Lesson 7: Optimising 'on page' factors for top rankings
We're going to finalise our discussion on optimising 'on page' factors this month. If you implement this lesson, along with the previous lessons, you should start getting really good rankings.
Next month we'll discuss 'off page' factors to add icing to the cake and get you above all your competitors.
You will remember that last month we focused on the TITLE tag and stressed its importance. The other tags you will need to optimise are the KEYWORD, DESCRIPTION and H1 tags.
THE KEYWORD TAG
The KEYWORD tag used to be important for ranking. It's not anymore, however, it's best practice to include entries here as some search engines still pay some attention to them. Also there is evidence that the major search engines look for consistent entries across the tags.
So in the keyword tags put the keywords (actually keyphrases) you discovered in your keyword analysis. Actually you need to restrict it to a maximum of 25 words. Also use lower case and separate each phrase by a comma and a space.
A perfect example can be found at the following site. Select 'view' than 'source' to view the metatags behind this site - www.youreventsltd.com.
Should you have the same keyword tag on each page?
Ideally you should change the order of the phrases, and put the phase being optimised for at the beginning of the list. So in the example above the homepage is being optimised for 'event management', so this is the first phrase in the list.
THE DESCRIPTION TAG
This is more important than the KEYWORD tag ( but less important than the TITLE tag).
Quite often this gets listed in the hitlist directly below the title so it will have an impact on whether people click through or not.
For example:-
Your Events, Manchester UK - Christmas party organisers
Christmas party organisers by Your Events uk, looking after your christmas
production, venue, catering and entertainment.
www.youreventsltd.com/christmas.php - 14k - Cached - Similar pages
This is the result of a google search for 'christmas party organisers'. (Yes folks its nearly that time again!) The first line is the contents of the TITLE tag; the text below the content of the description tag. So ideally it needs to be a bit salesy - encouraging people to click through.
Again - no longer than 25 words, and put the phrase being optimised for at the front of the description.
If you do a 'view' and 'source' at http://www.youreventsltd.com/christmas.php you will see a perfect example of this.
THE H1 TAG
Unlike the other tags we've discussed the contents of the H1 tag appears as visible text on your web page.
Its best practice to include a version of the title tag as the H1 tag.
If your title tag says 'Briggs International - Technical Translations and Software Localisation Services' The H1 tag could be something like 'Fast Turnround on all your Technical Translations and Software Localisation'
That is, a bit more 'call to action' oriented. Essentially this has the affect of placing your keyphrase for the page being optimised for as a headline at the top of your page. Something the search engine spiders seem to like a lot.
I this case the page is being optimised for two phrases - 'technical translations' and 'software localisation'. Generally we should try to optimise one page for each of our keyphrases. Sometimes we can get away with two but three is pushing it as you will see when we discuss copy writing below.
There's on more thing to do to ensure your pages get top rankings....
WRITE 'KEYWORD RICH' VISIBLE TEXT FOR YOUR OPTIMISED PAGES
Search engine spiders thrive on keyword rich content. Also the higher placed it is on your webpages the better.
If you can get 200 words of text at the top of each page of your site (ideally right below the H1 tag content) and include your keyphrase (the one the page is being optimsied for) around 6-8 times, that is pretty optimal.
This is not always easy and we'll discuss some issues in later lessons to help when it isnt.
Essentially the TITLE tag content for a particlar page is compared to the keyphrases which appear on that page. The more the better, within certain guidleines.
Here's an example of someone who thinks he's optimising his text for the phrase 'yellow widgets'....
'Our Yellow widgets are the best in the UK and if you buy our yellow widgets you will be sure you have bought the best yellow widgets you can buy and absolutely envied by the rest of the yellow widget buying community both here in the UK and the rest of the yellow widget buying community throughout the world. Yes, you really need to buy our award winning yellow widgets. Click here to buy yellow widgets.'
Obviously a pretty naff bit of copy writing, but this guy doesnt care - he's writing for spiders not humans. Actually even the spiders will choke on this.
The trick is to stay within certain 'keyword density'(KD) limits. Around 3%-9% is good. Five keyphrase repetitions in 100 words would be a KD of 5%.
This should satisfy the spiders and also you should be able to put together reasonable copy for human visitors.
A good axample can be seen at www.asgservices.co.uk. Note the repetitions of 'warehouse rack labels'.
If you want to check the keyword density of your pages go to:-
www.ranks.nl/tools/spider.html
Type in your url for the page in question and you will get an analysis.
The keyphrases with optimal density will show up in green. Other colours highlight problem keyphrases - too dense or not enough.
So that's it folks. It's about all there is to it. Do this for one or more of your pages and you'll begin to get good rankings.
Next month I'll show you how to out compete even the fiecest of online competitors. Until then happy optimising and don't forget to get in touch if you need help. Our 'Traffic Builder' Service goes from strength to strength as you can hopefully see from the above examples and the quotes below( but not the 'yellow widgets' guy - I made him up).
"I employed Jan Klin Associates to get me higher rankings at all the search engines.
Within a couple of months we were high in the rankings for our products and now some six months later we are in the top three on all the major search engines."
Steve Bithell, Managing Director, Noisekiller UK, www.noisekiller.uk
"Jan has been able to give our search engine optimisation efforts a structured, focused and analytical backbone with some striking and immediate results."
Nick Thomas, Managing Director, Cloggs UK, www.cloggs.co.uk
“From being very cynical about what search engines could do for my businesses I am now reaping the benefits of having number one rankings in Goole and the other major search engines for all my important keyphrases. This is as a direct result of working with Jan Klin to achieve this”
Tony Gresty, Managing Director, ASG Services Ltd, www.asgservices.co.uk
Next month we'll discuss 'off page' factors to add icing to the cake and get you above all your competitors.
