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There’s a misconception that search engine optimization is effective only when performed by SEO maniacs and geeks. But what used to be a mysterious art, is now splendidly used by millions of website owners to grow their businesses online. The Internet abounds with SEO-related websites and forums providing us with practical advice and subtlest tricks to help us get higher positions. If you’ve just built a website and have no idea of where to start, I’d recommend starting at the very beginning, namely with the on page SEO factors. Beginning is always an excellent place to start, to my mind
Content
Content is the most important factor. This means that optimization begins as soon as you publish your first blog post. I’m amazed by how many aspiring bloggers overlook the importance of content. Firstly, it should be unique. Secondly, it should be written with on page SEO in mind: conduct a basic keyword research for your niche and use the results wisely (no keyword stuffing please). Insert the keywords in the way a human being could read.
Title Tag
Many website owners have page titles related to their business name (the same titles for all the pages). In this case the website will be ranked for the business name. Every single page should have a unique title tag related to the content on the page. If you’re using WordPress or any other popular CMS, you can create title tags simply by filling in the required boxes. Because I mostly spend my time writing website builders reviews, below is a screenshot of the IMCreator’s SEO pack. No need to go into the programming side of things:
Meta Description
Meta description will appear in search results. Ideally, it should also contain that keyword and be readable. Two sentences summarizing the content of the page are enough. Well written descriptions along with catchy titles (and Google Authorship which is a story for another article) will make your post stand out in search results. Below is a screenshot displaying my post about Webydo website builder – the way it looks in search engines.
Keywords
Though most of the content management systems still have ‘keywords’ boxes in their SEO packs their importance isn’t as actual as it used to be. Long time ago a search expert would use this tag manually to help search engines understand what the page is about. But these days search engines don’t need this kind of help – they’re powerful enough to analyze pages themselves. This is what experts say.
URLs
This factor is often ignored. What URL is more meaningful: ‘website-builder-review’ or ‘build.html?v=6843011’? The answer is obvious. Meaningful, clean URLs are good both for your visitors and search engines. Having your major keyword in the URL is also important. Usually, the box where you can re-write the page’s url is placed above the article in your CMS. Below is a screenshot of the uCoz admin panel:
The Image Alt Text
Pictures are important. People prefer watching to reading, so you should always give your visitors something to look at. However, images have no on page SEO value until they contain alt text. This text will not only appear in text browsers and in case of a slow Internet connection, but will be also indexed by search engines – just enter a brief description of the picture (‘WordPress Logo’ for instance) into the required box in your admin panel.