About On-Page Optimization

There are basically two portions of any ongoing search engine optimization effort, on-page and off-page optimization. Although off-page optimization generally results in better search engine rankings, on-page search engine optimization forms the foundation from which to start your efforts and its success or failure is ultimately the one that you maintain total control over.

If you have any questions regarding the SEO readiness of you website or wish to have me perform a free website evaluation for your business simply call me toll free at (800) 916-5230.

What is On-Page Optimization?

Simply stated, on-page optimization is the usage of proper titles, website content, keywords, and a bit of research to improve your search engine rankings and position. This is one area of any search engine optimization effort that you maintain full control over.

After some research and understanding of your market, some of the keywords used, and your customer demographic you can begin to perform accurate on-page optimization of your website.

Although many may argue that Google weighs off-page factors more heavily, search engines like Bing and Yahoo prefer on-page optimization techniques. On a basal level, on-page optimization for your chosen keywords and market should become the foundation for any search engine optimization efforts.

Don’t be shocked that if after you apply the online techniques listed your site begins to almost immediately gain rank and experience increased website traffic.

In fact, depending on the keywords or competition, you may reach a rank of 1-5 on search engines like Yahoo and Bing. Those two major search engines love on-page optimization due to the use of the Inktomi engine. (How many other search engines use Inktomi?  A lot.)

On-Page Optimization consists of the following:

• Keyword Research
• Keyword Development
• Proper Meta Tags
• Internal Linking
• Proper URL Formatting

Keyword Research

Keyword research and a brief understanding of your target customer can prove pivotal to any SEO endeavor. It is imperative to understand what your customers are looking for and to understand the relevant competition. On-page optimization is impossible without first knowing the important terms to optimize for. With only a small amount of keyword research you will give your on-page optimization efforts a much greater chance of success.

Many times I have consulted clients who believe they are currently getting front page search engine placement results only to discover that the volume of searches and the popularity or search intent of their “golden” keywords could never sustain their business. Quite often a popular term or industry cliche used by the client is completely different than what the visitor is searching for in relevance to search query.

The goal of effective keyword research is to find relevant, targeted search terms. I almost always use the Google Adwords Keyword Tool (https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal) when I begin any research into a group of selected keywords. The Google Adwords Keyword Tool lets you search a variety of keyword combinations and view the keyword competition and the number of global and local searches each month.

Keyword Development

While it may be tempting to optimize your website for dozens of search terms, I recommend on choosing no more than 3-5 per page, depending on content. If the core concept of your webpage is monster trucks then your keywords could range from monster truck events to monster truck parts, depending on intent. It is far easier to develop a website around a group of select, highly targeted keywords than it is to try to optimize for everything.

Remember, “if you try to be everything to everyone, how can you be anything to anyone?”

Keep each page direct and to the point. Select a few relevant keywords per page. Do not overstuff your keywords into your content, it just looks trashy and won’t do much for you within the scope of proper search engine optimization.

Use Meta Tags

There are a variety of meta tags you can use in the beginning of your HTML but for on-page optimization purposes you should focus on the title, description, and robots tags. The “keywords” tag has been deprecated and its relevance has been marginalized due to misuse. These tags are extremely important for on-page optimization because they classify the relevance of the page. The content on your page MUST match these tags.

The Title Tag

The title tag is the first thing a search engine sees and is generally what is displayed at the top of the viewer’s browser to label your webpage. This is also the title of how the specific page will appear in the search engine results page (above the page description). Although it is important to include relevant keywords in your title, you should not insert too many. It must also be enticing for the viewer who has displayed your result. What good is 3000 impressions if you only receive less than ten clicks for a specific search term based on your page title?

As a good rule of thumb, try to limit the length of your title tag to no more than 65 characters, as this is the maximum number of characters that Google and many other search engines will allow. Otherwise, important information could be displayed as trailing dots. Also, try to limit the number of words in your title to no more than 5-7 because Google places a level of importance and weight to words or keyword strings located in the page title. This is another reason why it is to critical that you select an accurate and relevant title theme using keywords from your webpage.

The Description Tag

The description tag is a short paragraph about what the searcher will find on your webpage. It should also contain keywords and be relevant to both the page title and the content found throughout the page. Most search engines do not display over 140 characters, so you should make it a point to state the webpage intent or benefit as clearly as possible. Again, you are attempting to entice the searcher, not fool the search engine so it is extremely important to make sure you select terms that arouse emotion as well as the usage of action words. Give them a reason to click on your link!

Above is an example of how a title tag (Web Consulting Services | Expert Web Consultant | Savannah, GA), the formatted URL, and lastly the obvious description appears within a Google SERPs page. I always try to insert a keyword into my title and description at least once.

The Robots Tag

The robots tag is the simplest of all tags for on-page optimization and possibly one most heavily overlooked.  The robots tag controls the indexing of a particular webpage. This is extremely useful when developing a page on your website that you do not want Google or other search engines to index.  If this tag is set to “all”, the indexing spiders of search engines know immediately to begin indexing all of your content. Although most crawlers will access your site without this tag, it is still important to include nonetheless. As a general rule, Googlebot will visit your website every 2-3 days unless you specify otherwise under crawler settings of Google’s webmaster tools.

Internal Linking

A good internal linking strategy is vital to the development of themes and keywords that are relevant to your webpage. If you have a page specifically about acme widgets and you are writing a post that references the page, be sure to link to it! Not only does this help the searcher find relevant content, but it shows the search engine the location of other pages on your website.

When linking items, be sure to link the keyword terms.  In this case, you would link the term “acme widgets” to the linked page.  Also, it is important that you learn to use link titles for your links.  This helps Googlebot determine what it is going to find on the linked page. An example of the usage of link titles can be found below.

<a href="http://www.yourlink.com" TITLE="Acme Widgets">Acme Widgets</a>

Use relevant keywords in your linking practices whenever possible. Using worthless linking text like “click here” will not help search engine optimization nor will it help you achieve the on-page optimization you need to secure first page search engine rankings.

Always Do On-Page First

On-page optimization is a critical part of your SEO efforts. Before beginning any off-page optimization factors, first ensure that your on-page optimization efforts are completed in order to experience lasting results. There are others components to on-page optimization such as the webpage formatting, text positioning, and others but for the beginner keyword research and proper application of the chosen keywords within the copy, title, description, and internal links are critical.

As always, I can be reached at (800) 916-5230 to assist you with any search engine optimization projects you may have. Best of luck with your SEO!