Matt Cutts on SEO Basics

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If you are using phpLD, chances are you know something about Search Engine Optimization. There was a recent article in the USA Today where Matt Cutts was interviewed, and he provided tips:

1. Spotlight Your Search Term on the Page
2. Fill in your "tags", especially the title and description tags for each web page
3. Get other sites to link back to you. Matt said this part is especially important.
4. Create a blog and post often
5. Register for free tools such as Google Webmaster Tools and Google Local Business Center

And then adds, "Don't overdo it." Things like keyword stuffing can cause more trouble that its worth.

The first thing I want to say is these are basic ideas that most of us know. But so often we get caught up in too many things and fail to focus on the basics. In any art or profession, it is the basics that matter the most, and SEO should not be any different.

As a directory owner, it is impotant to identify some of search terms you want to target. Maybe rather than overdoing it with the same approach throughout your site, you may want to consider indentifying a few pages or articles that you want spotlight.

Let's take an example...

Suppose you have niche directory about Martial Arts. Ask yourself what would make this diectory interesting and fun to read or view. Maybe you could make a category called Martial Arts Masters witharticles about some of the most famous martial arts masters of all time, and in each article you could embed video clips from YouTube. So maybe you have an article on Bruce Lee, and within the article you talk about various movies and scenes with videos imbedded in the article. Then you submit your article to social media sites such as Digg, Stumble Upon and Netscape.

Then you repeat this process for other martial arts masters like Jackie Chan and Chuck Norris, etc.

Then examine each article and make sure you have good titles, descriptions, and key phrases within the article. Write a blog post about Martial Arts Masters, and link to each of your articles. Join a martial arts forum, and engage in some discussions about your favorite masters. Include a link in your signature. Maybe even invite people to comment on your articles or blog posts.

Continue working on the category. Locate some great links to other martial arts sites. Create categories that would be helpful to users. Then repeat this process, maybe this time you coud highlight different Martial Arts Styles, and have articles with video clips depicting each style. As you grow, and make friends, maybe you can get some guest writers to submit articles to your directory. Maybe you can create a forum to increase the amount of user submitted content.

Then remember to go back every so often and make sure your title and description tags look good, and also make sure you use good heading for your articles (maybe with H1 tags). Follow up on some of the discussions on the forums, and make sure people are talking about your site, and reading the articles.

Submit a sitemap to google every so often. Check the google tools to see if you have any pages with errors, or other issues like duplicate title tags. Check your statistics and see which articles are being read the most, and then write follow up articles about the topic, and also add more links to your directory around that topic.

By really getting involved in the topic, you are also going to find that user submitted links and articles are more o target for your site, and you are starting to get a core following. You'll feel good knowing your work paid off. Good luck with your site, and remember to keep working on the SEO Basics.