15/05/2014
On Page SEO
Within the page code.
Focus on one page per keyphrase
Your title, the URL and h1 heading on the page plus your copy should focus on a single lead keyphrase per page.
Remember to strike a balance between a single keyphrase per page and having too many individual pages to target lots of keyphrases.
The title tag
One of the top 3 most important factors for ranking. Your title should contain the lead keyphrase and reflect the content of the page.
The h1 tag
One of the top 3 most important factors for ranking. This should also feature your lead keyphrase and work in conjunction with your page title.
The h2 tags
Use h2 tags to target synonyms and supporting keyphrases (Google recognises synonyms and they can help re-enforce the target keyphrase). Remember to keep your structure relevant.
If you search google for "~keyphrase" you'll get synonyms. If you search for "~keyphrase -keyphrase" you can exclude your keyphrase and see just the synonyms. Search operators are your friend!
Site URLs
One of the top 3 most important factors for ranking. Your URL should ideally feature your keyphrase. Make sure to avoid URLs with variables (&page=pagename) or anything that might mean the resulting pages could be considered duplicate. Also make sure URLs are keyphrase rich. AKA Don't stuff as many keywords as you can in to the file name or folder name. Remember relevance.
Meta description
Contrary to popular belief the meta descriptions do not have a direct affect on the SERP ranking, but should be used in conjunction with title and the landing page to make sure the message and keyphrase are consistent. Make sure your meta description has a call to action to entice users to click through. Consider Consistency.
Other on-page elements
Medium importance: first p tags in the page code.
Medium importance: image file names and attributes
Medium importance: rich media file names and transcripts
Low importance: strong and em, or bold and italic tags
Google has now stated it uses “Page Templating” to figure out your unique content on the page through general page architecture.
Within the page copy.
Page links
Think about links – think about user experience. If you mention a keyphrase that is the focus of another page of your site and it makes sense, make that keyword a link.
Remember that Google is aware of which areas of your site are likely to be navigation and which are likely to be hand-written content, so any links earlier in the page copy will have more weight in Google's eyes.
Page copy
Page copy should really be a minimum of 250 words and feature your target keyphrase as well as supporting keyphrases and relevant synonyms.
You should ideally feature the lead keyphrase within the first 25 words.
SERP conversion / retention rate
Google prefers “successful clicks” as opposed to visits where a user returns to the SERPS. Google will promote listings that are deemed more relevant. so...
Make your search listings relevant
This means you don't want visitors to go back to the search results after visiting your page. A great reason to make sure your title and description are relevant to the page to avoid any surprises for visitors who can't find what they're looking for. Craft yourself a solid description. That's where your pulling/convincing power lies.
