Most webmasters know that in order to increase a website’s organic search results, you need to adopt successful off-page and on-page search engine optimization strategies. Here we will consider on page search engine optimization strategies and the vital role keyword plays in increasing your website’s ranking on search engine results pages.
Individual keywords are very competitive today; therefore, it is recommended and easier to optimize for a keyword phrase rather than a single keyword. This way, you have a chance to rank higher in search engine results. How and where you place your keywords or keyword phrase can make the difference between success and failure.
1. Page Title Tag:
It is very important that you have your keyword or key phrase in the title tag. It will be even better if you can make it the first word or phrase of the title.
2. Description label:
You also need to insert your keyword or keyword phrase in the Description tag at least once.
3. Meta tag:
Google and some of the major search engines no longer consider this important; however, there are some search engines that give importance to this. No harm will be done by listing your top keywords here and reaping the rewards from these search engines too.
4. Keywords in your H tags:
You need to make sure that your targeted keywords appear in an H1 title tag on your page, as search engines pay attention to such tags. This is the code used to display your title in large font. This tag should be used only once and should be at the top of the page.
Having subheadings by including your keywords in them and using H2 and H3 tags once each will also be very effective and attract search engines.
5. Bold Text or Italic Text:
Since search engines give more consideration to bold and italic text compared to plain or normal text, it will be advantageous to have your keywords bold or italicized once or twice on the page. Don’t overdo it as Google may interpret this as Black Hat tactics and penalize you.
6. In the Content:
Content is king and keywords in your content certainly take pride of place. Place your keyword or keyword phrase within the first two lines of your content and at the bottom of your web page. This clearly tells the search engine what your website is about. Of course, you need to place your keywords judiciously throughout the content so that there is a natural flow in the content. Do not stuff your content with keywords. Search engines can penalize you for keyword stuffing. Around 3%-5% of the text will be considered reasonable.
7. Use Alt on images with keywords:
Search engines can’t read images; therefore, it is important to ensure that you use alt text for every image on your web page. Include your keyword in the text. This helps the searcher know what the image is about and also helps speech synthesizers for the blind.
8. In URL:
If your website is running with a designated URL, you will not be able to make any changes. But it is important that you think seriously when choosing the domain name for your website at the initial stage. It is advantageous to have your main keyword or words in the URL and preferably at the beginning of the URL.
Conclusion:
Not everyone can optimize a web page. It certainly requires skills, effort and patience, but webmasters themselves can do it. On page search engine optimization is absolutely necessary to reap the benefits of having a website.