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Making Videos |
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Matt Cutts works at Google and specializes in SEO issues. See his latest videos, under Playlists, at youtube's Google Webmaster Central.
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Natural link building is done according to God's will. Unnatural backlinks, the kind that other competing webmasters cannot manipulate, most likely, are an SE algorithm penalty.
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I am playing the SEO game conservatively, by minimizing outgoing links to sites that have a PR 0 Home Page.
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To Check for Nofollow Tag: At web page, View > Source, click Edit, Find, then type nofollow. When there are no nofollows on the page, that's all that needs to be done. When you find a nofollow on the page, see if the <head> </head> tags were already searched. When it does not block the whole page from engines appearing as <head> <meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow"> </head>, search for your url name and check to see if nofollow is there. When the nofollow is attatched to your link, it looks like: <a href="http://___/" rel="nofollow"></a>.
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At Google Webmaster Tools, while logged in, click Request reconsideration, after you fixed a problem that probably was an algorithm penalty. While you're doing this, what you'll find, written by Google, is that: For sites that directly profit from traffic, evidence of good faith is important. Google wants to know, when you are really a person of integrity.
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See Thy I Statements, to cultivate desire for SEO work. The passion we show in carrying out God's will, in our work, is good stuff. For this, I am thankful.
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Search engines can measure the usefulness of a web page, by keeping track of users who return to sites using the same keyword search at a later date. In other words, SERP outgoing clicks are, most likely, an important factor in SE algorithms.
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Crosslinking from your own sites is a technique for high ranking, but do webpages get penalized when crosslinking? Do SEs penalize crosslinking to keep search results more based on true popularity? In a Matt Cutts, SEO worker at Google, video, he said there is nothing to be concerned with when using same-server sites, but I still recommend using different server sites. Continuous updates and acquiring high quality backlinks are the greatest reasons for top rankings. After pointing your sites to your other sites, get 5 to 15 non-maintained quality backlinks per week per site. See Checklist #3 for the how to and The Work for a Prioritized Schedule.
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Directory Webmasters: Sign up and use 3rd party (linkmarket, linkalizer, etc) link exchanges based on the amount of extra time you have. These 3rd party sites only work well when you are willing to exchange links with all sites regardless of category. When you're only looking for good sites in your category, don't bother signing up at third party link exchanges. You'll spend most of your time denying exchanges. Log in every 27 days and do the work these programs require.
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Checklist Note. On the SEO list to the right, I recommended submiting to the engines the unlisted home page of your backlinks. I tested this technique and showed that it worked in my analysis. I have changed my mind because google is only taking 20% of the sites I am submitting to them. This technique is not worth the effort because an unlisted site must go through new SEO to be more SE friendly. I am not spending my time submitting sites when there is something about the unlisted site the SE doesn't like.
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Submissions:
Google |
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dmoz |
SEO Checklist |
The SEO Work |
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SEO Definitions |
Site Creation |
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Exchange Links |
Swap Articles |
Organic Search Engine Optimization Checklist for the Expert
(Discovery Updates listed by priority first)
The Goal: Permanent Top Rank at all organic engines.
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The Commitment: I give every ounce of Effort to work on effective SEO, during 8+ hours of every day. [see Thy I Statements & Work Priority #1]
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#1. Determine all your relevant keywords to be used using a keyword suggestion tool and by visiting other sites with your theme. Catalog all keywords each page will contain. Naturally, fill your pages with 1/2 of these keywords and rotate in new keywords every now and then.
Tip: Maintain the listing of these keywords on your page with a keyword density analyzer (Submit URL, scroll down to Keywords found on page), the Google Toolbar Highlight Button, or by faith alone. Make sure no webpage has a keyword that is mentioned more than 70 times or more than 5% of word density, to avoid having redundant content for users. Also, there is a good possibility that keyword stuffing is an SE algorithm penalty according to Matt Cutts, SEO worker at Google.
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#2. Determine one keyword phrase to set as a goal for top engine ranking. Fill your page with this phrase 3 times exactly and 2 times close to the phrase. Ex: "Search Engine Optimization" on your page 3 times and "Search Engine" 2 more times. For new SEOs, why not focus on those keyword phrases with a low to medium search volume? Phrases with a high search volume take a while for top ranking because of competition. Use your chosen keyword phrase for 30% of your backlink titles and use 3 to 5 other supporting phrases for 70% of your titles. When all these get to top 10 at one engine, gradually, choose additional keyword titles. Don't work on over 50 backlink titles for one webpage, to avoid a possible SE algorithm penalty.
