A Note on SEO - Top 7 List

The world of Organic Search Engine Optimization is as cosmic as the heavens. Mainly because the search engine companies want it that way. If you could cheat the system (and some people try), they couldn’t give the most relevant results (which is what they are supposed to do).

Also, unless you have tons of time to spend on keyword optimization, tracking your competition, massaging your keywords every week/month it may not be the highest and best use of your time. So here is my “focus on the things that matter” tip for you in the form of a top 7 list (in no particular order):

1. Title Tag - This is what displays at the top of the IE7 browser window (All the way at the top). Make this meaningful and include words that you might like to get searched for.
2. Description Tag - This is not (always) displayed on your page, but is used by some search engines to catalog your site and sometimes it is used as the short description in the search results page.
3. Keywords Tag - Come up with about 20 good keywords (3-5 word phrases are keywords too). Eliminate prepositional phrases like “for” and “of” as well as conjunctions like “and.”
4. Large Type - The type that is the largest on the page (referred to as “<h1> Text”) is important to your users as well as search engines. Try to include things you would like to be searched for in these.
5. Body Copy - The actual text on the page…oh…your site is all flash and pictures…oops…not good.
6. Links - Having links to other websites is good. Don’t use “click here” to link. Try to make keyword phrases in the body copy links to good sites.
7. Navigation - you should have a site map of some sort on your homepage. On a blog this is often a “categories” list, but a user (and a search engine) should be able to find every other page on your website from the first page.

Again, these are in no particular order because each search engine operates (a little) differently.

Enjoy!

Rob the Tech Guy