On-page SEO (search engine optimization) includes optimizing the titles, descriptions, content, tags, and other factors that make up the structure of your website, to make your web pages more easily found and categorized by the search engine spiders.
In the past, this was considered to be indispensable for online marketers in order to get a high authority in the page rankings of search engines. However, changes to the search engine algorithms, in particular at Google, has swayed the emphasis in recent year towards backlinks and what is termed off-page SEO.
Some pundits have almost gone as far as to suggest that on-page SEo is obsolete as it appeared for a while that Google was almost entirely preoccupied with inbound linking. However, the massive changes that Google have made in early 2011 - their so-called Farmer Update - has put a lot of emphasis back onto the on page elements.
Google has decided to tackle the problem of 'junk' websites head on and have started to look much more closely at the quality of the content on a page.
Benefits of Having On-Page SEO
The benefits of focusing on on-page SEO include:
* Control is with the website owner. With off-page SEO, online marketers will have to get in touch with other websites from the same niche, hoping against hope that these individuals will backlink to them. With on-page SEO, they have greater control with their page rankings. As such, they will at least have an idea of what their page rankings are based on their efforts, unlike off-page site optimization that can be quite arbitrary.
* Less burden on the website owner. Off-page SEO can be very time-consuming and requires constant work in order for a website to have achieve and maintain page rankings. With on-page SEO, once you have optimized your pages, you can just leave these alone as long as you do SEO correctly the first time. High quality content remains high quality whatever else goes on around it!
* Your web pages become better focused. With the right keywords in the titles and the body of the text, even a single glance at your website can make both search engine spiders and site visitors understand what your website is about right away. As long as it's done correctly, your efforts in optimizing your web pages will indicate that you're an expert in your niche, making it more likely for your site visitors to trust you and even purchase from you.
* Less focus on competition. If you've ever tried off-page SEO, you know that it feels like you're running a marathon. You contact other websites from your niche to try to get backlinks, but at the same time, you're quite aware of the fact that some of these websites are actually your rivals when it comes to traffic and even sales. With on-page SEO, you become more focused on the content of your websites, and less on your competitors. This allows you to pay more attention to your website so that you can monitor and make changes that will improve your ranking.
Factors to Look for in On-Page SEO
* Content. When it comes to websites, content remains king. In fact, after the last Google update it has been promoted to Emperor! Some people may have thought that they had got away with using black hat techniques in order to get a good page ranking, but the search engines are now starting to catch up with them. While questionable strategies may work for a time, they will eventually be noticed by the search engines, and will be blocked and penalized permanently.
Focus instead on making sure the content of your website deserves a more permanent place in the page rankings. Do bear in mind that content doesn't just refer to the quality of the material in your website; its presentation is also as relevant. Thus, the design, readability, functionality, and layout also play important roles when it comes to content.
* Themeing. Themeing is a big part when it comes to SEO. You can bring more traffic to your website by simply using keywords that have the same theme as your main keyword. For example, if the topic or theme of the content of your website is birthday, some of the related keywords you can include would be candles, cake, balloons, and other keywords that follow the same theme as that. As such, those who are looking for these auxiliary terms will also be able to find your website, increasing your chances of making sales.
* Keywords, links and meta-tags within the site. Do make sure that the keywords, links, and meta-tags in your website are relevant to the content. Furthermore, do check your links and tags if any are broken, or if there are orphan pages, as these can negatively affect your page rankings.
Of course, this doesn't mean that you will simply set aside all of your off-page and offline SEO efforts for on-page SEO. You will need to focus on these factors to ensure that your page rankings will remain high and will not suffer.
* Google update. Google, the foremost search engine today, regularly changes its algorithm used in an attempt to prevent fraudulent websites from getting top page rankings. Even if you're at the top of the list today, you can go down the next day because of the algorithm change. Do check the news for any updates Google, or any other search engines, will make so you can stay on top of these and make changes to your website accordingly. Google's own webmaster guidelines and their informative blogs can be of great assistance.
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