Processes & Check-lists

Liam Delahunty

Email: liam@onlinesales.co.ukSkype: liam-shibbolethGoogletalk: liamvictor

SEO Processes & Checklists 1/22 Liam Delahunty

SEO Check-list Overview

1. Technical2. Keyword Research3. On Page SEO4. Off Site SEO 5. Social Media6. Competitive Research7. Analytics8. Outsourcing & Content writing9. Legal10. Network Independence11. Domain12. Emergency

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1. Technical1. Robots.txt

1. Block access to included files, admin sections of CMS2. Check access is allowed to rest of site.

2. .htaccess1. limit access to private areas on password and/or IP2. Create rewriting rules for friendly URLs3. Redirect old pages to new4. redirect non www to www

3. Pages return 200 status code1. Error pages return 404 status code

1. Check incoming 404s for links and redirect as necessary2. Use a custom 404 page

1. Ask for links to be updated – ask visitor to let you know about issues and then request appropriate change from referring website (if you want to contact) or rewrite the URL – log 404 referrers too.

2. 301 to redirect an old page to a new one3. 302 to redirect a page temporally

4. Sub-domains resolve or redirect as appropriate5. Duplicate content

1. Other sites scrapping1. DMCA?

2. Internally1. Use canonical?

6. URLs1. Friendly

1. Use keywords – don't stuff2. Use keywords in folders where appropriate

2. Be aware of potential duplicate content issues with parameters added to the string.7. Indexing

1. How many pages in Google Index2. How many pages in Yahoo index3. How many pages on site:

1. Internal sitemap2. Xenu

1. Any broken internal links2. Any internal redirects

8. Backups & hosting reliability9. Navigation crawable10. Site works in all major browsers without serious incident11. No cloaking12. No isolated landing pages (doorway pages)

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2. Keyword Research1. Tools

1. Google1. AdWords2. Sktool3. Wonder Wheel4. Google Suggest (loop back the terms & add a, b, c...)5. Related Searches

2. Wordtracker3. Microsoft Ad Intelligence4. WordStream5. Wordze6. Spy tools (competitive research)

1. SpyFu2. SEObook Competitive Research Tool

2. Use the high volume and high paying keywords to get traffic and monitories it.1. Use these phrases as anchor text where possible2. Cycle these phrases into the tools to get a larger pool of phrases for long tail

1. See who ranks & links to those that rank to work on link building targets3. Use exact match search in AdWords to discover potential domains to purchase. 4. Ensure the high volume / value keywords are in

1. Title 2. H1 3. File-name 4. Body content.

5. Create check-lists of the lower order keywords and ensure they are in the body copy.1. Test with site: searches in google.2. Push phrases that get traffic back into the research system to get more ideas.

6. Each site may have a spreadsheet of working keywords1. URL of the page the keyword is targeted2. Provide link builder with details for appropriate anchor text links

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3. On Page SEO1. Semantic structure

1. One H1 on every page2. Appropriate use of headings

2. Unique title on every page1. Title contains key-phrase, to the left if possible.

3. H1 and title should complement, not match, for more variety / long tail.4. Keywords should appear in the on-page content

1. Use the SEObook toolbar to highlight a phrase2. Print off a page and use a highlighter to judge how hard you are pushing

optimisation. Too much highlighter, too much optimisation!5. Unique Description

1. Description is used to “sell the click” in the SERPs.6. Internal links use good anchor text.7. Site tag line is quick explanation of site

1. Could be useful as an anchor2. Takes 2 seconds for a new user to know what you're about

8. Aim for a maximum of two clicks to content on most sites.1. Three on big sites2. Study how demand media / Amazon / ebay handle MASSIVE sites

9. Pyramidal hierarchy or flat-file?1. Breadcrumbs (to give appearance of hierarchy and/or help pass further “juice” about

to important sections.2. Categories or tags – rarely both3. Previous / Next on articles4. Related posts on articles5. Important pages are linked to from the home page

10. Images have alternative text1. Text is not images!2. Image filenames contain appropriate keywords

11. Internal links are to the FQDN (in case of scrapping)1. Less than 200 links per page

1. Too much choice is paralysing 2. Unless very authoritative domain you risk spreading “the love” too thinly

2. Use text based navigation12. Comment spam is ruthlessly culled

1. Research their back-links2. Put their domain into the competitive research process

13. Code1. Remove in page formatting and use included style-sheets2. No frames!3. Does site validate? – but don't sweat the small stuff4. No script errors displayed to users5. Is JavaScript required?

