Search Engine Optimisation with Google

This checklist is  based on Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide. This is what they think is important.    One might structure it differently for different audiences.

How does your site fare?

• Create unique, accurate page titles
  • Accurately describe the page’s content
  • Create unique title tags for each page
  • Use brief, but descriptive titles
• Make use of the “description” meta tag
  • Accurately summarize the page’s content
  • Use unique descriptions for each page
• Improve the structure of your URLs
  • Use words in URLs, not numbers
  • Create a simple directory structure
  • Provide one version of a URL to reach a document (else looks like duplicate content)
• Make your site easy to navigate
  • Create a naturally flowing hierarchy
  • Use mostly text for navigation
  • Use “breadcrumb” navigation
  • Put an HTML sitemap page on your site, and use an XML Sitemap file
  • Consider what happens when a user removes part of your URL
  • Have a useful 404 page
• Offer quality content and services
  • Write easy-to-read text
  • Stay organized around the topic, use chunks or divisions
  • Use relevant language – Think about the words that a user might search for to find a piece
    of your content.
  • Create fresh, unique content – that adds value
  • Offer exclusive content or services
  • Create content primarily for your users, not search engines – be real, don’t try to be clever!
• Write better anchor (link) text
  • Choose descriptive text
  • Write concise text
  • Format links so they’re easy to spot
  • Think about anchor text for internal links too
• Use heading tagsappropriately
  • Imagine you’re writing an outline
  • Use headings sparingly across the page
• Optimize your use of images
  • Use brief, but descriptive filenames and alt text
  • Supply alt text when using images as links
  • Store images in a directory of their own
  • Use commonly supported filetypes (jpeg, png, gif)
• Make effective use of robots.txt
  • Use more secure methods for sensitive content
• Be aware of rel=”nofollow” for links
  • Use it in areas where spammers might take be tempted (eg: comments)
• Promote your website in the right ways
  • Blog (write) about new content or services
  • Use offline (non Web)  promotion too
  • Know about social media, special interest sites – surf the web
  • Add your business to Google’s Local Business Center
  • Reach out to those in your site’s related community
• Make use of free webmaster tools eg: Googles,Yahoo’s, Live Search’s
• Take advantage of web analytics services (a plug for their services!) eg:Google Analytics – there are others.

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