  Randall Rensch, copywriterThe SEO Copywriter's Checklist
Just so we're both starting on the same foot,
here's what "Search Engine Optimization" means — SEO is the process of making your website attractive to search sites and easy for them to accurately list you, also making it easy for people to find you and enticing them to click-through to your site, and being persuasively on-target so that their expectations are fulfilled when they arrive. Notice I said nothing about "keywords" or "ranking highly". That's just part of the "easy to find" part. At its fullest, SEO is a multi-step, ongoing process that encompasses everything from your site's look and the form of its code, to what you say on each page and in all your site descriptions. At its simplest, SEO is a checklist of things you can add or modify in a relatively short time. SEO is a subset of Search Engine Marketing (SEM), which includes paid search listings and your overall marketing strategy. "Organic" SEO consists of things that are visible on your web pages and the underlying code, including some of the documents. Organic SEO takes awhile to accomplish, and awhile to work, but once done and successful, you can sit back and relax. Sort of.
IMPORTANT UPDATE (2019):SEO techniques are constantly evolving, and since my first version of this list in 2008, they have changed a LOT. In fact, some aspects of SEO have become so complex that it would be silly to list them all here. The average businessperson would waste a lot of time by trying to keep abreast of standards and trends, and very possibly could be tweaking on the basis of obsolete information.
But, if you know anything about the topic, you might ask, "Yes, but what about 'organic' SEO -- things I can do once, or just now and then, that will enhance my search engine position based simply on what is on my pages? In other words, without fancy programming, embedded codes and continual revision and other work?" The sad response these days is, "That IS organic SEO -- even the static, natural changes you might incorporate into your site have become more extensive, more complicated, and different in their nature. For example, while it is still important to incorporate keywords and key phrases, the days of salting them at prescribed intervals in a certain percentage relative to your overall content ... those days have come and gone. There is so much competition for position, that it's first critically important to understand how people will search for your site, exactly what phrases they will use, and embed those phrases in a natural way. Overdoing it can actually get you penalized! More important is your site's reputation, and your reputation as an authority or go-to-source for the type of product or information your site is about. That means developing unique, useful content, and cultivating links to it from other sites having as much or more authority. So, you can go through this list. It won't hurt to attend to these practices (and avoid the no-no's), many of which are now almost two decades old. But for a current list of important SEO practices that don't require special expertise (other than being a good, knowledgeable writer), I'll refer you to some authorities respected throughout the SEO industry:
Nevertheless, attention to all these points will take you a long way. They
are in the order you should take them, but many can be done at the same
time. As far as it goes, I have tried to update it reasonably well for 2019. One more important point ...... that I barely touch on below is the impact of "web content" on Search Engine results. In pursuit of rankings, countless websites are constantly adding "content" (how I hate that word!) of various sorts, often in the form of "blog" posts or articles. Don't get me started on that subject; it's grist for an article in itself. For now, suffice it to say that before you start blogging, you should understand exactly what you hope to achieve, how to make your blog worth reading, and how to promote it. The point is to be seen as an authority in your field and acquire genuine referrals from other sites and authors. There are
already way, way, way too many blithering "bloggers" saying pretty much the same things. That's not helpful to their cause, nor to rest of us. Although this list is probably not exhaustive, it may be exhausting. So another way to do all this is is simply to call or write an experienced SEO copywriter.
If you have a question about your SEO project, existing or planned, please write, or call me. copyright ©2005-2008 Randall Rensch All Rights Reserved Do you have a project, question, or suggestion in mind? Let's put our minds together.
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