Step-by-step instructions
You must do the right things in the right order to get high search engine
rankings. Follow the tips in this checklist to make sure that your website
gets the highest possible rankings. Click the blue headline bar with the 
symbol
to open the corresponding section.
| Step 1: Find the best keywords |
| Step 2: Optimize your web pages |
| Step 3: Optimize your inbound links |
| Step 4: Submit your website |
Step 1: Find the best keywords
- The basics: Why is it important to invest some time to find the best keywords?
Keywords are the words that web surfers enter in search engines to find websites. It's pointless to optimize your web pages for keywords that nobody uses in the search engines.
For a successful online marketing campaign, you must target the right keywords.
The keywords you use should be relevant for your website and web surfers should be searching for your keywords.If you target the wrong keywords, your website promotion efforts will be in vain and you will waste a lot of time and money.
- Tips: Which keywords are good keywords?
There are three different keyword types: keywords for browsing, keywords for comparing and keywords for buying.
Keywords for comparing are usually the keywords that work
best for search engine optimization. People who use that keyword type are looking for a solution to their problem and they are
ready to buy. To get best results with your search engine optimization efforts, you should concentrate on that keyword type.Need help researching keywords? We have state of the art software that will find the best keywords for your industry. This is the all important first step in an SEO campaign. Get this step wrong, and your seo efforts will be in vain. Click Here. Keyword Research Package.
Most people use a two to four word phrase in a search, so phrases are very effective. Single words cannot be promoted effectively because they are not very targeted. Internet users who use four-word searches are more likely to purchase goods or services than those using fewer words (source: Oneupweb Research).
- Warning: What can happen if you target the wrong keywords?
If you target the wrong keywords, you will lose time and money.
You will invest a lot of time in optimizing your web pages for keywords for which your website cannot get high rankings at the moment. Or you will invest a lot of time in optimizing your web pages for keywords that don't convert to sales.
It is very important that you choose the right keywords that
lead to high search engine rankings and sales. Make sure that you choose the correct keyword type. - Action plan: What you should do now
Order
the >Keyword Research Package and use the keyword report to find the right keywords and to see their popularity. Compile a keyword list of 10-40
keywords.
Start with multiple word keywords and then extend your keyword list. Click the "Help" image in the Keywords window to get detailed information on how to use the keyword tools.
- Checklist: What you should have done
( of checked)
Make sure that you can tick all of the following boxes:
Things you should have done:
Have you focused on keywords that consist of two to four words? yes Have you focused on keywords that will bring you targeted visitors instead of keywords with a high search volume? yes Have you avoided keywords that consist of only one word? yes Are your keywords so targeted that it is very likely that they'll attract visitors that are interested in your products? yes Do you know which keywords potential customers use to find websites that are similar to yours? yes Do you know the three different keyword types? yes Things you should know:
One word keywords are not very effective because they are not very targeted. In addition, the competition for these keywords is very high and it is very difficult to get good rankings for them. I know that Web surfers might not use the keywords you expect. For example, people searching for "rhinoplasty" might actually enter "nose job" as the keyword. It is important to find the keywords that potential customers really use. I know that Internet users who use four-word searches are more likely to purchase goods or services than those using fewer words (source: Oneupweb Research). I know that Can you tick all boxes? Great! You can now proceed with the next search engine optimization step.
Don't
cheat yourself. If you want to get the best results
for your website, you really should be able to
tick all boxes before
you proceed.
Step 2: Optimize your web pages
- The basics: Why is it important to optimize your web pages?
By optimizing your web pages, you tell search engines for which keywords you want to be found.
If
you do not optimize your web pages, then search engines won't
list your website or they will list it for the wrong keywords.Optimizing your web pages makes sure that your website can get high rankings for the keywords of your choice.
- Tips: How to optimize your web pages
High rankings on Google and other search engines are the result of optimized web page content and good incoming links. Start with optimizing your web page content.
