The following is a compilation of SEO tips & techniques that will help you enhance and optimize your SEO efforts.
Note that the list starts with beginner stuff, and progresses toward more advanced ideas and concepts. So if you know your stuff, skip down past #20. If you have anything to add here or have any issues please leave a comment.
SEO Tips & Techniques
1) Create a new Google account and email address for your site if you don’t already have one. You will need this for the next 2 steps and to create your Google+ account and business page.
2) Install Google Analytics or any other similar analytics tool.
3) Install Google Webmaster Tools! Not optional.
4) Have you installed Bing Webmaster Tools? Do this too.
5) Using WordPress? Have you installed Google Analytics for WordPress and WordPress SEO, both by Joost de Valk? These plugins will make your life 100x easier.
6) Here is how to set up the WordPress SEO plugin.
7) Have you checked Google Webmaster Tools for 404 / 500 errors, duplicate content, missing titles, and other technical errors that Google has found? Make sure to keep up with any messages Google is sending you.
8) Make sure each of your pages has a title, meta description, h1 tag (only ONE h1 tag), and h2 tag (if necessary & can have multiple). You can check this with a browser.
9) Make sure all your images have descriptive file names and alt tags. Don’t overdo it though.
10) Make sure all your images are the correct pixel size and optimized for the web. For mac you can use ImageOptim, otherwise, you can use Smush.it
11) Have you incorporated your primary keyword (or something close) into your page URLs?
12) Get some easy backlinks with social networks, video sharing sites, audio submissions, syndicating with other sites, blog aggregates, document sharing, e-book submissions, business listing submissions, image submissions, press release submissions, infographic submissions, etc., etc. and the list goes on. These may not be as effective anymore, but you can hire someone on Upwork to do this for you. Just give him/her a list of the sites you want to submit to.
13) Are you using absolute URLs in your code? Some CMS platforms give you the option. Use absolute URLs instead of relative ones. In WordPress, you can go to Settings > Permalinks or watch this video.
14) Have you checked your site speed with Google’s PageSpeed Insights? Yes, speed is a ranking factor.
15) Have you created an XML sitemap and submitted it to Google and Bing Webmaster Tools? With WordPress, your XML sitemaps are available within the WordPress SEO plugin.
16) If you a local business and not on Google’s local listings visit Google Places or watch this video.
17) Are you linking to your internal pages in an SEO-friendly way or at all? Check out the best practices for this here.
18) Start a blog for your business, but keep in mind your blog shouldn’t just be boring press releases. Put some effort into your content! Google tracks how long visitors spend on your page in order to determine how useful the page was to them, so the better your content, the higher you will rank.
19) Create unique, accurate page titles.
20) Still struggling? Read the Beginners Guide to SEO from Moz.
21) Is your site responsive and/or mobile-friendly? Have you checked it on multiple browsers with BrowserStack?
22) Have you set up social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+?
23) Verify your site on your Google+ page, and complete your profile, completely!
24) Have you created a Robots.txt file to block files and folders you do not want to be indexed?
25) Set up your site with schema markup. For WordPress specifically, these plugins can help with Video SEO, Local SEO & WooCommerce SEO, all by Yoast.
26) Don’t completely forget about keywords, but stop narrowly focusing on them. Just create amazing shareable content. It will be worth its weight in gold when it hits social networks.
27) Have you looked at competitor link profiles? This is the easiest way to get started with link building. This way, you can see what kind of anchor text they’re using, as well as how and where they’ve been getting their links. Input competitor domains at Open Site Explorer, Ahrefs, Majestic SEO, and Lipper.
28) Implement short, non-parameter-heavy URLs.
29) Make sure your site has a good user experience and is visually appealing. These will both contribute to lower bounce rates, which will positively affect your rankings.
30) Create amazing content. People will want to share it, and when they do this will give positive signals to Google, plus will organically grow your incoming link portfolio.
31) Use visuals to share your message. Pictures, images, infographics, videos, graphics, animations, slide presentations. Higher-performing content has multiple types of content, not just one.
32) Make more content related to your top search queries. If your site is already ranking for these terms it should be easier to rank for some related terms.