1. If so, is it really necessary? 2. What do search engines see?

14. Nofollow untrusted external sites (comments)15. Use meta robots to keep internal pages out of the index with

noindex, follow

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16. Use Canonical tag17. No pointless links to host, designer, admin areas etc.

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4. Off Site SEO 1. Get text links with targeted keywords as the anchor text

1. Alt text has same effect in images that are within a link. 2. No / little anchor text is passed in hot-linked images – it requires an anchor href.

2. Use your relationships to gain links.1. Link to important sites to start to form those relationships

1. Any third parties to introduce you?2. Get phone numbers

2. Comment on their blogs3. Give testimonials4. Follow & interact on Twitter5. Use other social media (SU / Digg, etc)6. Professional networks such as Linkedin7. Industry Events, Chamber of Commerce

3. Request links from all relevant sites for each piece of new content.1. Research which pages rank, research who links to those pages.

4. Tools1. Hub Finder co-occuring links in a SERP.2. LocalRank Re-ranking the results based on local inter-connectivity – sites that link to

competitors!3. MajesticSEO4. Yahoo linkdomain5. PHP / MySQL and a lot of scrapping!

5. Purchase placements in established directories1. botw.org2. business.com3. einet.net4. familyfriendlysites.com5. goguides.org6. incrawler.com7. joeant.com8. pr.com9. rubberstamped.org10. sitesnoop.com11. skaffe.com12. worldsiteindex.com13. dir.yahoo.com

1. Research which directories competitors are in 1. Compare top 20 ranking sites to see which and how many directories are

typically used in niche. 2. Make sure your directory links count by pointing supporting links at them3. Try to investigate which directories are counting by seeing how competing sites rank

for the anchor text used in the directory.4. Notice outlier sites that have less directory placements than others which may be

interesting.6. Low quality directories

1. Outsource for “100 directories for $15” etc.1. Support the links with other low quality links

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7. Seek out the best content on your topic. 1. Improve upon it - then request co-citation links from sites that link to the first article.2. Rubbish it with a contradictory article with supporting facts

1. Promote heavily in blog comments and social media2. Energise the readers and ask for help in “promoting this important information”

8. Offer something free1. Teeshirt

1. Can be used when writing (post not email) to someone.2. Postcards

1. Follow up emailed requests with postcards3. White-papers

1. Email sign up4. Mugs5. Chocolate6. Tea / Coffee7. Competitions

1. Get them to blog for an entry2. Get them to promote the competition on Twitter and @you

9. Ask questions in the right places - on authority blogs as comments to build relationships 10. Search for dead sites in niche and buy them

1. Or get their incoming links changed to you11. High Quality & Fairly Easy Links

1. Libraries2. Business institutions

1. Chamber of commerce2. Local Govt. Business support3. Trade organisations

12. Issue Press Releases1. Read “The New Rules of Marketing and PR” by David Meerman Scott2. Press area on website with

1. Downloadable press releases in1. DOC2. PDF3. TXT

2. White-papers3. High Quality Logos

1. JPG2. PNG3. TIFF / PSD if appropriate

4. Hi Res photos 1. Founders2. Staff3. Events4. etc.

13. Think outside the box1. Academia

1. Discounts or job opportunities for students2. White-papers3. Give talks

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4. Invite talks5. Provide material / resources

2. Government1. Local2. Central3. Foreign

3. Military4. Charitable

1. Give in kind donations2. Sponsor events

5. Create a tool1. Is there a need for a calculator of some sort2. An online Check-list3. What's annoying about the existing tools?4. Promote it to programming sites too.

