Basic On-Page Search Engine Optimization Techniques

When the search engines look at your pages to figure out what they are all about, you can in effect tell them what the page is about. You do that by putting keywords in the correct pages. Following are a few basic search-engine optimization techniques for your Web pages. Say that you’re optimizing for the phrase rodent racing. Here are a few tips for where to place this text:

• The page’s URL — its filename and path — is very important. Get keywords in there; don’t waste this prime real estate. You might have something like this: http://www.yourdomain.com/rodent-racing-scores.html.

  
  



• The page’s <TITLE></TITLE> tags are also very important. You should make sure to include keywords within the tags, like this: <TITLE>Rodent Racing - Looking after Your Rodents, Feeding Them, Everything You Need to Know</TITLE>.

  
  



• The DESCRIPTION tag is important, though not always for search-results placement. Google says it doesn’t use the tag to help rank your page. However, the tag often appears in the search results page, so make sure it contains good keywords, but also consider that it’s a “sales pitch,” encouraging searchers to click your link rather than someone else’s. For instance: <META NAME="description" CONTENT="Rodent Racing - Scores, Schedules, Everything Rodent Racing. Mouse Racing, Stoat Racing, Rat Racing, Gerbil Racing. The Web's Top Rodent Racing Systems and Racing News">.

  
  



• Despite what you may have heard, the KEYWORDS meta tag holds little value; search engines either ignore it or give it very little weight. My advice? Use it, but don’t spend much time on it. Put a few basic keywords in there.

  
  



• Headings on your pages are valuable; they should contain keywords and be formatted in a manner that tells the search engines that they actually are headings, which means you should use <H> tags. Use an <H1> tag at the top; then use <H2> and <H3> tags lower on the page.

  
  



• Use keywords in your image filenames and in the image tag’s ALT text. For instance: <IMG SRC="rodent-racing-1.jpg" ALT="Rodent Racing - Ratty Winners of our Latest Rodent Racing Event">. Using ALT text is particularly important when creating image links to other pages on your site, because it tells the search engines what the referenced page is about.

  
  



• Wherever possible, use text links. Search engines read the “anchor text” in the links to learn what the page the link points to is about, so you need lots of links in your site, with good keywords in those links.

  
  



• Repeat your keywords — but not too much. If you want a page to rank well for rodent racing, that phrase also needs to appear a few times throughout the body text. But if it sounds clumsy, you’ve overdone it.

  
  



• There are other ways to draw attention to keywords in your body text; make them bold; put them in bulleted lists, make them italic.

  
  

Here’s the ideal optimized page:

• You used the keywords in the filename

  
  
  
  

  • . . . and in the <TITLE></TITLE> tags

    
    
  
  

  • . . . and in the DESCRIPTION meta tag

    
    
  
  

  • . . . and in the page’s first <H1> tag

    
    
  
  

  • . . . and perhaps in some subheadings

    
    
  
  

  • . . . and multiple times throughout the body of the page.

    
    
  
  
  
  



• You have the keywords in links, elsewhere on your site, pointing to the page.

  
  



• You have the keywords in links, on other Web sites, pointing to the page.

  
  

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/basic-onpage-search-engine-optimization-techniques.html