10 On-Page Optimization Tips For Your Blog/Website Optimization

1) Title Tactics

The most important optimization component, to ensuring your blog/website is picked up by search engines and read by web surfers, is your posts title. Some Title tactics include:

on_page_general.jpgEnsuring that the beginning of the title contains targeted phrases and keywords

Refraining from repeating your keywords/key-phrases in your title that wont get you ranked high on Google, Bing or Yahoo!

Limiting the length of your title to no more than 65 characters including spaces

2) Interlinking Content

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If you want every page in your Blog/Website to be indexed by Search engine Spiders, Crawlers and BOTs, then a good way to do that is to interlink your content.

Dont try to interlink every post to each new post you create

Use multi-part blogs, and link each subsequent part to the previous one as a way to generate internal links and traffic

Create keyword rich anchor text for the links so that search engines will rank your posts high on their SERPs

Interlinking is a great way to increase your pageviews, and a good tactic to make your blog/website a sticky place for readers to hang around for a while.

3) Header Tags

Next, focus on your Heading Tags. Use h2, h3, h4 etc. judiciously to draw attention to key elements in your posts.

Dont overdo it!

Do not unnecessarily repeat your h2, h3 tags as that is viewed negatively by SEO sensitive search engines!Hear what Matt Cutts of Google has to say about repeating Heading Tags. m_c_1.png

4) Keyword Density

Obviously you should use well-researched keywords, but how frequently you use them in your post matters too:

Ideally, keep your keywords up to a density of 1.5%

The opening paragraph (preferably the first sentence or two) must contain your main keyword once

Sprinkle the keywords judiciously across the post

Use the keyword/s in your closing paragraph/sentences onceMaking good use of Latent semantic indexing keywords (or LSI keywords) is a great SEO strategy, as is underlining, bolding and italicising key points in your blog.

Listen to Matt Cutts again on keyword density. m_c_2.png

5) Make Meta Tags Work

Search engines pay great attention to your Meta Tags, so you should strive to make your tags relevant by adding unique keywords and meta descriptions.

meta_tags.jpgInclude your keyword/phrase in the Meta description and the Meta Keyword section of your post

Ensure the Meta Description represents a summary of your post

Restrict Meta Descriptions to no more than 160 characters inclusive of spaces

Paying some attention to Meta Descriptions will go a long way in improving your Click Through Rate (CTR), especially on Google, which doesnt care much about Meta Keywords.

Listen to what Matt Cutts says about this. m_c_3.png

6) Images Matter

Images not only draw human readers to your blogs, but can also be used to attract Search engine BOTs.

Name your images to include your keyword/phrase

Make sure the keyword/phrase is included in the Alt-Text field of the image

Use images of smaller density. Google now rates web pages on speed, and high-density images will slow down speed and lower rankingsBalance the use of images with textual content. Just remember that additional images mean more Alt-Text and better opportunity to capture traffic from image search queries.

7) Post Length

Small posts, 250 to 300 words in length, will rarely make it to page 1 of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). Thats because, if you write naturally, its hard to optimize short text using targeted keywords/phrases.

content1.jpgIf you have something to say about your niche, blog about it in 700-words or more!

Preferably, make your blogs at least 2,000 words in length

Use well researched content to cover your postsWhile there is no hard and fast rule on the length of a blog post, one strategy would be to assess other blogs in your niche, and include topics that they either missed or dont cover too well.

8) Permalink Techniques

The next big optimization technique is to design a good URL for the post. Things to remember:

Front load your permalink with your desired keywords and phrases

Stay away from special characters they make your URL look like a complex math formula!

Separate multiple strings with dashes, not brackets or commas

Stick to alphabets (a-z) and numbers (0-9) where possible

9) External Links

Not every blogger knows it all so if you want your blog to become the go to place for readers in your niche, then you need to link to external websites:

Link to only trusted and well respected website and use the do-follow link to reward them with your trust in Googles eyesLinking to credible sites is a good on-page optimization strategy, but it also draws traffic to your site because your readers know theyll also be able to access a lot of great external information through your blog.

10) Content is King!

content_king.jpg Regardless of how good your on-page optimization strategies are, ultimately readers come to your blog because of your content. If you write it well, they will come guaranteed!

Create unique content that readers might not easily find elsewhere

Produce well researched content that can withstand scrutiny

Write naturally, avoiding clichs and hypeIf your content is mostly fluff, readers will immediately leave the blog and that will increase your bounce rate. Google views bounce rates when calculating rankings, so beware of crappy content!

On-page SEO Summary

While there are literally hundreds of other points to keep in mind when building your onpage optimization strategy, the most important ones include:

Making judicious use of keywords in your Title, Permalink, Images and your opening and closing content

Take advantage of Meta Keywords and Meta Description

Using good H-tags, and including keywords in them, and beware of repeating tags needlessly

Use LSI keywords, and keep the density around 1.5%

Make good use of relevant images, but keep them reasonable in size to avoid dragging down your page loading times

Create well researched, engaging content

Write blogs that are closer to 2,000 words ideally at least 700+ words

Link your posts internally, but do so only for relevant content

Link to outside websites, but only to those that you trustIf you follow these recommendations, you will end up in a highly optimized website pages that will help you get good rankings for the whole website for sure!