6. Design1. Make something beautiful and submit it to appropriate directories2. Ask for advice in design communities

7. Technology1. Anything interesting about your set up?

8. Business1. Promote in business news areas & specialist press2. Ask for advice3. Mentor others

9. Major News1. Be willing to comment on anything related in anyway to your industry2. Mentor new journalists in the industry

1. Think long term gain. Don't ask for anything.3. Sponsor events

10. Social Networking / Media1. Digg / Redit / SU / etc

1. Find content in your niche that has “gone hot”1. Do it better2. Mash together several ideas3. Take a generalised idea and make it niche specific

eg, luma luma song with new lyricsany funny quiz with a cute / funny embeddable image as payoff

2. Twitter1. Can you get the links off Twitter?

11. Promote your successes to others (social proof).14. Three way link exchanges

1. Be aware they are still detectable 1. shared IPs 2. Shared analytics3. AdSense4. Affiliate links5. Back-links to sites6. Outgoing links from sites

2. Use your link analysis to discover which sites link to multiple others in the niche.

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1. Approach with a standard personalised email3. Create your own resources section.

1. Eventually remove from the main navigation so you don't pour too much juice into it

15. Four way link exchanges1. I prefer these as intent is harder to infer, but obviously still discoverable from the

same problems as three way links.2. Owner of the network may not wish to play (competitive) or admit to network.

16. Guest Blogging1. Send personalised emails to sites that rank for your terms after establishing

relationship2. Send auto-personalised requests to blogs that link to pages that rank for your terms

17. Interviews1. Gives the interviewer a reason to link to and otherwise promote you2. Request of all your relationship and contacts3. Develop a series of interviews so other sites want to be featured4. Ask interviewer who to interview next and get an introduction

18. Awards1. Give rankings and awards to sites and personalities2. Promote via social media, direct email and post to important links.3. Make the design work well4. Consider a thirdparty site to make it look independent and link to your site as “best

newcomer” or somesuch.19. Article Submission

1. Outsource to the junk directories (provide your own articles)1. http://www.submitedge.com/

2. Use the lower quality work from content writers on article directories1. It's cheaper for you to simply publish it elsewhere with a link back than to spend

time getting it revised.20. Link Begging

1. investigation process1. Get the sites that rank2. Determine who links to sites that rank3. Then sites that rank for related terms4. & Links to sites that rank for related terms

2. Personalise the script messaging1. Voice relevant to your site2. Style appropriate to who you are talking to

3. Follow up good targets with a phone call4. Follow up good targets with a post card5. Have fields in your messaging for their name6. Test effectiveness of each campaign

1. HTML and plain text emails2. The email and name used to send from

1. info@2. name@3. If a fake name

1. Match their initials2. Sound alike name

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3. Adding social proof (Twitter a/c)4. Amount of contact details (Phone number)

21. Instant links1. Submit site to cubestat, quantcast, who.is etc

1. http://www.megafoo.com/fl_right.php 2. Get social media profiles for the domain

1. http://knowem.com/ 2. http://namechk.com/

22. Spam link building1. Proviso

1. I feel spam can work for a while and then count against the site unless strong links are also being built

2. Spam is the monster that constantly needs feeding1. The links stop counting2. Competitors keep adding more

3. Eventually you can annoy a competitor enough that they 1. Hack your site.2. Build even more spammy links to you to trip filters.3. Rubbish you on review websites

4. With spam link building make sure it's undertaken by a “third party”1. Allows for plausible deniability if things go wrong2. Keep an audit trail of emails3. Be aware of IP footprints when submitting spam

2. Look for outliers in sites ranking in a particular SERP1. they may have no strong directory links2. have many more unique linking domains than average or appropriate for their

site3. have many more total links than average4. Clean profiles can also be found for their extra-strong-links, by looking at those

that rank with less links. These links should also be especially targeted5. When a network is discovered that is helping a poor site rank well

1. Consider buying links / submitting comments on it2. Consider buying links on it along with some of your competitors to kill the

network3. Consider using hundreds of thousands of links against it to kill it (either

pointing loads of links at it to trip filters or spam the site relentlessly)3. Investigate the outlier sites' back-links

