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10 SEO Commandments Kim McDaniel (@ tivogirl ) Jamie Mottram (@ jamiemottram ) June 22, 2012. 1. Create content that people want to link to. Content should be high quality, relevant, specific and unique. This attracts SEO-boosting links from sites, social networks, etc .
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10 SEO CommandmentsKim McDaniel (@tivogirl)Jamie Mottram (@jamiemottram)June 22, 2012
1. Create content that people want to link to. • Content should be high quality, relevant, specific and unique. • This attracts SEO-boosting links from sites, social networks, etc. • This is the Golden Rule, really.
2. Include keywords in headlines. • Write out names and keywords in full. • Put keywords at the start of the headline. • The Mullet Strategy: business (keywords) in the front, party (cleverness) in the back. • Example : “Miami Heat Take NBA Title to South Beach” • Related: Include keywords in URLs too.
Keyword Headline Examples • Good: Los Angeles Kings win 2012 Stanley Cup against New Jersey Devils • Bad: Kings' Cup filled with perseverance • Good: NBA Finals a superstar showdown between Kevin Durant, LeBron James • Bad: A full dance card at the NBA Finals
3. Include keywords in copy as well. • Relevant keywords should be in the lead and seeded throughout the copy in a natural way. • Example: • Headline: Jerry Sloan a finalist for Bobcats head coach job • Lead: ESPN reported Monday night that former Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan is one of three finalists for the Charlotte Bobcats' head coaching job.
4. Link from within (with keywords). • Links embedded within a story bring SEO value. • Include keywords in the anchor text of links, and avoid generic text such as “more ” and “here.” • Example: “Kevin Durant fought back tears” instead of “fought back tears”. • Link to relevant content on your own site. • Adding links to related in-network content at the bottom of articles/posts is helpful too.
5. Include keywords in image titles too. • Helps users discover content via image search. • Example: The top Google Image search result for “bryceharper tattoo” is bryce-harper-tattoo.jpg.
6. Use keywords that people are using. • Highlight keywords that are trending and also those that receive higher search volume over time (e.g. “BCS playoff,” 28,500,000 results vs. “college football playoff,” 7,340,000). • Note: Google autosuggest is an excellent tool.
7. Publish quickly and update often. • Relevance is achieved by speed and timeliness. • The ideal scenario for breaking news is to publish quickly and then update as the story unfolds with additional information.
8. Get out ahead of big events. • Plan ahead and get your content into search engines early and linked up from both within your site and hopefully from outside as well. • Related: Don’t change URLs for big events year to year (e.g. “super-bowl” and not “super-bowl-2012”).
9. Publish and favor original content. • Original content ranks better than partner or wire content. • Produce your own version of the story and pay it favor via programming/links across site.
10. Push social to help SEO. • Get your content out via social channels quickly as part of the production process. • Social signals impact search results.
Bonus: SEO Tools • Google Suggest: https://www.google.com/ • Good for highlighting what users are searching for in Google. • Google Adwords Keywords: http://bit.ly/MJ4HnM • Highlights which keywords are most searched in Google – provides estimates and is filtered. • Google News Top Stories: https://news.google.com/ • Good insight into what keywords are getting the most clicks/interest. • Twitter Trends: https://twitter.com/ • Real-time trending topics and keywords users are looking for.