Everyday Seo optimizing your page copy
- By Illuminating SEO
- Published 07/1/2009
- seo tips
-
Rating:
Optimize Each Page:
One of the most important things to get across is that each page is its own unit and has its own ranking potential and its own relevant keywords. Usually a home page has more value than the other pages since it is where most other sites will link into your site at. Home pages should generally be optimized for the most competitive keyword phrases in your market. Interior pages should be optimized for other relevant phrases that relate to the content of each page. There are a ton of things to optimize on each page. Above we already spoke of how to choose your keywords, page titles, and meta tags. Within each page there is also a ton of content that can be optimized.
On the Page Optimization Only Goes So Far:
When optimizing a page for competitive terms the bulk of the ranking algorithm will be based upon link analysis. Effective link building has no limit to how much it can help your rankings. Some people think that more is better and more is better and more is better. This is not true with on the page keyword density, and some search algorithms may discount links which are created in quick burts. The algorithms for grading page copy are based on a bell curve. Some pages will have near perfect term weights and then after some point added placement of that word does not make your page any more relevant. Each search engine has it’s own algorithms and they do not all align with one another. Thus the most effective way to improve your rankings on all search engines will be via link building, but proper page structure and on the page optimization does still play an important role in gaining targeted inbound traffic (especially for uncompetitive keyword phrases or in search engines that rely heavily on page contents).
Text is Important:
Almost every page is going to have navigation and decoration. It’s impossible to have just one thing (usability, or copywriting, or SEO – you need them all). Building a page and a site is a balancing act. For search engines the portions of the page that matters most and you have the most control over is the text. Some places try SEO so hard that the copy reads like rubbish. Obviously, that is no good. Traffic means nothing if people do not convert.
Use Keywords in Headings:
Use the keywords in headings and subheadings throughout the page - this heading should capture the person’s attention and tell them they are in the right place.
<H1>Optimize Web Pages – Learn SEO Copywriting</H1> would be a classic straight SEO approach. You may wish to use something with a call to action as well. That would appear more like <H1>Learn SEO Copywriting to Create Killer Traffic that Converts</H1>
Heading tags go from H1 to H6 with the biggest tags being the smallest #. You can also change how the text appears using CSS. Typically think of these headings
like you would a heading in a newspaper. I usually try to get my keyword phrases and similar phrases in my page heading as well as subheadings. The rest of the page copy is usually written with sales conversion in mind, and I do not pay too much attention to optimizing it for search engines. Natural writing will cause you to use your keywords throughout the text. I only recommend using a single H1 tag on each page. I also try to use many H2 or H3 tags to break up the page copy and help structure the data.
Break the page into subgroups:
h1 (consisting
of primary keywords) Only use one h1 tag /page & do not bold or emphasize it. It probably works best if it is slightly different than your page title. h2 (similar subtopic phrase or idea with some keyword phrases in it) paragraph bla bla bla h2 (another subtopic with some similar or overlapping keywords in it) paragraph bla bla paragraph bla bla bla h2 (sometimes some of my subtopics do not have keywords, but most do) paragraph bla bla bla bla Usually the subheadings will focus on a keyword phrase that is slightly more specific than the main heading, but will also contain some of the same words as the main heading.
In addition descriptive sub headings improve the scanability and usability of your website. I only recommend using one H1 tag per page. The headings help structure the information and give the words in their tags a ranking boost. If you start doing things like:
• Placing all your content in an H1 tag.
• Bolding the H1 tags.
• Bolding all occurances of your keywords
then you are doing things that would give search engines a reason to discount your page. Thus the combined effect will be more likely to hurt your rankings on multiple fronts since your content may look less appealing to search engines and site visitors will be less likely to link into it.
Place Your Keywords Where it Makes Sense:
• Place keywords in the paragraphs.
• Place keywords in the heading tags.
• Place keywords in img alt tags.
• When the word is part of a small statement making a specific point, you
may bold it or italicize it.
• You may also want to include your keywords a few times in bulleted lists.
• When possible place the keywords in links, and don't forget navigation.
• The key focus of the page should be on readability. If the page does not make sense to human eyes then it is no good for a search engine and it will not make sales. You want to use keywords often, but not to the point where it sounds like you are writing for the search engine and not the user.
Be Creative:
There are so many creative ways to mix in your keywords. Again, assuming we wanted to target "eat cheddar" we could write the following: Cheddar is one of my favorite foods to eat. Cheddar is ... Notice how the keywords overlap and are in different sentences. There are many different ways to get your keywords in the content.
Spread Your Keywords Throughout The Page:
Some of the more recent algorithms may have the ability to look for natural language patterns. In natural language often times the different keywords in a keyword phrase will often appear far apart from one another.
To boost your rankings in these algorithms you will want to use the word eat in some spots and cheddar in other spots. Often your keywords will appear next to each other naturally. Some phrases like “peanut butter” often occur together, but in general all of your occurrences of the keywords should not be together.
