On-Page Optimization (Part 2)

The strategic coding of a page's HTML and Copy

Like the Anchor Text in back-links, keywords that appear in your website's code and copy help Search Engine's associate your website with certain words and phrases. For instance, if the keyword, "Web Design Boston" appears 7 times in your page's HTML and copy, and is repeated on other pages as well, it becomes fairly easy for Search Engines to realize that chances are the web site/web page is about "Web Design Boston." The SEO word for this is called "Keyword Density." The keywords that have the most density on your page in relation to the rest of your code and copy will work to strengthen your website's Keyword Association.

At one point in time, Search Engines relied heavily on Keyword Density. As a result, webmasters began to abuse the technique by using extra small font and even camouflaging text completely by making the font color the same color as the web page's background (otherwise known as "Cloaking"). Because of this abuse, Google decided to place far more weight on the strength of a site's Back-Link Power as opposed to a site's Keyword Density. However, it is still commonly accepted that Google places a small amount of weight toward On-Page Optimization and in other search Engines such as Yahoo and MSN, Keyword Density plays a far greater role.

In addition to Keyword Density, Keyword Placement also factors into the equation. Let's say a website had 200 lines of code but yet the keywords in question were only found in the bottom two lines of the page. This would be a poor example of Keyword Placement. In theory, your keywords should appear evenly throughout your site's code, and in a few particular places.

META TAGS:

Forget about the Keyword Meta Tag. It's now useless. Again, abuse....The Title Meta Tag and Description Meta Tag, however, still play prominent roles in developing Keyword Association. Some suggest repeating your keyword twice in each Meta Tag, and if possible, writing your title and description in such a way that your keyword appears as close to the beginning as possible. Of course, this isn't always feasible. And in fact, a general rule of thumb is to write for the user. This is because On-Page optimization plays such a small role in the overall Page Ranking system that it's not worth sacrificing your quality content and well-written sales pitches for in place of Keyword Density.

THE ALT TEXT ATTRIBUTE

Ever hover your mouse over an image and a description appears? This is called "Alt Text" that appears in the image's HTML. Here's an example:



Because Search Engine Crawlers can't read images, they pay particular attention to an image's Alt Text. A good example of this is Google's Image Search. Every image that exists in their index has been listed according to the image's Alt Text. So if you have an image of an apple, but your Alt Text says "orange," you'll find it under the search phrase "orange" in Google's image index.

HEADER TAGS

These are called "Headers" and in HTML automatically raise the font size of text in addition to making the text bold faced. Their purpose is to serve as titles for a block of text or any other web element that warrants a title or short description. Because of this, Search Engines place emphasis on the words that are used in your websites Headers because they assume that the words in your Headers are intended to describe major portions of your website's pages. The great thing about a new form of HTML called CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is that all versions of Header tags can now be styled to appear any size and any font-weight (bold or normal).

Like Cloaking, some webmasters like to sneak Keywords inside tags. No Script tags hide its contents from users when JavaScript is enabled, and show the contents within the tags when the user has disabled their web browser from reading JavaScript. The real purpose of this tag is for this type of message,

"In order to view our website the way it is originally intended to be viewed, you must be surfing with JavaScript enabled."

But instead of including important messages, webmasters have used this tag inappropriately to try to increase their site's Keyword Density. Stay away from this method. Including 1 or 2 keywords in your message won't hurt you, but if you fill your No Script tags with irrelevant text, someone could report you to Google for trying to trick the system, and if Google decides you're guilty, they could place a severe penalty on your site's listing, or in worse case scenarios, ban your site altogether.

Sticking with the "Penalty" and "Ban" theme, it's important to note that this goes for every method we've discussed so far. Using Keywords in the places we've discussed not only strengthen your Keyword Association with search Engines, but are also very useful to users when used appropriately. But because Google insists that a web site should be written and coded for the user and NOT a Search Engine, repeating a word 3 times over in an Alt Tag is not advantageous to the user, and therefore could be accompanied by penalties and bans from Search Engines. This is otherwise known as "Keyword Stuffing."

Keyword Stuffing is exactly what it sounds like: Stuffing your websites code and content with Keywords. Sure it is a great idea to use keywords in Alt Tags, Meta Tags, Headers and copy, but repeating them multiple times in the same tag, or using them in every Header tag that exists on your site for example is commonly viewed as deceptive behavior. However, if you only used 2 Headers throughout the page, it's perfectly reasonable that you would repeat a keyword, but with any technique, you sort of have to use a little common sense. Again, is it written for the user? If not, there's a good chance you're Keyword Stuffing and as a result gambling with the integrity of your Search Engine Listing.

As a general rule of thumb, don't try to outsmart Google. Believe me, if you think of it, Google already has as well, and have already put a penalty in place for the mischievous technique.

THE COPY

Like you probably figured, it's important to place keywords in your page's copy. If you use keywords within your copy, try to place your most important ones at the very beginning and end of your page's copy. Try to make it so your Keywords are the first and last thing search Engine Robots read. Think of it as a College Essay. You start off with an Introduction; then you have your Body followed by your Conclusion, which is really just a rewritten version of your Introduction. The same should apply for your copy, with your Keywords acting as your copy's Introduction and Conclusion.


It's important to know that your Keyword Density Percentage is not solely based on your copy, but all the elements we've discussed above. Here's a great tool to check your page's Keyword Density Percentage:

http://www.ranks.nl/tools/spider.html

Many Search Engine Professionals will tell you to stay within a certain percentage, but the truth is there is no "Magic Percentage." What's most important is that your Keywords carry a higher density percentage than your non-keywords. For instance, if you're targeting the Keyword "Boston Web Development," yet you have several other non-keyword phrases that appear more often in your HTML and copy, Search Engines will have a hard time determining that your website is SUPPOSED to be about "Boston Web Development." So let's say the non-keyword phrase "Hot Dog Safari" carries a 2% keyword density, the goal would be to list the targeted Keyword "Boston Web Development" at 3%. You don't need to go wild increasing your percentages, but increase them just enough for there to be a clear distinction between the two. If you've ran your website through the Keyword Density Percentage tool listed above, you'll see that it breaks down your website's density by 1,2,3 and 4 word phrases. So keeping in line with our technique, your top percentages for each of these numbers should be targeted Keywords. The exception is one word keywords, as studies show people rarely search one word phrases, with 3 and 4 being the most searched.

Other SEO Notes:

THE IMPORTANCE OF A SEARCH ENGINE FRIENDLY NAVIGATION SYSTEM

Chances are, your site has much more to offer than just your homepage, so it's important to keep this in mind when building your site. Let's say you are selling Hot Dogs on one page and Peanuts on another. You want both pages to come up when someone searches for these phrases. But many websites have JavaScript and Flash menus that Search Engine Robots are unable to follow. This is where the good old Site Map comes into play.

If your site is using JavaScript or Flash menus, a Site Map is necessary to direct Search Engine Robots to the rest of your site's pages. Like Direct Back-Links, a Site Map's link needs to be coded with HTML Hypertext:



This will ensure that regardless of whatever method you're using for your main menu, Search Engine Robots will be able to discover your website's other important pages.

Another important note is, make sure that the Meta Tag Title and Description are worded differently for each page. This will help emphasize the fact that your other pages have new, important content to offer, and therefore should be listed with the same importance as your homepage for their specific topic.