1. If comments & forum posts add also other the sites dropping links there to your investigation1. Research all back-links using

1. Bing linkfromdomain:site and then 2. research those sites incoming links with yahoo linkdomain:site:3. If you're patient try the sites in Advanced Link Manager

2. See who has followed links on an otheriwse all nofollow page1. Research their back-links

4. Keep a list of sites that provide links 1. watch their outgoing links

5. Keep a list of sites that actively gain spammy links.1. Watch their incoming links

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6. To get the comments required throw content into 1. Marcov generators and use staff to rewrite to better English sentences.2. Use Mechnical Turk 3. Use automation to create a database of real sentences culled from other approved

comments. Segment the sentences, and find and replace in keywords to create new comments for easy posting.

7. Use Roboform or similar to help with form submission8. Pay for mass directory submission to the free directories9. Support any acquired links with further links, perhaps through automated means10. Use custom search engines to build links to pages and sites

23. Blackhat1. X-robots header on link exchanges to keep all the juice2. xrunner / automation for links to 4th degree incoming links which point to 3rd degree

article sites, external blog posts etc, which point to 2nd degree clean links such as good articles, interviews, guest posts etc.

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5. Social Media1. More than just link building, social media may provide other benefits and problems

1. Reputation management1. Take a spot in the serps for your name2. Prevent someone else grabbing your name

2. Branding3. Help form relationships with other sites / bloggers / authority figures4. Customer Service / contact point

1. http://twitter.com/Spotify does CS and announcements5. Link building

1. Profile2. Stories that go hot3. Use your “votes” to supporting other sites / articles with links to you4. Regrettably many popular stories remain within social media and don't

expand into “real” links.6. Traffic7. Interbreeding

1. A popular or upcoming story on one network is often found then on others2. Sites

1. YouTube1. If you publish videos they will end up here. Republish them yourself to your

own channel and link back to the relevant page on your site.2. Videos here often get a spot in the SERPs

2. StumbleUpon1. Can provide lasting traffic over many months2. Don't “stumble” your own sites, develop a network to enter your pages.3. Top Stumblers are people who discover more new pages that go popular.

3. LinkedIn1. Professional networking.

4. Digg1. Small number of top diggers control most of the front page (FP)2. If they submit and promote a decent page it will usually go hot.

1. Promotion is the key, a network of diggers has to vote for the story3. Voting is very reciprocal4. Traffic large, but transitory

1. Getting a FP can gain interesting links5.

5. Twitter1. Profile is essential for Reputation Management2. Automate much of the grind with API + RSS feeds (Yahoo PIPES)3. Links tend to stay in Twitter and rarely gain “real” links

6. Social Bookmarking1. del.icio.us

1. Great for supporting pages with links to your own site.3. Techniques

1. Try to get the same username everywhere2. Have the same avatar on various sites even if the username has to differ3. Connect with people on the site that like the sort of stories and topics you want to

promote

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4. On voting sites connect with the top users1. Vote for their good stories2. Be available on IM for vote requests

5. Devote 15 minutes a day / every other day to each site1. Take a while before you start to engage to understand how the site works2. Try to establish who the top users are3. Patterns in submissions and voting 4. Time it takes for a submission to go hot

Watch a story over several of the social media sites

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6. Competitive Research1. Tools

1. SpyFu – Gives most output data2. SEO book Competitive Research Tool

2. Who's ranking1. Who is steady2. Any newcomers

1. How has site developed2. Backlinks3. What's interesting about the site / marketing

3. Any sites dropping1. Penalties?2. Network discovered3. Number of links decreased

4. Any sites no longer being developed1. Are they available to purchase

1. If so keep changes to a minimum re hosting, DNS, analytics for a while.2. When does domain expire – will it drop?

3. Back-links1. Which directories2. Co-occuring links

1. Hub Finder co-occuring links in a SERP.2. LocalRank Re-ranking the results based on local inter-connectivity – sites that

link to competitors!3. Also look outside one serp at the wider industry

3. Any “impossible” links?4. Networks

1. Blog comments2. Blog rolls (paid / same owner)3. Free directories4. Same IP5. C-Class6. host7. analytics8. Adsense

5. Outliers1. Links from strange sites2. Social media

4. Keywords1. See what keywords competitors rank for2. See which keywords they purchase in PPC3. What anchor texts they are adding with new links

