Once you have your new website all set up, you will want to make sure you follow this quick SEO checklist to make sure you are giving your website the best possible chance at online exposure.
SEO Checklist Item #1 - Get Indexed - Make sure your site is Indexed or else all your work is wasted and your site will never be found through search engines.
To check if your site is indexed:
- Go to www.google.com
- Type in “site:http://www.your-domain-name.com”
- If you don’t see your site, then see below on how to submit your site.
Yahoo
- Go to www.yahoo.com
- Type in “site:www.your-domain-name.com”
- If you don’t see your site, then see below on how to submit your site.
To submit your site go to:
- Google Add URL - Click Here to submit your site to the world’s largest Search Engine.
- Yahoo Site Submit - Click Here to submit your various sites on Yahoo
SEO Checklist Item #2 - Identifying the Right Keywords to emphasize in your site - This an extremely important step that most people forget to do as most people think that if they just write about their content, the keywords will naturally emphasize themselves. Although that may be true, you will want to take a more proactive step in the SEO-ing of your site. What I suggest is that you use the following tools to know what the best keywords are for your site and then to write content that can incorporate those keywords. I’m not advising that you write junk to overemphasize the keywords, but I think that if you knew what the keywords were, it will make it easier for you to incorporate them into your future content. Here are a list of tools I use to find my keywords:
- Overture Keyword Suggestion Tool - It’s the best free keyword tool out there
- WordTracker.com - Currently has a Free Trial Subscription
- SubmitExpress.com - I personally use this to make sure I cover all my bases.
SEO Checklist Item #3 - Meta Title, Description and Keywords - This is where you edit what you want the world to know about you on the Search Engine Results.
Either you or your webmaster should know where to edit your Meta Information. To see your meta information or anyone’s meta information (especially your main competition), simple go to the page in your browser, right-click on the page and select “View Page Source.” The Meta Information is usually at the top and starts with “<meta name=>”. For example, here is MrGaryLee.com’s Meta Information:
<title> Mr. Gary Lee - Observations of an Aspiring Internet Marketeer</title>
<meta name=”Description” content=”Click Here for the Latest Tips & Strategy in the Internet Marketing, Blogging and SEO - Aspiring Entrepeneurs & Current Business Owners Need to know these Tips!” />
<meta name=”keywords” content=”Internet Marketing, Internet Marketing Online, PPC Search Engine Internet Marketing, Internet Marketing Strategy, Internet Marketing Tool, Internet Marketing Services, Internet Marketing Advertising, Internet Marketing Consultant” />
FYI - The Meta Description should be at most 160 characters long, so make sure you include a “call to action,” which is a phrase that encourages people to click on your listing. For example, “Click Here to Buy My Stuff.” Also, you want to make sure that your site maximizes the 160 character limit to provide as much relevant information as possible.
Of course this isn’t the be all, end all of Search Engine Optimization, but these 3 Checklist Items are definite pillars in establishing your online presense in Search Engine Results.
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Not sure if submitting a site to the search engines is the right move these days, many have seen this slow down the process. Get a few backlinks and letting the search engines find you works quick these days.
Also, I have even had sites indexed that had no backlinks. Strange I know, all I can think is that they picked up the whois, or the email I sent my client with the URL.
Wow thanks for the reminder, I just realized my blog doesn’t have meta description or keywords!!!!! I can’t believe it.
Good tips, especially the meta description and keywords part … I have to check my code!
always good to read as many seo tips articles as humanly possible. great post!
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Great tip! I’m new to the wonderful world of blogging and I must say this article was very usefull