Tried to apply everything I've learn't from SEO Chat.

Hi there I've tried to apply all of the suggestions I've gleaned from a week of reading SEO Chat to a site that we launced a few days ago http://www.ezypart.co.uk and was wondering if anyone had any further suggestions.

With regards to SEO I've:
1. Tried to use the most relevant keywords in the page titles while still leaving them meaningfull for someone using the site.
2. Ensured that almost every link is a textual link.
3. Used as much relevant content as the client could supply, and ditched any irellevant content.
4. Spent a day learning about mod_rewrite to remove as many parameters as I could (made them look like directories). This was a nightmare to get working, so I hope that it proves too be useful
5. Provided an ample splattering of keywords and keyphrases around the site.

From a usability perspective I've tried to:
1. Make the text sufficiently large and ledgible
2. Make a link look like a link!
3. Label everything with labels that should (fingers crossed) make sense to a user.
4. Supply content that the user and not the client would like.
5. Make sure that the content is in clearly defined regions.

I have submitted the Site to the ODP and am holding my breath for an inclusion, Google seems to have included it on the day it was launched (minor miracle) and I am working on crafting a Yahoo! submission - suggestions greatly appreciated. , and will make an Inktomi submission.

The keywords we are hoping to target are:
1. The manufacturer names
2. boiler parts
3. domestic boiler parts
4. hydraulic divertor valves
5. vokera fans

Any constructive criticism, comments or observations will be appreciated.

Wonderful detailed post digitalirony. When I first entered the site, some of the links seemed to be allocating a session ID, although after clicking a couple of them I couldn't see it again. Google HATES session id's so make sure they're not assigned if possible.

Many of your page titles start with Ezypart, e.g. "::: Ezypart ::: - Boiler Parts Direct To Your Door". I'm sure it would help if you changed this to "Boiler Parts Direct To Your Door from ::: Ezypart :::" - much better for the "boiler parts" keyphrase.

Also, it looks like there are 1 or 2 images used as links that you should apply ALT text to.

Before you submit your site to Yahoo, check it with Netscape 4.7 first for any browser incompatibilities.

Gringo.

Thanks for the heads ip about the titles Gringo, they should be quite easy to change so I'll give it a go.

Ditto the alt text - I don't know how I missed them, it sometimes takes an objective view to find little oversites like these.

With regard to the session ID's I looked at this before launching the site and was considering using the browser string to detect the GoogleBot and not use sessions when it is spidering (is this a goood idea? Anyone have a better one?). I am still lookiing into it as the site relies heavily upon sessions and removing the ID may have unpredictable results.

That said removing the session ID's for google is definately a priority - I hope that it does take as much effort as figuring out the mod_rewrite stuff

Regarding the session id's, they're obviously necessary for your shopping cart, buy maybe they can be assigned only when somebody actually clicks on the buy product link, and not on the product description page itself.

Gringo.

Well since there were no other suggestions I have modified to site to test the browser strings and disable the sessions if it is google. Hope that this works wish me luck

Will hopefully get around to the titles next week. Have a look for the site after the next dance!

Unfortunately, digitalirony, the changes you make now will only be reflected in a permanent fashion with the dance after the next one.

However, with luck, you'll be visited by the Freshbot and find that the changes do get in the index every now and again as Freshbot updates your pages in the index temporarily.

Gringo.

I don't mind missing this dance all that much as I figure that SEO is a continuous process. That said it would be nice if I could assess the impact of the changes a bit quicker, but there you go.

I'm sure that all the effort will pay off in a month or two. Now all I have to do is try to get some quality inbound links, which is something I never had much success at in the past.

Maybe someone with a bit of experience could do a tutorial ( a bit like the Google Page Rank one at http://www.seochat.com/viewtopic.php?t=251 ) on "methods of obtaining quality inbound links" if the've got the time and experience.

Many thanks again Gringo.

Well I've made all the updates I can ( the client didn't go for updating the titles - likes them as they are - you just can't help some people ), are there any further suggestions for this site? Or maybe it is the epitomy of good site design from an SEO standpoint.

Somebody out there must be able to spot a flaw! There's always at least one

Let me know if there are any more suggestions, I'm always willing to learn.

BTW now that I have the ability to identify the googlebots anyone think it is a good idea to feed keyword specific content to the page just for the crawls? Perhaps combinations of targeted keywords that only make sense from a positioning standpoint, like common misspellings. Seems like an obvious thing to do but what is the possibility of being penalised?

If you mean feeding one type of content to the bots and another to human visitors, don't do it. That's cloaking and can (will) get you banned ...
http://www.google.com/webmasters/faq.html

Gringo.

I'm glad I asked before I made any changes. Well now all I've got to do is sit back and wait for the Googlebot.

For anyone who is interested

Taken from: http://www.google.com/webmasters/faq.html

Once again Gringo I bow to your superior knowledge