10 On-Page Search Engine Optimization Factors!

Even though having the inside scoop for every ranking factor of a search engine may be impossible to know for optimizing your site, here are 10 basic On-Page, SEO Ranking Factors for building a search engine friendly website:

IF YOU Master these 10 On-Page SEO Factors, You'll Gain Higher Rankings!

1. Keyword Research and Selection – We spoke briefly about keyword research... did you think like your visitors – Keeping in mind that you are not optimizing your page for keywords that you like or think should be associated with the topic you are writing about. You are optimizing for the keywords potential visitors associate with the information you are offering.

2. Optimize Keywords in URL – Prior to publishing your page for readers, make sure your URL is optimized for search engines. Just as it makes sense to fill your web page with keyword phrases relevant to the topic you are writing about, you should name the file after your main keyword phrase.

3. Optimize Keywords in Title Tag – The Title Tag is possibly your most important consideration when you try to raise your search-engine rankings for a particular keyword or keyword phrase. Search engines use the text contained within the title tag as a primary factor to determine what the content of a certain web page is about.

4. Optimize Keywords in Description Meta Tag – You should optimize each and every Meta Description Tag on your web site because meta description tags are part of the display information that visitors see when your site is listed in the search engine results pages.

5. Optimize Keywords in Heading Tags – h1, h2, h3 tags – Your headline, which will be the description of your page’s content, is around 90 percent of the reason anyone will read your information, so make sure your headline title will interest the reader enough to pull them in immediately, while clearly explaining what your page is all about. Be sure to include your keyword phrase or variations within all the heading tags if possible.

6. Optimize Keywords in Anchor Text – Another element of organic SEO that can be classified as important as your web site content itself, is cross-linking, anchor text on your page. Anchor text is the linkable wording that would be included in your navigation to outside sources, and internal linking structure within your site.

7. Optimize Your Keyword Density – Keyword Density is a measurement of the number of times your keyword or keyword phrase appears on the page of your article, versus the number of words on the page… a ratio in other words. Make sure you sprinkle a few variations of your keyword phrase throughout your content where it looks natural and makes sense.

8. Text Modifiers to Emphasize Your Keywords – Use the BOLD or Italicized Tags to emphasize your keyword phrase. It is a good practice to bold the targeted keyword phrase at least once in your content.  Italicizing your targeted keyword phrase appears to carry slightly more weight with rankings than the bold tag, so I suggest you use it in your content for your targeted keyword phrase at least once also.

9. Images - Optimize Image File Names & ALT Tags - Image optimizations are included in SEO best practices and aid in determining relevancy as search engine spiders crawl your site. Name the images with a dash-separated keyword phrase, and fill out the Alt Tag with a short descriptive phrase about the image to include your keyword phrase.

- Do not repeat the same words over and over again, and never repeat the same Alt Image Tag more than once unless the image itself is repeated.

10.  Last but Not Least, Proof Read – Avoid Poor: grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization and sentence structure! The search-engine spiders are aware that clumsy sentences and poor grammar are displeasing to human readers; therefore, your grammar should be of the highest caliber.

Search engines tend to devalue any content containing awkward sentences, clichés, erroneous grammar, or writing considered aesthetically abrasive to a reader.