# Search Engine Optimization (SEO) A helpful checklist / collection of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tips and technics. ## Table of Contents * [URL](#url) * [Accessibility](#accessibility) * [Meta Information](#meta-information) * [Keywords](#keywords) * [Content](#content) * [Images](#images) * [Links](#links) * [Mobile](#mobile) * [Sitemap](#sitemap) * [Social Media](#social-media) * [Analytics](#analytics) * [Tools](#tools) ## URL * **Descriptive URLs:** use a descriptive page url, which should reflect your targeted keyword * **[Subdomain or subfolder](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MswMYk05tk):** subdomains are seen as separate domains * **[Hyphens](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQcSFsQyct8):** split words using hyphens * **[www or no-www](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/44231):** provide both domains, but set a prefered version in Google Webmaster Tools * **[Localisation](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/62399):** chookse a country-specific domain, for better local search results * **[HTTPS](http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.be/2014/08/https-as-ranking-signal.html):** Security is a top priority for Google * **[URL builder](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1033867):** Use this tool to add custom compaign parameters to your URLs * **[File extension](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSG6C33GwsE)**: do not strip out the file extension on URLs ## Accessibility * **403:** provide a 403 - Access denied page * **404:** provide a 404 - Page not found page * **Robots:** block pages which should not be indexed via the `robots.txt` file or `` * **File not found:** avoid `404 FILE_NOT_FOUND` errors * **Redirects:** Avoid redirects if possible. Use 301 redirect instead of 302 * **[Pagination](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/1663744):** implement the `rel="next"` and `rel="prev"` attributes to links * **Moving a website:** redirect all your links to the new location via `.htaccess` * **Performance:** performance and loading time is important * **Validation:** write valid code ([HTML Validator](http://validator.w3.org/) [CSS Validator](http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/)) * **[WAI-Aria](http://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria/):** use WAI-Aria tags to help machines understanding your code * **[RichSnippets](http://schema.org/):** markup your code with rich snippets, they show up on the search results page * **[Custom Search](https://developers.google.com/structured-data/slsb-overview):** with sitelink Google Sitelink search box, people can reach your content more quickly ## Meta Information * **Title:** each page shound have a unique speaking title (60 - 100 characters) `Website Title` * **[Description](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4gr88oHb-k):** each page should have a unique description (max. 160 characters) `` ## Keywords * **Single:** every page shound have a single unique targeted keyword * **Research:** rank for keywords with high traffic and less competition * **[URL](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAWFv43qubI):** keyword should appear in URL name * **Title:** keyword should appear in page title * **Heading:** keyword should appear in headings * **Content:** keyword should apear in ~3% of article length * **[Meta Tag](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK7IPbnmvVU):** you can ommit the ``, search engines do not use this meta tag ## Content * **Content:** Content matters the most in SEO * **Headings:** Clear structure `H1` -` H6` max. 70 characters long * **Strong:** use `strong` tag to highlight your targeted keyword * **[Uniqueness](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQZY7EmjbMA):** do not provide duplicated content, use unique content types * **Length:** article should be at least 300 words * **Freshness:** new content is important. Updating pages or regulary posting is recommended ## Images * **[File name](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2SWuUobbr0):** use a short descriptive name * **[Alt tag](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/114016):** add an alt-tag this a description of the image (60 - 70 characters) * **Dimentions:** add the `width=""` and `height=""` attributes to the image * **[Responsive Images](http://www.w3.org/TR/html-picture-element/):** serve the most optimized image corresponding to the window size * **Size:** keep the filesize as low as possible * **[Optimization](https://imageoptim.com/):** Optimize images by removing some meta information ## Links * **Title:** add a descriptive title to links * **Backlinks:** Only add external links if you got a backlink to your site * **[nofollow](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/96569):** add `rel="nofollow"` attribute to external links only to prevent spam and bad links * **Internal links:** add ~3 internal links to your content ## Mobile * **Viewport:** tell browsers how to adjust the page's dimension and scaling to suit the device `` * **[mobile friendly](http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.be/2014/11/helping-users-find-mobile-friendly-pages.html):** mobile optimized sites are marked in search results. Test for [mobile friendly site](https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/) * **[AppLinks](http://applinks.org/documentation/):** apps that link to your content can then use this metadata to deep-link into your app * **[Tap targets](https://developers.google.com/speed/docs/insights/SizeTapTargetsAppropriately):** clickable links should not be too small ## Sitemap * **[HTML sitemap](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi5DGOu1uA0):** An HTML sitemap allows site visitors to easily navigate a website. * **[XML sitemap](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/183668):** Help search engines to index your pages * **[Image sitemap](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/178636):** Increase that your images can be found in Image Search results * **[Video sitemap](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/80471):** Make sure, search engines know about all the video content on your site * **[Mobile sitemap](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/6082207):** For feature phones, you can create a mobile sitemap ## Social Media * **Social Shares:** provide sharing options for your site * **[Social Profiles](https://developers.google.com/webmasters/structured-data/customize/social-profiles):** add social profiles to your Google search results * **[OpenGraph](http://ogp.me/):** The Open Graph protocol enables any web page to become a rich object in a social graph. * **[Facebook](https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/best-practices):** Sharing Best Practices for Websites & Mobile Apps * **[Twitter](https://dev.twitter.com/cards/getting-started):** with Twitter cards, you can attach photos, videos and media experience to you Tweets * Authorship information * **[Google+ Authorship](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgFb6Y-UJUI):** add Google+ authorship information to your page `` or `Google+ Profile` or `Google+ Profile` or `Google+ Profile` ## Analytics * [Google Analytics](http://www.google.com/analytics/) * [Piwik](http://piwik.org/) * [Yahoo Web Analytics]( (web.analytics.yahoo.com)) ## Tools * [Google Webmasters](https://www.google.com/webmasters/) * [Bing Webmasters](http://www.bing.com/toolbox/webmaster) * [PageSpeed Insights](https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/) * [AdWords Keyword Tool](https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner) * [Google Trends](http://www.google.com/trends/) * [Structured Data Testing Tool](http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/richsnippets) * [Structured Data Testing Tool](https://developers.google.com/structured-data/testing-tool/) * [Google+ Snippet Creator](https://developers.google.com/+/web/snippet/) * [seo tool by feedthebot](http://www.feedthebot.com/tools/) * [Twitter card validator](https://cards-dev.twitter.com/validator) * [Facebook Debugger](https://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug)