Best Practices for On-Page SEO to Follow For 2014

The year 2013 has been quite eventful for online marketers. Google, with their aggressive introduction of algorithm updates has left SEO experts a little unsure about what the search giant will do next. Though, Google have managed to bring across the point very clear that they aim to stop the black hat tactics like link farming and keyword stuffing and want to put real effort into creating best content for a particular service or product.

With the several introductions of Google’s Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird update, SEO experts are not sure how they will be addressing On-Page SEO to ensure that all the ‘new rules’ are followed so that there is no harm caused to the ranking or credibility of the website. On-Page SEO strategies need to be focused on optimizing the pages for the users and not just the crawlers.

Here’s a quick guide on the best practices to follow for On Page SEO to ensure your campaign’s success in 2014.

1. Page Titles: They are critical when it comes to optimization of the website pages for search engine result page (SERP) performance. Users truly evaluate the page titles when deciding to click or not on a search result. It is suggested to use primary keywords at once in the title and preferably in the beginning.

2. Page Description: Like page titles, page descriptions are also a critical component of the page listing in the search engine ranking. A poor description doesn’t stand a chance against an appealing listing on the page. A good description must be crisp, contain researched keyword phrases and must not be more than 155 characters.
3. Body headlines: The main headline within the page copy acts as another criteria for the user after they click your site from the search engine ranking page. A study by Moz reveals that the H1 headline is closely associated with higher rankings making it necessary to use primary keywords.

Handy Tip: Never use the page title as your body headline!

4. Content: The content of the page is what really makes a page worthy as it is what the users are really interested in and thus valued most by search engines. The Hummingbird algorithm is designed to understand full (long-tail) search queries to provide the most relevant information.To give your audience what they’re looking for, you have to produce good content, and the good thing is that Google now gauges your credibility through unique content contributions. One way to add to your search engine ranking is by establishing your Google author profile where you’re able to take control of how the content is displayed in Google search results and stand out.
5. Page URL: The beauty of major blogging platforms and CMS is that the page URLs are auto-populated based on the page title or blog title, i.e. the URL is optimized for a specific keyword as that of the page title or blog title. This is an added advantage as page URLs are often used as link text. And undoubtedly, the link text with a keyword is better than without link text.
6. Images: It will not be wrong to say that website images are quite under-optimized SEO asset. The production of great visual content and images is an important avenue of the brand and site to be found in search. Search engines factor the optimization of images for search engine ranking. It is suggested to add the title either above or below the photo and surround the text as the caption.

It is very important to incorporate these on-page SEO techniques to make the most of your online presence. And if you’re interested in learning more, then contact us here at The SEO Institute. We’re looking forward to hearing from you!

Post By Mumtaz Ali

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