Six Questions to Ask When Optimizing an Existing Site

If you're starting a search engine project for an existing site, here are six questions to ask:

1. Have you done anything really wacky in the past that causes Google to penalize the site? This can include items on the site, and also links from poor quality sites.

2. Is the site currently picked up? If so, how many URLs are known to Google and Yahoo, and will these be maintained in the new site?

3. How many good quality links are pointing to a site?

4. What type of terms are you aiming for? Some are much more competitive than others.

5. How many terms are you aiming for and how big is the site going to be roughly? (30 – 100 pages, or 100-1000, or 1000 plus)

6. Have you done any pay per click advertising? This is a great help at putting together a terms list.

In future posts we'll explore each of these items.