Top SEO Tips and Tricks by SharpNET
Little things can make a big difference when it comes down to improving organic search engine ranking. Below are SharpNET's
top SEO tips and tricks that can be easily and quickly implemented, but pack a potent punch. All recommended
SEO tips and tricks are "white hat" solutions. What does "white hat" mean to the SEO world? "White hat" refers to SEO practices
that are accepted, and even embraced, by the search engines and SEO community. What is the difference between an "SEO Tip"
and an "SEO Trick"? An SEO Tip is advice, a philosophy, or indirect tidbit of SEO wisdom. SEO Trick
is a direct instruction - "do this like that."
Top 10 SEO Tips and Tricks
SEO Tricks #1
Use META tags for your Title, Description and Keywords. Keep the META tags relevant based on the content and theme of each
individual web page. Never use the same META tag on multiple pages. Tell the world what is unique about each individual
page on your web site. Meta Description tags should be under 160 characters long and Titles under 70 characters.
SEO Tips #2
Do not try to do too much with one web page in regard to keyword optimization. Keep a narrow focus, pick a common keyword
phrase, and make sure that your target keyword phrase resonates through the web page. In an ideal SEO environment, the same
keyword phrase would be in your company name, domain name, title and META tags, and throughout the content of your web page.
Don't get carried away however, be sure that your content and optimization reads well. For example, a mortgage company should
not say "mortgage" in one place and "home loan" at another. Just stick with one or the other.
SEO Tips #3
Perform keyword research to identify the common phrases used to represent your products and services. During the SEO process,
you will likely have more success with targeting relevant or niche keyword phrases that are less competitive. If you know
what to do to gain strong ranking for the highly competitive keyword phrases, then you wouldn't need to be reading these
SEO tips and tricks.
SEO Tricks #4
Implement descriptive title and alt tags within links and images on your web site. Note that a link "title" is not the same
as the title tag in your header. Then use image file names that correspond with your optimized alt and title tag. For example,
if you have a button on a mortgage web site, do not name it "image0123.gif", rather, name it something more appropriate
like "mortgage-quote.gif". The same is true for web page names, note that the name of this web page contains "top-seo-tips-and-tricks."
SEO Tricks #5
Include at least 1 outbound link to an authority web site. We know how counter-intuitive it may seem to post a link on your
web site to another web site, however this simple SEO trick will improve your SEO rankings. You should be able to find non-competitive
web sites to link to that have strong rankings for your most popular keywords. This represents a "fair-play" and non-selfish
mentality, and Google has made this point very clear.
SEO Tips #6
Your web site should load up fast. Google has publicly announced that the time it takes for your web pages to load will
be a factor in your ranking. Before choosing a web host for your web site, be sure that clients using their hosting solutions
have fast web sites. Some web hosting companies are over-burdened, making the web site of all their clients load slowly.
SEO Tricks #7
If your company services a local community, be sure to utilize the names of the city or state that you operate in. There
is no point in gaining the attention to someone in Boston, if you can only service people in Seattle. If you are geographically
bound, be sure to dwell on geography.
SEO Tips #8
Make sure that all of the web pages on your web site can be found by the search engine. There must be a clear linking path
from the home page that leads to all pages. Integrate and XML site map as well as and HTML or text-based site map. Include
your XML site map within your ROBOTS.TXT file as follows: "Sitemap: http://www.yourdomainname.com/sitemap.xml". We recommend
generating XML sitemaps at xml-sitemaps.com/.
SEO Trick #9
When possible, or at least for any web page you intend to have strong organic search engine ranking, try to include over
300 words per page. Ideally, you will have 400+ words.
SEO Tips #10
Submit your web site to the search engines. We recommend that you submit to all the Tier 1 search engines, however submissions
to the Tier 2 search engines can also be helpful. To learn how to submit to the Tier 1 search engines, please visit SharpNET's
free submit web site link tool.
