Use These Ten Steps For Success With SEO

[sledge]

Hi Warriors,


I have been doing SEO and ranking web sites for seventeen years and have seen a lot of changes in that time. I have been doing this for so long that I remember the time when Google didn't exist!


Following a defined plan is the best way to succeed with SEO. It is not necessary to do all of the work yourself but understanding the most effective SEO strategy is vital for your success. The following ten steps need to be undertaken for any web page that you want to rank high in the search engines:



1. Start With Keyword Research



This is the starting point of your SEO. You need to research the market to see what your potential customers are searching for and what the volume of searches for the keyword term is to decide on whether the term is worth going after or not. Of the many online research tools available, the Google Keyword Tool is free and the best to use.



2. Know Your Competition



For any keyword there will be other web sites competing to rank highly for it and you need to know how strong they are so that you can evaluate whether it is worth going for it or choosing other keywords. This is not rocket science. The more competition there is for a keyword, the more time and effort it will take to get on the first page. Don't rely on just searching for your keyword in quotes to assess competition as this never reveals the whole story. The free Traffic Travis program is a very good tool to use to conduct an assessment of the competitiveness of each keyword in your list so make use of it.



3. Get To The Top With Wordpress



Wordpress is an open source content management system that is easy to install and has a lot of useful plug-ins that will help with SEO. It is easy to add new content to Wordpress sites and the other benefit that it has over static HTML sites is that it will automatically ping RSS sites and inform them that new content has been added. There is a lot of search engine love for Wordpress and they will often achieve a much higher ranking than other forms of web sites.



4. Use A New Page For Each Keyword



Don’t try and rank for a number of different keywords with the same page. For each new page you create, make sure that you include the keyword in the page address or URL. If your site is about weight loss then an example of this could be yourweightlosssite.com/lose-belly-fat.



5. Create New Unique Pages Often



Create your own unique content for each page. You can write this yourself or outsource this task for a few dollars. It is not advisable to use PLR content for your pages but if you must then totally rewrite it before posting it. It is best to create at least 400 – 500 words per page and write more if you can. Add new content at least once a week to begin with and once a month when your site is more established.



6. Post Videos In Your Content



Search engines will improve your rankings if they find videos on your site as different content types always do well. It is easy to find videos of relevance on the video sharing sites or make them yourself. Videos are good for your site.



7. Optimize Every One Of Your Pages For The Keyword



Placing the keyword in the page title is a MUST and ensure that the keyword is used a few times in the content too. You need to give the search engines as much help as possible to understand what your page is about. All web site platforms allow the use of H1, H2 and H3 or heading tags for sub headings so use them with your keyword included.



8. Now It Is Time To Get External Links



The way that search engines rank sites is based on many factors but the number and quality of external links pointing to your site is considered to be the most important. There are a number of ways that these links can be gained and some examples are commenting on other people’s blog posts, creating newsworthy press releases, gaining contextual links from private blog networks and creating articles and submitting them to article directories. Be consistent with your link building and be sure to get different types of links from different sources. Get as many links as you can.



9. Social Networks Are Good For SEO



If you do not have an account at Twitter or Facebook yet then get them today and get as many followers and friends as possible. The reason you need lots of friends is to spread the word about your web site on their walls by sending broadcast messages to them all. Tweet your followers in Twitter with your links in the tweet. The search engines are now factoring your social network standing as a contributor to your rankings.



10. Do SEO Regularly To Keep Your Gains



When you reach the number one spot it is very easy to get complacent over SEO but if you do this a competitor that isn’t taking a break will surely overtake you. Keep at it!



I hope this brain dump helps you all!


Regards
Graham

[simonbuzz]

nice tips...these are the steps that I am actually following

[DebbieD]

Thanks for your tips. I like how you put emphasis on on-page seo first and then on off-page seo. Very often, on-page seo is neglected and it plays a more important role than people think.

[JawadAshraf]

Good tips. I want to add little more. Provide quality information on your site keep visitors and readers in your mind and not search engines. Have proper on-page SEO and then build quality one way links. Only this one will give you good rankings in search engines and will improve your PR as well.

