SEO Checklist and Cheatsheet for Websites and Blogs

on 2011, Blog, Tools •October 11th•

SEO Checklist and SEO Cheatsheet for Websites and Blogs

Looking for How to Use Google Adwords Keyword Tool To Find The Best Keywords?

Download a Printer Friendly SEO Checklist and Cheatsheet Word Doc you can store on your computer and take with you on the go.

SEO Tips & Tricks Checklist

1. ____ Your main keywords must be in your URL or domain name.
a.For example:
www.KEYWORD.com –OR- www.domain.com/KEYWORD
2. ____ Your main keywords must be placed in the home title tag 2 times. (If you are using a WordPress blog platform and the ‘All in One SEO Plugin’, you can set the title in the ‘Title’ section of the plugin below the post)
3. ____ Your main keywords must appear in the in H1, H2 and H3 Tags. The H1 tag being the most important. These are implemented by including <h1> at the begining of your heading and </h1> at the end.
a.For example:
<h1>Header Title In H1 Tags</h1>>
4. ____ Your main keywords must appear near the beginning of the first sentence in each paragraph.
5. ____ Your main keywords must appear in the last sentence of each paragraph.
6. ____ Your overall keyword density of each post should be at least 3%. This means your main keywords should be at least 3% of the entire post.
7. ____ Using your main keywords as the anchor text you need to link to another internal page on your site at least once on each post.
a.For example:
<a href=”http://ferbscosmetics.com/help/tattoo-cover-up-directions/”>Tattoo Cover up Directions</a>
8. ____ Using your main keywords as the anchor text you need to link out to an authority site at least once in each post with a no follow tag.
a.For example:
<a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cover-up_(tattoo)” “target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”>Tattoo Cover up Wikipedia</a>
9. ____ Make sure you remove all other outgoing links other than to the affiliate program you want to promote.
10.____ Make sure each image you add to each post has an “alt tag” with your main keyword in it.
11.____ Make sure for each of your posts that you bold, underline or italicize your main keyword at least once.
12.____ Make sure that each post is at least 300 to 1,000 words in length and should be written around your main keywords.
13.____ Ensure to optimize the names and filenames of your images in each post.

How to use misspelled keywords:

http://www.link-assistant.com/blog/how-to-optimize-for-misspelled-keywords/

Once you’ve refined and selected your target keywords it’s finally time to start optimizing for them. The tactics of SEOing for misspellings differ from what you normally do when optimizing for the correctly spelled terms.

If you simply go and use the misspellings on your webpages – in titles, URLs, h1-6 tags and content you may lose your credibility and spoil conversions. After all who wants to do business with someone that can’t spell? So let’s see how you can target the typo traffic without compromising your reputation.

Use ‘often/commonly misspelled as …’ expression

You can safely add the misspellings to your copy together with the correctly spelled variant by means of the ‘often misspelled as…’ expression. You can create a special page or section on your site dedicated to common misspellings in your niche.

Employ typo keywords in non-prominent places

You can use the misspelled keywords in non-prominent places such as image alt tags where users will hardly see them. Don’t abuse this strategy though and stay away from cloaking the misspelled keywords.

Add misspellings to user-generated sections of your site

If you have a blog or forum on your site you can drop your misspelled keywords in comments and forum posts (of course they should appear as coming from the users, not you). This won’t compromise your credibility and will come in naturally because people make typos in comments and forum replies all the time.

Build links with misspelled keywords in anchor texts

Once you have placed the misspelled keywords somewhere on your webpage you can build links to it using the misspellings in the anchor texts. Since the misspellings will be placed on other sites your credibility is once again safe. On the other hand getting links with misspelled anchor texts is harder because other people don’t want to have typos on their sites just as much as you.

Target the misspellings with micro-sites

Have you found some gems in your list of misspelled keywords? Then you may even go as far as building special sites around them. If you manage to register exact match domain names for the misspelled keywords you’ll get a huge advantage in the rankings. Plus you may also get some type-in traffic when people misspell the URL in their address bar.

Use PPC

Besides optimizing your site you can also add misspelled keywords to your paid search campaigns. In most cases the competition for these terms is weak, bids low and clicks incredibly cheap. It will probably take you about ten minutes to launch a campaign and you can quickly test things out to see if the traffic and conversions are good enough to invest extra effort in targeting these terms with SEO.

Calculating Keyword Saturation Rate

Example keyword phrase = Ferbs Tattoo Cover
# of total words on page = 600
# of words in keyword phrase = 3
600 ÷ 3 = 200
# of times key word phrase is in content = 10
10 ÷ 200 = 5%

Mashable’s 20+ Essential Resources for Improving Your SEO Skills

By Mashable Guest Contributor, Mollie Vandor

Posted October 10, 2011

By Mollie Vandor is a product manager at BetterWorks, and the former associate product manager atCooking.com. Prior to that, she helped launch Ranker.com, where she served as the product manager, amongst many other roles. You can reach her @mollierosev, on her blog, or on her latest addiction – Words With Friends, where she plays under the username “Mollierosev.”

