On Page Optimization That Gets Results!
November 21, 2009 by Michael Fleischner
Filed under Internet marketing
After you’ve selected the keywords you want to optimize your website for, you need to focus on what is called on-page optimization. On page optimization is what you do on your website pages to improve organic rankings. The good news is that through years of trial and error, research, and modeling top ranked web sites, I have identified the most important on page factors for improving organic rankings.
When contemplating how to optimize your web site pages, there are a number of things to consider. The most important aspects of on page optimization are meta tags, the speed at which your page loads, and the URLs you’re using. Even though this brief list may seem obvious to some, they are the most powerful aspects of on page optimization.
The concept of meta tags has been around since the web hit the mainstream. At first, this was the primary vehicle by which search engines evaluated web sites. Over time their importance diminished in terms of the number of factors being considered on an entire web page. However, as algorithms go more complex, the purpose of meta tags have changed. Once the sole criterion, meta tags are now a way of validating site content. If your meta tags are consistent with on page content, the credibility of your page increases.
Properly formatted meta tags should include a title tag that includes the keywords that you are trying to optimize for. It is recommended that the size of the title tag is sixty or fewer characters as this is the limit shown on Google search results. The second meta tag is the description tag which should be limited to fewer than one hundred and fifty characters and repeat your keyword phrase no more than two times.
The final meta tag of any importance is the keyword tag. This tag is supposed to include your most important keywords. Unfortunately, most web sites are using this meta tag incorrectly and it could be hurting their rankings. Keywords are only valid if some of them are found somewhere on your website. In addition you only want to include about a dozen keywords per page. Any more than that and it could be considered keyword stuffing. Focus on your most important keywords and place them in the keywords tag.
When browsing the web, user are not only looking for valuable content related to their query, they are also looking for well performing web sites. The second factor we need to look at for on page optimization is load time. You should be aware of how quickly your web site pages load and continually work to make the faster. When sites load quickly, major search engines take notice and improve rankings. Focus on improving the user experience in addition to a properly formatted web page and success happens more quickly
The third and certainly one of the most important factors is URL structure. It is true that having your keyword in the URL helps but it is not the only or the most heavily weighed optimization factor by Google. There are plenty of examples of sites that include the keyword in the URL but don’t rank as well as their competitors. If you can purchase a URL that has your keyword in it though, consider it advantageous. If you are unable to do so, consider adding a folder or page to your site that includes the keyword you want to optimize your site for. A good example would be www.test.com/keyword. By doing so you are placing your keyword close to the root and giving it more value. Also consider a sub domain strategy.
Don’t start any optimization program until you have taken a serious look at your on page optimization factors. With a well organized web site that includes properly formatted meta tags, loads quickly, and has a URL which is properly formatted, you’ll be way ahead of the competition.
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categories: seo,meta tags,search engine optimization,Google,yahoo,Bing,web site optimization,internet marketing,web development,marketing
Tags: Bing, Google, Internet marketing, Internet marketing, Marketing, meta tags, search engine optimization, seo, Web Development, web site optimization, Yahoo
Compelling article you put together here!
I want to add some additional info to the table such as:
1. Google limits the title’s lenght to 65 characters and the meta description to 125 characters;
2. Better not to include your keywords in the keyword tag because competitors find it extremely facile to take a look in page source (through the browser’s “view source” option) and just steal your hard researched keywords;
For those interested, here’s my view on the on page factors: http://trafficcpanel.com/266/on-page-factors-more-in-depth-strategies/
Hope it serves you well!
Cheers,
Cristian
Once you have the required traffic from the SEO you should employ a web analytics provider such as clicktale.com to optimise your conversions by seeing exactly what your customers are doing on your site.