[sledge]

Originally Posted by simonbuzz

nice tips...these are the steps that I am actually following

That's great Simon are you seeing good results?

Graham

[sledge]

Originally Posted by DebbieD

Thanks for your tips. I like how you put emphasis on on-page seo first and then on off-page seo. Very often, on-page seo is neglected and it plays a more important role than people think.

Hi Debbie,

You are so right. If you neglect the on page stuff it will be very difficult to rank.

Graham

[sledge]

Originally Posted by JawadAshraf

Good tips. I want to add little more. Provide quality information on your site keep visitors and readers in your mind and not search engines. Have proper on-page SEO and then build quality one way links. Only this one will give you good rankings in search engines and will improve your PR as well.

Hi Jawad,

You are absolutely on the money here my friend. Good luck with your SEO.

Graham

[Sue McDonald]

Hi Graham

Thanks for some great tips. I have only introduced videos into my site this year and I know people enjoy them. I really like SEO but as we know the rules can change. Nothing says the same.

[sunithaseo]

I agree with your tips , they are really good. Few more i would like to add is good content and quality backlinks.

[sledge]

Originally Posted by Sue McDonald

Hi Graham

Thanks for some great tips. I have only introduced videos into my site this year and I know people enjoy them. I really like SEO but as we know the rules can change. Nothing says the same.

Hi Sue,

This is very true. The list is just my latest SEO strategy and it works for now but we all know that the big G will change the rules again soon!

Graham

[sledge]

Originally Posted by sunithaseo

I agree with your tips , they are really good. Few more i would like to add is good content and quality backlinks.

Hi,

Yes good content is essential and I have used a small number of quality backlinks to outrank sites with thousands more. Thanks for your input.

Graham

[sledge]

Originally Posted by ryannicholas7

All steps are very nice & informative & its very useful to do a perfect SEO..Its really helpful steps for new SEO Begainers..


Thanks a lot for sharing

Hi,

Your welcome. The reason that I created the thread was because I see many questions on here from beginners wanting clarification on certain SEO issues so I thought I would give people a framework that works to work from.

Graham

[martyJames]

Great post- thanks. Yes embedding video is a good idea i need to follow up on. Do you have any thoughts on keyword density. I have been following the 2-3% keyword density idea , but i am beginning to think it works against me . Any thoughts appreciated

[sledge]

Originally Posted by martyJames

Great post- thanks. Yes embedding video is a good idea i need to follow up on. Do you have any thoughts on keyword density. I have been following the 2-3% keyword density idea , but i am beginning to think it works against me . Any thoughts appreciated

Hi,

I never measure keyword density any more. I always make sure that my keyword is in the first paragraph, in the middle somewhere and right at the end. This works well.

Make sure that you use alt tags for all your images with your keyword. This is more important than keyword density these days.

I also use the header tags (H1, H2 and H3) in my pages with the keyword in each instance. This is not only good for SEO but breaks the text up nicely for the reader. A lot of people skim content (I certainly do) and their eyes are always drawn to sub headings.

Hope this helps

Graham

[digitalmarketing]

ya this is the very nice tips thanks for sheering

[sledge]

Originally Posted by digitalmarketing

ya this is the very nice tips thanks for sheering

You are very welcome

Graham

[jupiter14]

Nice tips and details , i want to thank you , but dont to where to click to thank you -- for your posts

[sledge]

Originally Posted by jupiter14

Nice tips and details , i want to thank you , but dont to where to click to thank you -- for your posts

Hi,

Thank you. I appreciate it. There is a thanks button underneath the main post.

Graham

[StoneWilson]

I'll try Tip 6 and see what will happen, never try it before and I hope it can help.

[sledge]

Originally Posted by StoneWilson

I'll try Tip 6 and see what will happen, never try it before and I hope it can help.

Hi,

This has worked well for me. We all know that Google loves videos so why wouldn't they appreciate you including them on your site?

