I’ve been asked recently to outline the important pieces of search engine optimization so I have put together the top 8 items that are critical for good search engine ranking position.

1. Create unique and accurate page titles. Make title both user and search engine friendly. Make sure and create a unique title for each page on your site. A good title would be the name of your company plus 3 keywords or key phrases unique to the page. Make sure the title ACCURATELY describes the content on that page. Make sure the title is brief, but descriptive.
2. Make sure you use the "description" meta tag. The description meta tag gives search engines a summary of what the page is about. Where the title is a brief description with 3 keywords or 3 key phrases, the description might contain 1-2 sentences or a short paragraph. Make sure the description meta tag accurately describes the content on that page. Search engines often use this description as a snippet from your page to display in the search results "IF" that text matches the user's query.
3. Improve URL Structure of your site by making your file names "friendly" by creating url's from relevant words on that page. Using keywords in the url tells users and search engines more info about the page than a number or encryptic parameters. Create descriptive categories and filenames for the documents on your site. This creates an easier file structure for you to maintain, users to find items, and search engines to index. Make sure this navigation is a naturally flowing hierarchy. Make your site easier to navigate by building a clear hierarchy of folders and documents. Build a sitemap that displays the structure of your website by its hierarchical listings on your site. Submit an XML Sitemap to Google through the Webmaster Tools makes it easier for Google to discover pages on your site. Build a breadcrumb navigation to internally link pages and allows visitors to quickly navigate back to the previous section or root page.
4. Offer quality content or services. By creating useful content it will more than likely positively influence your website more than any other factor. Users know and want good content, so give them what they want. If they like the content, chances are they will recommend others to your site. To write good content make sure you:
   • Write easy to read text. Users enjoy content that is well written and easy to follow.
   • Stay organized and on topic. Organize content so that visitors have a good sense of where one topic begins and the other ends. Break up content into logical chunks or divisions will help users find the content they want faster.
   • Use relevant language. Think of words that users might search for to find a piece of your content and use different keywords and variations of your keywords so that different keywords can be used to find your content. Anticipate different search behaviors and account for them while writing the content. Use Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool to discover new keyword variations and see the approximate search volume for each keyword.
   • Create fresh and unique content.
   • Offer exclusive content or services. Consider creating a new useful service that no other site offers. Or write an original piece of research, breaking news stories, or leverage your unique user base.
   • Create content for your users and not for the search engines. Design the content around your visitors needs.
5. Write better anchor text when creating a link. The anchor text is the text that you see when clicking a link. Make sure this text tells users (and search engines) what type of content you are linking to. Use keywords and key phrases of the page you are linking to so users and Google know what the linking is about. Aim for short, but concise text; usually a few words or a short phrase. Format these links where they are easier to spot by making the links blue and underlined. Make sure you pay attention to internal linking sites as well as it makes it easier for users and Google to navigate your site better.
6. Use heading tags such as h1 and h2 tags appropriately. There are six heading tags beginning with h1 (most important) and ending with h6 (least important). Since h1 tags text is typically larger and is a visual queue to the user that the text contained in this tag is important. Use the heading tags to create a visual hierarchical structure for your content. It will make it easier for users to navigate through your page content. Put some thought into your heading tags and make sure that they include page specific keywords relating to your content. The most important keyword should be contained in the h1 tag and less important keywords in the following tags. Make sure you use the heading tags sparingly across the page. Too many heading tags can confuse the user and cause them to scan the content and make it hard for the user to determine where one topic begins and another ends.
7. Optimize the use of your site's images. Make sure to give your images descriptive and distinct file names and most importantly make sure the "alt" attribute contains descriptive keywords or key phrases. It is important because search engines treat this text similarly to the anchor text of a link text.
8. Make sure you are using your robots.txt file effectively. Check your robots.txt file to make sure you are allowing search engine spiders the ability to crawl your site. If the search engine cannot crawl your site, the site will never be indexed.

   Be aware of rel="nofollow" for links because this will tell search engines that the link on your site shouldn't be followed or pass your page rank to the page linked to. So if you have a comment section on your site, you want to use the nofollow option so that your page rank is not shared with the other site.