The 8 Best SEO Techniques of All Time

Search Engine Optimization (SEO), the art of trying to rank the pages of your web site well in Google and other engines for a variety of search queries. If SEO were an effortless craft, then millions of us could easily apply it. But there are still only around 10 pages in every search result! This means there will always be competition for this scarce resource.

In addition to that, Google and others work hard trying to prevent any "shortcut" to a precious #1 ranking, unless the site is really good and worthy of that ranking. So in reality, the best SEO tip is this: have a site that's good.

Fine-tune the on-page optimization, meaning everything that takes place on your site (like your HTML template, your titles), not on other people's sites (like backlinks):

#1 Cater for the "long tail" of keywords by offering lots of varied content

Maybe there are only 10 results on each search result page, but there are millions of such top 10 lists—because people look for millions of different things, using millions of different search queries. One way of catering for the long tail of keywords is to ensure that each of your pages has a unique title (and, ideally, rather unique content as well). Another is to add translations of your pages for a multitude of languages, which will generate a multitude of new ways to find you (there are paid online services to which you can submit a text file, and then pick the languages you want it to be translated into by native speakers).

#2 Make your server responsive, and use clean and structured HTML

The best content won't fare well on an unstable technical base, so make it the most stable you can. One way to check your site for errors is to validate it using the World Wide Web Consortium's HTML validator at http://validator.w3.org. You can find out more about HTML and XHTML at http://w3.org/TR/html401/ and http://w3.org/TR/xhtml1/, respectively.

#3 Add only content to your pages that benefits your visitors

You don't need to (in fact, shouldn't) add overlong, keyword-stuffed titles, or hidden keywords, or anything else merely targeted at search engines. One thing you can do, though, is add descriptive text somewhere on a page, like in the footer, that gives a good overview of what the site is about; this text will almost automatically include a wide range of related keywords people may look for.

#4 Treat each of your pages as "microcontent."

Microcontent means content that can be understood without knowing further context about your site. The page should be able to "stand on its own." Among other things, it means that a page has a clear concise title, a beginner-friendly introductory sentence, and a readable and permanent URL.

Also Read: The Best 13 Killer SEO Tips For Beginner Bloggers

Suppose that the page in question lists favorite Albert Einstein quotes. Well, then its title should be "Albert Einstein quotes" or similar; its first heading should be something like "Quotes by Albert Einstein"; and there might be an introductory sentence along the lines of "The following quips by Einstein are noteworthy both for being prescient, as well as funny." The URL of the page may be http://yourfavoritequotes.example.com/einstein. Furthermore, below the Einstein quotes there could be links to quotes by other famous scientists, a link to a biography of Einstein, and a link to an Einstein discussion board (whether it's on another site or yours). There may also be a photo of young, fuzzy-haired Albert somewhere on the page. In a nutshell, if you would ask yourself the question, "Which is the best single and self-contained page on the Web for someone looking for Albert Einstein quotes?", the answer should be a resounding "Why, this one of course!"

#5 Create a good, simple navigation structure for your site

Every page you want visitors to find indexed in Google should be linked from somewhere (and not within parts of your site that would require Flash, or JavaScript, or frames, either). Keep your site's navigation structure simple and all-encompassing. If you consider a particular page to be of importance, then don't make the navigation path to it overly long, but link to it straight from your home page. On the other hand, also don't oversimplify the hierarchy of pages—because linking to 10,000 of your site's pages from the front page will greatly devalue each individual link.

#6 If your site's topic is often rather dry, consider adding a creative video, fun game, or interesting article somewhere

Even if you have the best content or service in your field, sometimes it takes a little extra to get the word out. Open up your site and give freely. Consider allowing people to run with your content by making it Creative Commons-licensed (see http://creativecommons.org), by offering gadgets or a developer API (application programming interface), or by turning it into embeddable content via sites like YouTube. Be more water than ship.

#7 Open up your site and give freely.

Consider allowing people to run with your content by making it Creative Commons-licensed (see http://creativecommons.org), by offering gadgets or a developer API (application programming interface), or by turning it into embeddable content via sites like YouTube. Be more water than ship.

#8 Make your site accessible

Accessibility is a broad topic that covers adjusting your site to work with different devices (like mobile phones, printers, text-to-speech engines) as well as different browser settings (like with JavaScript or images disabled) or browsing use-cases (like right-clicking a link to open it in a new window, or using the back button). Indeed, try browsing your site with images and JavaScript turned off. How usable is it? (And as your browser may not allow you to disable certain features, you can also use a text browser like Lynx: http://lynx.browser.org.)

Many things can be done to improve your site's accessibility: use appropriate alt text for images where needed, replace frames with a server-side template that emulates frame behavior, or ensure there are no JavaScript-based redirects that break the back button. Replacing a feature that requires a rare plug-in with one implemented in standardized web technologies can make sense as well. For a full accessibility checklist, take at look at http://w3.org/TR/WaI-WEBCONTENT/

Once you consider these issues, you can track the outcome of your work by checking the Google results of keywords relevant to your site, and by checking your stats via Google Analytics or other programs. At this point, don't worry too much about ranking details, though, or expect super-fast results. Also, don't spend hours looking at Google Analytics wondering why the numbers aren't higher yet—rather, improve your site and get the word out. Or, to put it into words commonly attributed to Albert Einstein: "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts."

Have I missed any important tips? Let us know in comments!!