5 Must Do SEO Tasks

No matter what you’re trying to achieve, there are always some must do tasks and SEO is no different. There is no doubt Search Engine Optimization is an ongoing process and in may cases lack of financial or human resources is one of the biggest hurdles faced by companies wishing to improve their web site’s business performance.
The 5 Most Important SEO Tasks
If I had to suggest an absolute minimum Search Optimization Program proposal for a client this is what it would entail:
1: Basic Web Site Review
To improve your web site’s performance you must have some idea of its current performance and identify issues which may impact on search visibility and user experience. The following must be included in your web site’s review.
Check all pages are accessible to Search Engines. The tool to use for this is the Firefox Web Developer Plug-in which enables you to easily turn off JavaScript and crawl the web site in much the same way as the Search Engine Bots.
Content and process review to ensure the information and processes your visitors need to complete their business tasks are available in the right place at the right time..
Competitive review of your web site. You must know where you stand in order to compete in the future. Review:
Age of Domain
Number of Back links (yahoo Linkdomian)
Alexa Rank for comparison of your web site’s estimated traffic volumes versus your competitors’
2: Keyword Research
To even have a remote chance of driving traffic via Search Engines you must have an understanding of what terms the public use to find the products and services you offer.
At the very least you should visit Google’s Keyword Tool and research the keyword phrases related to your business. The results will provide you with a list of suggestions and provide an indication of their popularity and competitiveness.
3: Competitive Analysis
A review of your web site’s competitive environment is an absolute necessity. To compete you must know how your site compares to both the competitors you have previously identified, and also the web sites which are currently obtaining search visibility for your desired keywords and phrases.
Competitive analysis will assist you to determine if your web site is currently well placed to be competitive and will assist you to identify keywords you are capable of competing for, or indicating the work required to be competitive.
At the very least you need to compare the performance metrics; Domain Age, Back-links and Alexa Rank of your direct competitors and those of the sites currently ranking for keywords you are considering optimizing.
4: Keyword Integration
Keyword integration is how you assist the Search Engines to determine your web page’s topic which will be used by the Search Engines to index and include your web page in search results relevant to a user’s search query.
Increasingly keywords in web page URL’s, Titles and Descriptions are showing up in the search results, which indicates the weighting of Relevancy within the Search Algorithm has been increased. The following keyword integration should be considered the minimum:
Targeted keyword in page Titles, Alt Image tag.
The description tag has minimal SEO value however, it should be well written including targeted keywords to encourage searchers to click on your link.
Integrate keywords and synonyms into web page content in Headings an prominently in paragraphs.
Where practical use bold and italics to highlight keywords.
5: Back-links
You must have links leading to your site to enable the Search Engine to find and index your web pages. Back-links are also one of the most highly weighted factors within the Search Engine Algothrim and are used to indicate how attractiveness of a web site.
A link building program must be implemented. At the very least a list of directories relevant to your business activities should be created and submissions made. I do not consider Directories an ideal back-link source however, Directories are one of the easiest way to begin the link building process.
The Last Word
Without at least some Search Engine Optimization the investment your business has made in your web site development will have little or no ROI. The above techniques are just scratching the surface of the work required to obtain search visibility for your web site.
From my past experience Search Engine Optimization is extremely beneficial to web site’s which put in the time and effort required for success. SEO is something where the amount of success is clearly defined by the amount of time and effort invested to achieve results. The more you do, the better your web site will perform for your business.
About The Author
Pete Hollier is an Information Scientist, and possesses a Bachelors Degree in Information Science. Pete is SeoWizardry’s owner and principal Web Site Performance Consultant, assisting businesses to leverage the power of the Internet to improve overall business performance.