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I created a small 14 page site to get my feet wet with SEO before I give it a go with a commercial site. Its not indexed anywhere yet but I just put it up and bought the domain name last night. I want to make sure I have the basic fundamentals down before I begin submitting the site or soliciting back links.
First, the domain name. Since the site is information only I didn't feel the need to create a "branding" domain. I just went with a popular keyword phrase. Of course popularkeywordphrase dot com was taken so I went with popular-keyword-phrase dot com. I arrived at this keyword phrase by using the keyword suggestion tool at overture dot com. I found the most often searched keyword phrase that related most to my site, and then used this phrase through out my site and in my page titles etc.
I relevantly named all of my page titles something different. Each page has a "main idea" with keywords in an H1 tage.
I put my keyword phrases in the keyword meta tags and tried to keep my descriptions descriptive. I did my best to only use keywords that were actually on that page. I listed my meta keyword phrases as "my keyword phrase, other keyword phrase, last keyword phrase" etc.
I used all text links for my menus and have the main menu as well as the "how to" menu present on every page, and I created a sitemap page.
According to sitereportcard dot com my keyword density for my main keywords is only 4.5%, but it doesnt list my keyword phrases which is what I'm really aiming for. Overall they gave my site a 9.33 out of 10.
All my htm files are in the root directory and I used no relative links for anything but images. All of my internal site links use the full url.
I named all my htm files using keywords relevant to the content in that page. I used underscores between words.
The only thing I think I haven't done yet that I want to do is add a few outbound links to related websites on each page. I read this as a good thing to do in the 12 months successful google website thread. I already have a "resources" page, but maybe its best to link directly from my content pages.
It also says to include my keywords in the anchor text for the outgoing links.... that sounds strange to me and seems like its counter intuitive but I'll do it anyway.
Hopefully you all have a few more suggestions for me. I'm excited over the potential of SEO and look forward to my first genuine search engine referrals.
Thanks,
Eddie
popularkeywordphrase dot com was taken so I went with popular-keyword-phrase dot com
I believe the more popularity your site achieves, the more free traffic popularkeywordphrase dot com will receive because of you.