Advanced SEO Tips and Tricks
SEO Trick - Nurture New Search Engine Rankings
From a Google Webmaster Tools account, Google will share which search phrases displayed your listing. Check regularly for
new phrases showing up for the first time. When you see a phrase you like, take advantage and enhance your SEO efforts for
that new search phrase. You'll see it move up week by week until impressions turn into clicks, and clicks into sales. This
can serve as a feedback loop to optimize web pages and phrases that you may not have otherwise noticed.
SEO Tip - Build Web Pages and Not List Items
SEO Content is king. If you are looking to generate more SEO friendly content, turn your lists into dedicate web pages.
Rather than producing a list of your services, for example, dedicate one web page for each item on your list. An entire
page dedicate to one service will do much more for you in regard to both sales and SEO.
SEO Tip - Don't Pass On Link Juice Unless it is Necessary
Google Pagerank and SERPs rely heavily on inbound links. Many websites have different types of links for different reasons.
Often, you will have links on your website to other websites that you will not want to pass on your "link juice" too. While
a few links to an Authority websites is healthy for SEO, if you are not conservative with your outbound links, you will
diminish the effectiveness of your links to other web pages that you do care about, including your own! For example, why
pass on your Link Juice to Government website or a company that you critically review? The link is fine, buy you can stop
the relevance of the link by including the rel="nofollow" tag in your hyperlinks.
SharpNET's Top 50 SEO Tips
SEO TIP 50: Build a few web pages for experimental purposes. See how ranking responds to specific tweaks. Log your finding
and progress.
SEO TIP 49: Change web pages that consistently rank poorly. META, TITLE and even content. Without improvement, change every
3-4 months.
SEO TIP 48: If you sell products, create merchant accounts with Yahoo Shopping, Amazon, eBay, etc. Let those resources work
for you.
SEO TIP 47: If you sell physical products, publish them in Google Products. Implement descriptive keyword phrases in your
XML posts.
SEO TIP 46: If one page has 2 links pointing to the same location, Google only considers the text and attributes of the
first link.
SEO TIP 45: Search engine spiders may see "WWW.domain.com" and "domain.com" as 2 separate websites, therefore cutting link-juice
in half.
SEO TIP 44: There are four primary factors influencing keyword ranking: (1) The content of your website, (2) Your pagerank
or "online authority", (3) Stickness or likability of your website and (4) Your social media activity.
SEO TIP 43: Be patient with SEO. It may take weeks for SEO changes to take effect. Make sure prior changes take root before
changing again.
SEO TIP 42: You can optimize for more than websites. Depending on your business model, SEO can apply to video, audio, images,
social media posts and articles.
SEO TIP 41: "Article swapping" is not a valid method to generate content if the content is duplicated with an original content
source.
SEO TIP 40: Google AdWords states that a "www" before your domain name increases clicks. Carry this through to SEO with
canonicalization.
SEO TIP 39: Your "h1" tag should integrate the focus keywords used in your TITLE and META descriptions. Stick to a tight
keyword theme.
SEO TIP 38: Every web page should include a keyword-based headline tag "h1". Maintain font size with style tags.
SEO TIP 37: Implement search-friendly URLs. Many shopping carts and CMS' use dynamic links that interfere with search engine
indexing.
SEO TIP 36: Site ranking can be punished for having bad inbound links and for linking to bad sites such as link farms.
SEO TIP 35: Human factors matter. SEO friendly efforts must also be human friendly. Once you gain clicks, you still need
to make the sale.
SEO TIP 34: Search engines prefer fresh content over static. Fresh content can come from articles, blogs, site interaction
& social media.
SEO TIP 33: Domain registrars sell ownership privacy protection. Don't buy it if interested in SEO! The search engines want
transparency.
SEO TIP 32: The content around a link carries weight for the linked page. Be descriptive and integrate targeted keywords.
