SEO Tips: On-Page Optimization
On-page optimization is often forgotten these days, as we focus
more and more of our time in getting inbound links with targeted
anchor text.
On-page optimization, however, is something you can do quickly
to give yourself an extra boost in the SER
PS.
These tips will help you to optimize your web pages to make the
most out of your i
nbound links.
One Page - One Target
Each page should be optimized for only one search term. If you
are targeting two search terms, make pages for each term.
If your search term has a synonym, make separate pages for each
synonym. For example, if you are targeting "drywall" and
"sheetrock", make separate pages to target each term.
One Target - Two Pages
The preceding tip only tells half of the story. You don't
actually want to be #1 in the SERPS for each of your search
terms -- you want to be #1 and #2.
Google and some other search engines will display two listings
from a web site together if both are relevant to the users
search. Therefore, for each of your important keywords, you want
to build two web pages which are both optimized for that search.
The URL
Search engines tend to rank pages well when the URL contains the
search term.
If your page is about drywall, call your page drywall.html, not
page-1.html.
If your content management system (CMS) uses autogenerated
URL's, use 301 Redirects to turn those URL's into highly
optimized URL's.
Use Hyphens, not Underscores
Google and most other search engines treat hyphens as spaces,
but do not treat underscores as spaces.
If your URL is clint-eastwood.html, your page will rank well if
someone searches for "clint eastwood".
If your URL is clint_eastwood.html, your page will rank well if
someone searches for "clint_eastwood".
Which do you think is searched for more often, "clint eastwood"
or "clint_eastwood"?
Optimize the Page Title
The page title should contain the keywords for which you are
optimizing, and little or nothing else.
Many sites prepend the site name to every page title, like this:
Smith Drywall -- Sheetrock Delivery
A more optimized title would simply look like this:
Sheetrock Delivery
Leave the company name for the title of the main page of your
web site.
Optimize the Description Tag
Not many search engines utilize the description tag anymore, but
it's best to set it properly just in case.
Optimize the Keywords Tag
Even fewer search engines utilize the keywords tag, but it's
best to set it properly just in case.
Use Headings
Use the , , and heading tags to define your
important content sections, and put your keywords at least once
in each heading style.
Use CSS to set the fonts and sizes of the h-tags to something
pleasing to your visitors.
Add a Linked Image with ALT Text
Use an image of your page with a filename which contains your
chosen keywords, such as drywall-delivery.jpg.
The ALT text for this image should include the keywords for
which you are optimizing.
Google is sneaky, in that it only counts the ALT text on linked
images. We're sneakier, so we link the image to the page upon
which it is displayed.
Validate the HTML
Use the W3C HTML validator to validate the HTML of your page.
Very few HTML errors will cause a web page not to rank well in
the SERPS, but you don't want your page to be that page.
In addition, validating the HTML will help to ensure that your
page will look reasonably well in the wide variety of web
browsers used on the Internet.
Keep Your Body Text Readable
Use your keywords in the body text, but keep your body text
readable.
Don't drywall stuff drywall your drywall keywords drywall into
your drywall text until it is unreadable by humans.
Make Reasonably Sized Pages
The search engines seem to prefer pages which have at least 500
words of text. Give your visitors something to read!
Summary
If you follow these simple tips, you will get better SERPS with
fewer inbound links.
On-page search engine optimization is the first step towards
achieving good search engine rankings.