33) Proofread. (Proofread heh)
34) Consider running paid advertising campaigns. This doesn’t directly affect your rankings but does generate valuable links, plus it’s scalable!
35) Set your preferred URL domain in Google Webmaster Tools.
36) Customize your 404 error page to keep visitors around. Be creative.
37) Have you made sure your site isn’t creating any duplicate content? Utilize 301 redirects, and canonical tags, or use Google Webmaster Tools to fix any duplicate content that might be indexing and penalizing your site.
38) Have you claimed your business/website username on other major networks for reputation management reasons? Not only do you want to make sure no one else gets your account name, but you can often “own” all the results on the first page of a search for your brand if you’re a new website or company. KnowEm allows you to check for the use of your brand, product, personal name, or username instantly on over 500 popular and emerging social media websites.
39) Make sure that you measure rank and performance by device type – research shows that rank and conversions on tablets, phones, and desktops vary dramatically.
40) Still want more? Read the Advanced Guide to SEO and implement everything you can.
41) Use an outside service like Yoast to analyze your website from a usability and conversion optimization point-of-view.
42) Don’t ignore your website. A stale website will fade away in search engine rankings, no matter how authoritative the content is.
43) Don’t resort to “black hat” tactics such as buying backlinks. Black hat SEO tactics may result in short-term gains but will be penalized in the long term.
44) Figure out what unanswered questions people have related to your industry, product, or service. Follow Yahoo! Answers, Quora, Google+ Communities, etc. Then create a page that answers that question. Every time it comes up, send people to that page.
45) Create videos that recap your content, post them on YouTube, and link back to the target page in the comments.
46) Leave helpful comments on other web pages that is related to your content or targeted keywords (preferably those with high Domain Trust) that link back to your page.
47) The average content length for a web page that ranks in the top 10 results for any keyword on Google has at least 2,000 words. The higher up you go on the search listings page, the more content each web page has.
Based on the graph above, you can see that the first result typically has 2,416 words and the 10th result has 2,032 words. This shows that Google prefers content-rich sites. More info.
48) Did you know that Google has a Search Engine Optimization Guide?
49) If you embed any videos create a video XML sitemap explained here.
50) Ensure that you are measuring and tracking universal/blended rank. This includes looking at Carousel results. Remember, there aren’t always 10 results per page.
51) Don’t forget to optimize your title’s annoying little brother, the Meta Description.
52) Analyze your site with Screaming Frog to help identify technical SEO issues and get a broad overview of your site structure. Here is a guide on how to use it effectively.
53) Stay up-to-date with Google’s algorithm updates.
54) Building an awesome reputation is paramount. The link profile will reflect the real-world reputation you’re building. Great content (or a great tool) earns great links. Originality really helps (you should definitely write about things that no one else is covering if you can!). Reputations grow especially fast if you’re solving (or highlighting) someone else’s problems rather than your own – content that serves this generous problem-solving tends to earn valuable, authoritative links. Credit for this tip goes to Glenn Friesen
55) Have you validated your site with W3C Validator?
56) Follow the Pareto principle – identify and focus on things that make a difference.
57) Keep up with Google Webmaster YouTube channel and blog.
58) Check your site with the QuickSprout Website Analyzer.
59) Did you know your recent Google+ posts will come up in branded queries?
60) Want to take it to the next level? Check out the Distilled University.
61) Using rel=”nofollow” for links you don’t want to pass link-juice to.
62) Google Suggest keywords show up when you start slowly typing in your search query in Google. The suggestions Google gives you can be seen in full with this tool.
63) Did you know you can benefit from links going out from your pages? If your site is linking out to other reputable sites within the context of your content, your ranking can benefit from being associated with other reputable names.
64) Are you an Entity in Google’s Knowledge Graph? Freebase is one of the sources of Google’s Knowledge Graph. Learn how to become an entity here.
65) “Fresh” content can influence rankings. Here are 10 illustrations of this.
In Closing:
Follow the Golden Rule. “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
Add value. Be awesome. Give sacrificially. Basically, be Jesus on the internet, and Google will reward you in the long run. It can’t be just about SEO tactics anymore. Google is too perceptive. It has to be about you, your brand, and the actual value you generate to real people in the real world.
– Eric Sztanyo
