SEO: Is Your Blog Search Engine Friendly?
I recently came across a short *Check List* to help you determine if your site is *SEO Friendly*. I am including that list and a couple of additional notes here. Use this checklist each time you post new content, and you will get *found* much faster.
- Is the Title appropriate to the content? Does it let the reader know what is contained within and does it build interest or ask a question?
- Is the Title unique for each page or post? (Duplicate titles only confuse your readers and Google)
- Is there at least one Hx Tag with your primary or secondary keywords?
- Are URLs User friendly? Are they short enough to be memorable and contain one or more keyword
- Is the content really worth linking to? Is it valuable in some way to the reader or search engines?
- Have I avoided all the blackhat SEO methods like hidden text and keyword stuffing?
- Is my post or page visually appealing?
- Do I have a Sitemap for the search engines (XML) and another for the readers?
- Is the robots.txt file correct and not blocking any needed url?
- Are any meta tags stopping Google from indexing anything which needs indexing?
- Are the meta keyword and description tags there for all pages?
- Are the alt tags of any images descriptive to both the content and the purpose?
- Have you added rel=”nofollow” to all external and internal non content links ?
I would add:
- Have you completed the All In One SEO or Headspace2 (depending on your preference) additional fields that increase your SEO on each post?
- Did you include your primary and secondary keywords in the description?
- Did you build your custom, hand-crafted HTML rich *Excerpt*?
About The Author
Cenay Nailor is an Online Marketing and Blogging coach with mad technical skills she loves sharing with Videos. Visit her video tutorial blog and get some technical help. You should also snag the weekly injection of Tech-Based Marketing Newsletter, and have it sent right to your inbox. (Upper right corner)
Related Geeky Articles
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you grab the RSS feed!
This entry was posted by Cenay Nailor, and is filled under SEO. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.
PDF
All blog content is released via creative commons license except where specifically stated otherwise.
Posting content contained in this blog fully permitted and encouraged if content is
published unchanged, the byline is included in the reproduction, and the post title links to corresponding
blog post webpage.Teaser Video: SEO Powersuite
about 1 month ago - 13 comments
I just purchased an amazing tool to help me focus my SEO efforts, build inbound links, audit my results and check my rankings. What can I say, it was time to take my SEO and link portfolio to the next level and some of this wasn’t being handled by Market Samurai or SEO Elite, both tools I purchased for this purpose.
And because I am more than a little willing to gloat (’cause YOU don’t have this tool and I do), allow me to show you what you are missing.
Headspace2 and SEO for Video Posts
about 1 month ago - 5 comments
Frequently Asked Question
Today’s entry from the mail bag comes from Marquis, regarding a recent video tutorial I did on Headspace2. Marquis writes:
Hello Cenay,
I recently viewed your Headspace2 tutorial video. This video was by far the most helpful tutorial I’ve come across. However, I am a novice when it comes to websites and SEO More >
Google Is Lying To You
about 2 months ago - 14 comments
If you are using Google’s keyword suggestion tool, or any tool that relies on Google’s research, then you aren’t getting the truth, and I can prove it.
I know they are strong words, but hear me out. In fact, listen quick, and listen close because you can only do something about this from June 21st More >
Benefits of Search Engine Optimization
about 3 months ago - 9 comments
Sometimes a search engine optimization company will miss that obvious question posed by prospective clients and presuppose that the benefits of search engine optimization are apparent to all people. While cashing out a couple thousand on a search engine optimization operation is commonsensical to some, others may find it difficult to shell out cash unless they understand the true benefits of search engine optimization that is transmitted on to their business.
Create Posts That Engage Your Readers, Attract The Search Engines and Invite Comments – Part 2
about 5 months ago - 11 comments
(In part 1, we covered the prep work required to create a post that both the search engines and your readers will love. If you haven’t read that one, start with Create Posts That Engage Your Readers, Attract The Search Engines and Invite Comments – Part 1)
The next step in creating posts that attract the search engines is making sure you do two simple things. First, you KNOW your primary keyword. And second, that you use it in each of the 9 places Google and other search engines will be looking for it.
