What is a good SEO strategy?

Create your website for human realities, not search engines!

Before you begin to write  line of code:

• • Do keyword research to determine what keywords you want to target. Good tools to use for keywords research are Google’s Adwords Keyword Suggestion Tool and Google Trends.

  You have to keep in mind that tools like Google’s Adwords Keyword Suggestion Tools and Wordtracker are not to be taken word for word. You are presumed to look at the volume of keyword searches by volume proportional to each other and major search terms. That will give you an idea of how frequently a search term is being used.

Period creating your website you should do the following:

• Use markup to indicate the content of your site
  • Create unique Meta Tags for each page
  • Use header tags appropriately (H1 > H2 > H3)
  • Use <b> and <i> tags if appropriate
• Optimize your URLs
  • Use keywords in your domain
  • Use keywords in your URL (http://www.example.com/keyword2/keyword3.html)
  • Use dashes or underscores to separate words in your URLs (keyword2-keyword3.html)
• Optimize your content
  • Use keywords liberally yet appropriately in every each page
  • Write unique content
  • Write quality content
• Use search engine friendly design
  • Create a human sitemap
  • Do not use inaccessible site navigation (JavaScript or Flash menus)
  • Minimize outbound links
  • Keep your pages under 100K in size
  • Keep the number of links on a page to less then 100
• Design the navigational structure of the site to channel PR to main pages (especially the homepage)
• Create a page that encourages webmasters to link to your site
  • Provide them the relevant HTML to create their link to you (make sure the anchor text contains keywords)
  • Provide them with any images you may want them to use (although text links are better)

Immediately, after starting your site you should do the following:

• Create Webmaster Accounts
  • Google Webmaster Tools
  • Yahoo! Site Explorer
  • Live Search Webmaster Center
• Submit your site to all three major search engines
  • Google
  • Yahoo (Use the page list option)
  • MSN
• Create an XML sitemap
• Submit your site to all free directories. Do it by hand. It will not take long to do and will ensure that you are successful in submitting each form with the correct information. There is a constant debate about how search engines feel about automated submission software. Since there is a reasonable chance these are frowned upon by the search engines, and since you can do anything they can do on your own, you might as well avoid them.
  • DMOZ (also powers Google Directory)
  • JoeAnt
• Submit your site to relevant directories (directory lists below)
  • Directory Critic
  • Directory Rate
  • ISEDB
• Begin a link building campaign (attempting to get keywords in the link anchor text)
  • Put a link to your website in your forum signatures
  • Reply to relevant blog posts (Don’t spam please)

If you will pay to promote your website:

• Submit your site to pay directories
  • Yahoo
  • GoGuides

Finally, as part of an ongoing strategy:

• Continually update your website with quality, unique content
• Continually seek free links preferably from sites in your genre

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