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1. Speak the Language
 Search Engine Optimization & Marketing Glossary
2. Set Goals and Go Organic
Tie SEO goals to your business goals.
Make goals quantifiable.
(see Metrics section below)
Focus on organic search engine optimization efforts. (Users put a high level of trust in organic search results.)
Sample Goals:
Rank highly in organic searches for your stated keywords/phrases.
Increase web traffic.
Increase signup rate.
Increase the sales by X%.
 Choose the Right SEO Project Goals
3. Measure Up
Use hard metrics to measure whether your SEO efforts are contributing to your stated goals. 
Make firends with your stats package.
Track actions and results.
Monitor metrics that are meaningful to your organization, like: number of visitors, time on site, bounce rate, referral paths, conversions, exit pages, etc.
Be flexible. Change your keywords and descriptions or your adwords or do A/B testing to see which combinations are providing the best results.
Schedule time for maintenance.  
Review keywords that users are actually using to find your site. Adjust your keywords accordingly.
 My Favourite Six Underrated SEO Metrics
 SEO Metrics that Matter
 Why You Should Track “Soft” SEO Metrics
4. It's About the Content Stupid
Provide high quality, unique, relevant content.
Update your content frequently.
Your keywords should be relevant and reflected naturally in your content.
Cover who you are (strong About page content), what you do i.e. the products/services you provide, and who you provide those products/services for.
While search algorithms and technical aspects of optimization may change, quality content is always crucial.
 Content is King
 Content Marketing Strategies with SEO
4. Know Your Stuff
Establish yourself as an authority in your domain.
Submit articles to drive traffic to your website. 
Articles should be tied to your site offerings and reflect subject matter expertise.
 Build Authority Before Links
10. Share Your Stuff
Add a sharing widget. Submissions to Digg, Stumble Upon, etc. can help your SEO.
Link to your Facebook page, your blog, your twitter account, from your website home page.
Submit your videos to more than one video sharing site.
 Share This
 Top 25 Social Networking Sites
 Top ten video sharing sites
5. Unlock Your Keywords
Keywords are the words and phrases that people enter in a search engine.
Your keyword tags should be in sync with the keywords/phrases that your audience uses to find your site.
Know your target audience and know what you have to offer.
Understand your differentiators.
Support your unique selling proposition.
Research the keywords your competitors are using.
Maximize your keywords by optimizing individual pages within your website for different keyword phrases.
Users expect to see keywords in your text. Lack of appropriate keyword usage can cause users to abandon your site.
Include "keyword" metatags in your code and customize those metatags based on the content of individual pages. (Don’t use the same keyword tags for the entire site).
Use keywords in text links. Avoid using a lot of link titles that are not descriptive, such as: click here, etc.
 Keyword Tools
Web CEO, Google Keywords, WordTracker
 Keyword Density Analyzers
SEO TOOLS, goRank
 35 percent of all queries are 4 to 8+ words
6. Submit to Directories
Submit to directory listings to build credibility and non-reciprocal links.
 Top Ten Directories
7. Play Tag
Always include customized <title> elements for each of your web pages.
Include page appropriate metatags on each page of your website.
Always provide descriptive ALT text for graphics.
Include a compelling "description" meta-tag that accurately describes your content.  
Use text instead of images to display important names, content, or links.
Use the robots.txt a robots meta tag for all pages you want searched - <meta name=”robots” content=”all”>
Check site for 200 and 301(redirects) other status codes should be investigated.
Use a validation checker to validate your code.
 How Metatags Impact SEO and PPC
 Best Practices for Title Tags
 Page Titles for SEO
 Best Practices for URLs
 Check for broken links and correct HTML
8. Map It
Create a Google sitemap.
Posted in your site’s root directory, a sitemap is a text file in XML format, called sitemap.xml.
The sitemap lists all the pages in your website that you want the search engine to be aware of.
Include attributes for each page like how often the page is updated and the importance rank of the page (from 0.0 to 1.0).  
Update the sitemap as you add new pages.
Submit your sitemap to Google/Webmaster Tools.
 Google Sitemaps Explained
 Sitemap Protocol
9. Request Links
Correspond with webmasters and other content providers and build rich linkages between related pages.
Don’t feel you have to offer a reciprocal link. Offer reciprocal links when they are appropriate.
Establish relationships with influential bloggers interested in your field/industry.
Concentrate on the quality of backlinks vs. quantity. Numerous links from poor quality sites can actually be detrimental.
Backlinks from .edu sites and .gov sites carry more weight with search engines. Reciprocal links carry less weight.
 Good SEO: How to Request Links
12. Design for Usability
Create a positive user experience.
Good usability and design can increase the popularity of your site. It can also enhance your reputation score and the willingness of other sites to link to you.
Help search engines find your site by providing good global navigation and semantic text links.
Make sure your linking structure is easy for the spiders to crawl. A hierarchy with links no more than three clicks away from your home/index page is recommended.
 SEO and Usability Drive Conversion Rates
13. Ensure Accessibility (ok, so this is a baker's dozen)
Provide descriptive ALT text for graphics for a start.
 Web Accessibility Initiative