You’ve just written some killer content and you have already checked it for spelling mistakes and reread it to make sure there are no obvious grammatical oversights and that it reads as well now that it’s written down as it did in your head about 30 minutes ago (Mine always seem to change slightly). You’ve also already done some really basic keyword research (use KeywordEye) to make sure the main phrase is one searched for frequently, but have you covered all of your SEO bases?
I’ve talked before about how best to optimise a post before publishing but here’s the quick and easy checklist to make sure you have used the keywords to optimum effect. I’ve also taken the liberty of adding a few of the plug-ins that are a must have if you want to supercharge your SEO efforts.
The ‘Whoa don’t hit publish yet’ Keyword Checklist:
- Keyword in the title of your post.
- Keyword doesn’t fit/can’t use it in the title? No problem, just change the permalink name to include your keyword (this way the URL name changes which is actually more powerful for your SEO anyway) and leave your brilliant title intact. Don’t worry, CommentLuv uses your actual title not your permalink, I’ve tested it.
- Keywords used at least once in the opening two paragraphs (preferably once in each paragraph since Google lends more weight to the top half of the body)
- Keyword used to link to another page/post/site at least once in the TOP HALF of the body
- Keyword in Anchor text
- Have an image? Keywords in the Alternate Text & Title
- Keywords in Tags
- Keywords in Keywords (Part of All-in-One SEO)
- Keywords in Description field (Part of All-in-One SEO)
- Keywords in Title (Part of All-in-One SEO)
Essential WordPress Plug-ins for some keyword love
I briefly mentioned All-in-One SEO above and you can probably already see why it’s so good. With this plugin installed you simply fill out the three fields, Title, Description, Keywords and you’re done. No more to worry about. Oh, and it overwrites ALL other fields if you happen to have a theme that incorporates this functionality, like Thesis for example. I like this plug-in because it’s simple and IT WORKS. I don’t really need anymore from my plug-ins, but I do need SEO Smart Links Plug-in because this is another essential ingredient in my delicious SEO sauce.
SEO Smart Links basically links the Keywords in your posts with the same keywords that you put into the Tags, Keywords, Categories fields. (I’m hoping at this point that you have your primary keywords as Categories on your blog!?! If you don’t…. Just do it OK) One of the most important ingredients to a well structured site is that the keywords are used to link pages together as often as possible. SEO Smart Links does exactly this, constantly and on auto pilot; Brilliant!
Google XML Sitemaps and Google Analyticator are both great plugins that certainly don’t do as much for your on page optimization as the first two plugins I talked about, in fact Google Analyticator does nothing FOR your onpage SEO at all! It’s good but. 
Google XML Sitemaps is a plug-in that generates an XML sitemap for your blog, and obviously keeps recreating and updating as your site changes. Creating sitemaps is something that Google loves, and the easier you can make it for Google to crawl and index your blog the quicker the big G will get around to doing it.
Google Analyticator is an awesome plug-in that is a must have if you want to see (instantly) how all this keyword optimisation is affecting your traffic. The plugin also makes it really easy to install Analytics because you simply link to the account in Google from your Dashboard and away you go. The plug-in includes stats like visitor numbers, top 5 traffic sources , top referrers, and top keyword searches. It also gives you details about how many people read what posts. Great resource to have sitting in your dashboard.
All of these plugins are available through your admin panel btw. So before you hit publish, other than making sure your post is grammatically coherent go through that checklist and stick that keyword everywhere! Install those plug-ins if you don’t already have them and keep pumping out killer posts like you have always done. Nothing has changed except the potential for a million visitors just increased dramatically.
Alex Whalley is the author of Alex Whalley.com where he writes about blogging, niche site marketing, and keyword research techniques. Alex recently quit his fulltime job to tackle niche marketing fulltime and uses his blog to catalogue and document his experiences with making money with niche sites and search engine marketing. If you’d like to see how easy it is to build, market and monetize niche sites check out his blog. You can also Follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his RSS Feed.
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Nice checklist there. If you’re running a very SEO-focused blog then yes, these are important. Just keep in mind that no all blog posts need to be SEO optimized. Sometimes you want to say something without competing over keywords!
Anne´s last [type] ..How to Find Blog Sponsors
You make a good point Anne, but I disagree all the same. If every post is optimised then as a whole they contribute to a better optimised blog, granted you don’t want to optimise if it’s not relevant I guess.
Thanks for your comment Anne
Alex@nichesitemarketing´s last [type] ..Threadless Thursday
Wow, those are some great lists and tools, Alex. I’ve never heard of KeywordEye before this. Thanks for pointing all of these helpful things out!
Noel´s last [type] ..UFC 117 REVIEW PART 2- SILVA VS SONNEN
Hey Noel!
No worries my friend, You should download my new ebook mate, it’s all this and more!
Alex@nichesitemarketing´s last [type] ..Threadless Thursday
Fantastic checklist Alex.
Although it may be something that “ah, I don’t need that” on a few of them, it could mean the different between a spot or two within search results and, as we know, can be huge in terms of traffic.
