|
By Patrick Gavin, Inc.
On any given topic and for any given search term, there are often
millions of relevant pages. The goal of a good search engine is
to rank these pages in order of relevancy within the search results
pages.
When we talk about “SEO”, or “search engine optimization”,
what we are really talking about is helping the search engines to
understand what your web page is about. Within search engine optimization,
there is “on page” SEO and “off-site” SEO.
On Page SEO deals with the way you present the text on the page
and the meta data associated with that page.
The first thing to do when optimizing web pages is to research
your keywords. We recommend Wordtracker.com for the most accurate
keyword search data.
After you’ve done the done your keyword research, place your
keywords in the meta keywords tag:
<META NAME="Keywords" content="search engine
optimization, seo, sem, search engine marketing, search engine placement">
The meta keywords tag does not carry a lot of weight, but it is
taken into consideration by some search engines.
The meta description tag is a must-do. The meta description carries
at least a little weight in several search engines. An abstract
of the meta description is often used by search engines in the search
results pages.
<META NAME="Description" CONTENT="Professional
search engine optimization by respected industry leader, Patrick
Gavin.">
Of all the on page factors, the title element, casually referred
to as the page title, carries the most weight.
<TITLE>Widgets - Wide Selection of Widgets at Wholesale Prices</TITLE>
Try to include your keywords along with a promotional blurb which
gives the consumer to choose your site instead of the competition.
Using heading within the body copy of the page is not just good
SEO; it also helps the reader anticipate the subject of the page
(H1 tags) or the subject of the paragraph (h2 tags). The key here
is to include your keywords within the headings:
<H1>History</H1>
Although it’s short and sweet, this heading won’t help
you rank for the keyword “widgets”. A simple edit here
and there can work wonders:
<H1>The History of Widgets</H1>
Although there is no definitive proof, it is widely believed that
using your targeted keywords in bold text and in italics helps search
engines to identify your page as most relevant to those search terms.
There you have it. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to understand
and implement these tactics. However, it should be noted that on-page
SEO is effective only when the targeted keywords are less than fiercely
competitive.
If you are targeting the more competitive keywords, you will need
to build links on a very large scale.
|
