SEO Guidelines & Checklist

Page Title

- The title should be between 3 and 7 words.

- The target keyword should be at the start of the title.

- Avoid special characters.

- While building Landing Pages use long tail titles which will be able to target 2 or more terms.

Content:

- The keyword should be the first thing on the page in an H1 tag. It should also be bolded.

- Try to avoid content duplication as much as possible.

- Organise content that is not keyword rich, but Key Phrase rich.

- The keyword should be used 3 - 5 times in every hundred words.

- The content length should be a minimum of 200 words per page, but below 100kb in size.

- Supporting Keywords (e.g. alternative descriptive words, subheading, promotional text or related products)    should be in h2 tags.

- ‘H’ tags should be used in hieratical format. (e.g. H1, H2 then H3)

- The page must not contain any dead links

- Keyword should appear at least twice in hyperlink text.

- ‘Alt’ values of Images must be set to the relevant keyword.

- The page should be in complete linking hierarchy (Must be able to get to the page from your main site and vice-versa).

- Every image (apart from design images) should have Alt tag.

- Always include a Site Map.

- Always include a Privacy - Copyright document.

Meta:

- Keep the title tag a max of 70 characters.

- Include most important keyword in title tag - use compelling titles.

- Avoid duplication in Meta keywords.

- Try unique Meta description for each page (if possible).

- Meta description should be short and comprehensive - max of 150 characters. Make sure description draws people into page.

- If page is static don’t include Meta Revisit URL

- Use unique Meta keywords in every page.

File Name:

- Filename should include relevant keyword/heading.

Social Book marking:

- It is very beneficial to bookmark landing pages in Digg or Stumbleupon. It takes 3-4 extra minutes but has great benefits.