Graham

[pratap295]

Following are some more steps for focusing while do the SEO :-


1.Article submissions
2.Press Release submissions
3.Major Search Engine submissions
4.Blog submissions
5.Forum submissions
6.Directory submissions
7.Online Groups submissions
8.Classified Ads submissions
9.Social Bookmarking submissions
10.Social Media Network Submissions
11.Link Wheel Creation for Major Keywords
12.Hub Page Creation
13.Local directory Listing (online yellow Page)
14. Video marketing
15.Guest Posting
16.RSS Submission

[sledge]

Originally Posted by pratap295

Following are some more steps for focusing while do the SEO :-


1.Article submissions
2.Press Release submissions
3.Major Search Engine submissions
4.Blog submissions
5.Forum submissions
6.Directory submissions
7.Online Groups submissions
8.Classified Ads submissions
9.Social Bookmarking submissions
10.Social Media Network Submissions
11.Link Wheel Creation for Major Keywords
12.Hub Page Creation
13.Local directory Listing (online yellow Page)
14. Video marketing
15.Guest Posting
16.RSS Submission

Hi,

Good list. Thanks for the input.

Graham

[Rollmodl]

I have been doing that for some time now. My site is video based which helps. Many of my inner pages have a decent PR and most of my content ranks well in Google. Here's how my content shows up on Google:

[sledge]

Originally Posted by Rollmodl

I have been doing that for some time now. My site is video based which helps. Many of my inner pages have a decent PR and most of my content ranks well in Google. Here's how my content shows up on Google:

Hi,

Excellent stuff thanks for sharing. Do you think your site ranks easier because of the videos?

Thanks
Graham

[farhaty]

Search engine optimization — SEO — seems likes alchemy
to the uninitiated. But there's a science to it. Search engines
reward pages with the right combination of ranking factors.
Below, some major factors or "signals" you should seek to have.

searchengineland.com/download/seotable/SearchEngineLand-Periodic-Table-of-SEO.pdf

[Roberto L]

Thanks,,, I am downloading Traffic Travis now,,,I am sure it is real good one.

Question: 'Don’t try and rank for a number of different keywords with the same page. '

Usually we choose 2 or 3 similar keywords for a page (e.g. china tours, china tour packages, private china tours), it is necessary to make it only one that accordant to the url address and for the other 2 we need to make new pages for them?

[sledge]

Originally Posted by farhaty

Search engine optimization — SEO — seems likes alchemy
to the uninitiated. But there's a science to it. Search engines
reward pages with the right combination of ranking factors.
Below, some major factors or "signals" you should seek to have.

searchengineland.com/download/seotable/SearchEngineLand-Periodic-Table-of-SEO.pdf

Thanks for this I have not seen this before. An interesting concept.

Graham

[sledge]

Originally Posted by Roberto L

Thanks,,, I am downloading Traffic Travis now,,,I am sure it is real good one.

Question: 'Don’t try and rank for a number of different keywords with the same page. '

Usually we choose 2 or 3 similar keywords for a page (e.g. china tours, china tour packages, private china tours), it is necessary to make it only one that accordant to the url address and for the other 2 we need to make new pages for them?

Hi Roberto,

Traffic Travis is great. I always go for one keyword per page so yes I would make "China tours" and "China tour packages" separate pages.

This will please Google as it is additional content. When you are creating backlinks you can use variations in your anchor text (a lot of people recommend this but I have ranked pages by just using one keyword so I am not convinced). If you want to use variations in anchor text then I would go for 90% for your main keyword and 10% variations.

Good luck with your SEO

Graham

[sledge]

Originally Posted by mobing

nice ,it is basic and helpful for someone know little of SEO as me !
thanks ! this is the steps one will do and i wonder how your idea of catching the change of search engine and handle ,that perhaps something difficult for me ![IMG]http://www.*************/images/38.gif[/IMG][IMG]http://www.*************/images/29.gif[/IMG][IMG]http://www.*************/images/45.gif[/IMG][IMG]http://www.*************/images/46.gif[/IMG]

Hi,

Search engines change how they do things regularly. The ten steps I have posted are for the present time (post Google Panda) but they will make even more changes you can guarantee that. I am convinced that social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus will play an even more important role in SEO in the coming years.

I am constantly testing SEO techniques so if I detect any significant changes I will post a new thread with these.