Tip A: To keep a keyword phrase at the top of an engine(s), acquire one backlink with this title every 10 days.
Tip B: Count a backlink without a title as equal, in SEO effectiveness, to one with a title.
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#3. Acquire 5 to 15 quality, natural, relevant backlinks placed on 2+ different sites, per site, every week. [see Thy Work Priority #1] Placing 5 new backlinks, in one week, on just one site (all web pages belonging to the same url) is probably not enough to improve your site's true algorithmic rank. For new backlinks use the following Techniques (listed by most efficient first):
#3.1 The most efficient way to quality relevant blog, forum, social-network, journal and article posting, and article and link exchanges. At Google, search for a keyword phrase, then do a link:__ search at Yahoo for the top listing(s). For example: Search "seo tips" at Google, choose a webpage, then search for it's backlinks using link:www.theURLhere at Yahoo, then click My Sites on left. Click the Explore button, then Inlinks, then use the drop-down menu to "Show Inlinks Except from this domain." The highest quality web pages are the Site Explorer search results at the top. Scroll down and click to comment on the blogs and forums, you will be able to recognize them. Catalog all blogs that do not take comments to avoid going back to these. Signup at social-networking sites. Upon seeing an article site, sign-up and write one. Look for article and link swaps! [see ThySEO Link Exchange Tips] 3-ways and Google PR 1+ agreements are priority. Catalog all urls you have searched, to avoid working on the same search results.
Tip A: When your website has backlinks from hundreds of different urls: Search link:__ for your website at Yahoo. Visit the top Inlink results that look like there is a possibility that you can add an additional backlink on a different page. When searching for more free ad space on social-network and journal sites, search at Yahoo: site:thesocialsite.com keyword.
Tip B: Use two Microsoft Word or similar word-processor documents to organize all your site's backlinks by alphabetical order. One for all link exchanges and one for all other backlinks (forums, blogs, article sites, etc). I like Microsoft Word because it allows me to color the font of every other entry, for easy viewing, without line breaks. I resize Word to about 1/4 of my screen size and the other 3/4 takes up the internet browser. I use abbreviations like NW for not working, Nnf for no nofollow, NF for not found, Rcpl for reciprocal, Pw for password, and "waiting" for new backlinks not added yet. Also, I use [URL=, [url=" " and <a href=" " for the write-up the site takes. The best way to list link swaps is by the link listed at your site first, then your abbreviated page(s) their backlink(s) is on, then the reciprocal(s) yours is on, then the number of link swaps and other notes. Also, place all sites to avoid in a notepad document, in alphabetical order, to refer to before working on any url.
Tip C: When working on technique #3.1, visit the search results and bookmark those web pages belonging to a technique that you'll work on later. Work on just one or two of the techniques on this page: They are (1) Free page and blog creation, (2) Posting, (3) Link and Article swaps, and (4) Buying at popular Directories. Lack of computer memory and size comes into play when you have software open to work on all four of these at the same time. Also, change the words in the bookmark label for keyword relevancy when deciding on your backlink title.
Tip D: Use the 5 Rule: Add only 5 relevant web pages, from this Yahoo search, to your quality pages and send the webmasters a 3-way link exchange offer. [see ThySEO Link Exchange Scripts] Take their link down after one month with no response. This procedure will land you a quality backlink with 40% of the sites. Reason Why only 5: It minimizes possible email SPAM complaints. A backlink search will show web pages maintained by the webmaster of the site being searched. When you do get a backlink from these, more can be easily created by asking the webmaster through email replies.
#3.2 Buy directory listings by using the following lists: Strongest Links and Inbound Link Quality Directories.
Tip A: When submitting your site, look for extra deeplinks. These will be offered at a discount and are a must! A deeplink is your site's inside page.
Tip B: Before working on these, make sure your Pay Pal can cover all the purchases. Don't be stingy, these backlinks will help your rankings.
