Fundamentals of On-Page SEO
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.
Keyword Research
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.
Meta Tags
After you’ve done your keyword research, place your keywords in the meta keywords tag:
<META NAME="Keywords" content="widgets, custom widgets, u.s. widget manufacturer">
The meta keywords tag does not carry a lot of weight, but it is taken into consideration by some search engines.
Meta Description
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="Custom Widgets by a U.S. based manufacturer with 20 years experience">
The Title Element
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 information to choose your site
instead of the competition.
Headings
Using headings 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>
Bold & Italics
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.
Summary
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.
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