OPTIMIZE

SEM Action Checklist - Optimize

• Review your site's navigation. If you notice some elements that may hinder search engine spiders, consider ways to make it easier for the search engines to index your pages.
  
  
• If you haven't researched your keyphrases, now is the time to start. Learn what words and phrases people use to find products and services like yours. Skip this step at your peril - it's actually the foundation of your search marketing campaign.
  
  
• Check out your existing content. Does each page have a targeted keyphrase focus? Is the text written well and compelling? Does your copy explain what you offer your customers? Strong content will not only help you with search positioning - it will help your conversion rates, too.
  
  
• Evaluate your page Titles. Titles tell the engines (and your customers) what your Web page is about - and a well-written Title helps with your search engine positioning. Your Title should highlight the page's main keyphrases, and be written like a headline. Remember, your Title competes with nine others on the search engine results page. The more "clickable" your Title, the more that prospects will be tempted to visit your site.
  
  
• Maximize your meta description tags. Review your descriptions and see what you can do to make them more compelling, and ensure that they are written according to best practices. Your description tag provides you the opportunity to create a powerful marketing statement for each page.
  
  
• Think about your links. Stay away from "free for all" link farms that promise thousands of links pointing to your site. The search engines consider this spam, and it will only hurt (not help) your positions.
  
  
• Review your internal linking. Check that your navigation bar points to your most important sections and pages. The pages with the highest internal link popularity tend to position more strongly, so focus your linking efforts on your most important pages.
  
  
• Finally, ask yourself if you would buy from your own site. Does the design look professional? Is your site easy to navigate? Does the content clearly explain what you offer? If you find your own site frustrating, your customers will too - and you'll lose sales.

Other SEM Action Checklists

SEM Action Checklist - Strategize
SEM Action Checklist - Analyze
SEM Action Checklist - Maximize

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