Below is a list of things I’ve begun to do on a daily basis to help keep my SEO strategy clean, solid, and less vulnerable to questionable competitor activities. I can’t control what my keyword competitors are doing, but I can sure as hell make it harder for them to F’ up all my hard work.
Those bastards never sleep. So I won’t sleep either.
1. Check SERP results for all my singular/plural keywords first thing in the morning.
Every morning. Call it neurotic, but my reputation is built on the search results I produce. Every single morning, I sit down with my priority keyword list and manually type in each one and let Google decide my day. Remember, no change can be good change. Anyone above my results link is a competitor. Anyone below me is out to get me. Blackhats don’t take days off.
2. Check recently indexed Google backlinks for past 24 hours.
This is a no-brainer, people. Like a drunken Santa, Google makes it a habit to intimidate you into playing nice and then gives you crappy gifts in the form of spamdex, re-directs, and obnoxious anchor text on a daily basis. If you don’t want to know who’s linking to your site, then maybe you shouldn’t be messing around with this SEO stuff. Check your backlinks once a day like a good boy (or girl) and make your mother proud. I mean, make your client proud.
3. Did I mention keep an eye on your backlinks?
What? Are you too cool to spend some time doing defensive SEO? I guess your page results and rankings are soooo high that you’re untouchable to all mankind? Think again assface, your backlinks are your rep. Run a simple scan like one found at BacklinkWatch and make sure your competitors are not disrespecting your turf, homey.
4. Check your recent cached activity.
I personally do it just to make sure Google knows my stuff is fresh. If I’m putting out fresh, new, and relevant content on a consistent basis, you’d better believe that I want Google to notice. Consistent caching indicates Google is giving you the nod during the dance of the robots.
5. That blogger said what about me?!
Even if you couldn’t care less what some motard in his mother’s basement over in BFE thinks about your latest website change or blog post, you need to be aware that a complete SEO strategy involves a little defense and a little poking around all the corners of Google to ensure the maximum amount of link quality is being obtained. Type your blog or website name in Google Blog Search and see what the word on the street is. A quick comment reply is a great way to let that person know that you’re on top of your game.
6. Purge your blog comments of spam and idiocy
Lots of stupid people write lots of stupid things. And that’s okay. As long as it’s not done on your blog. Be proactive and either set up a process to moderate all incoming comments, or take a couple of minutes and make sure all those backlinks to the Cheapest Viagra Available are taken down. Your blog readers will thank you.
7. Take a quick look at your Analytics.
Whether you use Google Webmaster Tools or some other version of it, it’s your duty to know your numbers. If you don’t know what % your traffic has increased over the past 90 days or know the top 5 search terms you’ve ranked for longest, then you don’t check your website Analytics enough. You should be a stat pimp. You should be able to look your client in the eye and spit out obscure statistics on the drop of a hat. SEO is results driven and the numbers don’t lie.
8. Concentrate your strengths and exploit your competitor’s weaknesses
This is what defensive SEO is all about. Not only are you doing things to make sure your pages rank higher than all other pages, but you are smart enough to know that you’re not the only person trying to do the same exact thing. What is your keyword competitor up to? Are you beginning to see a trend of of specific anchor-texted backlinks from some low PR shady directories? Or maybe they’re going on a PPC campaign spending spree like money ain’t a thang. Either way, you need to know what your enemies are up to. Like I said before, the good ones never sleep.
So there they are. Eight quick things I do everyday to keep the suckers away and my SEO strategy up to par. I’m sure there are some other things different people are doing on a regular basis that they can add to this list, so if you’ve found something that works, be nice and share it in the comments.
Cheers, and I’ll see you one Page One.