Search engine optimization isn’t exactly something you can major in — at least, not yet. In fact, many professional search engine optimizers are self-taught. They’ve supplemented backgrounds in marketing, computer science and the like with self-education via online courses, videos and blog posts.

Whether you’re looking to build your knowledge of the basics, master more intermediate material or get to the head of the advanced class, a wealth of online resources can help you graduate your SEO skills to the next level.

The Basics

There are plenty of places to learn freshman level SEO, starting with that most useful of school supplies — the cheat sheet. Try Business Insider’s “10 Basic SEO Tips Every Web Developer Should Follow.” The definitive SEO destination SEOMoz also has a Free Beginner’s Guide to SEO to get you started.
Google publishes an excellent Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide, similar to Yahoo’s SEO Basics, which is less technical and more colloquial. Both guides are great for the SEO student looking for a comprehensive introduction to the topic. Taken together, they basically amount to an SEO 101 textbook.
If you want to supplement all that online learning with the good, old-fashioned printed word, check out Get To #1 On Google In Easy Steps and Search Engine Optimization For Dummies, both of which break down SEO into simple steps. The first book’s visual pictures and tips make it easy to read. The second goes a little more in depth, but is still a relatively easy read to get you started.
Finally to make sure you’ve mastered all the basics, review SEOMoz’s “Beginner’s Checklist For Learning SEO.” Its series of tasks test your SEO skills — think of it like a final exam for the fundamentals.

Intermediate

Congratulations, you’ve passed freshman SEO. Now it’s time to take that knowledge to the next level by applying broad basics to specific situations. The SEO Theory blog has a whole section devoted to posts about intermediate SEO techniques like nofollow links, making the most of microsites and smartly using subdomains.
If you’re a small business owner, web design company GNC Web Creations offers a free SEO course run through Yahoo groups. It’s aimed at helping small business owners get their hands dirty with in-depth SEO techniques.
Visual learners should check out SEO firm Vertical Measures, which has a compendium of free webinars and videos covering topics like content optimization, keywords and sitemap. Similarly, SEOBook publishes a series of SEO videos covering content creation, keyword choice and more.
If you’re willing to spend some money, SEO expert Kalena Jordan runs a very well-reviewed series of classes online through Search Engine College. The curriculum includes courses on PPC Advertising, copywriting, usability and more. With fees ranging from $200 to $1500, there’s something for everyone.
For the price of a few fee-based SEO tutorials, you could also start attending SEO conferences, where you can engage in group learning and meet other search-minded scholars. Search Marketing Expo is definitely the most popular SEO conference in its class, with conferences happening all year long around the world, but there are also numerous other conferences covering SEO, including Web 2.0 Expo in October and PubCon in November.

Advanced Placement

Now it’s time to sink your teeth into some serious advanced placement SEO, specifically, by tackling really technical knowledge and encountering the breakneck pace at which the industry grows and changes. The best place to start your advanced placement training, believe it or not, is actually by turning off your computer and picking up a book. Try SEO Warrior or The Art Of SEO, both of which provide fantastic in-depth SEO techniques and analysis, perfect for SEO professionals, or anyone who wants to master professional-level skills.
Since SEO is an industry that changes faster than the Google trending topics list, the most important advanced skill to master is staying ahead of the curve. The best way to do that is to stay plugged in to the places where people share day-to-day insights on the industry. There are plenty of SEOs to follow on Twitter, as well as SEO blogs that publish in-depth articles and analysis on a regular basis.
Quora has a fantastic SEO community, as does Stack Exchange. Both sites are Q&A based, so you can find answers to commonly asked questions, or post SEO queries of your own.
WarriorForum and SEOMoz also have thriving communities of hardcore SEO geeks who share advanced search secrets every day. In particular, SEOMoz’s Whiteboard Friday series is a wonderful way to get a weekly dose of in-depth analysis on topics like link building on Twitter and Mobile SEO. They also offer an advanced training DVD series to really help you round out your skills.
There’s also no better place to go than the source. And, in SEO, the source is Matt Cutts, Google’s guru of search, who also happens to post a regular blog covering everything from sculpting pagerank to his latest vegan diet. While you’re bookmarking advanced placement blogs, be sure to also include the Google WebMaster Central Blog and YouTube channel.

Graduation

Ultimately, since SEO is such a rapidly changing field, you can never really be done educating yourself on the latest trends, topics and tactics. It’s truly a skill set that requires continuing (and continuous) education. But, with resources like these and a willingness to learn, you’ll be graduating summa cum SERP ranking in no time.

Image courtesy of Flickr, Jeffrey

Read more: 20+ Essential Resources for Improving Your SEO Skills | Mashable.com http://mashable.com/2011/10/09/seo-resources/