By
optimizing your web page content, you tell search engines for
which keywords you want to be found. Search engines can only
give your web page a high ranking for a certain keyword if your
web page is relevant to that keyword. Make sure that your web
pages don't have major HTML code errors that prevent search
engines from indexing your site.You should optimize at least six different pages of your website for different but related keywords (the keywords that you found in step 1). Do not optimize the same page for more than one or two keyword phrases.
- Warning: What can happen if you do not optimize your web pages?
If
you do not optimize your web pages then search engines might
not be able to index your pages. In addition, search engines
might not be able to find out what your web pages are about.If you optimize only one web page of your site then it will be very difficult to get high search engine rankings. Search engines take your complete website into account. If you have many web pages that are optimized for different but related keywords than search engines will think that your web pages are relevant to a certain topic.
Relevant web pages get better search engine rankings. For that reason, you should optimize as many pages as possible for different but related keywords.
Some HTML errors can prevent search engines from indexing your web pages. If your web pages have such an HTML error, you won't get listed on search engines because search engines cannot index your pages. For that reason, it is also important to check the HTML code of your pages.
- Action plan: What you should do now
If you have optimized your website pages, now its time to submit those pages to the search engines, social bookmarking sites, and web directories. Need help with this step? We have a variety of plans to help you submit your website - our most popular one is found here.
- Checklist: What you should have done
( of checked)
Make sure that you can tick all of the following boxes:
Things you should have done:
Does your website consist of at least six individual web pages? yes Does each of these web pages contain at least 200 words of visible text? yes Do your web pages contain so much text content that it is easy for web surfers and search engines to find out what your web site is all about? yes Are your web pages linked so that search engines and web surfers can find all web pages of your website through the links on other pages of your site? yes Does your website navigation use links that search engines can follow? Flash links and JavaScript links can cause problems. yes Do you have optimized at least six of your web pages for your keywords? Each web page should not be optimized for more than one or two keywords or key phrases. yes Have you made sure that the HTML code of your web pages is valid so that search engines don't have difficulty when they try to index your website? yes Have you removed frames wherever possible on your website? It is very difficult to get high search engine rankings with a website that uses frames. yes Have you made sure that you don't use a welcome page or intro page on your website? Many search engines won't be able to index your site if you use such a page. yes Do you use as few Flash elements as possible? Search engines cannot index them properly. yes Have you made sure that your website URLs don't use special characters or too many variables? Search engines have difficulty with web page URLs that contain many variables. yes Do your web pages look attractive to human web surfers although they are optimized for search engines? yes Would you prefer your website over a competitor website if you were a web surfer who is not affiliated with you? yes Does your website have its own domain name and is it hosted on a fast and reliable web server? yes Have you made sure that your web pages don't contain spam elements (hidden text, cloaking or other shady tricks)? yes Do you have an "OK" for all factors in the Top 10 Optimizer report? yes Can you tick all boxes? Great! You can now proceed with the next search engine optimization step.
Don't
cheat yourself. If you want to get the best results for your
website, you really should be able to tick all boxes before you proceed.
Step 3: Optimize your inbound
links
- The basics: Why are inbound links important?
Links
are one of the most important factors for high search engine
rankings. It is not possible to get high search engine rankings
without good incoming links! The idea behind this concept is that search engines think that your website must be important if many other websites link to your site. The more other websites link to your website, the higher your search engine rankings will be.
If more than one website has been optimized for the same keyword (see step 2) then the page with the best incoming links will get the highest search engine rankings.
- Tips: How to optimize your inbound links
High rankings on Google and other search engines are the result of optimized web page content and good incoming links. You need both to get high search engine rankings.
The
number of links alone is not enough to improve your search engine
rankings. It is also
important that the other websites are related to your website.
If the links to your website include
your important keywords in the link
text, then it's easier to get high rankings for these keywords.If the links to your site include your keywords, then search engines will think that your website must be relevant for these keywords.
- Warning: What can happen if you do not build inbound links?
It is impossible to get high rankings on Google or other major search engines without good inbound links. It is absolutely crucial to the success of your website that you work on the inbound links to your site.
Inbound links are extremely important for modern search engines.
