When it comes to making your website Google friendly, a decent amount of Australian and international websites are still missing the basics.
criticone has released a number of articles and posts on this topic that go into varied details.
This time round it comes directly from Google’s head of webspam Matt Cutts.
We have included the original video along with our explanation of each point.
Enjoy and feel free to post any questions or comments.
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Not having your own domain name
Ensure you have a domain name registered that’s relevant to your business. This protects your brand, ensures no one else registers it and gets you started with a good base.
If using WordPress, domain mapping ensures your promoting your domain name. eg.www.criticome.com.au. This helps avoid moving websites as you grow and having links in Google pointing to your old website address.
On the flip side, if you feel the need to protect your brand by registering multiple domain names, don't rush out and setup multiple websites before having a solid strategy. Avoid multiple websites unless your business model demands it - beware of duplicate content across your websites! 
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Search engines like Google can’t explore all your web pages
It’s important to make sure there isn’t a technical glitch stopping Google from accessing and including all your pages in its search results.
Make it easy for visitors to find what they are looking for on your website with minimal effort and clicks.
Promote links to your good content, don’t leave them hidden away layers deep.
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Include the right words on your page
Theme and consistency are the keywords here.
Use the same language your visitors use to talk about your product and/or service.
Include these keywords in an easy to read flow – don’t stuff keywords in an unnatural manner as this deters human engagement.
Avoid hiding your content in big images, flash or other technologies that Google and other search engines cant read.
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Too much focus on link building
Think about content marketing - what's your audience looking for? How can you help solve their pain? and start writing. Acquiring links from quality third party sites is a need, not a core focus. Clever copy attracts and sells!
Create good quality content and promote it through varied online and traditional mediums.
By using varied techniques you will attract unique and diverse links to your site.
Don’t limit you options by chasing quick gains.
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Poor page titles and descriptions
Like point 3, ensure you’re doing the same on your page meta titles and descriptions.
Keep them unique and relevant to each page.
This makes Google and visitors life easier. Google see’s consistency and visitors see a relevant and compelling hooks.
There’s nothing worse than bookmarking a page and then not being able to find it as the title wasn't clear or worse didn't exist.
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Not using online tools and resources
Google and many other sites include resources that can help you answer questions and get up to speed.
Measure your website and competitors performance online.
Try different things and learn from your competitors.
Use this information to evolve your marketing tactics and initiatives.
This can form the building blocks for your SEO and get you started with the following cycle;
- Crawlability
- Content
- Links, social and citing of publications
- Meta content
- Research and Analysis