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When I have questions about SEO, I always consult the WebConfs.com SEO Toolset. I recently found the List of Best and Worst Practices for Designing a High Traffic Website. It includes a checklist of the factors that affect your rankings with search engines. A score is assigned to each factor ranging from -3 to +3. Here are some of the factors I try to focus on. And there are others I should probably take into consideration that I didn’t before.
Keywords
| Keyword in <title tag> (+3) | |
| Keyword in URL (+3) | |
| Keyword in anchor text (+3) | |
| Keyword in headings — <H1> and <H2>, etc (+3) | |
| Keyword in meta tags (+1) | |
| Keyword proximity (+1) | |
| Keyword mistypes and typos (0) | |
| Keyword dilution (-2) | |
| Keyword stuffing (-3) |
One keyword factor that I am very aware of but do not take advantage of are <alt> tags, which are worth +2 on the WebConfs scorecard.
Links
| Anchor text of inbound links (+3) | |
| Origin of inbound links (+3) | |
| Links from similar sites (+3) | |
| Number of backlinks, or inbound links (+3) | |
| Anchor text of internal links (+2) | |
| Many outgoing links (-1) | |
| Cross-linking (-3) |
Ever since I first read about the importance of anchor text and saw it in action at JohnChow.com, I’ve paid closer attention to how I phrase links. I’ve also curbed my use of outbound links. I used to go nuts…and still do sometimes. Bloggers that write alot of reviews should particularly pay attention to this one.
Meta Tags
| <Description> Meta Tag (+1) | |
| <Keywords> Meta Tag (+1) | |
| <Refresh> Meta Tag (-1) |
I had no idea meta tags were so invaluable…on a relative basis, of course. Ok, so “invaluable” is a bad choice of words. I still find them important. And every little bit helps, right?
Content
| Unique content (+3) | |
| Frequent updates (+3) | |
| Keyword formatting and font size (+2) | |
| Poor coding or design (-2) | |
| Illegal content (-3) | |
| Duplicate content (-3) |
Once again proves that content is king…and answers questions about frequency of posts. The last two are a bit confusing. I’m aware of copyrighting and plagiarism, but when content is recycled among blogs…does that count too? I’m sure that’s hard to gauge for spiders.
Domains and Age
| Keyword-rich URLs and filenames (+3) | |
| Sitemap (+2) | |
| Site age (+2) | |
| Top-level domain (+1) | |
| Hyphens in URLs (+1) |
Lucky for me (and the rest of us narcissists) — my domain is my name. And if you’re using WordPress, but not using a date and name-based permalink, maybe you should reconsider.
Is It Too Late To Change Domains?
I’ve seen this question answered by Blogspot users a number of times. Sometimes readers will ask why they don’t choose to do it once a suitable domain becomes available. Paula Mooney provides a number of excellent pros and cons when it comes to changing domains. Be sure to check it out. Very interesting. My thoughts on Paula’s predicament? Do it, Paula. You have a great blog with excellent visibility…and we’ve seen blogs improve in a matter of a few months (i.e. Jane May Blogs). Paula has been blogging since December 2005. Drop her a comment and let her know what your thoughts are.
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May 22nd, 2007 at 9:40 pm
Thanks for the tips. What’s your secret for ranking so high??
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:59 pm
I like to use the Overture Tool to see which keywords and phrases are being searched for most. I also try to mix popular keywords with long-tail stuff (less frequently searched keywords).
May 23rd, 2007 at 7:43 am
Thanks, Derrich, from one narcissist to another.
I didn’t know Jane May changed domains. I’ll go check her out to see if she was with Blogger.
I am inspired.
I think I’ll just build up a DOT COM, get good rankings on that one, and learn WP to boot w/o doing the switch from Blogger for now.
Maybe…
June 1st, 2007 at 9:19 am
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