Search engine optimisation relies on numerous factors. These factors are always changing, too, due to the search engines continually revising their rules and algorithms. It could certainly be considered a full-time job to effectively keep up with both off page and On Page SEO on your site and indeed many people make a profitable career from providing SEO services.
As a DIY internet marketing professional, you need to focus on those aspects of your website that will make the most appreciable differences when it comes to search engine optimisation and those tried and true methods. Here are some of the top on page SEO factors that require your focus.
On Page SEO – Meta Tags
The keywords you are optimising need to be included in all the tags a crawler is going to use to index your site’s pages. The page’s title, meta description, and keyword tags on all content need to consistently utilise your keywords and phrases.
When considering On Page SEO, remember that the search engine’s spiderbot is going to start at the top of each page and crawl downward so start with the page title as being the most important place for keywords. The page title also becomes part of the URL, for instance, www.widgets.com/top-10-manufacturing-widgets, with everything to the right of the site URL being the page name.
On Page SEO – Content
Of course, you must your keywords in the content on the page, too, preferably toward the front of each piece – in the first sentence. Keyword density, or the number of keyword instances in relation to other text on the page, is important. Don’t overdo, but don’t under-do it, either. In content that is 500 words in length, repeating the keywords fewer than ten times helps optimise the page. Any more than that and you run the risk of your site being labeled as ‘spammy’.
Use synonyms and try to determine what Google believes to be related words and phrases and sprinkle those in if appropriate. If you search a popular search term, you’ll see related searches listed at the bottom of the page.
The headline of any content, sized as H1, is also important. Integrating your keywords in the headlines appears to carry greater weight with search engines. Some SEO professionals feel there is need to add sub-headlines, in smaller H2 or H3 font sizes, but their value is debatable.
Don’t forget to add meta tags to other types of content, as well. Video, images, and podcasts all need appropriate descriptions and keyword tags to describe the content to search engine crawlers.
The file name of images counts toward SEO, too. If you are using a picture of a concert hall, for instance, structure the file name so that it includes the actual moniker of this landmark – a term that someone might search for in and of itself.
On Page SEO – Website Architecture
Set up the overall structure of your site so that it is optimised. Pages that are titled with the most important keywords should be no more than one click off the home page.
Both outbound and inbound links for each page are also an important part of the site structure; use more than just the navigation bar and include links to other pages within the content. The navigation bar is arguably most important, however, as it is usually placed at the top of the page where a bot places greater importance on keywords.
There is no need to struggle with finding the time and wherewithal to perform everything possible regarding On Page SEO. Pay attention to these vital elements first and foremost to get the best benefit.
About Sean Rasmussen
I sometimes find myself using a keyphrase that I get to a density of 2% but in doing so, one of the words in the key phrase goes to 6%, say, because to blog about the keyphrase requires many references to that word. So even though the keyword density for the target keyphrase is ok, might Google penalize me for thinking I am spamming on that word?
Hi Wal,
I don’t think that you will get penalized if one or two word keyphrases reach a high density. Say for instance you are targeting a 3 word long-tail keyword. You will most likely end up having a higher density 2 word keyword. I don’t believe that Google can penalize for that as it occurs naturally throughout an article.
…but then again nobody really knows how Google’s search algorithm works
I think Cemil has answered your question quite well there Wal! Thanks Cemil
Singular words will always go higher in density, this happens naturally when you are writing on a particular topic. As long as your article reads well, I wouldn’t be too concerned Wal.
Sean, I like your point of considering your On-page SEO with your website architecture, especially with your internal links and outbound links.
I try to link to at least 2 internal pages on every page, and 2 outbound links per page (opening in a new tab).
Is there a case of having to many outbound links.
Not too sure on what may be considered too many Cade. If you stick with what you are doing and limit outbound links to say 1-3 per article, you should have no problems.
Hi Sean,
I find the On Page SEO factors the easiest thing to do in terms of getting traffic to my site. The other things like having interesting content that people will want to read and share; having an online presence; having a dedicated group of readers for my blog, are not so easy to do.
These are the things that I feel I need to work on in order to have some insurance against Google changing it’s algorithm.
That’s where the off-page optimisation such as bookmarking and social media comes in to play Jazz. If you can apply good on-page SEO and work on your off-page as well you will have most of the bases covered.
I guess it all starts with the interesting topic, the passion.
Next step is to make sure the way the content is written is interesting for humans as well as for bots – so keyword optimized etc. If there is consistence in the content and its well presented to the search engines a good ranking is not far away.
I never used in bound links for on page seo but thanks for bringing this up. Since learning more about keyword research and on page seo from you, I have been able to get some number 1 rankings with google on some of my keywords which I was never able to do before.
what abt the alt tags?
Hi Sean,
Thanks for the on-page Seo factors to focus on, it seems that the on-page requirements change ever so rapidly & you hear all sorts of rumors from around the web about what is & isn’t needed for current on-page seo.
Hi Sean
To optimise my post for Search Engines I need to integrate keywords into my title, meta description and keyword tags. Keywords in my title will be of highest value for Search Engine Optimisation.
I need to remember to put keyword rich descriptions on all my videos and images in my blog. I haven’t added images as yet as I am going to create my own, scan them and upload them.
I have so much to learn about keywords and SEO but I have at least made a good start.
Hi Sean
Another thing to do, to please Google, is externally linking to highly related sites that have trust rank. If a low quality site links to you that is fine, but purposely linking to a site like that will actually harm you in terms of SEO. It is pretty easy to find high quality sites to link to, so just take the time to do it right. Each page on your site can have outgoing links, but keep them relatively few. You know the general guidelines, so just link out when you think it’s a good idea. Your site maintenance solution will ideally check all of your links regardless of destination. Try to go through them often and validate them so that you know they’re not dead. Also, you do not want to accidentally hurt your SEO efforts due to a broken link.