1. Keywords

Select your keywords

* Select a range of keywords that match your website theme.
* Try to target keyword phrases rather than individual words, these are much easier to target and you
will receive better targeted visitors.
* Look for keywords that have a high popularity (searched often).
* Avoid common words such as “for” or “with” as these are ignored by search engines and
they can dilute the impact on your primary keywords.
* Narrow your keywords to approximately 1 to 3 primary keywords which should be
targeted most often.

Prioritize your keywords

* Wherever you insert your keywords, either on your pages or on internal links, always
place your keywords in order of relevance.
* Place your most important keyword on position one, second important on position two
and so on.

2. Domain name / Filename

Domain Registration

* Registering your domain for a long duration such as 5 years will tell search engines you
are serious about your website and do not have intentions of a spam page.
* Do not hide your domain registration details using Private Registration Services. Some
search engines consider websites with hidden details as spam.
* Domains that have existed for a while (2 or more years) appear to have better ranking
on search engines.

Length of Website Address

* Keep your website address to a minimum.
* Long filenames can be considered as spam.
* Avoid Session IDs and ID variables which are generated by most web applications.

Keyword in filename

* Include your most relevant keyword into your filename as the filename has a big impact
on search engines.
* Keep your keywords to a minimum of 1 to 2 words. A total of 4 or more keywords can be
considered as spam.
* Use hyphens (-) to separate your keywords/phrases.

Keyword in domain name

* Include your most relevant keyword into your domain name as the domain has a big
impact on search engines.
* Keep your keywords to a minimum of 1 to 2 words. A total of 4 or more keywords can be
considered as spam.
* Use hyphens (-) to separate your keywords/phrases.

Keyword in domain name
Include your most relevant keyword into your domain name as the domain has a big
impact on search engines

3. Keyword Placement

Keyword in title tag

* Keep your title short, roughly 10 to 60 characters.
* Including irrelevant words to your title will weaken the impact on your targeted keywords.
* Place your most target keyword phrases at the beginning of the title.

Keyword in Content

* Your keyword(s) should appear at a ratio of once every 20 words.
* If you do not have much text in your website, ensure you have it displayed at least once.

H1, H2 and H3 (Heading)

* Place your most relevant keyword(s) in a H1 tag.
* Place your secondary keyword(s) in H2 and H3 tags.
* All heading tags should remain its original style and not altered by Style tags or you may
be penalized by most search engines.

Keyword Font Styles

* Your keyword(s) should be placed in tags which will emphasize the keyword such as
Strong, Bold, Italic or Underline styles.

Keyword in Description Meta-tag

* Write a few sentences about your website.
* Most search engines do not consider this tag deeply.
* May be seen on some search engines so write it to attractive human eyes.

Keyword in Keyword Meta-tag

* Keep the tag to a maximum of 10 keywords and separated by comma (,).
* Every keyword listed here should appear at least once in your content (body). If not, the
keyword will be considered as irrelevant spam.
* All keywords should be listed only ONCE.
* Most search engines do not consider this tag deeply. Keyword in Description Meta-tag
* Write a few sentences about your website.
* Most search engines do not consider this tag deeply.
* May be seen on some search engines so write it to attractive human eyes.

Keyword placement in Body

* Most relevant keyword(s) should be near the beginning of the content (BODY) and also
in large fonts.

ALT Tags

* Images should be described using ALT Tags.
* You should describe only the image and not use Alt tags to promote your keywords.

4. Internal Links

Keyword in links to internal site pages

* Links should be displayed with appropriate keyword(s) in the title rather than titles such
as “click here”.

Valid internal links

* Ensure all internal links are active and working.
* Search engines dislike broken links and may devalue you if broken links are found.
* Check all broken links once in a while to ensure every page is online.

Efficient linking

* Spread your links out evenly for the search engine to easily locate them.
* Do not have your pages linked deeply where it becomes difficult to locate the page.

5. External / Outgoing Links

Quality Links

* Link to quality websites.
* Linking to link farms/spam websites will devalue your website.

Inspecting your Links

* Review your external links regularly.
* If an external link becomes a link farm or a spam website, you may be penalized for it if you
remain linking to the website.
* Ensure all your external links are online and working properly.

Title and Description

Links to external websites should have an appropriate title and description.

Limit number of links on a page.

* Keep number of links on page to a minimum.
* Google states that number of links should stay below 100 per page.

6. Incoming Links (backlinks)

Quality of Referrer

* A referrer page with high backlinks will share more ranking to you.
* Get websites linking to you that have high PageRank or have high backlinks
* Backlinks will be valued more if the referrer has a similar theme to your website.
* A computer games website linking to console games website will have excellent link
value.

Trend of link popularity

* Try to get websites linking to you in a steady pace.
* Steadily increasing backlinks will show a good sign to search engines therefore improve
your ranking.
* A sudden high increase of backlinks will flag your website for possible spam (i.e. blog
spam attack).

Anchor Text
* Ensure your primary keyword(s) is in the link title that links to you.
* Try to get websites linking to you with a range of different keywords.
* If all your backlinks have the same anchor text, search engines may assume you have
purchased links and devalue your backlinks.
* Anchor text should remain the same throughout a backlink.
* When an anchor text of a backlink change frequently, search engines may consider the link
as a purchased link.

Age of Link

* A backlink that has age will earn you good ranking.
* Temporary links that last 1 to 3 months do not usually receive good ranking.

Number of Outgoing Links on Referrer Page

* The value of each link is shared between the number of total links on that page.
* If a referrer page has fewer links, each link will be valued more.
* Try to earn yourself backlinks from pages that have few outgoing links.

Position of Link

* Links appearing more early in the HTML code are valued better.
* Links that are located on the header will be valued more than links on the footer.

Trusted Websites

* You will receive better ranking if you have backlinks from well trusted large websites.
* Most domains ending with .edu and .gov are well trusted by search engines.

JavaScript/Flash Links

* Avoid backlinks that are redirected by JavaScript or Flash.
* Most search engines ignore JavaScript and Flash links.