SEO TIP 31: Don't try to do too much with one web page. Likewise don't try to do too much with one web site. Search engines
want focus.
SEO TIP 30: Use the "STRONG" tag to emphasize targeted keywords. Use "BOLD" for aesthetics, where the phrase is not targeted
for ranking.
SEO TIP 29: Maintain clean website code. Follow WC3 standards, fix broken links & images, remove 404 errors, no frames,
use static URLs.
SEO TIP 28: Fast site indexing for Google can occur through Google-owned media, including Blogger, Knol, Buzz, Google News,
and YouTube.
SEO TIP 27: Link quality is more important than link quantity. The sum of the inbound pagerank (link juice) is what matters.
SEO TIP 26: Don't hyperlink generic text like "buy now" or "click here." Use keyword-based content in your links. This is
called "anchor text."
SEO TIP 25: Use descriptive content for items in your shopping cart. Don't call it "item 13324".
SEO TIP 24: Regularly add new content to your website. Blogs, tips and articles work well. Search engines favor frequently
updated sites.
SEO TIP 23: Implement keyword research when writing articles and newsletters. Host the content on your website with clean
navigation.
SEO TIP 22: Don't like begging for inbound links? Try writing articles and submitting them to article submission sites.
Target ~450 words. Or create a link bait website that links to your primary website.
SEO TIP 21: Do not use a pure Flash or graphical home page. Always make sure you have a healthy amount of content and solid
navigation.
SEO TIP 20: Use Google Webmaster Tools to identify up-and-coming rankings. Optimize these search ranking impressions and
watch them climb.
SEO TIP 19: When you engage in PPC, you can save money by not bidding on phrases where you already have strong organic rankings.
SEO TIP 18: The length of time your domain is reserved can influence pagerank. A long registration period indicates long-term
ambitions.
SEO TIP 17: Many Tier 1 search engines factor in the age of a domain name when determining pagerank. It established business
maturity.
SEO TIP 16: SEO friendly web design begins with keyword research. Keywords should influence domains, page names, tags/attributes
& content.
SEO TIP 15: Never allow a 404 error. Implement error handling to bounce 404 errors back to your website. Consider turning
a 404 into a 301 redirect to your home page.
SEO TIP 14: The use of "301 redirects" are critical for transferring established ranking from an old website to a new web
design.
SEO TIP 13: Minimize the amount of duplicate content throughout your website. Do NOT let your home page be a compilation
of article/blog snippets from other parts of your website, which results in duplicate content.
SEO TIP 12: Build web pages and not list items "li". Rather than displaying a list of services/products, dedicate a web
page to each item.
SEO TIP 11: Don't pass on "link juice" unless necessary. Use the [rel="nofollow"] attribute if you don't want link credit
passed on.
SEO TIP 10: Submit to more than only the Tier 1 search engines. Tier 2 search engines can drive traffic, and count as inbound
links.
SEO TIP 9: For any page intended for SEO, include a minimum of 400 words per page. Make sure the content is supported by
keyword research.
SEO TIP 8: Build an XML and HTML sitemap to ensure thorough search engine bot crawling. Free online sitemap resources can
help you.
SEO TIP 7: If you service only a local community, optimize your website for that community. Tap the local biz tools of each
search engine.
SEO TIP 6: Google has declared that page-load speed will impact search engine ranking. Page load speed should be under 2
seconds.
SEO TIP 5: Include at least 1 outbound link to a non-competitive authority website in your industry, but not from your home
page.
SEO TIP 4: Implement keyword-friendly title and alt attributes to links and images. Similarly, use keywords in your web
page names.
SEO TIP 3: Perform keyword research to identify phrases used to represent your products and services. Each page optimized
to a unique word.
SEO TIP 2: Don't try to optimize too many keywords on one page. Keep a narrow focus and keyword theme on a page by page
basis.
SEO TIP 1: Use META tags for your Title, Description and Keywords. Keep META tags relevant to the content of each individual
page.
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