Thanks
Graham

[john orton]

Thanks for sharing such a nice and in detailed post. Its very much informative and interesting as well.

[Rukshan]

Thanks for heading up with useful tips. All newbies must follow these steps.

[samual james]

thanks for your valuable tips
but its quite hard to get ranking with high search volume so what should we do additionally to achieve top 10 ranking

[sowellavena]

Originally Posted by sledge

Hi Warriors,


I have been doing SEO and ranking web sites for seventeen years and have seen a lot of changes in that time. I have been doing this for so long that I remember the time when Google didn't exist!


Following a defined plan is the best way to succeed with SEO. It is not necessary to do all of the work yourself but understanding the most effective SEO strategy is vital for your success. The following ten steps need to be undertaken for any web page that you want to rank high in the search engines:



1. Start With Keyword Research



This is the starting point of your SEO. You need to research the market to see what your potential customers are searching for and what the volume of searches for the keyword term is to decide on whether the term is worth going after or not. Of the many online research tools available, the Google Keyword Tool is free and the best to use.



2. Know Your Competition



For any keyword there will be other web sites competing to rank highly for it and you need to know how strong they are so that you can evaluate whether it is worth going for it or choosing other keywords. This is not rocket science. The more competition there is for a keyword, the more time and effort it will take to get on the first page. Don't rely on just searching for your keyword in quotes to assess competition as this never reveals the whole story. The free Traffic Travis program is a very good tool to use to conduct an assessment of the competitiveness of each keyword in your list so make use of it.



3. Get To The Top With Wordpress



Wordpress is an open source content management system that is easy to install and has a lot of useful plug-ins that will help with SEO. It is easy to add new content to Wordpress sites and the other benefit that it has over static HTML sites is that it will automatically ping RSS sites and inform them that new content has been added. There is a lot of search engine love for Wordpress and they will often achieve a much higher ranking than other forms of web sites.



4. Use A New Page For Each Keyword



Don’t try and rank for a number of different keywords with the same page. For each new page you create, make sure that you include the keyword in the page address or URL. If your site is about weight loss then an example of this could be yourweightlosssite.com/lose-belly-fat.



5. Create New Unique Pages Often



Create your own unique content for each page. You can write this yourself or outsource this task for a few dollars. It is not advisable to use PLR content for your pages but if you must then totally rewrite it before posting it. It is best to create at least 400 – 500 words per page and write more if you can. Add new content at least once a week to begin with and once a month when your site is more established.



6. Post Videos In Your Content



Search engines will improve your rankings if they find videos on your site as different content types always do well. It is easy to find videos of relevance on the video sharing sites or make them yourself. Videos are good for your site.



7. Optimize Every One Of Your Pages For The Keyword



Placing the keyword in the page title is a MUST and ensure that the keyword is used a few times in the content too. You need to give the search engines as much help as possible to understand what your page is about. All web site platforms allow the use of H1, H2 and H3 or heading tags for sub headings so use them with your keyword included.



8. Now It Is Time To Get External Links



The way that search engines rank sites is based on many factors but the number and quality of external links pointing to your site is considered to be the most important. There are a number of ways that these links can be gained and some examples are commenting on other people’s blog posts, creating newsworthy press releases, gaining contextual links from private blog networks and creating articles and submitting them to article directories. Be consistent with your link building and be sure to get different types of links from different sources. Get as many links as you can.



9. Social Networks Are Good For SEO



If you do not have an account at Twitter or Facebook yet then get them today and get as many followers and friends as possible. The reason you need lots of friends is to spread the word about your web site on their walls by sending broadcast messages to them all. Tweet your followers in Twitter with your links in the tweet. The search engines are now factoring your social network standing as a contributor to your rankings.



10. Do SEO Regularly To Keep Your Gains



When you reach the number one spot it is very easy to get complacent over SEO but if you do this a competitor that isn’t taking a break will surely overtake you. Keep at it!



I hope this brain dump helps you all!


Regards
Graham

Nice information is provided, Thank you .

[sabbienielsen]

these seo steps are really useful, thanks for sharing all this information about seo

[Sohel Parvez]

when getting external backlink, i suggest contextual backlink will be best.

