General SEO -Dos- Explained

For those of you that are like me and need an explanation for everything, I took my SEO dos and don’ts post and broke it down adding brief explanations for each recommendation. Again, feel free to chime in with your thoughts or experiences. Here’s an explanation for the dos; I’ll post an explanation for the don’ts later.

SEO Dos

1. Build Quality Relevant Links

It is no secret that links are one of the most important factors in ranking a website – building high quality relevant links will produce the best results. In general, a good link will first bring you traffic and second pass a little bit of link juice to your site. I believe keyword anchor links within related text are best. Some good ways to build links include: article submissions, directory submissions, social media, forums, blogs, press releases, creating web pages on Hubpages or Squidoo etc..

2. Make it easy for search engines and users to navigate your entire site

By providing your website visitors easy access to your entire site, you will give them a better user experience. In addition, user-friendly sites are generally search engine friendly sites. Just make it so there is a link to every page on your site making it easy to navigate your entire site by using only links.

3. Create Unique Content Often

Your visitors and search engines love updated content, especially if it is unique and good. Train the search engines to visit you site often by giving them something new with each visit. Unique content allows you to target more keywords and gives you something to build links back to; it gives your visitors a reason to vote for, or talk about, you.

4. Use Page Titles, H tags and Meta descriptions

Page titles help users and search engines identify the content that can be found on your website/webpage. Titles have weight in algorithms and can improve your rankings. H Tags also have weight and can help your rankings. H tags allow you to set your content up in sections H1 is the heading of your page and H2, H3, H4 tags are used to assign sections and distribute importance. Meta descriptions do not do much, if anything for many search engines but they may be what your visitors see first in the search results. A well written description could attract more visits.

5. Link out to trusted sources

You should be linking out to sources already but if you aren’t, linking out to trusted sources just adds that much more authority to your document. Think of it as a college term paper, teachers made sure you used credible sources for research and Google appreciates credible sources too.

6. Start a blog on your site

This is easily one of the easiest ways to build quality content and distribute it in a search engine friendly manner. A blog is not really an option; it should be a major portion of your website and can help build you as an industry authority. It is at worst a content powerhouse for your site.

7. Develop content for each keyword

The best way to let the search engines know you have content about Purple Widgets is to write a high quality informational page about Purple widgets. Do the same thing for all of your keywords. Yes, it takes time and might actually suck, but do it yourself or pay someone to get it done. Market you keyword pages and consistently build links for them.

8. Build a user sitemap

I have been lost before, have you not? Build something for those lost visitors that need easy quick links to each of your sections. Another way for your users to navigate your site

9. Build an xml sitemap

Build an xml sitemap for the spiders so they find what you want them too easily. You can let them know about important pages and all of your pages. It is the easiest way for them to find your information. In addition, you can set content priorities and content change frequencies.

10. Build deep links

You all want site links under your website in the Google search rankings, right? Building deep links not only makes interior pages rank better but deep links will help get you site links! They give your pages more authority and help define which pages are your most important pages. Build deep links and you’ll get your site links!

11. Use different keywords for anchor text links

Google does not believe that every single site classifies your site the exact same way. In other words, Google does not believe that everyone would naturally use the exact same words in a link to describe your website. When you build links use different keywords, phrases, and forms of phrases to build links to your site. You will land more keywords and keep things natural looking.

12. Try to keep your most important content within 3 clicks of the homepage

Users love quick access to information and search engines do not always deep crawl your site and index pages several clicks from the homepage. Keeping your information within three clicks of your homepage helps insure your information is frequently crawled, and that it enjoys links from power pages on your site.

13. 301 redirect your non-www to your www URL or vice versa

Do not do your competitor’s any favors by splitting your links – it is easy and merges both URLs into one. It’s the preferred way to merge URLs

14. Build creative 404/400 error pages with links back to main sections of your site

The creative part is optional but I have seen and read about some creative pages that users love. If nothing else, these error pages should provide spiders and users links back to the important sections of your website. You do not want a spider winding up stuck on an error page and not able to get back to your site…keep the little guys on your site.

15. Link to pages within your site using keywords

Your website is a great source for content related in-text anchor links. Make sure every page on your site links to a different page or pages on your site. It is a good way to set up a healthy internal link profile and promote popular pages on your site, don’t forget about those site links you want

16. Develop a strategy and stick with it

This is just one of those things. If you’re strategy isn’t working, then you obviously wouldn’t stick with it. We all know that different things work for different sites, but stick with, and reach the original goals of your plan. Do not give up.

17. Have Patience

You have heard it before and why would the Internet be any different. Anything worth having takes time, be patient and enjoy everything you are learning. If you are persistent you will prevail…be patient.