Ninety-five SEO tips and tricks you should and should not be doing on your Web pages to make them rank higher in search engines. This list looks at more than just meta tags and the basics of SEO, so even if you've got some of the factors, you may not have everything. Scroll to the end of the list to look at the things you should never be doing, as well as the things you should always do at the beginning.
Create a sitemap (MEDIUM PRIORITY)
Search engines love sitemaps - not necessarily for ranking, but for finding links on your site. It's not critical that you create an XML sitemap or Google sitemap, plain HTML sitemaps work just as well.
Create an XML sitemap or Google sitemap (MEDIUM PRIORITY)
Search engines love sitemaps - not necessarily for ranking, but for finding links on your site. It's not critical that you create an XML sitemap or Google sitemap, plain HTML sitemaps work just as well.
Use 301 redirects for permanent redirects (MEDIUM PRIORITY)
When you redirect your pages, you should always use a 301 http server redirect. This tells the search engines that the redirect is permanent and that they should change their index to use the new URL. Spammers use other types of redirects (HTTP 302 redirects and meta refresh), so they are not a good idea to use.
Use 302 redirects only for long or ugly URLs (MEDIUM PRIORITY)
HTTP 302 redirects are for temporary redirects. The only time you should use them is for redirecting ugly URLs to more user-friendly ones. This tells the search engine that the ugly URL should not be removed from the index, because the user-friendly URL is just to make the URL palatable. Keep in mind that many spammers use 302 redirects to fool search engines. So be judicious in your use of them.
Get as many inbound links as you can (MEDIUM PRIORITY)
Links are important, especially from sites other than your own. These are called inbound links. And if you get a lot of inbound links, that will help your page ranking. Remember that 1-2 links from high-reputation sites are better than 10 links from link farms.
Put your keyword phrase in the first paragraph (MEDIUM PRIORITY)
Repetition of your keyword phrase is important in your content. But it's especially important in the first one or two paragraphs of text. And if you can repeat it once in the first paragraph that will help up it's priority.
Put your keyword phrase at the top of the HTML (MEDIUM PRIORITY)
More than just the first paragraph, you should try to move your content towards the top of the HTML document. And that includes your keyword phrase.
Put your keyword phrase in alternative text (MEDIUM PRIORITY)
Images are a great place to put your keyword phrase - in the alternate text. This is a way to add your keyword phrase into your document without being repetitive to your readers. But be careful not to overdo it - as you don't want to appear to be keyword stuffing. That could get your site banned.
Increase the font size of your keyword phrase (MEDIUM PRIORITY)
Search engines understand that fonts that are larger than the standard font size on the page indicate text that is more important. Use CSS or the font tag. Apply font size changes to headline tags as well.
Format your keyword phrases to stand out (MEDIUM PRIORITY)
Use <strong> and <em> where appropriate to make your keyword phrases stand out. Search engines can read those tags, and will recognize that text that is emphasized is often more important than the surrounding text.