5. Traffic & Trends1. Set up alerts on their name to see mentions2. Watch for brand searches in Google Trends3. See alexa (etc) rankings

6. Partnerships1. Competing sites in foreign markets may be happy to exchange links (articles)2. Likewise non competitive sites in the same general niche

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1. Local businesses in different areas2. Specialised manufacturing / distribution3. Sites with no online sales may become affiliates

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7. Analytics1. Build on your success

1. Any term that gives plentiful or successfully converting traffic can be used to generate other article ideas

2. Look for phrases that provide some traffic on long tail but are lower in the rankingsThese might be good to build an external link to with that anchor to raise up the rankings. Consider the AOL data and calculate how the page might perform in position 1.

2. Be aware of page views and trends3. Be aware of unique visitors and trends4. Keyword pool

1. Amount of keywords2. Trends3. Head and tail traffic

5. Measure conversion rate6. Concentrate on improving positioning on phrases that convert more than phrases that

simply provide traffic.

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8. Outsourcing & Content writing1. Outsource

1. TextBroker2. ReturedAndWriting3. CraigsList4. oDesk / eLance etc5. Universities & Colleges

1. Courses on your topic2. Journalism courses3. Needy students4. Also can use student staff for links

2. Form your requests like so:Use structure throughout such as sub-headers and possibly bullet lists where it makes sense. (Please prefix any bullet items with an asterisk.)

Please do not repeat the keywords in the body text beyond natural writing.

The text may not, in whole or in part, be copied or transcribed from any other source. Do not use Markov text generators or other algorithmic or dictionary based text rewriting tools.

Enjoy the writing - be passionate, be funny, be yourself!

3. Further outsourcing 1. Social media comments

1. Have your articles summarised into 100 characters for Twitter2. Have short summaries written on your articles (by different writers) for blog

comments and link requests.

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9. Site Legal1. Terms2. Privacy3. Contact data

1. Obfuscate email to help stop bots scrapping it.

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10. Network Independence1. Private whois2. Unique IP3. Which analytics?4. Advertising5. Any design footprints?6. Any link footprints?

1. Incoming2. Outgoing

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11. Domain1. Exact Match Bonus

1. Google.com1. .com .net .org

2. local google.ccTLD1. Some ccTLD – e.g. .co.uk, .org.uk NOT .me.uk

2. Radio test? Can you say it?3. Alternative ccTLD / TLDs?

1. Will you need a ccTLD in the future?2. What is on the ones already registered.3. Watch them in your ongoing competitive research.

4. Alternative owned domains are redirected or built out as appropriate5. Can the your name be confused with another?6. Is it someone else's trademark?7. Name servers in appropriate country8. Redundant DNS9. Contact details up to date in case of problem and need to transfer?

1. Does that email work for the admin password / transfer request approval?10. Domain reseller username and password11. Whois

1. Privacy2. Part of a network?

12. Nameservers1. Passwords2. Country3. Redundancy4. Part of a network?

13. Dropping Domains1. Drop days of .com2. .net3. .org4. .co.uk5. .org.uk

14. Domain Auction Sites1. Regular auction2. Expired domains

1. pre drop2. post drop

3. Aftermarket?

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12. Emergency1. If the hosting company folded can you be back in business tomorrow?2. If the ISP lost connectivity can you be back in business tomorrow?3. If the server died can you be back in business tomorrow?4. If the server was hacked can you be back in business tomorrow?5. If the domain registrar folded can you be back in business tomorrow?6. Etc...7. Personal data storage

1. Local legal requirements?1. Data Protection Act

2. Is it encrypted on the server?1. What if a hacker had full access? 2. Someone physically stole the server?

3. Credit card data1. Are you storing any? Why?2. Do you comply with LAW.... INSERT NAME

8. Insider dealing?1. What competitive intelligence would be lost if a member of staff defected?

9. What happens if a principle in the company dies?

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