You cannot get high search engine rankings without good inbound
links. - Action plan: What you should do now
We have a variety of packages to assist you with this step.Click here to learn more..The Search Engine Pros offers many tools that
help you to get links from other websites. - Checklist: What you should have done
( of checked)
Make sure that you can tick all of the following boxes:
Things you should have done:
Do the links from other websites to your website contain your keywords in the link text? yes Have you checked out The Search Engine Pros's social bookmarking service to submit your site to social bookmarking sites? yes Did you add your site to Google Local Listings? Google local listings is free. yes Did you add your website to DMOZ - the net's largest web directory? yes Things you should know:
Good inbound links are very important if you want to get high search engine rankings. I know that It is difficult to get high search engine rankings for a web page with optimized content that does not have good inbound links. I know that It is difficult to get high search engine rankings for a web page with good inbound links that does not have optimized content. I know that Links from related websites that contain your keywords will increase the ranking of your website on search engines. I know that Links from automated linking schemes and FFA (free for all) link pages won't help your rankings because search engines can detect them. I know that Links from your website to websites with a bad reputation (spam sites, linking schemes, etc.) can hurt your search engine rankings. I know that The PageRank number that Google displays in the Google toolbar is often outdated. If you see a website that seems to have a high quality and that is related to your website then it's okay to exchange links, no matter what the displayed PageRank is.
I know that Can you tick all boxes? Great! You can now proceed with the next search engine optimization step.
Don't
cheat yourself. If you want to get the best results for your
website, you really should be able to tick all boxes before you proceed.
- The basics: Why should you submit your website?
By
submitting your website to search engines you invite search engines
to visit your website. You ask search engines to take a look at your pages. - Tips: How to submit your site correctly
The Search Engine Pros allows you to submit your website to search engines, Internet directories and special interest sites (vortals or vertical portals). Only submit your website to the correct categories in Internet directories and only submit your website to a special interest site if the site matches the topic of your website.Do not submit your website if you don't have your own domain name or if your domain name is only a redirection to another domain. Do not submit multiple domains that lead to the same web space.
- Warning: What can happen if you do not submit your site correctly?
When you submit your website to search engines, you invite search engine spiders to visit your web pages. That does not mean that your website will get high search engine rankings.
If you did
not optimize your web pages, it's pointless to submit your website to search engines. You won't get high rankings if your
web pages are not search engine ready.If you don't use your own domain name or if your website is hosted by an unreliable web host then it is likely that your website will not be listed on search engines. If the submitted website URL is only a redirection or a welcome page then it's also likely that search engines won't index your website.
- Action plan: What you should do now
Make sure that you have optimized web pages before you submit your website to the web directories and search engines.
Click
the Directory Submission package
to open The Search Engine Pros's web directory submission order page. - Checklist: What you should have done
( of checked)
Make sure that you can tick all of the following boxes:
Things you should have done:
Does your website have its own domain name? yes Have you made sure that your website URL is not just a redirection to another URL? Many search engines won't index redirections. yes Is your website hosted on a fast and reliable web server? Search engines might not index your website if your server is too slow of if it is down when the search engine visits your pages. yes Have you made sure that your website is not hosted on a free server? Many search engines don't index websites that are hosted on free hosting services because they often contain spam. yes Have you made sure that your website URL doesn't contain special characters? yes Things you should know:
It is enough to submit only the index page of your web site because search engines will find all other pages of your website through the links on your site. Do not submit all pages of your website. I know that The moment a search engine spider visits your website is not the moment your website is added to the search engine index. It's only the moment in which the search engine takes a look at your site. I know that It takes some time until search engines show your new pages in the index. Search engine spiders have to visit your web pages, they have to scan the web pages, they have to evaluate your web pages and they have to add your web pages to the index. If your website has many inbound links, search engines will index your website faster. I know that If you submit an unoptimized website then you won't get high rankings. I know that Only submit your website to Internet directories and special interest sites that are related to your website. Anything else might be considered spamming. I know that Can you tick all boxes? Great!
Don't
cheat yourself. If you want to get the best results for your
website, you really should be able to tick all boxes before you proceed.
If you follow the steps described in this checklist then your website will get the best possible rankings on Google and other search engines.