1. 100 SEO Tips
No SEO meansnovisitorsfromsearchengines.If youdon’tdoitthensearch enginescan’tcategorise andrank
your site forkeywordsrelevanttoyourbusiness.
Both on-site SEOandoff-site SEOare required.Youcan’tachieve goodresultsdoingone withoutthe other.
Start doingSEO now.The longeryouleave itto start, the furtheraheadyourcompetitorswill be,andthe harderit
becomestorank higherthanthem.
Knowyour competition.Findoutwhatthe sitesrankingonthe 1st page for the keywordsthatyouwant to rank for
have done,on-site andoff-site,togetthere.
No twowebsitesare the same.AnSEOstrategythat workedforsomeone else’s site isn’tguaranteedtoworkfor
yoursbecause there are so manyvariables.
SEO doesn’thave tobe expensive.Youcanget bigresultsona small budgetif youinvesttime increatinggood
contentand buildingonlinerelationships.
SEO resultsaren’tinstant.The resultsof SEOworkdone todaymightnot become apparent,andmightnotbe
creditedbysearchengines,forweeks,orevenmonths.
The neweryourwebsite is,the more patientyouwill needtobe.Ittakestime to buildauthorityandtrust,and
until you’ve developedboth,youshouldn’texpecttooutrankolder,more establishedsites.
Neverconsideryourwebsitetobe finished.If youwantyoursite tocontinue torank higher,attract more visitors
and make more sales,thenyoushould alwaysbe addingtoandimprovingit.
Adaptto algorithmupdates.Toattainand retaingoodrankingsyouneedtoadapt your SEO strategyas search
enginesevolve overtime.
You don’tneedto submityourwebsite tosearchengines.Theyhave evolved beyondthe pointof needingtobe
directlynotifiedwhenanewwebsite,orpage on a website,iscreated.
Get advice directlyfromGoogle.ViatheirWebmasterGuidelinesandWebmasterHelpVideos.
Don’t riskGoogle penalties.Astheyhave asignificantshare of the searchmarket,apenaltyfromthemresultsina
significant,andoftenlong-term,lossof visitorstoyoursite.
You’re ultimatelyresponsible forall of SEOwork done onyour website.Searchengineswon’tremoveapenaltyon
the basisthat youdidn’tdo,and didn’tknowthe specificsof,the SEOworkonyour site.
Set-upanduse Google WebmasterTools.Tofindout,amongother things,whatkeywordsyoursite isrankingfor
and whichothersitesare linkingtoyours.
Set-upanduse Google Analytics.Tofindout,amongotherthings,how manyvisitorsyoursite gets,the keywords
theyuse to findit,and whatpagestheyvisit.
Set-upa Google+page for yourbusiness.DoingsobuildstrustwithGoogle andimprovesrankingsfor localised
keywords.
Diversifyyourtrafficsources.Google isagreatsource of trafficbutbeing100% reliantonthemforvisitorsputs
youin a vulnerable position.
2. Use Pay PerClickinadditiontoSEO. If youcan affordto doboth,thendo both,as althoughPPCcan be costly,you
can get visitorstoyoursite straightawayfor any keywordsthatyouwant.
Low qualityequalshighrisk.Lowqualitybacklinksand/orlow qualityon-site contentcaneasilyresultinyoursite
beingpenalisedbysearchengines.
Create contentprimarilyforpeople,notsearchengines.There’snopointcreatingcontentthatrankswell if it
doesn’thelppeople,interestthem,orpersuade themtobuyfromyou.
Remove duplicate content.Youcan be penalisedfor havingthe same,orverysimilar,contentonmultiple pagesof
your site.
Remove,merge oradd topageswithlittle contentonthem.Havinglotsof content-lightpages,withshortpage
viewtimes,canresultinsearchenginesdowngradingall of yoursite’skeywordrankings.
Don’t copycontentfromother websites.If searchenginesfindthatcontentonyoursite hasbeentakenfrom
elsewhere theymaydowngrade rankingsforsome,orevenall,of yourwebpages.
Claimauthorshipof yourcontent.LinkingyourGoogle+accountto your contentimprovesbothrankingsandclick-
through-rate.