#3.3 Post to Blogs by direct visit through ThySEO Big DoFollow List! Minimize posting to sites that give you a nofollow in the "a href" attribute of your link (<a href="http://domain.com/" rel="nofollow">Text Link</a>). Based on my SEO testing, acquiring nofollow backlinks does not help any rankings.
#3.4 Post to Forums by direct visit - search "keyword forum." Tips: Before registering, see (View Source) if other users have signatures with no nofollow. Every month, post link exchange requests showing other webmasters what inside pages you have available for swap.
#3.5 The other way to relevant quality blog, forum, journal and article posting, and article and link exchanges. Just search Yahoo for your keyword. Ask to join Yahoo and Google groups!
#3.6 Search inurl:.gov/forum and inurl:.edu/forum at Google and use the search results after the 80th listing. Forum search results before this offer zero backlinks to avoid spamming webmasters. Could you do me a favor, since I am recommending this, and be genuinely interested in the subject your are commenting on? Also, don't do signatures! Your Home Page link, without a title, is good enough at .govs and .edus. One membership that includes a backlink, every 5 months at these forums should work for rankings.
Motivational Tip: Building new backlinks accounts for 15% (a big chunk) of the reasons for high keyword rankings: See #2 at Thy SEO Work!
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#4. Half to most new BLs must point to your inside (non-home) pages. Also, keep in mind that inside pages pointing to your other inside pages at the same site count as BLs. Therefore, it is a must that your pages contain links to your other inside pages. Fill 'em up!
Tip: Place a link to one or two of your inside pages from your home page and from 1/2 your inside pages within the top 10 to 300 words in the main body.
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#5. Update something about the content on your strongest owned sites' main page every 3 days. Update two of your secondary sites every 5 days. Update two of your tertiary sites every 7 days. Update all other sites you own, whenever (naturally). Update blogs and free pages, every 3 months. Examples: www.mystrongestsite.com, www.my2ndbest.com, www.my3rdbest.com each get an update every 3 days or sooner. www.my4thbest.com and www.my5thbest.com each get an update every 5 days or sooner. www.my6thbest.com and www.my7thbest.com each get an update every 7 days or sooner.
Tip A: Updating your description meta tags to reflect your page content is required. Updating something about the first 30 words shown on the page is required. Adding 1 new sentence to the first 100 words shown on page is required. Deleting, adding or changing one url is requried. Updating an additional web page, at the same site, is good practice and may be required. Changing your title meta tag every 6 to 18 months is good.
Tip B: Add all your Home Pages to the Links menu in IE browser. Put your blogs and free pages in a separate folder. Right click on each bookmark and Rename it with the next due update. Work on all updates in an orderly fashion, after top-priority SEO work is completed.
Motivational Tip: Updating accounts for 7% (a big chunk) of the reasons for high keyword rankings: See #2 at Thy SEO Work! If you maintain a 3+ year old site with 1500+ backlinks, then more frequent updates could increase organic traffic, within ten days. To see this traffic, use Google Analytics.
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SEO Checklist
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#6. Create new content for one new or existing inside webpage every 15 days, for each site maintained. What is important is that your web pages have original content. Link exchange pages lack this because the title and description of the outbound urls are mostly duplicate content. On your link exchange pages add content to the top describing the theme of the page. When you are done filling your existing pages, create one entirely new content webpage every 15 days.
Tip A: Offer a new-to-your-site useful service or resource now. This is the best way to get free backlinks, according to Matt Cutts, SEO worker at Google.
Tip B: Count the creation of 1 new web page as 3 new backlinks. The new page must have at least 3 hyperlinks to your other webpages at the same site.
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#7. Create New Domain Names and Buy Hosting, to see if you can slowly create a new high organic hitter with SEO. Also, sign up for Free hosting pages and blogs (weblogs) at other urls. I recommend owning around 10 sites hosted on 3+ different servers and additional sites should be free. If you are the only webmaster, don't maintain too many websites - a site must be updated to be of high SE quality. Websites gain SE quality the older they get. So it's OK to have this many owned sites and focus on acquiring 5 BLs per high engine hitter first. I know this BL focus works because I study my Google Analytics stats.
