As search engines and their robots/spiders become more sophisticated, your website needs to contain all the elements necessary to allow them to gather together sufficient Points to enable it to feature strongly within their rankings. Google say that they use 200 algorithms to rank a pages position. Page optimisation includes making sure that the TAGS (scripts that are hidden within the source code and not seen by the reader) are present and accurate. The TAGS include:
The TITLE tag of your website page is arguably the most important HTML tag. Search Engines attach a lot of importance to these keywords. A page with a certain keyword in the TITLE tag will usually rank higher than a page with the same keyword in the body tag. The TITLE tag is also displayed as the title of your page in the search results, so it needs to be relevant as well as readable. Use “Clicking Triggers” in your TITLE and descriptions. A clicking trigger is simply a reason to click. Apart from the product or service you are offering, you need to offer a clicking trigger: a reason to entice visitors to click on the link to your site. This could be saving money, saving time, extended warranty etc., so consider using your keyword phrase mixed with a “reason to click” in your TITLE. Try to keep the number of letters below 60 too.
Fact: If you are not on the first page of search results, over 60% of Internet users will not find you!
Whilst the META Keywords are not read by all search engines, notably Google, its purpose is to define what words apply to your page, so it is still a good idea to include them.
The META Description tag will be displayed to the user in the search engine results too. Therefore, it pays to write an accurate description that will both rank well and read fluently. Consider including a clicking trigger again.
Fact: All search engines including Google, Yahoo!, Bing and others utilize the Meta Tags description
Robot.txt files are now recommended on all sites as they provide useful information to the search engines and help direct them to the areas within your website that you want them to find and rank.
Basic Example of a Robot Search Engine Listing:
Headings are generally the larger print on a page used to emphasise or introduce new topics or products. A heading often appears at the very top of the page. Headings come in various sizes represented by TAGS like H1, H2, H3 etc. Some search engines give extra relevance to keywords that appear within a heading tag, so be sure to try to use your important keyword phrases in one or two heading TAGS on each page.
LINK Text can help improve a pages relevance to a given search. The text within a LINK is sometimes weighed more heavily than words found in the regular body text. Always use your primary keywords in the visible link tag area of at least one link, and try to place them at the start of the link where possible. In fact, it is a good idea to try to use your keyword phrase as the only text that is hyperlinked.
Hyperlinked URL Keywords within the name of the page are given extra relevance by some search engines. Therefore, it pays to name your pages after your important keywords or keyword phrases.
The BODY area is where the bulk of the text on a page generally resides. This is the informative section on your page. Stick to the rules of copywriting by avoiding repetition, the over use of keywords or keyphrases.
The ALT text of an image TAG is used to describe a graphic for those users who surf with the graphics turned off. To see ALT text on a page simply hover your cursor over an image. If there is ALT text, it will show up in a box beside the image. Some search engines will index the contents of ALT text and use it when determining relevancy and ranking. Be sure to describe the image first, whilst also including your keyword phrase.
Fact: Whilst having search engine friendly Title and Meta Tags is important, it is just one basic step toward search engine optimisation: But it’s not enough to outrank the competition. We can start helping you begin to fully optimise your site today.