While many are using this time to reminisce about the year that was, here's a simple SEO check list for those of you that are already looking for bigger and better SEO results in 2008. If more free traffic from the search engines is your new year's resolution - then commit to these essentials:
2. Master Your Meta DataOnce you've got your keyword hit list, it's time to get your Meta data right (the code optimization at the foundation of good SEO). When reviewing your code, focus on the Meta elements that matter - "titles" and "descriptions" are where you get your real ranking value. So commit early to reviewing all your key web page's Meta tags - and avoid the usual pitfalls of keyword competition between your pages or even worse - duplicate tags across pages.
4. Liven up Your Link BuildingYes, confusion and controversy has reigned supreme in the link discussion over 2007, but one thing still remains - your links still drive your ranking. So in 2008, seek some serious link love.
Earned links- there's nothing better than earned links. If you provide unique information or resources on your website that others find useful or relevant, then the links will come. This sort of content not only helps from the purpose of drawing in relevant links, but also helps establish your business as a serious operator in the industry. Good examples of this content includes glossaries, whitepapers, industry reports etc.
6. Understand Your SEO Successes with AnalyticsI'm amazed at how many people are still measuring their success with primitive hit counters or even worse, no analytics at all. Considering the range of free services out there - if you're not using a half decent website analytics service, then 2008 is the year to change! And more importantly - understand the proper measures of your success.
Successful SEO isn't always going to equal more sales, so make sure to track the right metrics such as rankings on your keyword hit list, and organic traffic from search engines (yes most analytics services will show you this metric).
8. Get Social with Web 2.0 SEOThe last item on the SEO checklist for 2008 is the social web. It's one of the greatest tools for SEO and as it generally costs no more than a bit of your time on regular basis - it is a must if you're serious about your rankings. There's a lot of social media to get lost in, so to focus your initial strategies, get started with the following:
2. Social bookmark all your content:many social bookmark services (i.e. del.icio.us) get crawled by the search engines and will provide some useful links back to your site.
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