What do inbound links say?
You want all the inbound links you can get, but what really makes the difference, according to Sean Tiner, engagement coordinator at Trinet Internet Solutions, is to make sure that the linked copy from the other website includes a term that people would naturally search for, rather than the name of your website.
Here's Tiner's example: "A cosmetics website can identify key terms, such as 'beauty products,' 'discount cosmetics,' and 'lipstick.' Then, the website can encourage outside websites, including blogs to link on these terms instead of the name of the cosmetics website. Over time, the website will start to position itself on these key terms and improve its search engine positioning."
404 Errors are something to worry about
When a user encounters a 404 error, it means they won't be able to see the content that was once housed at that location, but when a search engine finds the same error, it has no idea what to make of the valuable links that continue to point to that content. When that happens, your site won't get one ounce of credit for the link, says Daniel Riveong, head of search marketing at e-Storm International.
According to Riveong, the solution is to use 301 redirects -- something Google's Matt Cutts also recommends -- to "capture" these bad links and point the user and the search engine to the right page.
Watch your "www"
Does your site display as both YourSite.com and www.yoursite.com? The difference can be subtle to the human eye, but to a search engine, that "canonicalization" can be a death sentence, says Brad Dixon, internet marketing manager at uShip.com.
"A URL is the unique identifier to a search engine," Dixon explains. "You want to chose one way that a search engine sees your site." You should do this in two ways. First, create a Webmaster Tools account, verify your domain as instructed, and then choose whether or not you want Google to index your site using the www or not. Then implement a 301 redirect to the non-preferred URL so that it will forward that name to the preferred one.
"It's somewhat like changing your email address," Dixon says. "You are telling the search engine that Page A has "permanently moved" (301 is the code) to the other official URL."
Keep an eye on the index
You probably add new pages all the time, but how do you know if they're being indexed? According to Jay Bhatti, co-founder of Spock.com, a search engine specializing in people, the answer is to do a weekly spot check of the index.
If you enter the site "YourSite.com" in Google's search box, you can see how many pages have been indexed by the search engine. This tactic helps you tell if your pages are going unranked (something you can determine by checking the index number against your content management system statistics). But checking the index will also tell you how your pages rank in relation to each other. According to Bhatti, many people might be surprised to find that "About Us" pages and other identifiers may rank higher than other content because that's information search engines place a greater emphasis on.
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