3 Commonly Overlooked On-Page SEO Elements
Posted by Chris Stone
While on-page SEO may not be as strong as off-page SEO in determining your website’s ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs), it is still helpful as most search engines still reward websites that have proper on-page SEO. If you are a novice at SEO, the following tips will help you with optimizing your website. If you already know SEO, could you be ignoring one of the 3 on-page techniques most people overlook?
Below are 3 of the most commonly overlooked, but important, on-page SEO elements:
META title tags
The META title tag resides in the title tag. This is arguably the most important on-page HTML element on a page. The title tag helps search engines to define the theme of your website and will boost the site’s ranking for particular keywords. Each page of your website should have a title tag that is targeted for that page. Avoid the “Welcome to our Website” title and instead use a keyword rich title like “Welcome to Dog Training DVDs shop”, here targeting the keyword phrase “dog training DVDs”.
Image alternative (alt) tags
The image alt tag helps search engine scripts to easily read your website’s images and in turn rank them for the keywords used to describe them. Since images cannot be read by the search bots, it is only logical to provide an alternative way of them being read. This is where the alt tag comes in. For proper image optimization, make sure you name your image with the keyword you are targeting. Also, ensure the alt description has the keyword.
Anchor text
Most people use anchor texts on their websites, but in the wrong way. Unlike the above mentioned on-page SEO elements, anchor texts do not benefit the page where they are used. Instead, they pass a “vote” or benefit the page where they link to. For example, if you are selling strawberry ice cream and want to direct users to buy on a particular page, do not just use an anchor text with a “buy now” or “click here to buy” text. Instead, use “buy strawberry ice cream” in the anchor text. This will improve your SEO for the keyword “buy strawberry ice cream”. Moreover, why would you want to optimize your website for the keyword “click here”?
Remember to use the above 3 on-page SEO elements when you are designing or optimizing your website.
