SEO Tips and Online Search Engine Optimization Resources

Here is a rundown of the search engine marketing resources and destinations that we find valuable and recommend on a regular basis for clients and prospects:

4 Recommended SEO-Related Blogs

• Search Engine Land
  A large volume of daily news and information on the search engine marketing industry with links and references to a large variety of independent search engine marketing related blogs and resources.
  Other related blogs: Search Engine Watch, Search Engine Roundtable, Marketing Pilgrim.
• SEOmoz
  Provides and addresses specific recommendations and issues faced by people working in search engine marketing. There is also a premium content section and user generated contribution site.
  Other related blogs: High Rankings Advisor, Search Engine Guide and the Online Marketing Blog.
• Google Webmaster Central
  Google’s official blog for announcing updates, enhancements and news about Google and Google search technology.
  Other related blogs: Matt Cutts’ Blog, Yahoo Search Blog, Live Search Blog
• TechCrunch
  Covers web 2.0 technology, new product and software developments and innovative web technologies being released or updated.
  Other related blogs: Mashable, Ars Technica

Websites That Provide Free SEO Tools

There are a number of tools that give the website owner an indication of the overall “search engine health” of a website, including technical assessment in accordance with standard “SEO best practices”:

• SEOmoz Tools (some require a premium membership) and the SEO Toolbox
• Free SEO Tools from SEOBook
• Compiled Internet Marketing and SEO Tools from Stuntdubl.com (note that some are commercial applications)
• Free Internet Marketing and SEO Tools from We Build Pages

Keyword Research Tools

• Google Keyword Tools
• Overture Keyword Tool
• Keyword Discovery (Requires a commercial subscription)
• WordTracker Free Keyword Tool
• Don’t forget to track and record your Google AdWords and Yahoo/MSN Search Marketing (PPC) data!

12 Tools To Use On A Regular Basis

• Rex Swain’s HTTP Viewer   – for checking HTTP browser responses to ensure that pages are set up correctly (e.g. 301 redirect, 302 redirect, 404 page not found error, 200 page ok, and much more).  (also check out Fiddler for HTTP debugging as a desktop software alternative)
• Google Alerts – set up Google Alerts for yourself to receive current news, blog posts, and content related to all of your top keywords and brand-related terms
• DomainTools and Netcraft – for website, server and domain information
• Yahoo Site Explorer – particularly for getting inbound link information
• SEOmoz Popular Searches Tool – aggregates top social media sites’ popular tags and search words
• XML Sitemaps – can create a 500 URL sitemap for free (only $20 for the unlimited version)
• Lynx Viewer – for diplaying what web pages will appear like in a text-based web browser
• TinyURL – for sending a long URL to someone but you don’t want it to break in transit
• SEO for Firefox – a great Firefox extension for grabbing SEO related data in search results quickly
• WordPress Plugins – obviously not that valuable if you do not use WordPress, but it can give you some insight into what you may want from your own blogging software
• The HTML Coded Character Set
• JavaScript Character and Word Counters (for form submissions)

Notes On Link Building Strategy

While Microsoft Excel has tended to be our best friend in this endeavor, there are a variety of independent and adapted ways to aggregate link information; for both clients and for personal analysis. Our recommendation is to create an environment where you can aggregate and accumulate link information in the most expedited process available. Here are some particular link qualities that we may look for:

• Actual text used for the link
• Main subject of the page
• Location on page
• Google PR of actual web page
• Google PR of website
• Quantcast Rank of website
• Alexa Rank of website
• Domain Age
• Domain Extension
• Feedburner subscribers
• Bloglines subscribers
• Inbound links of domain according to Yahoo
• Google cache date

Steps for Evaluating and Implementing a Keyword Strategy

Beyond the traditional (and recommended) best practices for optimizing site architecture, building content, applying keywords in strategic page locations and continually building new links/finding new link opportunities, here are additional, SEO-specific steps for assessing how to achieve search engine rankings for desired keyword opportunities.

• Define projected keyword volume using keyword research tools.
• Document at least the top 20 search results visible for each keyword opportunity.
• Evaluate and record the specific content found within each search result, from both the direct page and the domain in general.
• Document and evaluate the inbound links that point to both the direct page and domain.
• Document and evaluate social media tags for the particular keyword opportunity in popular web 2.0 sites to establish content relevance.
• Review patterns in content, links and website information to establish a strategy for content generation and/or link acquisition.
• Leverage the knowledge of existing experience, current trends and best practices in search to optimize your site for a desired keyword opportunity

Note to Readers: If you would like us to review or evaluate a particular tool or resource for search engine optimization, please let us know in the comments section of this page.