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Most critical aspect of SEO?

What is the most critical aspect of SEO?


In other words, if you were dealing with a complete newbie, what piece of SEO advice would you give them and then send them off on their way to do some SEO on their website?

Thanks!

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5 answers

  • 1

michaelcyger [ Admin ]

I would give them this piece of advice: 


Each page should be search engine optimized for one (and only one) keyword phrase. It is this keyword phrase that you would like that page to be found in the #1 position of Google (or other search engines) results.

Now, that’s a great strategy but it doesn’t tell the person what tactics to employ. 

Here’s a list of what to do:
  1. Write a <title> tag that includes that keyword phrase and not any superfluous words, and is less than 65 characters (including spaces)
  2. Write content for that page that is only related to that keyword phrase, and uses the keyword phrase a few times within the 300-1200 words of the main body of the page
  3. Make your URLs SEO friendly, and include the keyword phrase
  4. Use the keyword phrase within a <h1> tag on the page
  5. Write a <meta name=“description” tag that includes the keyword phrase at or close to the beginning of the 160 characters (including spaces)
  6. If you include any pictures on the page that relate to your keyword phrase, be sure to use an alt description within the <img> tag
  7. Write a <meta name=“keywords” tag that includes the keyword phrase once, and that’s it
Try to do #1-5 for great SEO benefit. #6 will help. #7 might help on some search engines, but it won’t work on Google.

Disclaimer: I know…we’re not doing some of these tips this Page2Sucks.com yet. We’ll be there soon.
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  • 0

hugo [ Editor ]

My one piece of advice would be this – don’t try to ‘game’ Google. It won’t work.

Google’s search process is becoming more and more subtle and intelligent, and you need to remember that their ultimate goal is to match search queries with relevant results. The way they know that your page is relevant is by indexing its contents, and so the content (as HTML) of the page needs to follow as many of the soft rules that they publish. i.e. make it easy for them. Michael has listed the common one’s in his reply. I say ‘soft’ as the rules changed continuously, so are subject to change at any time. The use of the ‘nofollow’ link attribute and the practice of PageRank Sculpting is a case in point (see here – http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/pagerank-sculpting/).

The best place to start is Google SEO Report card – http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2010/03/googles-seo-report-card.html – which goes through a review of their own websites.

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  • 0

websitedoctororen

Not only is it true, as Dean says above, that there is no one aspect that can be isolated, but it’s also important to remember that you can’t separate the technical aspects of SEO from the communication aspects. That said, the technical aspects aimed at the search engines can be used to strengthen your content from a communication point of view. For more on this, read this short article

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grannelle [ Editor ]

I have to concur with the above. I have never considered’s point before, but I must admit it sounds like solid advice. I may employ it myself. also makes a salient point, as SEO is as much about casting chicken bones as it is anything else it sometimes seems. What’s important to remember is that there is no simple answer, no basic equation to follow. It is a dynamic with many facets. The advice received here will take one a long way, however.

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