About On-Page Search Engine Optimization
On-Page SEO and Off-Page SEO are two types of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques to increase a website's performance among Search Engines. On-Page SEO is a tool to maximize the web page's Search Engine performance for target keywords. It refers to the text and formatting of content on web pages. In simple terms, it refers to the editing and optimization of pages and content so that Search Engines can find your web page when a user searches for a web site using certain keywords and keyword phrases.
In addition to looking closely at the nature and quality of content, Search Engines pay close attention to the structure of the web site. Search Engines apply great weight to structure and they like to be able to quickly determine what is important about each site. Important information needs to be high up in the site hierarchy and each page should link to other relevant pages as well. The focus is:
- How the content is interlinked, including the internal anchor text, its source and destination.
- The topicality, depth, detail, and breadth of the information presented.
- Structural elements, including heading, paragraph and other HTML tags that prioritize importance.
On-Page SEO has been around since the first commercial Search Engines appeared in the mid 1990's. At that time, the Internet was considerably smaller and Search Engines used simpler, less sophisticated technology. Simple On-Page SEO was sufficient to distinguish sites of relevance, as the search process was simply a comparison of on page elements with the most useful information attaining highest Search Engine placement.
As the Internet grew, large amounts of new sites and content made it necessary to apply increasingly sophisticated methods of generating relevant Search Engine results. Ever-resourceful webmasters and SEO marketers sought to find ways by which their sites would appear at the top of search returns, so the search companies worked hard to keep ahead of them. Differentiating between sites of relevance and sites full of worthless spam content remains an ongoing challenge for the Search Engine companies.
Regarding Search Engine results, there are a few generic rules to follow. Ranking factors covered by On-Page SEO are controllable in the final analysis, and it is the balance between On-Page SEO and Off-Page SEO that determines Search Engine Optimization success.
- Find the most popular keywords for the genre and deploy those keywords throughout the documents.
- Next, apply an internal linking system based on contextual architecture. Search Engines look for relevance and prefer expert copy over uninformed content.
- Tag content with informative and compelling titles and descriptions, making sure that alt-attributes and file naming conventions are themed and optimized.
- Pay attention to structural elements, including heading, paragraph and other HTML tags, as they prioritize importance.
- An important part of On-Page SEO is the header tags, which must be applied with care. Ideal optimization involves a single H1 tag containing the main keyword for that page, followed with three to four H2 tags containing the secondary keywords for that page. Little importance is given to H3 and on. Optimizing alt text and link text and ensuring On-page optimization is razor sharp can ensure that your pages keep upwardly mobile in the Search Engine result pages.
While making your web site e as Search Engine friendly as possible, keep in mind that the content is destined for human, not spider consumption; it needs to read well. Keyword Density is a balancing act, and it is safer and wiser to weigh the balance in favor of readers, not bots. Search Engines are programmed and fashioned on principles of ethical (by their own definition) behavior such as reputation and trust. Take care not to 'over optimize' pages by stuffing them full of keywords. Not only will they read poorly, but you may face the wrath of the Search Engines because their engine algorithms take into account the keyword density of a web page. By applying in-depth analyses of the best returning websites for a given keyword (for Google, speculation puts the ideal keyword density at between 1.5 - 1.8 % while MSN runs up to 3.0 %, with Yahoo somewhere in between) they are able to determine if your website has a keyword density of 10% or more. This is known as spamming (or spamdexing) and sends an immediate alert to the Search Engines.
It is also best to also avoid hidden text, irrelevant keywords in your link-ads, junk links, doorway pages, link churning, mirror pages, hidden inbound links, and cloaking. Such Black Hat On-Page SEO could lead to Search Engines penalizing sites by reducing their rankings or at worst case, eliminating their listings from the databases altogether.