Website Optimization
It may be all very well to say that the key to getting traffic (visitors) to your website is to simply get your website listed in Google under a good keyword term, but how do you actually increase your ranking in the Search Engine Results Page (SERP)? You do this through two separate processes: On-page website optimization, and Off-page website optimization.
On-page optimization refers to what you can to with your sites contents to get it ranked higher in the search results, while Off-page optimization refers to what you can do outside of your website to get it ranked higher in the search results. To start off with, let’s discuss on-page optimization.
If you’ve had any experience designing a website before, you’ll know that web pages are designed through a language known as ‘HTML’. This language is quite easy to learn, and even if you haven’t had any previous web experience, you can use programs that will input HTML for you without any necessary prior knowledge of the language. Now when designing your web page, you must pick a title for it. The title of your web page is what appears at the top blue bar of the web browser (for instance if you look at the blue bar at the top of this page, you’ll see the title ‘make money online’). Now the trick is to put the keyword phrase you’re attempting to rank yourself under your title. So for example, since I want to rank under the keyword phrase ‘make money online’, that’s the keyword I put in my title bar. If you wanted to rank under ‘budget saving techniques’, then you’d make that your title, and leave nothing else there.
The most common of mistakes that people make with their website is that they simply use either their domain in their site title, or some name that isn’t a good keyword at all. Calling your site ‘Laura’s Flower And Beauty Tips’ isn’t going to do you any good whatsoever. Your site’s title is the most important thing, as it tells Google just exactly what your site is about. If you’re going to advertise an ebook for cosmetics, then picking a well searched keyword, such as ‘comsetic tips’ as your title tag is a much better idea.
Now titles aren’t the only thing that’s important when it comes to on-page optimization. What’s also important are the headings that your site use. The heading tag looks like <h1>, and it basically tells Google what the contents of your page is going to be about. You’ll want to also include your keyword in the heading tag, but don’t make it an exact replica of your title, as this may look spammy. Instead place a few other words around your keyword, such as ‘cosmetic tips for your face’ depending upon your pages individual contents. In my case I’ve included the keyword phrase ‘website optimization’ as the heading of this page, with ‘make money online’ as my title. This is fine, as it attempts to get me ranked under both terms, as opposed to focusing on just make money online.
Now the next thing you’ll want to do is include your keyword in the content of your site (the actual text that you type). Don’t repeat your keyword too many times, repeat it about 2-3% of the time depending upon the total word count of your individual web page. This will ensure that Google recognises your keyword, without it viewing your site as being too spammy.
Whilst I could go into a lot more detail with on-page optimization, it’s time now to focus on off-page optimization instead. Off-page optimization is the ability to get other websites to link to your website, or a particular page on your website. Each time you receive an external link from another website (this is known as a ‘backlink), that site is effectively giving your site a ‘vote’. Google views this as another site recommending your site under a certain keyword phrase, and this will mean that your site has a better chance of ranking under a keyword phrase that the other site gives you.
The keyword phrase that another site uses to link to you is known as the ‘anchor text’. So let’s say you owned domain1.com, which taught people ways to make money through the internet. domain2.com decided to link to your domain, and the link looked something like this – make money through the internet.
Because domain2.com would be giving a link to your site with the words ‘make money through the internet’, they’d effectively be passing on authority to your site under those words. If domain2.com had a lot of authority for ‘make money’ and ‘internet’ (due to their on-page and off-page optimization), then the vote it gives you will be worth more. Every time a site links to you under a certain keyword, you will have a higher chance of ranking your site under that particular keyword phrase.
Whilst this has only tapped the surface of the subject, hopefully you understand now that the way to get your site listed in Google under a keyword is to use both on-page and off-page website optimization techniques.
No comments:
Post a Comment