1. Are my page titles unique?
2. Do I have a unique META description for each page?
3. Is my page well-structured including header tags and at least one paragraph of keyword-rich content?
4. Do I have relevant, contextual links internally and externally? Is the anchor text well-described?
5. Have I done a reasonable amount of customer profiling and keyword research?
6. Is there a consistent keyword theme throughout each page?
7. Am I updating my website with fresh, keyword-rich content on a regular basis?
8. Have I provided ALT tags for all my images?
9. Have I eliminated unnecessary indexing obstacles such as Flash or heavy JavaScript?
10. Do any images contain text that cannot be crawled by the search engines?

Ensure that you’re not only able to answer these questions, but also able to implement the necessary changes. Doing so will increase your rankings and drive more search traffic in a relatively short period of time.

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For this reason, it is important to always err to the side of longer words. Adding suffixes or plurals to targeted terms is recommended. The concept of “rooting” is relatively new to the SEO world, but it cannot be overlooked. The increase in potential search traffic may surprise you.

An example would be to optimize for “travels” or “traveling”, instead of just “travel”. The latter term is contained within the former two terms. In other words, if you are optimizing for “travels” or “traveling”, you are already optimizing for “travel” by default. Be sure to consider this strategy when doing your keyword research and integrating your targeted terms.

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On the other hand, you can be penalized for illegitimate external linking. It is highly advised that you not link to any website or group of sites that may be involved in shady or unethical search practices. Doing so could result in being black-listed by Google, ultimately ruining your SEO strategy. Avoid this situation at all costs and ensure that all external links point to trusted and reliable sources.

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The concept of reciprocal linking defies Google’s original intention with the algorithm. Quality content should attract links. The exchange of links is nothing more than a mutual agreement to unjustifiably promote others’ content with the end goal of promoting your own. Google doesn’t particularly like this (see Link Schemes).

Some even claim that Google is now able to identify three-way linking schemes (i.e. website A links to website B, who links to website C, who links back to A). Whether this is true or not is hard to say. One thing is for certain though: inbound linking strategies should NOT be centered around reciprocal linking. This manufactured form of link creation is not well-received and is ultimately a waste of time. Instead, focus on creating unique, high-quality content in a given niche. The links will ensue.

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In general, two relatively short sentences (under 50 words altogether) should suffice. This keeps the SERP listing clean and easy-to-read. It also forces you to be concise when it comes to incorporating your keywords and marketing messages.

As is the case with most SEO strategies, the important keywords and phrases should appear near the beginning of the META description. This increases their prominence and emphasis . These terms should also appear in the same order as they appear on other parts of the page, maintaining theme consistency.

The key to writing an excellent META description, as opposed to a mediocre META description, has to do with the way you mingle keywords and marketing messages. Yet again, the dilemma of art vs. science takes center stage. From one side, you need to have the keywords and terms in the right place to maximize their prominence. From another standpoint, you need strong marketing language and persuasive copy to incite searchers to click on your listing. You need a strong call-to-action. After all, you can incorporate the keywords you want to increase your rank, but if searchers aren’t compelled to click, then it’s all for none.

Finally, you need to read and re-read your META descriptions over and over again. Ensure that sentences are well-structured, clear, concise, keyword-rich, and compelling. Get others to read your copy as well. Most importantly, ask if they can gather what the target page is about and if they feel compelled to click after reading your copy.

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• KEI - [Keyword Effectiveness Index] - a measure of keyword effectiveness based on a ratio of number of searches to competition level.
• SEO - [Search Engine Optimization] - the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a website from search engines via “natural” (”organic” or “algorithmic”) search results.
• SERP - [Search Engine Results Page] - the listing of web pages returned by a search engine in response to a keyword query.

Related Acronyms:

These acronyms are not directly related to SEO, but rather Internet marketing in general. Having said that, they are often used in conjunction with or in the same context as SEO.

• SEM - [Search Engine Marketing] - a form of Internet marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages (SERPs).
• PPC - [Pay-Per-Click] - an Internet advertising model used on search engines, advertising networks, and content websites, such as blogs, where advertisers only pay when a user actually clicks on an advertisement to visit the advertisers’ website.
• CPM - [Cost Per Thousand] (where M is the roman numeral 1000) - frequently used in advertising to represent the cost per thousand page impressions.

Note: All definitions supplied are courtesy of Wikipedia.

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• Results can never be guaranteed. In other words, no SEO firm can or should guarantee a top “X” placement on any search engine. This is a marketing ploy. Algorithms and factors affecting your rank change over time. Beware of any guarantees.
• There is no need to submit to thousands of search engines. In fact, there is no need to submit to any engines for that matter. If you are able to acquire a few high quality links, you are ahead of the game. Doing so will get your site crawled by the notable engines (and often). Also, the concept of resubmitting to any engine is useless - it is a waste of time and does nothing for your site.
• There is no need to pay to submit to the big search engines. It doesn’t cost a penny if you do indeed decide to submit to Google, Yahoo, and/or MSN. If anyone tells you otherwise, they’re lying.

This is just a small list of signs to watch out for. There are obviously many others, but these are the most common and notable. We will update this list as times goes on. Please be sure to contact us if you have any in particular you would like to add.

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Suppose you operate a travel site and you want to optimize a given page for the term “Las Vegas hotel”. Suppose that you also want to include an enticing marketing message such as “Book now and save 20%!”. The aforementioned tagline lacks descriptive text, but possesses persuasive characteristics. That being said, you may want to place the tagline in an image and the key phrase (i.e. Las Vegas hotel) in a header tag. This places emphasis on the desired term, yet still provides a marketing opportunity without compromising keyword consistency.

In other words, images are a great place to insert marketing messages that lack the necessary keywords and phrases. Leveraging this technique will ensure that descriptive text is indexed, while less marketing jargon is overlooked. The combination of keyword-rich content and enticing messaging will satisfy both sides of the strategic equation.

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1. Free
2. Qualified
3. Residual

What this means is that Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc… are sending pre-qualified users to your site at no charge on an ongoing basis. Assuming you continue to provide fresh content and build credibility, search traffic will likely increase over time. This value proposition is stunning when compared to PPC and paid advertising campaigns that cost money and end when your budget runs out.

The concept of free, residual, qualified traffic cannot be overlooked. Any company or individual who chooses to ignore this form of marketing is missing out on a big opportunity. The web is still in its infancy and will continue to grow. That being said, search engines will continue to drive traffic and provide an outlet for inquisitive consumers. Capitalizing on this trend can be done at any time. It’s a simple matter of time and effort. How long are you willing to wait?

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1. What’s The Deal With Paid Search Submission?

Too many corporate websites are static in nature, meaning new pages aren’t being created on a continual basis. This limits search engine results. In general, the more optimized pages, the better. The end goal of this content creation process is to inject keyword-rich text into new website pages. If the content is good and the pages are properly structured, results will be maximized. Back-links will also likely ensue.

Blog software (most notably Wordpress and Movable Type) provide an easy way to accomplish this. They’re simple publishing systems. Additional benefits of blog software systems include excellent internal linking and keyword-friendly URLs.

In the end, blogs are probably the best way for any regular user to submit optimized content in an ongoing and efficient manner. The process requires no technical knowledge and can be done at any time. Doing so will create new keyword-rich gateways whereby the search engines can drive traffic to your site.

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