SEO Recap – Website Optimizing

After you have completed your full keyword research, analysis and selection process, chosen a domain name and perfected your SEO game plan, it is time to move forward to website analysis. It is impossible to simply leap in and start adding SEO tags willy nilly and get good results. Ask if your SEO firm does analysis.  You must start at the beginning, and review your website carefully to identify each of the areas that really will need optimization, whether your site is brand or old.

Some of the main factors which need to be considered when analyzing a website for optimization include the following. Each aspect can be revisited time and time again as you learn more about website optimization but these are the key things to remember.

1.    Title of the page. Don’t have many pages with almost identical titles – each page should have a unique title.
2.    URL structure for all the inner pages should be consistent. Don’t get so creative that you muck up your layout.
3.    Use meta keywords and meta descriptions for the best results.
4.    Website navigation should be simple; structure drop down menus comprehensively.
5.    Names of the images used in the header and in the other parts of the website.
6.    Size of the images used should be taken into consideration as well as resolution and load time.
7.    Alt text for the images should be crystal clear. This is very important so the search engines know what your images reflect.
8.    Flash content used and the loading time of the flash content can cripple a new site. Save flash for fancy ads and build a sensible site.
9.    Video files if any included. You should check whether the video files have the transcript of the video conversation, and include them on a inner page if possible for these who have trouble with video.
10.    Audio files if any used. Here too you should check whether the audio section has the transcript available, as some people can’t handle video or audio.
11.    Content of each page; when taking into consideration the keyword density, make sure you haven’t devalued the page!
12.    Headings and Subheadings used in the content help break things up, make it easier for readers and search engines to see what you are talking about.
13.    Existing internal links and hypertexts – all of these should work, so check, double check and triple check.
14.    Links in the footer including the copyright information – these are important, but don’t clutter up your footer.
15.    Broken links within the site can slaughter your site as people get frustrated and leave.
16.    Code standard compliance is necessary for basic browser compatibility
17.    Overall site loading time can effect your rankings, so keep your home page quick loading and clean.
18.    Sitemaps should be easy to understand and submitted to Google.
19.    Current search ranks for all the keywords should be checked and re-evaluated if you are re-optimizing your old site.
20.    Search engine indexing status for all the pages of the website – find out where you do well and where you need work.
21.    Current pagerank in Google has an impact, so try to increase incoming links to move up.
22.    Number of outgoing links in each page should be kept to a minimum.

All of these factors should be checked when you analyze your website, and before you start optimizing the website. You cannot browse through your website as a whimsical bouncing look at various pages. Your SEO firm should complete website analysis in a systematic way and document it before optimization. Use automated tools when needed, and stay on top of the entire website’s outlook.