Simple SEO Tips #3 - On Page Optimisation
This is a regular series of SEO tips that anyone can use to improve the ranking of their website. It's designed for those with a little time - and less money - to dedicate to getting more business through search engines.
#3 - On Page Optimisation
OK, if you've followed the series to date, that means you've:
- done your keyword research
- prioritised which keywords / phrases to target, and allocated them to pages on your website
- recorded the current <title>, <meta type='description'>, <h1> (and other headings) and text within general <p> HTML elements
So now it's time to make sure your HTML is structured & populated with keywords, in a way that clearly tells the search engines what your page is about. I'm assuming here that you know basic HTML (if you don't, it's easy to learn - start by looking here: http://www.w3.org/2002/03/tutorials.html#webdesign_htmlcss)
1) Look for the <title> element in the <head> section of your page. Change this to feature your main keyword / phrases.
Additional tip: place your keywords at the beginning of the <title>, and keep it succinct (under 65 characters, less if possible)
Good <title> = Widgets | Buy UK Widgets Online
Bad <title> = Homepage for OurCompanyName, we sell many varieties of popular Widgets here
2) Look for the <meta type="description" content="xxxxx'> element, again in the page <head>. Change this to a phrase (under 200 characters long), that would convince someone to click through to your site.
This is because the meta description doesn't influence your ranking - but it's what the search engines often show in their listings. So for the meta description, think "click through".
3) Within the <body> section of your page, look for the <h1> heading element. If you don't have one, add it in. If you have more than one, change all subsequent versions to another heading type (eg <h2> or <h3>)
Again, use the main keyword / phrase here, and keep it succinct.
Good <h1> = Buy UK Widgets Online here
Bad <h1> = Welcome to our website
4) Check through the rest of your page's headings & paragraph text, and work in your priority keyword / phrase, plus overalapping phrases, throughout the text.
Remember that your website's fundamental objective is to communicate with people, not search engines - don't make the copy sound clunky, repeat the keyword / phrase to often, or make it sound unnatural.
5) Make sure any links you have on your page, either to other pages on your site, or other websites, don't contain your main keyword / phrase. This effectively says to the search engines, "there's a better place on the web for this keyword", which is the opposite of what you're trying to achieve.
6) Have pages on your site link to other pages, using the keyword they are targeting.
Eg: Page 1 is targeting Widgets. Page 2 is targeting Blimps.
Have a link on Page 1, pointing to Page 2, with the text of the link containing "Blimps".
On Page 2, have a link to Page 1, using the word "Widgets" as the link text.
Do this for all the pages you have included in your Keyword Prioritisation & Allocation.
Next time, I'll go through the off-page things you can do, to improve your ranking in the search engines.
#3 - On Page Optimisation
OK, if you've followed the series to date, that means you've:
- done your keyword research
- prioritised which keywords / phrases to target, and allocated them to pages on your website
- recorded the current <title>, <meta type='description'>, <h1> (and other headings) and text within general <p> HTML elements
So now it's time to make sure your HTML is structured & populated with keywords, in a way that clearly tells the search engines what your page is about. I'm assuming here that you know basic HTML (if you don't, it's easy to learn - start by looking here: http://www.w3.org/2002/03/tutorials.html#webdesign_htmlcss)
1) Look for the <title> element in the <head> section of your page. Change this to feature your main keyword / phrases.
Additional tip: place your keywords at the beginning of the <title>, and keep it succinct (under 65 characters, less if possible)
Good <title> = Widgets | Buy UK Widgets Online
Bad <title> = Homepage for OurCompanyName, we sell many varieties of popular Widgets here
2) Look for the <meta type="description" content="xxxxx'> element, again in the page <head>. Change this to a phrase (under 200 characters long), that would convince someone to click through to your site.
This is because the meta description doesn't influence your ranking - but it's what the search engines often show in their listings. So for the meta description, think "click through".
3) Within the <body> section of your page, look for the <h1> heading element. If you don't have one, add it in. If you have more than one, change all subsequent versions to another heading type (eg <h2> or <h3>)
Again, use the main keyword / phrase here, and keep it succinct.
Good <h1> = Buy UK Widgets Online here
Bad <h1> = Welcome to our website
4) Check through the rest of your page's headings & paragraph text, and work in your priority keyword / phrase, plus overalapping phrases, throughout the text.
Remember that your website's fundamental objective is to communicate with people, not search engines - don't make the copy sound clunky, repeat the keyword / phrase to often, or make it sound unnatural.
5) Make sure any links you have on your page, either to other pages on your site, or other websites, don't contain your main keyword / phrase. This effectively says to the search engines, "there's a better place on the web for this keyword", which is the opposite of what you're trying to achieve.
6) Have pages on your site link to other pages, using the keyword they are targeting.
Eg: Page 1 is targeting Widgets. Page 2 is targeting Blimps.
Have a link on Page 1, pointing to Page 2, with the text of the link containing "Blimps".
On Page 2, have a link to Page 1, using the word "Widgets" as the link text.
Do this for all the pages you have included in your Keyword Prioritisation & Allocation.
Next time, I'll go through the off-page things you can do, to improve your ranking in the search engines.
Labels: search-engine-optimisation, SEO-tips, tutorial
posted by WillsonWebDesign at
16:43
1 Comments
