Take your SEO to the next level with these tips and tricks!

Let's say you're a rookie in the field of search engine optimization, and you've just recently gotten the hang of how good fundamental SEO practices work. Let's also say you've recoded your company's new website in order to implement these best practices. So far you have removed all image-based page and section titles and replaced them with proper H1 and H2 tags; added meaningful keywords to your titles tags instead of having the same "Welcome to Company Name!" label for each page; added informative alt tags to the web site's imagery; and hey, you've even cleaned up that rather large list of meaningless keyword-stuffed links conducive to classic black hat SEO tactics that the Holy Grail of SEO Practitioners, Google, deftly frowns upon!

So you've implemented the basics. Where do you go from here?

My first recommendation is that you visit this handy cheat sheet located at Vaughn's Summaries: Google Ranking Factors - SEO Checklist. Though the formatting and usability of this checklist leave much to be desired, there is no disputing the fact that it contains handy information, tips, and techniques you may have overlooked or not considered before when optimizing your web site. Heck, it even lets you know what practices are looked down upon ahead of time so you're not hauled off by the SEO Police!

My second recommendation is to visit this excellent compiled list of 21 Great SEO Tips From Google's Matt Cutts, located on SEO Egghead. In this collection of tips, Matt gives great advice and perspective on the technicalities of well thought out SEO.

It is, after all, the details that make good SEO great SEO, right?

Of course it is. So visit the page of 21 Great SEO Tips and educate yourself on why nearly hidden keyword-stuffed text is more damaging than completely hidden keyword-stuffed text, why you should be weary of who links to your website, how redirects are vital, and why user-friendly URLs triumph over dynamically generated ones any day!

I know all these SEO tips, tricks and rules seem like a lot to worry about when you are beginning to refine your skills, but hey, practice makes perfect! The more often you make all these little pieces a part of the larger picture when authoring and strategizing SEO for your next website, the more intuitive it becomes!