SEO Best Practices
Here’s a basic checklist of SEO best practices every site should be employing. It’s 2009 and there’s no excuse for not having a site optimized for the major search engines (namely, Google and Yahoo!).
1. URL Structure
All URLs should follow the naming convention: http://www.[domain].com/[category]/[page-name].com. The general rule is that the URL structure should not go too deep (i.e., try to avoid going more than 4 levels deep on the URL structure on the majority of pages). Also, the terms used in the URL structure should be logical from a navigation perspective, but should also take keywords into account. There’s a certain finesse to achieving this balance. The best way to achieve this is to make a list of all URLs for the site in a page inventory spreadsheet, and then examine the list for structure, consistency, and keywords. Additionally, always use hyphens to separate each word (do not use underscores or other notation). Special characters such as apostrophes should not be part of the URL. This is the responsibility of the Information Architect.
2. Browser Window Title
The browser window title should also be managed in page inventory spreadsheet. Consistency and the right keywords is key. This is the responsibility of the Information Architect.
3. Meta Description and Meta Keywords
The tags for meta description and meta keywords (visible only to crawlers and not to users) should be carefully crafted to include keywords. Read more about meta elements before you begin writing these for each HTML page. This is the responsibility of the Copy Writer.
4. Breadcrumbs
Breadcrumbs are excellent from a usability perspective and from an SEO perspective. Make sure breadcrumbs are implemented in a consistent manner across all pages of your site, otherwise you will not reap either the usability benefits or SEO benefits. Here’s an example of a well-structured breadcrumb: Home > Furniture > Tables > Coffee Table
This is the responsibility of the Information Architect.
5. H1, H2, H3
The heading tags for a page — particularly the H1 tag — should be optimized with the correct keywords. When determining the best copy for the H1, H2, and H3 for a page, think about the types of phrases a user might enter in Google or Yahoo to arrive at that particular page on your site. This is the responsibility of the Copy Writer.
6. Image ALT Tags
Every image that appears on HTML pages should have an ALT tag. Additionally, the ALT tag should match the image Use the following naming convention: [image-name].png. Always use hyphens to separate each word (do not use underscores or other notation). Special characters such as apostrophes should not be part of the URL. This is the responsibility of the Site Producer.
7. Keyword-Rich Content
For main body content (i.e., content that lives within the <p> tags), be sure to research the top five keywords relevant to the page topic and include these keywords within the first 100 words of content that appear on the page. This is the responsibility of the Copy Writer.
8. Vertical Linking
In terms of the information architecture of the site, good IA will lead to good vertical linking from an SEO perspective. This simply means establish a logical system for your primary navigation and secondary navigation structure. Primary navigation refers to the top-level navigation categories that appear on every page of the site (usually located in the masthead). Secondary navigation generally appears just below the masthead in a horizontal or vertical format. This is the responsibility of the Information Architect.
9. Horizontal Linking
Wherever possible, link to other content pages on your site that appear at the same hierarchical level. This is the responsibility of the Copy Writer.
10. In-Bound Links
Try to get other sites to link to your company/organization’s site whenever possible. When possible, simply post a link to your site in the comments section of another site’s article or in a forum. For example, if your site sells furniture, post a link to your site in the comments section of Apartment Therapy and Dwell to start with. The more in-bound links your able to get to your site, the more “link juice” you will generate. This is the responsibility of Copy Writer.