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SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is often seen as a constant rush to build links and create keyword-heavy content, but there is a lot more to it than that. While newbie marketers compete for links to their, quite frankly amateur websites, the more experienced marketers are looking at a completely different area of SEO: on-site optimization. From page details to title tags, image descriptions to overall meta data, serious search engine marketers know that there is more to a page’s success than the amount of inbound links it has.
That is why they invest hours into on-page SEO at the expense of building backlinks. With an optimized page, the amount of inbound linking that is required for a great rank is significantly less than it would be with a poorly designed, search engine unfriendly page. If you want to bring your website out of the danger zone and compete on an optimized level, these five on-site SEO optimizations could help you get there.
1) Check your title tags.
The page title tag is by far the most important html tag on your website. Without a great title, the search engines are unlikely to find your page, and your visitors are even less likely to find it. When creating a title tag, think about the type of traffic you would like to receive. If your website includes a collection of travel essays on Morocco, design your title to bring in relevant traffic. “Morocco travel essays” would be a good place to start.
2) Add image tags.
There are two things to keep in mind when placing images on your page: the image’s name, and the alt text description. The image’s name is very important for some websites, as it makes them more visible not just to direct search results, but to image-related search results. Alongside the image’s name, make sure that the alternate text for your image is appropriate – good keywords for an image can often be enough to push your page through the ranks.
3) If you’re using WordPress, fix your page URLs.
The standard WordPress URL display is not very SEO-friendly. Instead of sticking with the conventional date-based system, it is best to use a keyword URL. WordPress users can easily change their URL display using the built-in options in the WordPress dashboard. For static HTML pages, all that is required is a quick change of the page’s name and link destinations.
4) Keep a reasonable level of keyword density.
‘Reasonable’ does not mean “reasonably high” or even “reasonably low.” Keywords are best when used moderately, both in body text and in link anchor text. Rather than going for pure keyword spam content, add keywords to your writing in a natural way. Remember, it is not worth pushing readers away for the sake of search engine power. Balance keywords and pure content and you will create a true search engine resource.
5) Inter-page links should be optimized too.
Whenever you are linking between your own pages, remember to add SEO keywords and search terms to your links. Search engines do not forget the anchor text on your own website, and even with thousands of inbound links, websites can often fail to rank without SEO-friendly inter-page links too.
