Matt Cutts, Google's Ambassador at large recently gave a talk about SEO (search engine optimization) for bloggers: http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/seo-for-bloggers/

Blogging can be a great way to keep your website content fresh, build credibility and authority for your business, and get targeted traffic coming in. These are great tips, straight from the horse's mouth, about getting your blog at the top of Google.

Use Wordpress. WordPress takes care of 80-90% of(the mechanics of)Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

My plugins (used by Matt Cutts)

• Akismet
• Cookies for Comments
• Enforce www. preference
• Feedburner Feedsmith
• WP Super Cache

How does Google crawl?
We crawl roughly in decreasing order of PageRank


What's PageRank?
The number and importance of links pointing to you.


How does Google rank pages?
You want to be relevant and reputable


SEO tips: keywords

• Think about the keywords that users will type. Include them naturally in your posts
• ALT attribute are handy (3-4 relevant words)
• Don't forget image search, videos, etc.
• What will your visitors type?
• Keyword tool - brainstorm!
• Url structure
• Tweaking titles, urls, content
• Use categories that are also good keywords
  

Keywords in url paths: example.com/my-keywords

• Dashes are best
• Next best is underscores
• No spaces is worst

General Blogging Tips

• Update often
• Provide a useful service
• Do original research or reporting
• Give great information
• Find a creative niche
• Make lists ("11 reasons why WordCamp ruled")
• Create controversy
• Meet folks on Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed
• Make a video
• Google tools can help. Webmaster console at google.com/webmasters/
• Avoid paid posts
• Keep your WordPress and web server updated!!

Security

• Automatic updates
• Protect the /wp-content/ directory

And finally:

rel=canonical . Built into wordpress.com. Download 2.8!

Comments

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Gry Dla Dzieci     | 213.156.111.xxx | 2009-06-16 04:33:26 Truly epic tips set! I might not be the most experienced blogger out there, but I believe this is the most complete list of advice, that fits on a single page ;) Of course all the points could be elaborated on, but the gist is there. Great catch! Reply | Quote 0   0

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