Keywords at the Top of The Page:
Some people strongly believe that keywords at the top of the page and before your navigation enhance search engine rankings. I have never worried much about this. It can easily be accomplished by writing a sentence above your branding images or through using a floating DIV or other CSS techniques. When using tables some people use a blank cell technique to make the search engines see the body content before navigation. If search engines place weighting on where the keywords are on the page then they most likely use the order of the words in the actual page source code and not the visual display of the pages.
One of the most important things to get across is that each page is its own unit and has its own ranking potential and its own relevant keywords. Usually a home page has more value than the other pages since it is where most other sites will link into your site at. Home pages should generally be optimized for the most competitive keyword phrases in your market. Interior pages should be optimized for other relevant phrases that relate to the content of each page. There are a ton of things to optimize on each page. Above we already spoke of how to choose your keywords, page titles, and meta tags. Within each page there is also a ton of content that can be optimized.
On the Page Optimization Only Goes So Far:
When optimizing a page for competitive terms the bulk of the ranking algorithm will be based upon link analysis. Effective link building has no limit to how much it can help your rankings. Some people think that more is better and more is better and more is better. This is not true with on the page keyword density, and some search algorithms may discount links which are created in quick burts. The algorithms for grading page copy are based on a bell curve. Some pages will have near perfect term weights and then after some point added placement of that word does not make your page any more relevant. Each search engine has it’s own algorithms and they do not all align with one another. Thus the most effective way to improve your rankings on all search engines will be via link building, but proper page structure and on the page optimization does still play an important role in gaining targeted inbound traffic (especially for uncompetitive keyword phrases or in search engines that rely heavily on page contents).
Text is Important:
Almost every page is going to have navigation and decoration. It’s impossible to have just one thing (usability, or copywriting, or SEO – you need them all). Building a page and a site is a balancing act. For search engines the portions of the page that matters most and you have the most control over is the text. Some places try SEO so hard that the copy reads like rubbish. Obviously, that is no good. Traffic means nothing if people do not convert.
Use Keywords in Headings:
Use the keywords in headings and subheadings throughout the page - this heading should capture the person’s attention and tell them they are in the right place.
<H1>Optimize Web Pages – Learn SEO Copywriting</H1> would be a classic straight SEO approach. You may wish to use something with a call to action as well. That would appear more like <H1>Learn SEO Copywriting to Create Killer Traffic that Converts</H1>
Heading tags go from H1 to H6 with the biggest tags being the smallest #. You can also change how the text appears using CSS. Typically think of these headings
like you would a heading in a newspaper. I usually try to get my keyword phrases and similar phrases in my page heading as well as subheadings. The rest of the page copy is usually written with sales conversion in mind, and I do not pay too much attention to optimizing it for search engines. Natural writing will cause you to use your keywords throughout the text. I only recommend using a single H1 tag on each page. I also try to use many H2 or H3 tags to break up the page copy and help structure the data.
Break the page into subgroups:
h1 (consisting
In addition descriptive sub headings improve the scanability and usability of your website. I only recommend using one H1 tag per page. The headings help structure the information and give the words in their tags a ranking boost. If you start doing things like:
• Placing all your content in an H1 tag.
• Bolding the H1 tags.
• Bolding all occurances of your keywords
then you are doing things that would give search engines a reason to discount your page. Thus the combined effect will be more likely to hurt your rankings on multiple fronts since your content may look less appealing to search engines and site visitors will be less likely to link into it.
Place Your Keywords Where it Makes Sense:
• Place keywords in the paragraphs.
• Place keywords in the heading tags.
• Place keywords in img alt tags.
• When the word is part of a small statement making a specific point, you
may bold it or italicize it.
• You may also want to include your keywords a few times in bulleted lists.
• When possible place the keywords in links, and don't forget navigation.
• The key focus of the page should be on readability. If the page does not make sense to human eyes then it is no good for a search engine and it will not make sales. You want to use keywords often, but not to the point where it sounds like you are writing for the search engine and not the user.
Be Creative:
There are so many creative ways to mix in your keywords. Again, assuming we wanted to target "eat cheddar" we could write the following: Cheddar is one of my favorite foods to eat. Cheddar is ... Notice how the keywords overlap and are in different sentences. There are many different ways to get your keywords in the content.
Spread Your Keywords Throughout The Page:
Some of the more recent algorithms may have the ability to look for natural language patterns. In natural language often times the different keywords in a keyword phrase will often appear far apart from one another.
To boost your rankings in these algorithms you will want to use the word eat in some spots and cheddar in other spots. Often your keywords will appear next to each other naturally. Some phrases like “peanut butter” often occur together, but in general all of your occurrences of the keywords should not be together.
Keywords at the Top of The Page:
Some people strongly believe that keywords at the top of the page and before your navigation enhance search engine rankings. I have never worried much about this. It can easily be accomplished by writing a sentence above your branding images or through using a floating DIV or other CSS techniques. When using tables some people use a blank cell technique to make the search engines see the body content before navigation. If search engines place weighting on where the keywords are on the page then they most likely use the order of the words in the actual page source code and not the visual display of the pages.
