SEO Basics Part 2: On-Page SEO Audit How do you get a website indexed in the search engines? And how do you make sure it has a search engine-friendly structure? Read about this and more in SEO Basics Part 2! The presentation contains concise advice on: - How to submit your site to Google and other search engines - How to learn which of your pages are indexed by the search engines - How to check your site for accessibility and crawlability issues - What an XML sitemap is and how to create one - The purpose of a robots.txt file - Dynamic URLs vs Static URLs - How to make sure your site has SEO-friendly navigation - How Flash, JavaScript and frames affect search engines’ interpretation of your site - Means of diagnosing broken links - What internal duplicate content is and how to deal with it - How to check your site for HTML and CSS errors - And, what on-page SEO software can help you perform an all-round SEO audit or your site.

1. SEO Basics Part 2: On-Page SEO Audit
Distilled tips from
“SEO in Practice”,
a practical guide to SEO
Read complete SEO Guide at SEOinPractice.Com

2. Part 2: On-Page SEO Audit
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Let’s say you have just built
a brand-new website…
But do search engines
know about it?
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3. Part 2: On-Page SEO Audit
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Thing is, if your site has no links to any other sites
on the Web,
To search engines, it could be but a desolate island
that is hard to find on the World Wide Web
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4. Part 2: On-Page SEO Audit
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How do you check if Google knows about your site?
Just type in site:your_domain_name and hit “Search”
If no match is found, it means your site is NOT in Google’s index
(database)
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5. Part 2: On-Page SEO Audit
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Now, you can let Google know your site exists,
in 2 ways:
1) Submit the URL of your site
to Google via this page:
http://www.google.com/submityour
content/website-owner/
To find submission forms for other search engines, search for
“add URL to [name of search engine]”
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6. Part 2: On-Page SEO Audit
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2) Put a link to your site
from a website that is
already indexed in Google
By the way, a quick way to do it
would be to share your site on
Google Plus, because public
Google+ posts appear in Google
search!
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7. Part 2: On-Page SEO Audit
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When your site gets listed in Google, check how many pages are
actually indexed
Again, you can do it by searching for site:your_domain_name
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8. Part 2: On-Page SEO Audit
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Here are some issues you may encounter:
1) Some of your site’s pages are missing
2) There are duplicate listings (too many pages are indexed)
Both “symptoms” show Google is confused about your site structure
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9. Part 2: On-Page SEO Audit
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So, how do you make sure your site is
search engine-friendly?
1. Create an XML sitemap for search engine bots
2. Prepare a robots.txt file with instructions for search engines
3. Re-write dynamic URLs
4. Set up straightforward navigation
5. Make sure Flash, Java and frames are not making the site inaccessible
6. Fix broken links on your site
7. Dispose of internal duplicate content by specifying canonical URLs
8. Tell Google to disregard the tracking parameters on your site
9. Correct HTML and CSS mistakes
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10. Part 2: On-Page SEO Audit
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1) An XML sitemap is essentially a list of your site’s URLs which
you submit to search engines
It informs search engines
of your site structure, so
that they can easily find
their way around
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11. Part 2: On-Page SEO Audit
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2) A robots.txt file is a text file meant for search engine bots, which
you upload to your site
It prevents search engines from visiting and
indexing the pages you don’t want them to see:
• Pages with sensitive information
• Pages irrelevant to the topic of your site
(e.g., the Terms and Conditions page)
• Old sales copies, etc.
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12. Part 2: On-Page SEO Audit
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3) If your site uses dynamic URLs, re-write them to display
static ULRs to search engines
So, if the URLs on your site look like this:
http://www.myshop.com/showgood.php?category=34&good=146
Re-write them using your keywords to display more meaningful
URLs to search engines:
http://www.myshop.com/beauty-products/dove-soap.html
*For detailed instructions on how to do it, please visit SEOinPractice.com

13. Part 2: On-Page SEO Audit
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4) Make sure your site’s navigation is straightforward
• Create categories and subcategories on your site
• Provide paths (links) between pages, whenever
applicable
• Use text links instead of images (since search
engines don’t understand text on graphic links)
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14. Part 2: On-Page SEO Audit
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5) Make sure Flash, JavaScript and frames do not prevent search
engines from understanding your site
• Flash - Although using it you makes
your site appealing, it’s better to avoid
Flash in navigational elements
• JavaScript - Avoid using it in
navigational elements or include a
noscript section
• Frames - It’s better to remove them
completely. But if you can’t, at least use
noframes tags
*For a list of file types that Google CAN read, please visit SEOinPractice.com

15. Part 2: On-Page SEO Audit
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6) Detect and fix broken links
This is how Google
bot feels about
broken links on your
site!
You can check if your
site has broken links at
http://validator.w3.org/
checklink

16. Part 2: On-Page SEO Audit
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7) Dispose of internal duplicates with the help of canonical tags
If some pages on your site can be
accesses via multiple URLs
(multiple paths leading to the
same content)→ specify a
canonical URL for each group of
such addresses
In the <head> section, insert:
<link rel="canonical" href="http://www.canonical_URL">
(replace “canonical_URL” with your canonical URL address)
*For more information on canonical tags, please visit SEOinPractice.com

17. Part 2: On-Page SEO Audit
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8) Make sure your site’s tracking parameters do not create duplicate
URLs
Does your site use tracking parameters (session IDs, utm, etc.)?
If it does, tell Google to disregard them to prevent the search engine from
indexing duplicate URLs on your site.
Go to Google Webmaster Tools and click “Configuration” > “URL parameters”
Click Edit and select “Does not affect page content”
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18. Part 2: On-Page SEO Audit
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9) Correct HTML and CSS errors that may not let search engines
correctly crawl your site
Having sloppy HTML on your site may result in search engines not being
able to crawl it correctly or completely
To check for HTML errors, go
to http://validator.w3.org
To check for CSS errors, go to
http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/

19. Part 2: On-Page SEO Audit
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By the way, is there a way to check these parameters all at once?
Sure thing! WebSite Auditor on-page SEO software shows:
 How many pages of your site are indexed by search engines
 The instructions in your robots.txt file (which you can edit
right from the tool)
 Content type on each of your pages (text/html, etc.)
 URLs with duplicate content
 Canonical tags
 Full list of broken links for each page
 HTML and CSS errors , and much more!
Free trial is available at www.link-assistant.com/website-auditor/

20. What’s next?
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Read complete SEO Guide
at SEOinPractice.Com
*Grab the best SEO tools and more guides at
Link-Assistant.Com