It’s good practice that if you’re going for the top spot, just take the time to actually do each of these. A little bit of work pays off in the long run
Thanks for sharing Alex.
Murlu´s last [type] ..Tips And Tricks To Get The Most Out Of Helium
As usual Murray you have summed up and backed up my post beautifully.
Thanks mate.
)
Have a good one Muzzah! (that would be your name if you lived in Oz.
Alex@nichesitemarketing´s last [type] ..Threadless Thursday
Great post, Alex!
I am looking to make my blog a lot more SEO-friendly, therefore pulling in more traffic, so I will definitely try out these tips!
The cool thing about SEO is that is generates LONG-TERM traffic!
Hey Joe!
You said it right my young padawon
It is definitely a long term objective. You cannot expect to see results within a few weeks, even a few months, but a year down the track you are gonna be ranking high for everything!
Alex@nichesitemarketing´s last [type] ..Threadless Thursday
Nice keyword optimization checklist you’ve there, Alex.
The ‘Analyze Content’ button of Scribe plugin is what I do (and hit) before I click the ‘Publish’ button. Scribe helps me to check my keyword density and see whether they’re buried or not. It also helps to check my keyword placements. It’s a great keyword optimization tool that I’ve been using.
Hey Kevin, Nice tip mate, thanks for sharing that with me
I have not tried that plugin but I think I will go and have a play with it now
thanks again
Alex´s last [type] ..Threadless Thursday
Excellent checklist. I’ll be sure to pass this on to whom I’ve outsourced my SEO.
Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing´s last [type] ..The ABSOLUTE Final Posting
Hey Dennis, and why is it you don’t outsource it to me?!? only kidding mate – nice, tell him/her I only ask for 3%
Hmm, well now, how much do you charge?
Sooo excited to see your name on The InfoPreneur, Alex – very well-deserved!
I’ve got a suggestion for your post. What I do for my titles is this: I keep the pretty title for my readers and social media promotion, but when I use All-in-one SEO plugin, I change the title to fit my main keyword in the beginning.
So I get better SEO ranking for the post, and yet CommentLuv, etc still pull up the “pretty” title.
Hope this helps!
Look forward to next Sunday, Alex – better be a good one!
Ana Hoffman
Ana @ Targeted Website Traffic´s last [type] ..How To Rank Well For Your Inner Pages
Hey Ana!
Thanks girl, glad to be here
That’s a great tip, which of course is something you should be doing anway, but I like my tip – just change the permalink so you also get the keyword in the URL, but commentluv keeps the pretty title there also.
Thanks for sharing and stopping by Ana.
Thanks for compiling this checklist, Alex.
Until recently, I’ve never bothered with SEO, except as an experiment.
Your list makes it sound super easy, LOL.
I do have All In One SEO and was looking at “SEO Ultimate” which, according to one review, corrects some so-called deficiencies of All In One SEO. Heh, I wouldn’t know and I’m thinking that I would be better off leaving well enough alone.
In fact, SEO Ultimate seems to do more gimmicky things than simply On-page SEO (such as Code insertion and researching the competition).
Have you looked at SEO Ultimate, by any chance?
Cheers,
Mitch
Mitchell Allen´s last [type] ..Could Not Find CAPTCHA Token
Hey Mitch!
I agree with leaving well enough alone
I don;t know about SEO Ultimate, but as I said in the post, and as you stated in the comment, if it aint broke – don’t fix it.
all in one works and I’m sticking to it
Glad you enjoyed the post Mitch, thanks again for stopping by
Alex!
I really hadn’t thought about using differing titles/permalinks that way. Very smart, my friend! Seriously, that one little thing will probably seriously help my rankings in the near future. Great tips!
Jillian´s last [type] ..Traffic Report – July 2010
Hey Miss Editor in CHief!
Glad you found the tip useful, that’s all I got for 2010, damnit…
THanks again for stopping by and commenting Jillian, and congrats on the move at HBT
Alex@nichesitemarketing´s last [type] ..The Ultimate Keyword Research Resource – Available Now!
I have used all the plugins that you recommended except the SEO Smart Links. I will try to use it for my blog too.
For this statement:
“Keyword used to link to another page/post/site at least once in the TOP HALF of the body”
Do you mean that we should link the keyword that we have chosen to another page for SEO purpose? I’m quite confuse with this.
Thanks a lot!
Kok Siong @ Cancer Research´s last [type] ..Advantages and Complications of Bone Marrow Aspiration and Trephine Biopsy
Hi Kok…just to chime in here with my thoughts…what you want to do is what you said…take the target keyword and link it to another post, etc. This actually gives you a great chance of getting both sites onto page 1 of google…a double listing.
Talk soon,
Brandon
exactly!
Thanks Brandon.
It also increases your sites overall ranking for that keyphrase.
Just install SEO smart links and you don;t need to worry anymore
alex@nichesitemarketing´s last [type] ..Writing an ebook A Journey of Blog- sweat- and tears
Very good and valuable tips. I just read you e-book today. Thanks for the information.
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