Step by Step Guide to website SEO , checklist # 1

CheckList # 1, The Domain Name 

Exact Match Domains In the past, keywords in your domain name helped your website rank better.  The ultimate ranking boost was from something called an Exact Match Domain or EMD for short.  An EMD took keyword “stuffing” to the extreme – by making the domain name the same as the main keyword phrase you are trying to target.

Google had finally decided to take action on “low-quality” EMDs and prevent them from ranking simply because of the phrase in the domain name.

Some things to look for that might indicate a low-quality EMD site:

• Is the site specifically targeting that EMD phrase or does your site have a lot of quality content within the overall niche?

• Do you have a lot of backlinks with anchor text that matches the EMD phrase?

• Are there very few pages on your site?

• Reading your content, does there appear to be a bias towards using that EMD phrase (to try to help it rank better)?

• Is that EMD phrase repeated a few times on the homepage?  What
about other pages on the site?

• Is that phrase used in internal links back to the homepage from other pages on the site? • Is your on-site SEO targeting that EMD phrase?

• Is the EMD phrase one that Adwords Advertisers are willing to bid on?  Is it quite commercial?

Keyword Stuffed Domains Another potential problem with a domain name is keyword stuffing. Let’s suppose your website is selling cosmetic contact lenses. If your domain was cosmetichalloween-colored-contactlenses.com then it’s clear that the domain has been stuffed with relevant keywords.
This would get you into trouble, but even if it didn’t, what would visitors think to a domain like that?  This type of domain is not one that I would be anxious to hold on to.


The Domain Name Checklist 

• EMD?  If yes, then be aware that this will work against you and you’ll need to de-optimize the site for the phrase in the domain name.

• Keyword stuffed?  There isn’t much you can do with this other than move the site to a better domain.  Keyword stuffed domains look spammy and don’t instill much confidence in visitors.  Unless there is good reason to keep the domain (like it still makes good income or ranks well), I’d consider moving the site to a better, brandable domain.

• Has your domain never ranked properly?  If not, then check its history at the Way Back Machine. Consider a reconsideration request at Google if it looks like the domain was used before.

(article is taken from SEO checklist from ANDY Williams)