Ensure your contentisgoodenoughto be on the 1st page.If your contentisn’tbetterthanthe contentalreadyon
the 1st page for a keywordthenyoursite doesn’tdeserve torankthere.
Make your contentengagingforvisitors.The more engagingitis,the longerpeople willstayonyoursite,andhigh
viewingtimessignal tosearchenginesthatyoursite deservesgoodrankings.
Create videos.Theyincrease the amountof time thatpeople spendonyoursite andalsoallow youto getlinks
fromvideosharingsites.
Create stats/charts/graphs/infographics.People are more likelytoshare andlinktothese typesof contentthan
plainwrittencontent.
More contentequalsmore rankings,more visitorsandmore sales.Searchenginesreward,andvisitorstrustmore,
sitesthatare filledwithlotsof pagesof goodqualitycontent.
Adda blogto yourwebsite.Doingsomakesitquickandsimple toaddnew pagesof contentto yoursite.
Create contentto poston otherwebsitesandblogs.People are muchmore likelytolinktoyouif you provide
themwithcontentto use ontheirsite.
Balance creatingcontentwithmarketingcontent.If youcreate contentwithoutmarketingitthenpeoplewill
struggle tofindit,and if theycan’t findittheycan’t linktoit or share it.
Write a unique,descriptive title foreverypage.Within55 charactersyou needtomake the topic of a page clearto
bothhumansand search engines.
Write a unique,descriptive metadescriptionforeverypage.Within160characters youneedto describe the topic
of a page in a waythat persuadespeopletoclickonyour site insteadof the othersiteslistedinthe searchresults.
Researchkeywordsbefore optimisingforthem.If youchoose the wrongkeywords,regardlessof whatyoudofor
on-site andoff-siteSEO,you’ll getveryfew visitorsand/orvisitorswhodon’tconvertintosales.
Use Google’sKeywordTool.Itprovidesagoodlistof wordsandphrasesrelatedtothe keywordideasthatyou
enterintoit.
3. Get keywordideasfromotherpeople.They(customers,suppliers,partners,friends,etc.)see yourbusiness
differentlytoyouand may associate differentwordsandphraseswithit.
Target relevantkeywords.The more relevantyourkeywordsare,the easierandquickeritisto rank forthem,and
the higherthe percentage of visitorswhowillbecome buyers.
Target keywordswith commercial intent.Youwantvisitorswhoare readytospendmoneyratherthanthose who
are justlookingforinformation.
Long-tail keywordsare agreat source of traffic.It’squickerandcheaperto rank for longer,specifickeyword
phrases,andmore than 40% of searchesare comprisedof fouror more words.
Dedicate 1 page of your website toeachkeywordthatyou’re targeting.Doingsomakesitsimplerforsearch
enginestocategorise andrankyourpages.
Addkeywordsinthe rightplaces.They’re lessimportantthantheyusedtobe,butyoushouldstill includethemin
urls,page titles,metadescriptions,headertagsandimage alttags.
Avoidkeywordstuffing.You’re muchmore likelytobe penalisedthancreditedif youuse akeywordphrase
repeatedlyonapage.
Backlinksaffectrankingsmore thananythingelse.The numberandqualityof linkspointingtoyoursite will largely
determine inwhatpositionyoursite ranks.
Don’t setbacklinktargets.Linkbuildingshouldbe asteady,consistent,on-goingprocess,thatdoesn’tstopwhen
youreach a certainnumber.
Get backlinksfromrelevantsources.Searchengineswanttodisplayrelevantresultsforeachkeyword,andlinks
fromrelevantpages/sitesare astrongsignal to themthat yoursite isrelevant.
Get backlinksfromtrustedsources.Linksfromtrustworthysitessignal tosearchenginesthatyoursite is
trustworthytoo.
Be preparedtoworkfor highqualitybacklinks.Generally,the more easilyyoucanacquire a link,the lessvalue it
will likelyhave.
Be waryof payingpeople tolinktoyourwebsite.Buyingbacklinkscan,anddoeswork,however,there’sadefinite
riskinvolvedif youbuycheaponesand/orfrompeople whoopenlysellthem.