Tip A: Really, the best way to go about maintaining more than 30 sites is to hire an extra webmaster(s). I maintain over 50 sites, 19 I bought and the others I picked up for free. The free website's I maintain are hosted at other established sites and include blogs, groups, spaces, one forum and subdomains with built in ads. These ads are ok for SEO. I picked these free sites up after determining they can be of medium to high quality with backlinks. Most free sites are of slightly lower quality because the index or site map is not pointing to your page.
Tip B: Before signing up for a free webpage, check other pages at the domain to see if they come with built in pop-up ads - avoid these. Check for these pop-ups by searching for the domain (tripod.com) and visit the results.
Tip C: Avoid crosslinking from your owned sites at the same hosting company. This will avoid a big engine algorithm penalty that could occur when your crosslinked sites are turned off and on at the same time.
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#8. Keep reading honest SEO literature! Check this page, Google Webmasters and Yahoo! Webpublishers, every 15 days, for updates. Also, watch SEO Videos often. Most of the effective SEO tips I know were picked up from other sites and videos. When you find an SEO tip not on Thy SEO Checklist or Work Priorities, could you let me know about it? I will be happy to swap any webmaster ideas, via email.
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#9. Remove links not working because no one likes to be sent to a page that doesn't work! I like to do a manual run through of all my outbound links and copy paste to notepad the bad ones. After a few days, if they are bad a 2nd time, I remove them.
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#10. Minimize the use of pop-ups. I notice that sometimes using _blank in the <a href of a link will instruct the internet browser to treat it as a pop-up.
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#11. Make sure only the smallest banners, in byte size, are placed on your web pages, for a fast loading site.
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#12. Minimize the bytes of your html write-up by deleting unneeded characters. I like to keep my html characters to an absolute minimum for fast loading pages. See this site's Average Load Time at bottom. Also, at Google.com, right click and View Source: Notice that there are few to no carriage-returns or unused spaces?
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#13. Validate your html write-up using an HTML validator. Eliminating all fixable errors, keeps your site fast.
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#14. Check for and remove those outbound links that ended a link exchange. Make outbounds with a PR 0 Home Page first priority. Keep a list of sites to avoid for those who end link exchange agreements. Refer to this list before spending time creating a link exchange agreement. There is a slight possibility of engine algorithm penalty when you have too many (over 50) outbounds on link pages. Also, I would make it policy to only remove outbounds when the other webmaster removes your backlink first.
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#15. Most hyperlinks should have the title tag, for user friendliness. Looks like: <a href="http://thyseo.com/" title="SEO Tips">
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#16. Keep your site(s) up online, as much as possible, at all costs. Make sure your url and hosting is on automatic renew. If you own a bunch of sites, remember that your big renew charge must clear your available credit card amount. Also, it is important that you call your hosting company right before your credit card expires, to update your payment method.
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#17. Minimize the amount of images, on every web page.
Tip A: Rename all your site's images with the best keyword that describes the image. For example: seochecklist.gif. Be sure to keep any image names that are being used on other websites. Do this by copying the old image, then renaming the new one, so you have two of the same images on your hosting server.
Tip B: Save all images, that you can, onto your hosting server. This will help keep your site's speed contingent on one server.
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#18. Your site's hosting server should be the fastest available, for user friendliness with fast load times.
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#19. Take the time to make your description meta tags, on all quality web pages, good. They must reflect the page content.
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#20. Use good <h1>, <h2> and bold tags.
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#21. Add high quality web pages to your pages, found at the top of your strongest search engine for your page's strongest keyword.
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#22. Create and maintain two site maps. One for Google Sitemaps in XML form and one for your visitors.
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#23. Check your rankings every day at Google, Yahoo and msn for your strongest keyword(s). For advanced webmasters, log your SEO work to guesstimate what has caused your higher rankings. Also, every month, check to see if your low hitting website(s) is listed at Google, Yahoo and msn. If not listed, resubmit after doing new SEO. Why not go out on a limb and do something on this checklist that you have not done?
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#24. Create and maintain backlink purchase request and link swap Email Scripts in notepad. Make them professional looking and include your name and contact info.
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#25. Add the author meta tag to your webpage(s), to increase the odds of coming up in a search for your name. For example: Use <meta name="Author" content="yournamehere"> between the <head> </head> tags. This tag could give your site more quality because your name is in the public eye, a condition of trustworthiness cultivation.
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This SEO Checklist works more effectively, when used with Thy I Statements & Work Priority #2.