Here are a few simple checks to make sure your site has the best chance with the search engines.

1. Title Tag - Is the title of each page unique? The keyword that page is optimized for should be at or near the beginning of the title. Make the title short and to the point. “Leather Dog Collars” is much better than “Our Leather Dog Collars are High Quality”.

2. Meta Tags - If you use Meta keywords, make sure you ONLY have keywords listed which are relevant to THAT page. Do not use Meta keywords which are not found on the page. Usually the meta keywords should only be the keyword, and the forms of the keyword which the page is optimized for. Example: leather dog collars, dog collars, collars, leather collars. Google gives meta keywords no relevancy now days; but if you insert non-relevant keywords to that page, they may consider it spamming!

3. Affiliate Links - DO NOT put affiliate links on a brand new page which has not been indexed yet by the search engines. When you do put affiliate links on, only put one or two per page…at most! The last thing in the world you want to do is give Google any thoughts that your page might be a part of an “affiliate site”.

4. AdSense – I do not even put AdSense on a new page until it is indexed by the search engines. Google would not care of course, but it is thought other search engines may. You DO NOT want to look like a “made for AdSense site” (MFA).
5. AdSense - When you do have AdSense on a page, is there a LOT more content than ads? Remember, less is more when it comes to how many AdSense ads to put on a page. In almost all cases, lower numbers of ads mean a higher CPM.

6. Linking – You linking structure needs to be sound. Text links are MUCH better than image links for your navigation and other internal links. The anchor text of each link should be very descriptive (with the keyword of the linked page if possible) as to what the linked page’s topic is.

7. Simple Design – Keep your page simple and clean! DO NOT try to impress people with your web design skills! Easy to read information is what people want – not sound or flashing graphics.

8. Trust Factor – If you are selling ANYTHING, even affiliate products, the trust factor will make or break you. If your site does not look trustworthy, people will not stay long enough to click anything…much less buy anything. Make your site as personal feeling as you can; put as much of “you” into it as possible if you are asking people to buy anything.

9. Home Page Links – For indexing reasons, make sure all links back to your home page are the full URL. Instead of just using “index.htm”, the link should go to http://www.YourDomain.com.

10. Google Webmaster Tools – Be sure to register there and specify that you want all references to your domain to resolve to the www version. In other words, if Google sees a page out there with a link to your site, but the page used yoursite.com instead of www.yoursite.com, Google will know that you want them to only consider the www.yoursite.com version of your address. Otherwise duplicate content issues can arise.

11. Site Map – Go to my member’s page and input your domain’s address into the site map creation tool I have linked to there. Generate a text file site map. Follow the instructions at Google Webmaster Tools for letting Google know about your site map.

12. Duplicate Content – Is there ANY chance that ANY of your content could be considered duplicate? Run any questionable pages through www.copyscape.com. If CopyScape finds duplicate content, so will Google.

13. Internal Linking – Internal linking is also important to Page Rank. Be sure that all your pages link to each other from within the content of your various pages. Having the same navigation bar on each page linking to all the same links does not count. Google discounts the links found in a common navigation bar. However, if you have links to your other pages here and there from within the content of pages, that will help your page rank status.

14. Submit Your Links – There is no need to submit your link directly to the search engines. It means far more if the engines find your link out there on a page they already have indexed. Therefore, use my list of directories on the members’ page as a starting point for submitting your site to relevant categories of as many high quality directories as you have time for. Also, start writing articles for such places as ezinearticles.com, etc. Include your sites link in the article’s bio section.

15. Keep adding pages of content to your site on a regular basis!