This 9 Step On-Page Search Engine
Optimization Guide will help you optimize your website pages, so they will have
the best chance to get found by your target market. The Guide outlines the most
important factors to consider when optimizing each page on your site. These
steps are listed based on importance, so don’t skip a step. Also,
remember that creating new optimized content on a weekly basis is critical
to achieving long-term success with SEO.
Step 1: Choose
Keywords
Read the page’s content and identify two (2) keywords that are most
relevant to the overall page content. Choose one (1) primary keyword
relevant to the page’s content and one variation of that keyword (e.g. plural
variation or two closely related keywords) per page. If you can’t identify one
primary keyword for a page, you’ll need to create new website pages to separate
the different content. If it’s not clear to you what page is about, then your
visitors and the search engines won’t be able to understand the page either.
Step 2: Page Title
The page title appears as the blue, bolded, underlined text on a
Google search results page, and also on the top left the browser bar. The page
title should follow these guidelines:
·
Be under 70
characters with no more than two long-tail keywords per page title
·
The primary keyword
should appear first
·
Each keyword phrase
should be separated by pipes (|)
·
Each page title on
your website should be unique
·
Except for your
homepage and contact us page, each page title should NOT include your business
name
Step 3: Meta Description
The Meta
description appears on a Google search results page under the Page Title. The
meta description helps people decide whether to click on your result, or a
result above or below you. Think of it as a call to action. The Meta
description should follow these guidelines:
·
Be under 150
characters (but not under 100 characters; take advantage of the space you have)
·
Incorporate the
primary keyword and at least one secondary keyword
·
Provide a valuable,
compelling reason for why someone should visit the page
·
Include keywords in
a conversational format; don’t just cram in keywords for the sake of listing
them
Step 4: URL
The website page’s URL should include the primary keyword. Each word
in the URL should be separated using dashes (-). e.g.
www.examplesite.com/inbound-marketing-software
Step 5:
Heading Tags
The page should
have one H1 heading tag that incorporates the primary keyword, and should align
with the page title and the URL or the page. This H1 tag should appear at the
top of the page and should be the first thing people see when they arrive on a
page.
Step 6: Page
Content
Use your primary keyword a few times throughout the page’s content.
Don’t over think keyword density or placement, you should mention them
naturally. Try to bold or underline the keyword at least once. This has an
effect on how relevant the keyword is to the page. Also mention the secondary
keywords when you can.
Step 7: Add a Call
to Action
Every website page,
including your blog, should have at least one call to action above the page’s
fold (Don’t make your website visitor scroll down to see the call to action).
Calls to action can help SEO by creating an internal link on your website to a
specific landing page. Most calls to action are images; therefore you can
optimize the image filename and alt text for the primary keyword you’re
targeting on the page (see step 9).
Step 8: Internal Links
If you mention the primary keyword of this page on other pages within
your site, then link to this page using the primary keyword as the anchor text.
For example, you should link to a page about inbound marketing software using
the anchor text “inbound marketing software.” To make sure this is completed,
take a moment to create one (1) or two (2) links on related pages that link
back to the page you’re optimizing.
Step 9: Images
Any images used on the page should be optimized so that search engines
can “read” the image. Optimize the most prominent image on the page using the
primary keyword, and then use the primary and secondary keywords for any other
images. Images can be optimized in two ways:
·
File name: Each word should be separated with dashes (-), e.g.
inbound-marketing-software.jpg
·
ALT text: The alt text should match the file name, without dashes, e.g. Inbound
Marketing Software
If you are unable to change image file name or if it’s too time
consuming, then only change the most prominent images’ alt text using the primary
keyword.
Meta Keywords
They aren’t part of Google’s or Bing’s
search algorithm, so I’m not including them as a step. However, still use your
primary and secondary keyword in the page’s meta keywords. Smaller search
engines still might use them in their algorithm, but major search engines do
not use them.