I thought I would share some basic SEO tips and help folks that are new to SEO. But, please keep in mind that information and links listed here are NEVER absolute solutions or methodologies for SEO as search engines' algorithms are always changing on a regular basis. Your SEO methods, whatever they might be, should stay in the current. Purpose of SEO: To rank high in the SERP. But SEO itself is just a web promotion, so do not forget the priority below if your SEO is for your business. ROI > Quality Traffic > SERP > PageRank SERP Search Engine Result Page On-Page SEO SEO that uses techniques on your web page in HTML. Many of those techniques are not too influential in Google SEO, nevertheless, they are important ones. 1. Keywords (Importance *****) Everything starts with choosing good keywords for your SEO. After all, SEO is all about "how high your website can rank with your keywords" in search engines. This should be your first step for your SEO, even before you start building your first page. If you know what keywords you should use for your website, it is easier for your On-Page SEO. Spend at least a few days to research keywords that are related to your site theme and target ones that are NOT too competitive. Several keyword suggestion tools are available. I am not picky about them at all, but using such a tool is a must-do. Whichever tool you feel like, use it and pick good keywords. Resource links: Keyword suggestion tool http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/search.html Choosing your keywords 2. Domain Name (Importance **) A keyword rich domain name is simply better than ones without it as SEs look your domain names for keywords. In a similar idea, your sub-domains should have keywords as well as other inner page URLs. 3. Unique Content (Importance *****) Google is becoming smarter. As some people often like to emphasize on content for their primary SEO as they claim, "content is king", this key factor is vitally important. In a way, creating good content is more about writing skills rather than an SEO skill. No use of frame for page content Uniqueness is the main key for quality content Focus on your keywords as you write Do not have duplicated content 4. H1, H2 Tags (Importance **) Use H1 tag near the top of your web page. You should insert your keywords in H1 tag, of course. Use your second most important keyword in H2 tag. If you have third one, use it in H3. These tags are more important for Yahoo! and MSN SEO. 5. Meta Tags (Importance **) While a website can rank #1 at Google without having any meta tag, I can not tell people to "ignore meta tags". Besides, Google is not the only search engines. Meta tags can be more important factors for other search engines. Insert your keywords in all meta tags Don't spam in meta tags Title tag is the most important one 6. Alt, Title Tags (Importance *) Again, you can simply insert your keywords in those tags. It's not too important SEO factor, but there is no reason to skip it. 7. Keyword Density (Importance **) Often said that 3% to %5 of your web page should contain your keywords. This factor has been slightly devalued, but keyword focused content is still important. Ultimately, you don't have to focus on the percentage too much. Just remember to use your keywords as often as possible in a natural way as you create content of a web page. Also use good keyword-rich phrases in your web content. Unique combinations of keywords are also important. 8. Inner Linking (Importance *) Instead of placing links to your website inner pages on every single page, concentrating on placing links that are more important than others on many pages. The idea behind this is to concentrating on PageRank point on your domain URL. Your domain page is the most important, so have your domain URL on every page, but not "contact us" page link on every page as you do not need to promote that page. Consider other minor On-Page SEO factors Get rid of broken links SE friendly URL Using bold, italic or underline on your keywords Frequency of adding a new page Frequency of updating a web page BIG "No-no" On-Page SEO techniques Keyword spamming Domain redirection (301 redirection is SE friendly) Too many affiliate links Linking to link farms Excessive cross-linking Off-Page SEO SEO that aims to gain backlinks. Link development, link baits, and various URL submissions. Get quality backlinks as many as possible. That's the core Off-Page SEO. You can do so in many ways, but investment is often the most important key to be successful in getting quality backlinks. 1. Link Exchange (Importance **) The most popular link building method would be link exchange. Many link exchange sites are available, but it is not easy to find good deals. Links by link exchange programs are often low quality. Good thing about link exchange sites is that they are free to use. Also 3-way linkings are better. You can use popular link exchange services, but in my experiences, exchanging links with other DP members is better as they understand how important the relevancy of links are. Resource link: DP link exchange Forum 2. Buying Links (Importance *****) While Google is currently trying to investigate on paid links, NOT all paid links are going to be discarded. They are not after everybody that involves in buying, selling links. Matt Cutts on paid links Resource links: Tips for buying links 3. Link Bait Offering free stuff is the way to do in any online business. You will have more traffic to your site. More people will link to yours, and natural links are very good! Come up with a good idea, information or give-away things to attract your visitors. Use newsletters to encourage them to re-visit you again. If you do well with it, this could be the best way to build many backlinks. Link Bait Examples Free e-books Free coupons Free templates Free tools 4. Directory Submissions Directory submissions can be beneficial for building links simply because you can get free backlinks from them. There are many free directories available at Solicitations & Announcements. Also check DP Directory Forum. Additional Info. In the light of SEO being NOT absolute, as I have implied it at the beginning of this thread, the best approach to a successful SEO then should be in the focus on "how to raise that percentage as high as possible". People have discussed and debated over Pagerank; whether it's important or not. If PR is absolutely irrelevant to SEO, Matt Cutts did not have to address anything about paid links, for example. PR is not the most important SEO factor, but one of important factors. There should be a balance. Getting ranked at the Google SERP is more important than PR itself, but Google owns both. IMO, ignoring PR is rather a weak SEO for Google, lowering the percentage of your SEO to be effective compared to SEO with a complete package, including/admitting PR as one of important SEO factors. Bottom line though - "agree to disagree". ~~~~~~~~~ Enjoy ~~~~~~~~~
Thanks for sharing that. As being a Newbie myself, i found that very useful and i really hope it helps me in the future.
nice and helpful post! has lots of info in it, thanks for sharing! beginers will sure find this helpful!
glad to be a help. I could have mentioned little more on off-page SEO, but I didn't want it to be too long I think I should have said that, but when you build backlins, don't do it too fast. Google can put your new website in Sandbox. Increase your backlinks constantly but not too suddenly at a time.
As you guys wish, I guess. Let's see how others would think. I spent a lot of time for the list. It's not because it was difficult, but I wanted to be careful, thinking how much I can go for people that are new to SEO.
Exactly. I was actually surprised there is NO sticky thread in SEO forum. This is one of the most busiest one. I think the 4th or 5th in entire DP forum. Way too many same threads here on a daily basis.
Since there is not much of on-page SEO for a forum, an SEO service for it would be based on off-page SEO. Many SEO services are really about link building services. There is forum posting services too, but that's not really about SEO, IMO. I don't think their focus is SEO. If your keywords are in Chinese, I think it would be difficult for them to promote your site unless you find one that is a SEO company in China. But if you are targeting keywords in English, you can have many options to choose from.
I do like the info listed here, but I don't have the time, do you know any SEO provider or Link Builder that can do this job for a certain amount? Thanks!