Improving your search engine rankings always begins with thorough keyword research. By identifying the right keywords to support your optimization efforts you stay ahead of the competition and make the vision of number one rankings a reality. After you’ve selected the right keywords the next step is to focus your efforts towards on page optimization. This is where you apply some techniques to your web pages to ensure top rankings.
There are variety of optimization factors to consider when optimizing your web pages. I have found three in particular to have more of an impact than others when correlating them to search engine rankings. In particular, meta tags, URL structure, and page load speed all have a direct impact on search engine rankings for particular keywords or keyword phrases.
Meta tags are important because they provide some basic information to search engine spiders. Meta tags need to be formatted correctly to enhance search engine rankings. My research as shows that meta tags by themselves cannot radically improve rankings. It is my belief that meta tags may be used to verify other aspects of your website and are important for getting users to click through from search engine results.
The most important meta tags are the title and descriptions tags. The title tag should be limited to sixty characters and include your keyword phrase at the beginning. Sixty characters is the maximum that is displayed by Google and although the search engine may recognize additional characters, they will not be shown. The description tag should be short and concise, usually less than one hundred fifty characters and include a keyword phrase two times.
Another meta tag is your keyword tag. The keywords tag should include your most important keywords. I choose to keep my list concise, usually around twelve keywords. This shows Google and other search engines that your web page is both focused and relevant. Sites that engage in keyword stuffing are only hurting themselves. As mentioned earlier, start with keyword research to determine which keywords get the most search engine traffic and use them.
Once you have your meta tags within your web page code it is important to focus on the next on page optimization factor. The load time of your web pages matter a great deal to Google and other search engines. Not only does your web page need to be properly formatted but it needs to load quickly. Fast loading web sites mean a better user experience. Search engines like Google reward you for providing the right information quickly to web site browsers. Try to keep load times to a minimum and continually work to improve the speed at which your site loads.
The final factor related to on page optimization we are discussing today is the web site URL. The best format is to have your keyword in root of the domain. For example, it may look something like www.keyword.com. Truthfully the days of picking up a domain like this are pretty much over but you can find some options on expired domain listings. You can also add your keyword next to the root URL by creating a separate page or folder on your main directory. The other strategy you can consider is a subdomain strategy where you would place your keyword before your domain. Most hosts offer this option.
When thinking about search engine optimization and embarking on your first optimization campaign, start with on page optimization. Focus your efforts on developing a web site that is easily searched and ranked with the help of the on page optimization factors we discussed. The topics we discussed including Meta tags, website load times and domain name are among the most important on page optimization factors you can apply to improve your rankings.
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