On Page Optimizing Tips

On page optimizing refers to optimizing the content on any single page of your website. Of course, your website will likely have many pages. Ideally, you'll want to focus each page of your site around one theme. That one theme should be supported by a limited number of keywords. The more competitive the keywords, the fewer you should optimize for on any single page. A good rule of thumb is to use from 1 to 5 keywords per page. It is possible to optimize and rank for more than five keyword phrases per page, provided they are not very competitive. But remember, the more keywords you optimize any single page for, the more diluted that page becomes for any single keyword.

Much of your on page optimizing will utilize what are called HTML tags. HTML tags are the foundation of building pages on the web. If you need to learn more about HTML check out W3C.

So let's say that you've researched and developed the keyword list for your website and one of them is "flying widgets". Further, you decide to optimize a single page of your website just for "flying widgets". You'll now want to focus on using "flying widgets" throughout that page; both in the visible content and in other appropriate places. Many in the optimization community will recommend "ideal" on page keyword densities. Those often vary from 3-12%. My recommendation is to ignore those numbers and instead use the keyword as much as you can, while preserving copy which reads naturally. Remember, your copy will be read by real people as well as search engine spiders. And the real people are the ones you're trying to convert into customers. Using keyword derivations, synonyms and related words will also help the ranking of the page.

You'll want to include your keywords in the following tags:

Title

Perhaps the most important place your keyword should appear is in the Title tag within the head of your HTML document. Many website owners use the Title to simply list the name of their business or website address. If the business has a branding goal then the company name can still be included, however you might want to consider moving it to the end of the title tag. Keep the Title to about 65 characters in length.

         Example:
          <title>Flying Widgets</title>

Metas

Also within the head of the document are the Meta Description and Meta Keywords tags. Back when search engines first appeared on the web, their algorithms often used these to decide what a web page was about. However, both tags were subject to easy manipulation and suffered widespread abuse. As such, today they are all but totally discounted by the major search engines for ranking purposes. However, the Meta Description tag is still useful as it is occasionally used for your website's description on the Search Engine Result Page (SERP). The SERP description can be an effective tool to grab a search engine users attention. So do spend some time writing a short crisp statement, using your keywords, that will entice users to click through to your site.

         Example:
          <meta name="description" content="XYZ offers the highest quality flying widgets on the web!" >

The Meta Keywords tag is also seldom used by the search engines to rank websites today. The only ranking benefit it probably offers is for keyword misspellings. It should be noted that there can be a market for those keyword misspellings. Your keyword research and development should uncover these. However, capturing that market by misspelling words in areas that website visitors can see is problematic. That's where the Meta Keywords tag comes in. List relevant misspelled keywords there and they won't be seen by site visitors (unless of course they view your page's source code). That will give your site an opportunity to rank for those misspellings. Also consider including the keywords that are applicable to that page, if for no other reason than to help organize your optimizing efforts. And you never know when one of the search engines may increase the weight given to the tag.

         Example:
          <meta name="keywords" content="flying widgets,flyin widgets" >

Body

Within the body, or visible section, of your HTML web page you'll want to use your keywords as much as possible while retaining copy which reads naturally to site visitors. There are a number of places within the body that you'll want to specifically include your keywords for added ranking benefits.

Headers

Header (H1, H2, H3 etc.) tags are ideal places to put your keywords. Search engines view the words within the header tags as important to determining what your site is about. Headers and sub headers are also excellent tools to organize your page for site visitors.

         Example:
         <h1>Highest Quality Flying Widgets<h1>

Formatting Effects

You can use text formatting elements like Strong/B(Bold), Em(Emphasis)/I(Italic), U(Underline), Font size and color and other tags with your keywords. The search engines give greater weight to the words contained within these tags. Only use your keywords within these tags as long as your copy reads naturally. When using these tags there is the possibility of too much of a good thing. Overuse leads to copy which can be difficult to read.

         Example:
         ...our <strong>flying widgets</strong> are the highest...
         or
         ...our <em>flying widgets</em> are the highest...

Alt

When appropriate use your keywords in your Alt attribute for images. This is essential when you're using an image as a link, as the alt text is what search engines use in place of anchor text. You can read more about this in the within site linking and the incoming links sections.

         Example:
         <img src="" alt="red flying widget">.

Link Text

Although I discuss within site linking and incoming links in other sections, it is important to note that there is also an on page ranking factor associated with links. The text which you click on when hyperlinking is considered part of the content of the page where the link is listed. That text is known as anchor text. So if you link to another site and use your keyword in the anchor text it will be used to help rank that page of your site. But as you'll learn in the linking sections, that anchor text will also be associated with the page you're linking to. In some cases that link text is so powerful that another page's site might rank ahead of you for your keyword purely based on that one link.

         Example:
         ...visit <a href="othersite.com">flying widget repairs</a> for all your servicing needs...


In addition to utilizing the above ethical techniques, onpage optimizing can include spammy techniques like hidden text and doorway pages. Hidden text is on page text which is not visible to website visitors but can be seen by search engines. Hidden text can be text which is the same color as the background or in a size so small it's not seen. Usually spammers use the hidden text to repeat their keywords or variations on their keywords over and over again or list keywords unrelated to their site.

Doorway pages are pages which are created expressly for search engine spiders rather than website visitors. These pages are keyword rich in hopes of ranking high in the search engines. They are generally of no use to a visitor and may even read like nonsense. Often when a visitor clicks on one of these listings in the search engine results they will be taken to a different web page or a different website altogether. Some of the shadier firms which are performing search engine optimizing use doorway pages. Websites which use these techniques are at risk of the search engines discovering them or of being reported to search engines at any time. When either occurs there is a good chance the site will be penalized or completely removed from the engine.

I hope these optimizing tips give you a better understanding of the on page elements which go into creating a web page that ranks high in the search engines. Check out the within site linking, site architecture and incoming links sections to learn more about moving your website up the search engine rankings.

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• Onsite Website Optimizing
• On Page Factors
• Within Site Linking
• Site Architecture


• Offsite Elements
• Incoming Links