[sledge]

Originally Posted by john orton

Thanks for sharing such a nice and in detailed post. Its very much informative and interesting as well.

You are welcome. I hope that you can use it to your advantage with your SEO.

Thanks

Graham

[sledge]

Originally Posted by blog8491

Thanks for heading up with useful tips. All newbies must follow these steps.

You are welcome. These steps work very well for me and I hope that everybody can achieve the same level of success.

Thanks
Graham

[sledge]

Originally Posted by vinjackson

Hi !

Its really very informative post! What a great steps of SEO. In Present time SEO become very important to promote any business or website. And this type of post is so useful for doing SEO perfectly.

Thanks for nice sharing !

You are welcome. Yes you are right SEO is becoming more and more important.

Thanks

Graham

[sledge]

Originally Posted by samual james

thanks for your valuable tips
but its quite hard to get ranking with high search volume so what should we do additionally to achieve top 10 ranking

Hi Samual,

If you are in a competitive niche then you have to do more SEO more often and expect it to take more time to rank in the top 10. Get different types of links such as contextual blog and article links, social bookmarks, edu and gov links and as many high Page Rank links as you can.

This has always worked for me.

Thanks

Graham

[sledge]

Originally Posted by sowellavena

Nice information is provided, Thank you .

Hi,

You are very welcome and I hope that you can apply the steps with your site(s).

Thanks
Graham

[sledge]

Originally Posted by sabbienielsen

these seo steps are really useful, thanks for sharing all this information about seo

Hi,

It's a pleasure and I am so pleased that so many people have found them useful

Thanks

Graham

[sledge]

Originally Posted by Sohel Parvez

when getting external backlink, i suggest contextual backlink will be best.

Hi,

Contextual backlinks are very good you are right but I recommend that you mix it up with some social bookmarks, high Page Rank links and authority links from edu and gov sites as well for the best SEO effect.

Thanks

Graham

[slimrider94]

Very nice post, posting here so I can easily reference it in the future

[dagaul101]

Nice tips, always posting unique content will let the search engines know that you are active, and place your sites in front of folks who need updated quality content

[jaywebdev]

I'm doing that process except on videos and social networks.

Does it means I will not improve my rankings if I set aside that steps? I just keep building links on other strategy that can provide me instant link.

[sledge]

Originally Posted by slimrider94

Very nice post, posting here so I can easily reference it in the future

Hi,

Glad you found it useful. It has helped me a lot to be guided by steps like these over the years

Thanks
Graham

[sledge]

Originally Posted by dagaul101

Nice tips, always posting unique content will let the search engines know that you are active, and place your sites in front of folks who need updated quality content

Unique content on your site or blog is an absolute must you are right and the more the better. But you have to keep up with your SEO efforts too because if you don't then your site will drop.

Thanks

Graham

[sledge]

Originally Posted by jaywebdev

I'm doing that process except on videos and social networks.

Does it means I will not improve my rankings if I set aside that steps? I just keep building links on other strategy that can provide me instant link.

Hi,

You can still rank a web site without videos and social networks. The reason that I included them in the steps is that the search engines are always changing their algorithms and in my tests with videos and social network links I did find that they had a positive effect on my rankings.

I strongly believe that in the not so distant future, search engines (particularly the big G) will place more and more emphasis on social network links (think Google Plus) so I believe that it is a good idea to prepare for that now.

Hope this helps

Graham

[sledge]

Originally Posted by wygant

You are so right. If you neglect the on page stuff it will be very difficult to rank.

Yes the on page stuff is really important.

Thanks
Graham

[sledge]

Originally Posted by citism

Amazing thread graham, i found you are a seo expert . I am into online business. Without any SEO initiative we are having 30K registered user and good rank only based on good content and time. We want to increase our traffic and want to do SEO. We can outsource it but we are not sure which one will be better, outsourcing or partnership with a expert. Please suggest me and share me your email id (if you want, i dont is it a crime in this forum or not, if sorry for that) through PM so that i can communicate with you and take more suggestion. Your help will be appreciated.

Hi,

Sent you a PM

Thanks
Graham