Eighteen SEO Fundamentals According to Bing

When there are too many versions of the same advice available, people often feel confused when it comes to deciding on which version is the right one. This applies especially to SEO. So the big question remains how can website owners crack the SEO code and make the most out of it?

The team at Bing has stepped up with a list of 18 SEO fundamentals for webmasters and website owners who want to optimize their sites for better rankings on Bing. This list includes some vital pieces of information that are useful, especially to all those who wish to set a firm foot in the SEO world and want to benefit from search marketing.

The list delves into some basic principles that will help anyone plan and put together a website from scratch or improvise an existing website, before actually marketing it on Bing.

Here is the full list:

The Do’s

Crawlability: Make sure your site is crawl able by using an XML sitemap, a robots.txt file, and well-structured on-site navigation.

Create an RSS feed.

Use schema.org markup.

Improve your site structure by using an HTML sitemap and linking to trusted sources both within your site and outside of it.

Create a solid content hierarchy by doing basic keyword research and avoiding placement of your content in rich media such as Silverlight and Flash.

Use a short meta title that has fewer than 65 characters and that’s unique to each page, and try to include the targeted keyword toward the beginning of that title.

Use a unique meta description tag.

Create quality content (following the guidelines Bing provided earlier).

When you build links, focus on keyword-relevant anchor tags that link back to quality content on your page.

Create a page that is user friendly. Page load time (PLT) is a crucial factor here as Bing states that website with PLT of ¼ second and above leads to loss of visitors.

Encourage social sharing with the use of social buttons.

The Dont’s

Don’t cloak your website.

Don’t use link farms.

Don’t engage in three-way linking.

Don’t duplicate content.

Don’t use auto-following on the social front.

Don’t use thin content.

Don’t buy links in bulk. Slow and steady link building is any time better than buying some hundreds of low quality back links.