formula by which this relevance was measured.
• Keyword Usage Variations - Long suspected to influence search engine rankings (though never studied in a depth of detail that's convincing to me), the theory that varied keyword usage throughout a page can help with content optimization and optimization nevertheless is worth a small amount of effort. We recommend employing at least one or two variations of a term and potentially splitting up keyword phrases and using them in body copy as well or instead.
• H1 Headline - The H1 tag has long been thought to have great importance in on-page optimization. Recent correlation data from our studies, however, has shown that it has a very low correlation with high rankings (close to zero, in fact). While this is compelling evidence, correlation is not causation and for semantic and SEO reasons, we still advise proper use of the H1 tag as the headline of the page and, preferrably, employment of the targeted keyword term/phrase.
• H2/H3/H4/Hx - Even lower in importance than the H1, our recommendation is to apply only if required. These tags appears to carry little to no SEO value.
• Alt Attribute - Surprisingly, the alt attribute, long thought to carry little SEO weight, was shown to have quite a robust correlation with high rankings in our studies. Thus, we strongly advise the use of a graphic image/photo/illustration on important keyword-targeted pages with the term/phrase employed in the alt attribute of the img tag.
• Image Filename - Since image traffic can be a substantive source of visits and image filenames appear to be valuable for this as well as natural web search, we suggest using the keyword term/phrase as the name of the image file employed on the page.
• Bold/Strong - Using a keyword in bold/strong appears to carry a very, very tiny amount of SEO weight, and thus it's suggested as a best practice to use the targeted term/phrase at least once in bold, though a very minor one.
• Italtic/Emphasized - Surprisingly, italic/emphasized text appears to have a similar to slightly higher correlation with high rankings than bold/strong and thus, we suggest its use on the targeted keyword term/phrase in the text.
• Internal Link Anchors - No testing has yet found that internal anchors are picked up/counted by the engines.
• HTML Comments - As above, it appears the engines ignore text in comments.

Internal Links & Location in Site Architecture

• Click-Depth - Our general recommendation is that the more competitive and challenging a keyword term/phrase is to rank for, the higher it should be in a site's internal architecture (and thus, the fewer clicks from the home page it should take to reach that URL).
• Number/Percentage of Internal Links - More linked-to pages tend to higher rankings and thus, for competitive terms, it may help to link to these pages from a greater number/percentage of pages on a site.
• Links in Content vs. Permanent Navigation - It appears that Google and the other engines are doing more to recognize location on the page as an element of link consideration. Thus, employing links to pages in the Wikipedia-style (in the body content of a piece) rather than in permanent navigation may potentially provide some benefit. Don't forget, however, that Google only counts the first link to a page that they see in the HTML
• Link Location in Sidebars & Footers - Recent patent applications, search papers and experience from inside SEOmoz and many practitioners externally suggests that Google may be strongly discounting links placed in the footer, and, to a lesser degree, in the sidebar(s) of pages. Thus, if you're employing a link in permanent navigation, it may pay to use the top navigation (above the content) for SEO purposes.

Page Architecture

• Keyword Location - We advise that important keywords should, preferably, be featured in the first few words (50-100, but hopefully even sooner) of a page's text content. The engines do appear to have some preference for pages that employ keywords sooner, rather than later, in the text.
• Content Structure - Some practitioners swear by the use of particular content formats (introduction, body, examples, conclusion OR the journalistic style of narrative, data, conclusion, parable) for SEO, but we haven't seen any formal data suggesting these are valuable for higher rankings and thus feel that whatever works best for the content and the visitors is likely ideal.

Why Don't We Always Obey These Rules?

That answer is relatively easy. The truth is that in the process of producing great web content, we sometimes forget, sometimes ignore and sometimes intentionally disobey the best practices laid out above. On-page optimization, while certainly important, is only one piece of a larger rankings puzzle:

(FYI - The new ranking factors survey data is set to release very, very soon)

It most certainly pays to get the on-page, keyword-targeting pieces right, but on-page SEO, in my opinion, follows the 80/20 rule very closely. If you get the top 20% of the most important pieces (titles, URLs, internal links) from the list above right, you'll get 80% (maybe more) of the value possible in the on-page equation.

Best Practices for Ranking #1

Curiously, though perhaps not entirely surprisingly to experienced SEOs, the truth is that on-page optimization doesn't necessarily rank first in the quest for top rankings. In fact, a list that walks through the process of actually getting that first position would look something more like:

1. Accessibility - content engines can't see or access cannot even be indexed; thus crawl-ability is foremost on this list.
2. Content - you need to have compelling, high quality material that not only attracts interest, but compels visitors to share the information. Virality of content is possibly the most important/valuable factor in the ranking equation because it will produce the highest link conversion rate (the ratio of those who visit to those who link after viewing).
3. Basic On-Page Elements - getting the keyword targeting right in the most important elements (titles, URLs, internal links) provides a big boost in the potential ability of a page to perform well.
4. User Experience - the usability, user interface and overall experience provided by a website strongly influences the links and citations it earns as well as the conversion rate and browse rate of the traffic that visits.
5. Marketing - I like to say that "great content is no substitute for great marketing." A terrific marketing machine or powerful campaign has the power to attract far more links than content may "deserve," and though this might seem unfair, it's a principle on which all of capitalism has functioned for the last few hundred years. Spreading the word is often just as important (or more so) than being right, being honest or being valuable (just look at the political spectrum).
6. Advanced/Thorough On-Page Optimization - applying all of the above with careful attention to detail certainly isn't useless, but it is, for better or worse, at the bottom of this list for a reason; in our experience, it doesn't add as much value as the other techniques described.

As always, I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts and experiences about the specific recommendations above and the general concept of the "perfectly" optimized page.
Source: SeoMoz.org

SEO tips from experts

One good thing about SMO techniques are 'backlinks,' which is a major ranking factor for top searchengines . The backlinks gotten from a site with high PR is more valued by searchengines in deciding the rank of the website. Creating an account with following socialbookmarking sites can get us free placement
in high PR sites.
a. Digg
b. Technorati
c. Del.icio.us
d. NowPublic
e. StumbleUpon
f. BlinkList
g. Spurl
h. Furl
i. Slashdot
j. Simpy
To raise the rank in major search engines for top keywords Social Media Searches are highly effective. The top keywords should be included as anchor text in social media engines. Inclusion of keywords in the anchor text will improve the website ranking in search engines. Podcasting sites and Vlogs are important techniques involved in Social Media optimisation.

Latest SEO techniques include Onpage optimisation techniques and Offpage
optimisation techniques. A synopsis of Onpage optimisation techniques is listed below:-
1. Title
2.Meta keyword ( Include it, Just keep 10 keywords, Something is better than nothing:-))
3.Meta description (Sprinkle your key words in description, meta description should be
precise and clear, this will be stated beneath your title in SERP,
Users will decide whether to enter to site or not by reading this description, so craft this
carefully)
4.Place your keywords in Header tags(H1,H2, H3,H4)
5.Put keywords in the initial sentence
6)Place your keywords in the file name
7)Include Keywords in the file name of images
8)Add keywords to Alt tags of images
9)Add keywords to tilte attributes
10)Keywords in the anchor text to internal pages
11)Link keywords in the artciles to another article of the same website using Anchor text.
12)Keywords in the internal link can go the home page.
13)Offload your javascript
14)Include the keywords in the javascript file in HTML comment tags
15)Code to text ratio(minimise the code and maximise the content)
16)Reduce the loading time of your webpage
17)Keep the keyword density between 3 and 7 percentage
18)Check your website for W3C compliancy
19)Don't copy content from other website, u might be caught and... banned

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