SEO – What is important to know?
I am always being asked what is important from an SEO point of view? This is a very big question for those that really do not have much idea what they are actually asking, and as this is not really my field of speciality I often find it hard to answer. What I CAN tell you is there are a handful of things that you do need to ALWAYS complete and they are listed below:
Your Title Tag:
Looks like : <title>keyword, category, website</title>
Should be no more than 70 character long.
Your Header Tags:
Look like : <h1>Most Important</h1>, <h2>Second Most Important</h2>, <h3>Third Most Important</h3> (H4, H5, H6 also)
Should always appear in ascending order i.e. H1 then H2, then H3 and so on. The Header Tag sequence stops at H6/
Bold, Strong Text:
Looks like : <b>keyword</b> or <strong>keyword</strong>
Images:
Look like: for XHTML <img src=”keyword.jpg” alt=”keyword description of file” title=”keyword description”/> or for HTML for XHTML <img src=”keyword.jpg” alt=”keyword description of file” title=”keyword description”>
Hyperlinks:
Look like : <a href=http://www.mywebsite.com/page.html title=”keyword”>keyword in the anchor text here</a>
Site Maps:
Always try to include an XML sitemap as Google and the other robots are said to use these to assist navigation and listing of the website. Visit http://www.xml-sitemaps.com for a free site map.
Common Problems:
The following list provides items that may be causing issues for robots that are trying to access your site. If you suspect that your site has not been listed ask your web designer/developer to look at robot traps and the areas listed below. They should know what you are talking about – if they don’t get another designer/developer!
Here is the list:
- Forms with inputs
- Session IDs in URLs
- Cookie Restrictions
- Logins and Frames
