On-Page Search Engine Optimization Techniques
Wrap-up & Further Reading
On-page optimization is, in a way, less important than off-page optimization. Or, less time consuming in the long run at least. The reason is that your on-page optimization can only be so good, whereas there is no upper limit on the number of quality incoming links you can find. So follow the tips presented in this and my other articles, however if you've done it all and still are not making progress start instead to focus on the off-page factors instead of overtly stressing yourself out over your on-page optimizations.
The one on-page topic I did not heavily cover in this article is menu optimization, internal site linking, and or site architecture. This very important topic is deserving of it's own article and so can be found here: Site Architecture: Optimizing your Internal Links
Below you will find a checklist summarizing the main points of this article, this will be a good place to refer back to as you work on your site. Also, as always, if you need any help with anything mentioned here please ask in our webmaster help forums.
On-Page Optimization Checklist
- Descriptive literal title tag that includes your keywords.
- Descriptive literal meta description tag that includes your keywords and entices clicks from readers
- Meta keywords tag that includes your main keywords, minor keywords, misspellings, and words you may wish to target but that are not commonly found in your content. Don't stress out too much when making it.
- Clean, coherent, HTML or CSS markup with as little markup coding as possible, externally included files for CSS definitions. Fast loading, accessible, and compatible.
- Source code formatted so your most important menu items are read first.
- Descriptive literal ALT & TITLE attributes for images & anchor tags (links) that include your keywords.
- No use of frames for public content you want search engines to see.
- Conservative use of javascript, do not use it to display important content.
- Conservative use of Flash as an option for viewing your site, never a requirement.
- Normal HTML based navigation alternatives if form based navigation must be used.
- Descriptive literal heading tags (h1, etc) that include your keywords with good density and are used properly to sectionalize content.
- Effectively keyword rich content that is descriptive, literal, and goes into great detail.
- A fully optimized and accessible menu.
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