Halo SEO - Checklist for Following the Rules

Over time a set of (more or less) agreed upon rules for optimizing a website the “right” way has emerged, and it would generally fall under the moniker of White Hat SEO. I think you can go even a step further and call it “Halo SEO”, like there’s a big halo hanging over your head as you do it. I began work on a new site some 5 months ago with my team of superheroes and I was incredibly paranoid about how well and how quickly we could get it to rank in Google (no MSN I do not care about you). Moreso than ever, we followed down the checklist for what a good little SEO boy should do to ensure that Google grants you admission into their fruitful SERPs. It went something like this:

1. Established domain (been around 2+ years).
2. User-friendly look and feel to the site. Simple, uncluttered.
3. Accessible, logical navigation.
4. Submit to good directories.
5. Build unique, relevant content slowly and consistently.
6. Blog.
7. Optimize internal linking structure.
8. Unique meta descriptions.
9. Relevant outgoing links.
10. A few newschool, trendy features.
11. Slow, relevant link building.

All those down-home-cookin rules that everyone knows about. No underhanded tactics, no auto-generated pages or link farms, buying links on pages just for link popularity or the like. We kept it real and needless to say it has paid off. Our site is already better looking than the rest of the industry and it’s ranking better than all but a few. And the quickness with which we’ve been able to attain this position has me pondering what aspects of Halo SEO really paid off for us. We always have worked on building sites with good navigation, a high # of IBLs, good internal linking and unique content. So what really made the difference?

I think the most important aspects that we introduced into our strategy were the blog and the consistency with which we have added content / pages / relevant links. Many folks talk about the importance of having a blog on your money-making site and I never bought into it until now. If nothing else it creates a forum for you to try link bait, while also giving you more and more unique pages that are relevant. Win win, you just have to keep up with it. Most people are lazy - don’t be. As far as adding pages goes, take it slow. Give all of your pages unique URLs and make sure your navigation flows from the home page to the internal pages freely. At one point, Google wasn’t indexing 75% of our pages, but we refreshed the meta, improved our internal links, and continued to take the time to add more and more unique content and we pushed through. Note: If you’re ever in this position yourself, experiencing lack of indexing and/or supplemental results, also be sure to buy some good directory links (Business.com, Yahoo, BOTW, and try for DMOZ for good measure).

With a new domain (or one that is undergoing major changes cause some toolshed had it parked for 3 years before you got it), it’s obviously all about building trust. Halo SEO builds trust. So often you hear the experts in the SEO industry talk about building quality and crap, but I’m with them now more than ever. As search engines continue to evolve it’s going to get harder to game your way to the top. This is a good thing. With Halo SEO, you have to adjust your time and resources to focus more on making smart additions / improvements to your website, earning links through merit not $. There will always be room for a little link buying but your time will more wisely be spent on establishing quality. Survival of the fittest I guess.