Search Engine Optimisation

Best Practices Explanations

• Are the keywords that you are targeting not only relevant but also popular with searchers?

• Do your page titles lead with your targeted keywords?

• Is your body copy of sufficient length and keyword-rich?

• Does the anchor text pointing to various pages within your site include good keywords?

• Do you employ text links from your home page to your most important secondary pages?

• Does your Web site have an XML Sitemap, as well as an HTML site map with text links?

• Are the URLs of your dynamic (database-driven) pages short, simple and static-looking?

Best Practices

• Does your site have an optimized internal linking structure?

• Do your pages have keyword-rich meta descriptions with a compelling call to action?

• Does your site have a custom error page that returns the correct “status code”?

• Do your filenames and directory names include targeted keywords?

• Are you actively building links to your site?

Some Key Factorswww.seomoz.org/article/search-

ranking-factors

Top 5 Ranking Factors

• Keyword Focused Anchor Text from External Links– 73% very high importance

• External Link Popularity (quantity/quality of links)– 71% very high importance

• Diversity of Link Sources (links from many unique root domains)– 67% very high importance

• Keyword Use Anywhere in the Title Tag– 66% very high importance

• Trustworthiness of the Domain Based on Link Distance from Trusted Domains– 66% very high importance

Next 5 Important Factors

• Keyword Use in Internal Link Anchor Text on the Page– 47% moderate importance

• Keyword Use in External Link Anchor Text on the Page– 46% moderate importance

• Keyword Use as the First Word(s) in the H1 Tag– 45% moderate importance

• Keyword Use in the First 50-100 Words on the Page– 45% moderate importance

• Keyword Use in the Subdomain Name– 42% low importance

• Keyword Use in the Page Name URL– 38% low importance

On Page : Keyword Specific Factors

On Page Considerations

• Keyword Use Anywhere in the Title Tag– 66% very high importance

• Keyword Use as the First Word(s) of the Title Tag– 63% high importance

• Keyword Use in the Root Domain Name (e.g. keyword.com)– 60% high importance

• Keyword Use Anywhere in the H1 Headline Tag– 49% moderate importance

• Keyword Use in Internal Link Anchor Text on the Page– 47% moderate importance

• Keyword Use in External Link Anchor Text on the Page– 46% moderate importance

• Keyword Use as the First Word(s) in the H1 Tag– 45% moderate importance

• Keyword Use in the First 50-100 Words in HTML on the Page– 45% moderate importance

On Page Considerations

• Keyword Use in the Subdomain Name (e.g. keyword.seomoz.org)– 42% low importance

• Keyword Use in the Page Name URL (e.g. seomoz.org/folder/keyword.html)– 38% low importance

• Keyword Use in the Page Folder URL (e.g. seomoz.org/keyword/page.html)

• 37% low importance

• Keyword Use in other Headline Tags (<h2> – <h6>)

• 35% low importance

• Keyword Use in Image Alt Text

• 33% minimal importance

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On Page Considerations

• Keyword Use / Number of Repetitions in the HTML Text on the Page– 33% minimal importance

• Keyword Use in Image Names Included on the Page (e.g. keyword.jpg)– 33% minimal importance

• Keyword Use in <b> or <strong> Tags– 26% minimal importance

• Keyword Density Formula (# of Keyword Uses ÷ Total # of Terms on the Page)– 25% minimal importance

On-Page (Non-keyword factors)

On Page: Non-Keyword

• Existence of Substantive, Unique Content on the Page– 65% very high importance

• Recency (freshness) of Page Creation– 50% moderate importance

• Use of Links on the Page that Point to Other URLs on this Domain– 41% low importance

• Historical Content Changes (how often the page content has been updated)– 39% low importance

• Use of External-Pointing Links on the Page– 37% low importance

On Page: Non-Keyword

• Query Parameters in the URL vs. Static URL Format– 33% minimal importance

• Ratio of Code to Text in HTML– 25% minimal importance

• Existence of a Meta Description Tag– 22% very minimal importance

• HTML Validation to W3C Standards– 16% very minimal importance

• Use of Flash Elements (or other plug-in content)– 13% very minimal importance

• Use of Advertising on the Page– 11% very minimal importance

Page-Specific Link Popularity Ranking Factors

Links

• Keyword-Focused Anchor Text from External Links– 73% very high importance

• External Link Popularity (quantity/quality of external links)– 71% very high importance

• Diversity of Link Sources (links from many unique root domains)– 67% very high importance

• Page-Specific TrustRank (whether the individual page has earned links from trusted sources)– 65% very high importance

• Iterative Algorithm-Based, Global Link Popularity (PageRank)– 63% high importance

Links

• Topic-Specificity/Focus of External Link Sources (whether external links to this page come from topically relevant pages/sites)– 58% high importance

• Keyword-Focused Anchor Text from Internal Links– 55% high importance

Site Wide : Non-Link Based

Site Wide: Non-Link

• Site Architecture of the Domain (whether intelligent, useful hierarchies are employed)– 52% moderate importance

• Use of External Links to Reputable, Trustworthy Sites/Pages– 37% low importance

• Length of Domain Registration– 37% low importance

• Domain Registration History (how long it’s been registered to the same party, number of times renewed)

• Server/Hosting Uptime

• 32% minimal importance

Site Wide: Non-Link

• Length of Domain Registration– 37% low importance

• Domain Registration History (how long it’s been registered to the same party, number of times renewed, etc.)– 36% low importance

• Server/Hosting Uptime– 32% minimal importance

• Hosting Information (what other domains are hosted on the server/c-block of IP addresses)– 31% minimal importance

Social Media

Social Media Related

• Delicious Data About the Domain or Page– 21% very minimal importance

• StumbleUpon Data About the Domain or Page– 19% very minimal importance

• Twitter Data About the Domain or Page– 17% very minimal importance

• LinkedIn Data About the Domain or Page– 15% very minimal importance

• Facebook Data About the Domain or Page– 12% very minimal importance

• MySpace Data About the Domain or Page– 11% very minimal importance

Search Engine Land - Worst Practices

Worst Practices

• Does your primary navigation require Flash, Java or Javascript to function?

• Is your web site done entirely in Flash or overly graphical with very little textural content?

• Is your home page a “splash page” or otherwise content-less?

• Do the URLs of your pages include “cgi-bin” or numerous ampersands?

• Do the URLs of your pages include session IDs or user IDs?

• Do you unnecessarily spread your site across multiple domains?

• Are your title tags the same on all pages?

Worst Practices

• Do you have pop-ups on your site?

• Do you use “click here” or any other superfluous copy for your hyperlink text?

• Do you have superfluous text like “Welcome to” at the beginning of your title tags?

• Do you have any hidden or small text meant only for the search engines?

• Do you engage in “keyword stuffing”?

• Do you repeatedly submit your site to the search engines?

• Do you incorporate your competitors’ brand names in your meta tags?

• Do you have duplicate pages with minimal or no changes?

• Are you submitting to (“Free For All”) link pages and farms?