Advanced On Page SEO

Although relatively unimportant these days, on page SEO is still a factor as far as getting high search engine rankings for lower competition keyphrases is concerned.

In this article we are going to cover some advanced on page optimization strategies that can seriously boost the visibilty of your web-pages ( especially if your domain is aged ).

So, let’s get started…

Title tag:

The title tag is the single most important element of on page SEO – in fact, it is said to be seven times more important than any other on page factor!

The title tag is one of two meta tags that shows up in the search engine results pages – you will also see the title tag at the very top left of the web page itself when it is displayed in your browser.

Make sure that you place your main keyword phrase for the page in the title tag, near the beginning. Placing it at the start will improve it’s visibilty considerably ( known as ‘keyword prominence’ ).

It should be between 4 and 7 words, not exceeding 70 characters.

Here’s an example:

Target phrase:

“On page optimization”

Title:

“On page optimization – the basics”

Meta description tag:

The meta description tag is the second meta tag that shows up in the search engine listings. Again it should contain your target keyphrase for the page, ideally near the start to increase keyword prominence.

This is less important for SEO than the title tag, but it should provide a good summary of the page content and also read well so as to entice searchers to click through to your site to read more.

Limit the meta description tag to 160 characters or less, to avoid getting cropped by the search engines.

Meta keywords tag:

This is another meta tag, although it’s not visable to searchers – place your main keyword in here, again at the beginning. Also, add about 2 more related phrases, but make sure that they are included in the body of your page content.

Image alt text:

Add your main keyword phrase to the image alternate text of an one of the images on your page, but do not add it to more than one – use secondary keyphrases for the other image alt tags ( again, be certain that the phrases are featured in the page content ).

H1 tag:

Stick your keyword in the h1 tag, near the beginning ( optional: consider using h2 or h2 tags featuring the main keyword, too ).

Body content:

When trying to rank a page in the search engines, aim for at least 400 words. Put the main keyphrase in the first paragraph, near the start. Aim for a keyword density of 1% – 2%, if possible. Also, include the target phrase in the last paragraph, near the end, and a number of times throughout the article.

Make sure your content reads well too, though. Depending on the keyword, it may not be possible to achieve a 1% – 2% keyword density, while still reading well.

If this is the case, work on developing good keyword proximity. This way the content will contain the keywords, and still read well.

Here’s an example:

Keyphrase:

“Plumber New York”

Natural sounding sentence with good keyword proximity:

“To locate an experienced plumber in New York city, it is a great idea to start by asking your friends and associates to recommend someone…”

Obviously, you can’t use the term “plumber New York” within the article body, and still sound natural. But, in the above example, you get a natural sounding sentence, still containing the keywords with only a small word in the middle.

Internal linking:

You can try self linking ( linking to the page you’re on ), using the target keyphrase as the anchor text ( even google does this ). This may seem strange seeing as the page merely refreshes itself, but it does appear to put an added emphasis on the target phrase.

Link to the page from other pages on your site using keyword anchor text, from within the body of the content ( contextual links ).

Link out from the page itself, using the main keyword as the anchor text, either to another page on your own site, or to another site altogether.