You will remember that last month we focused on the TITLE tag and stressed its importance. The other tags you will need to optimise are the KEYWORD, DESCRIPTION and H1 tags.
THE KEYWORD TAG
The KEYWORD tag used to be important for ranking. It's not anymore, however, it's best practice to include entries here as some search engines still pay some attention to them. Also there is evidence that the major search engines look for consistent entries across the tags.
So in the keyword tags put the keywords (actually keyphrases) you discovered in your keyword analysis. Actually you need to restrict it to a maximum of 25 words. Also use lower case and separate each phrase by a comma and a space.
A perfect example can be found at the following site. Select 'view' than 'source' to view the metatags behind this site - www.youreventsltd.com.
Should you have the same keyword tag on each page?
Ideally you should change the order of the phrases, and put the phase being optimised for at the beginning of the list. So in the example above the homepage is being optimised for 'event management', so this is the first phrase in the list.
THE DESCRIPTION TAG
This is more important than the KEYWORD tag ( but less important than the TITLE tag).
Quite often this gets listed in the hitlist directly below the title so it will have an impact on whether people click through or not.
For example:-
Your Events, Manchester UK - Christmas party organisers
Christmas party organisers by Your Events uk, looking after your christmas
production, venue, catering and entertainment.
www.youreventsltd.com/christmas.php - 14k - Cached - Similar pages
This is the result of a google search for 'christmas party organisers'. (Yes folks its nearly that time again!) The first line is the contents of the TITLE tag; the text below the content of the description tag. So ideally it needs to be a bit salesy - encouraging people to click through.
Again - no longer than 25 words, and put the phrase being optimised for at the front of the description.
If you do a 'view' and 'source' at http://www.youreventsltd.com/christmas.php you will see a perfect example of this.
THE H1 TAG
Unlike the other tags we've discussed the contents of the H1 tag appears as visible text on your web page.
Its best practice to include a version of the title tag as the H1 tag.
If your title tag says 'Briggs International - Technical Translations and Software Localisation Services' The H1 tag could be something like 'Fast Turnround on all your Technical Translations and Software Localisation'
That is, a bit more 'call to action' oriented. Essentially this has the affect of placing your keyphrase for the page being optimised for as a headline at the top of your page. Something the search engine spiders seem to like a lot.
I this case the page is being optimised for two phrases - 'technical translations' and 'software localisation'. Generally we should try to optimise one page for each of our keyphrases. Sometimes we can get away with two but three is pushing it as you will see when we discuss copy writing below.
There's on more thing to do to ensure your pages get top rankings....
WRITE 'KEYWORD RICH' VISIBLE TEXT FOR YOUR OPTIMISED PAGES
Search engine spiders thrive on keyword rich content. Also the higher placed it is on your webpages the better.
If you can get 200 words of text at the top of each page of your site (ideally right below the H1 tag content) and include your keyphrase (the one the page is being optimsied for) around 6-8 times, that is pretty optimal.
This is not always easy and we'll discuss some issues in later lessons to help when it isnt.
Essentially the TITLE tag content for a particlar page is compared to the keyphrases which appear on that page. The more the better, within certain guidleines.
Here's an example of someone who thinks he's optimising his text for the phrase 'yellow widgets'....
'Our Yellow widgets are the best in the UK and if you buy our yellow widgets you will be sure you have bought the best yellow widgets you can buy and absolutely envied by the rest of the yellow widget buying community both here in the UK and the rest of the yellow widget buying community throughout the world. Yes, you really need to buy our award winning yellow widgets. Click here to buy yellow widgets.'
Obviously a pretty naff bit of copy writing, but this guy doesnt care - he's writing for spiders not humans. Actually even the spiders will choke on this.
The trick is to stay within certain 'keyword density'(KD) limits. Around 3%-9% is good. Five keyphrase repetitions in 100 words would be a KD of 5%.
This should satisfy the spiders and also you should be able to put together reasonable copy for human visitors.
A good axample can be seen at www.asgservices.co.uk. Note the repetitions of 'warehouse rack labels'.
If you want to check the keyword density of your pages go to:-
www.ranks.nl/tools/spider.html
Type in your url for the page in question and you will get an analysis.
The keyphrases with optimal density will show up in green. Other colours highlight problem keyphrases - too dense or not enough.
So that's it folks. It's about all there is to it. Do this for one or more of your pages and you'll begin to get good rankings.
Next month I'll show you how to out compete even the fiecest of online competitors. Until then happy optimising and don't forget to get in touch if you need help. Our 'Traffic Builder' Service goes from strength to strength as you can hopefully see from the above examples and the quotes below( but not the 'yellow widgets' guy - I made him up).
"I employed Jan Klin Associates to get me higher rankings at all the search engines.
Within a couple of months we were high in the rankings for our products and now some six months later we are in the top three on all the major search engines."
Steve Bithell, Managing Director, Noisekiller UK, www.noisekiller.uk
"Jan has been able to give our search engine optimisation efforts a structured, focused and analytical backbone with some striking and immediate results."
Nick Thomas, Managing Director, Cloggs UK, www.cloggs.co.uk
“From being very cynical about what search engines could do for my businesses I am now reaping the benefits of having number one rankings in Goole and the other major search engines for all my important keyphrases. This is as a direct result of working with Jan Klin to achieve this”
Tony Gresty, Managing Director, ASG Services Ltd, www.asgservices.co.uk
posted by Unknown at
12:58 pm