Don’t getinvolvedin linknetworks.The benefitof gettinglinksfromnetworksislow,whereasthe riskof being
penalisedandlosingrankingsishigh.
Diversifyyourbacklinkprofile.Getdifferenttypesof linksfromawide range of IPaddresses.
Buildbacklinksto everypage of yourwebsite thatyouwantto rank. Getpeople tolinktothe inner-pagesof your
site – the onesyouwantto rank for specifickeywords –as well asto the homepage.
Existingrelationshipsare aninstantsource of backlinks.Some of your suppliers,partnersandcustomerswill linkto
your site if youaskthemto do so.
Get the good backlinksthatyourcompetitionalreadyhas.If someone hasalreadylinkedtoone of your
competitorsthenthere’sareasonablechance thatthey’ll linkto youalsoif yougive thema goodreasonto.
Get some backlinkswithyourtargetkeywordsasthe linktext.Thistype of linkisimportant,butshouldmake up
lessthan25% of your backlinkprofile.
4. The majorityof yourbacklinksshouldbe branded.A backlinkprofilewithoutlotsof brandedlinks(like‘Company
Name’and‘www.companyname.co.uk’) signalstosearchenginesthatyou’ve beenusingmanipulative linkbuilding
tactics.
Knowwho’slinkingtoyou.WithinGoogle WebmasterTools,goto‘Traffic’andthen‘Links’to checkhowmany
sitesare linkingtoyoursand whichsitestheyare.
Signup for Ahrefs,MajesticSEOor OpenSite Explorer.Doingsogivesyouaccesstoextensive backlink datafor
your site andalsoyour competitors’sites.
Everypage of your website shouldbe linkedtofromat leastone otherpage.Searchenginesdon’tinclude pagesin
theirresultsthataren’tlinkedtoeitherinternally(fromanotherpage of the same site) orexternally(fromanother
site).
Have directlinksfromyourhomepage toyourmostimportantpages.Doingsopassesauthorityfromthe
homepage toyourimportantpagesand improvesthe rankingsof those pages.
Addin-contentlinkstootherrelevantpagesonyourwebsite.Whilstnotasvaluable asexternal links,internal links
do still passauthorityandsignal tosearchengineswhatpagestorank for whichkeywords.
Remove unnecessaryoutboundlinks.Onlylinktopagesonothersitesthatyou thinkvisitorstoyoursite would
findhelpful and/orinteresting.
Link outto relevantwebsitesandblogs.Peoplegenerallynotice if youlinktothem, andif youlinktothem,there’s
a reasonable chance thatthey’ll linkbacktoyouif you have goodsite.
Leave commentsonrelevantwebsitesandblogs.Doingsobuildstrustandrelationshipswithpeople –boththe
site ownersandvisitorstothose sites.
Interactwithbloggersinyourindustry.The betterpeople withrelevantblogsknow you(throughsocial sites,
forums,email,etc.) the more likelythey’ll be tolinktoyoursite and toshare yourcontent.
Contact small businesseswithrelevantwebsites.A goodrelationship,inwhichyouhelppromote eachothers’
sites,makesSEOsimplerandcheaperforyouand forthem.
Write pressreleasestoshare newsandopinions.Thisisagood wayto getcontenton, andlinksfrom, sitesoutside
of yourindustryandcircle of connections.
Phone people todeveloponline relationships. Emailscaneasilybe ignoredorforgotten,butphone callsnotso
much.
Use your website tobuildtrustandrelationships.The more relationshipsyouhave,andthe more people trust
you,the more people will talkaboutyou,linktoyou,and,ultimately,buyfromyou.
Addyour addressandphone numbertoeverypage of yourwebsite.Thisbuildstrustandimprovesrankingsif
you’re targetingkeywordphrasesthatcontainyourtown/cityname.
Get listedinindustryandlocal directories.Mostdirectoriesare worthless,however,thereshouldbe atleast10
that are relevanttoyourarea or industry.
Askcustomersto leave reviewsonGoogle+andlocal directories.Positive reviewsimprove yourrankingsin
Google’slocal listingsandcan be accessed directlyfromthe searchresults.
