Main Components to an SEO Engagement
I put a quick list together for a prospective client, trying to outline the main parts to an SEO Engagement and what they could expect… I didn’t want to create an extensive document, but wanted to hit the main parts.
Main Components:
(most common)
Internal – Content
Keyword Research / Implementation:
Making sure that Copy and Content on pages is correctly reflecting keywords which should be used relevant to your pages, traffic, and associated searches from Search Engines (Google, Yahoo!, etc..)
Content Creation – making sure that SEO’d, relevant article pieces are created for purpose of increasing relevance for subject. Possible creation of a blog (usually recommended).
Correcting pages/documents for Page Titles, Meta (keyword, description), etc. to focus on keywords respectively. Making sure each page / document has it’s own unique Title and Meta.
Internal Linking – making sure content is linking intelligently and flowing correctly from page to page, to build up relevance, Page Rank, etc…
Internal – Technological
Making sure technological road bumps are removed, and that site layout, linking etc are aligned and optimized for search engines.
This includes removal of Javascript, AJAX, etc which are not read easily by search engines at this point. Technologies such as Javascript, AJAX, and Flash can still be used, but not in areas that are dependent on SEO factors – removal of content areas which are rendered after in Jscript, Flash, etc, which are important for SEO, and recreated with HTML or such so that they can be read and lend relevance to pages.
Crawl-ability of the site, so that engines can easily make their way through from page to page.
Removal of duplicate content
Correct implementation of Meta, title attributes, image tagging etc, along with previous keyword research. Making sure each page has it’s own meta, titles, etc along the site to avoid duplicate issues.
External Factors
Link strategy – links are very much the voting system of the web, it is a large component of how search engines decide what page is relevant for a search, and what determines how highly you will rank for a keyword or search term.
(NOTE: Great care has to be taken about linking – sites often try to trade links, but linking to a “bad” or flagged site can actually hurt you if you are not aware of what you are doing. Be very cautious if an agency is requiring you to place links on your site, rather than simply offering links from their sites or directories to you…. And not all links are the same. Again it is well to be cautious and aware.)
Social – social media, sites etc. are a good way to get people to a site and help build some relevance for a subject. This can be more difficult for some sites, as there usually has to be interest in the subject. Many social/marketing agencies are pushing more and more of this kind of strategy. This is usually done along with some kind of blog, as previously mentioned. Good social media integration or campaigns can help with both the short-term (traffic, usually), and also long-term by garnering links to pages from the influx of traffic associated to the social media (think Twitter, Facebook, etc..).