Repetition is the mother of knowledge.
Headspace2 Works To Get You On Page 1 of Google
about 5 months ago - 8 comments
You hear me ranting and raving about Headspace2 – an SEO plugin that helps Google find you. I have told you stories about how I have gotten posts on the first page of Google in under an hour. And still you don’t believe.
Today, I offer video proof.
I posted to one of my blogs and within More >
Create Posts That Engage Your Readers, Attract The Search Engines and Invite Comments
about 6 months ago - 4 comments
I know, it sounds like a tall order, doesn’t it? But you can do it with a little forethought, some planning and an eye on the SEO ball. Here is a checklist I use for my posts. Understand though, sometimes I get two out of three, sometimes only 1. A really good post will have all three, so that’s your goal.
Post Preparation Checklist
-
Gather Your Intel.
In this step, I gather up the research I am performing, material I want to quote, related sites, links or resources I want to include. I gather all that into once place. I use notepad or Dreamweaver for this, since a post’s resources will grow as I build it. Remember that to benefit a reader, it needs to offer them exactly what they are looking for.
SenSEO: A Checklist For SEO
about 6 months ago - 3 comments
As anyone who knows me can attest, I am a rabid Firefox fan.
I found one more reason to crow about the virtues of Firefox. It’s an addon for Firefox that allows you to check your site and give you a grade based on selected criteria.
It shows you what your competition is doing right, and what they are doing wrong. You can use Sen SEO as a checklist on your own blog. Go through this process after each new post, and you can stay in Google’s good SEO graces.
This video will discuss what Sen SEO shows you
Headspace2 Tutorial: Exploring SEO Through Plugins
about 7 months ago - 25 comments
A recent coaching session covered the SEO benefits of installing and using Headspace2 to increase your Online Marketing and Personal Branding. As members of that call will recognize, about 45 minutes was cut from this video. All the wasted time on technical difficulties is gone. Areas where the information was repeated (as in answering questions or covering the same concept on a different part of the call) were removed or spliced together to provide a single explanation.
<
18 Wordpress Plugins I Can Not Live Without
about 9 months ago - 37 comments
I have been promising a list of my personal *must have* plugins that I install on any new blog. Today, that promise is kept.
These are the plugins I install on every blog I create, regardless of niche or specialty. There are a few that I add to certain types of blogs that will won’t be discussed, but you can get more information on these in my book, the Ultimate Guide To Wordpress Plugins.
They are listed alphabetically, not in the order of installation.
Each of these plugins play nice with all the plugins listed here. No animals were harmed during the making of this list.
about 1 year ago
Your comment, “Did you build your custom, hand-crafted HTML rich *Excerpt*? ” I’m not sure what you mean about that. I usually just paste in the first part of my post there. Is that wrong? Can you explain more fully? Thanks.
about 1 year ago
@Bazi Juice dean – Happy to expand on this…
Basically, the default excerpt that Wordpress creates for you (for archive and category pages in most WP themes), stripes out all the HTML, bullet lists, bolding or any special formatting so you are left with a single-all-run-together blog of text that really doesn’t do much to entice your readers to click the link and read the rest.
However, the excerpt *field* on the new post (edit as well) allows you to create a beautifully formatted teaser. It doesn’t HAVE to be the first couple of sentences in your post either. It can be a statement of the benefit of reading the post, or a question that the post answers.
I also like to include images (aligned left) within my excerpt which WP default excerpting doesn’t allow, even if a photo is the very first thing in your post.
One thing I tell my coaching students who are not big on HTML is to use the visual editor of the post to construct their excerpt text, images (etc), then switch to the HTML tab, cut and paste the hand-crafted excerpt into the excerpt field and remove the extra text/images from the post — all prior to posting of course.
I hope this answers your question Dean.
about 1 year ago
@Cenay Nailor – Thanks Cenay, I appreciate your feedback and advice. Awesome!