Search Engine Optimization(SEO) Factors

If you have your own website or are thinking about launching one, then chances are you’ve heard about search engine optimization.  Search engine optimization – otherwise known as SEO – is an umbrella term used to describe the techniques and methods used to bring a website to the top of a search engine’s natural listings.

Not sure what this means?  Think of the last time you entered a word or phrase in your favorite search engine.  The listings that appeared on the search results page are known as natural listings – and they’re not there due to a random occurrence or because they got lucky.  Rather, the website makers understood the most powerful on-page SEO factors and used them to the best of their ability.

If you’re not sure of what the best on-page SEO factors are, then read on to find out! Read below on the basics of On-Page optimization factors.

• Meta Tags: Think of your web content as information that your human visitors read, while meta tags are information that is primarily directed for search engines to “read.”  Search engines send out crawler software – known as search engine spiders – that travels through the Internet via these meta tags.  If your meta tags are carefully optimized with your most relevant keywords and placed in the appropriate places on your website, search engines will quickly recognize your content as valuable and send it straight to the top.

Meta tags include:

1. The title tag – This is the title of the particular web page;
2. The description tag – This is the information that’s presented in search engine results pages, and can provide a great opportunity for search engine optimization;
3. Keywords – These are phrases and words that apply to your industry, and are used frequently by your customers.  The best keywords should be lucrative but shouldn’t have much competition.

• Header: Header tags can be crucial to giving your web page the extra boost it needs to crawl up the search engine results page.  A header tag – also known as H1, H2, etc. – should be placed around any titles and subtitles in your web content.

• Inter-site linking: Inter-site linking refers to the way your site links to other pages on its own website.  This allows the search engine spiders mentioned above to crawl through your entire website and categorize it accordingly.

• Alt-Text: Alt text is simply a phrase used to describe text that’s used for images on your website.  You can optimize this text with your keywords for an additional boost of SEO juice.

• Relevance of Body Copy: Finally, your body copy will play a large role in your ultimate search engine ranking.  Your optimized web content should strike the right balance between providing readers with plenty of relevant information while catering to search engine requirements.

In the world of on-page SEO factors, it pays to have an expert to guide you through the complicated and somewhat confusing process.  If you want to guarantee that your website will place as highly as possible, don’t be afraid to call in the SEO experts.