Be personal ina waythat bigbusinessescan’tbe.Puttingyourindividualityand personalityacrossthroughoutthe
off-site SEOprocess(outreachemails,guestposts,Tweets,etc.) makesothersmore likelytoengage withyou.
5. Use social websitestopromote otherpeople’scontentaswell asyourown.People generallyknow if you’ve taken
actionon social sitestohelpthem,andif theysee that you’ve helpedthem, the chancesof themhelpingyououtin
returnare much higher.
Addsocial sharingbuttonsto yourwebsite.The easieryoumake itfor people toshare yourcontent,the more
likelytheywill be todoso.
Social mediaisn’ta replacementforSEO.Your social strategyshouldbe partof,or shouldrun alongside,yourSEO
strategy.
Search enginesrankswebpages,notwebsites.Whetherornota page ranks fora particularkeyworddepends
largelyonthe qualityof that individual page,andnotthe qualityof yoursite asa whole.
Small businessescanrankhigherthanbig businesses.It’snotuncommonforapage ona small business’ssite to
rank higherthana page onthe site of a big,national company.
Knowwhere you’re ranking.WithinGoogleWebmasterTools,goto‘Traffic’and then‘SearchQueries’tocheck
where yoursite isrankingforkeywords.
Aimto be in the top 3, not justthe top 10. If your site isn’trankedinthe top3 positionsfora keywordthenyou’ll
onlygeta small percentage (lessthan10%) of the trafficfrom searchesforthat keyword.
Rankingscan be misleading.The numberof 1st page rankingsyouhave isirrelevantif those rankingsdon’tconvert
to visitornumbersand,ultimately,sales.
Don’t worryaboutPageRank.SiteswithalowPR can, and oftendo,outrank siteswithahighPR.
Choose betweenusingwwwornotusingwww.Ensure thatyour site issetto loadat either
www.domainname.co.ukordomainname.co.uk –notboth.
Adopta flat website architecture.Anypage of yoursite shouldbe accessible within3clicksfromyourhomepage.
Use a simple,clearURL structure.People shouldbe able toguessthe topicof a page bylookingonlyatitsURL.
Use headertags.Include variationsof yourtargetkeywordphrasesinapage’sH1 andH2 tags.
Use rich snippets.Theyprovide additionaldataaboutyoursite to searchenginesandcan improve the appearance
of yoursite’slistinginsearchresults.
Use 301 redirects.If youchange the url of a page on your site,butdon’tredirectthe oldurl to the new one,any
linkspointingtothe oldone will be wasted.
Set-upa useful 404 error page.Linkingtoyourbestcontentfrom your404 page meansthat visitorswhosee itare
lesslikelytoleave yoursite.
Optimise yourimages.Include a page’stargetkeywordphrase,orvariationsof it,inthe file namesandimgalttags
of the imagesonthat page.
Optimise yourwebsite formobileusers.Yoursite needstobe clearandsimple touse forpeople accessingitusing
smartphonesandtablets.
Checkbrowserand screenresolutioncompatibility.Yoursite needstorendercorrectlyineverywebbrowser
(Chrome,IE,Safari,etc.) andscreenresolution(1366×768, 1024×768, 800×600, etc.).
Maximise yourwebsite’sloadingspeed.Use Google’s sitespeedtool andimplementthe recommendationsthat
theygive you.
6. Use a reliable webhostingcompany.Yoursite’skeywordrankingswill be downgradedif yoursite isregularly
inaccessible.
Regularlybackupyourwebsite.If youlose yoursite datathenyoulose yourrankingstoo,as searchenginesquickly
remove sitesthatwon’tloadfromtheirresults.
Keepup-to-date withSEOnewsandtrends.ReadsitessuchasSearchEngine Watch, SearchEngine Land and
SEOmoz.
If youdon’tknow,ask someone.If youhave aquestion,askitinan online SEOforumor contact an SEO
consultant.
AskSEO consultantslotsof questions.If you’re goingtohire someone,you’ll be takinglessof arisk if youknowa
lotabout themandtheirstrategies.
Engage withyourSEO consultant.The more youknow aboutSEO, and the more a consultantknowsaboutyour
business,the betterthe resultswill be.
Source:http://www.seomark.co.uk/small-business-seo-tips/#ixzz3gnl7JYZG