On Page Search Engine Optimization – An Approach

When crafting a new website, it’s best to handle the on-page SEO work for the website pages in two steps.

Step One:

The bare minimum SEO applied on the page and the page is let loose to the Internet community.

Step Two:

Subsequently, after the website is up and running a far more detailed SEO processes can be applied, which will support and enhance the SEO done earlier Then the upgraded page is let loose to the Internet community again but will have a much ranking on search engine pages after step two.

Step one is a quick run through the content of all the pages of the website to try and get as many pages SEO friendly as is possible. Step Two is a more painstakingly thorough process that ensures complete on-page SEO for each page.

The quick SEO process may take a few hours depending upon the number of pages of the website the more detailed SEO process may take quite a while longer and may even be a continuous, never really ending process.

SEO processes for Step 1.

Choosing Keywords:

Fortunately you do not need a comprehensive list of keywords you want to target for that webpage.

Start off with a small group of keywords, perhaps 5 to 10 tops, that you obtained using the various keyword suggestion tools available. Once you’ve got these core terms for all the pages you are ready to kick off.

There are four simple on-page issues the small group of keywords must be blended into, they are:

Title Tag
Meta Description Tag
H1 Tag
First paragraph of content on the page

Diagram 1.

The goal is not to do perfect on-page optimization for each web page perfectly because each page is being revisited for a detailed work over a little later.

The core terms chosen need to be blended into the above four areas while ensuring that the content makes sensible reading.

Step one of on-page SEO should take no more than 10-15 minutes for each page, but can often be done in five.
The core focus here is to get as many pages optimized for these core terms (i.e. 5 to 10 keywords) as quickly as possible.

If the core terms have been chosen correctly, the search engines will begin to pick up these keywords and there ought to be some slight improvement in search engine page rankings.

Once step two is executed, i.e. a more detailed optimization process for the web pages the collective efforts will automatically improve the overall performance SERP performance of the website.

Applying step one SEO to start with and then moving on to Step two must help any website get more exposure and better SERP rankings in the long run.

Side by side while handling Step 1 level SEO, take a quick look at site architectural issues if any. Normally these issues are addressed when SEO begins. A simple strategic approach to improving site architecture is shown in diagram 2.

SEO processes for Step 2:

Once the site has been made basically SEO friendly, begin Step 2, take one page at a time, do a detailed keyword search for each page. In Step 2 do everything you did in Step 1 but a lot more granularly. Here are a few key focus areas:

Selecting which keyword to optimize the webpage for next does not have to be difficult. When dealing with keywords considered this:

Their Relevance: The keyword must be relevant to the business described on the page
Importance: How important is this keyword in relation to the other yet-to-be-used keywords
Audience targeting: Will the keyword chosen bring in highly targeted traffic when in comparison to other keywords available?
Search volume: Will the keyword bring in solid volumes of traffic when compared to perhaps another keyword?

Evaluate page/keyword legitimacy

Take a real close look at the keyword /page content relationship and ensure that they are a solid fit. Be sure that the keywords can fit naturally into page content and are the best words to represent the message being that the page conveys.

Page Title
See if you need to tweak the core terms there to add the more important qualifiers that might entice additional click through.

Page Headings
Ensure proper HTML <h1> to <h7> head line tags throughout the page content, keeping a close watch to ensure proper content hierarchy. Don't do a lot of keyword stuffing in headings. Use keywords in headlines only when they make sense.

Description Tag
In Step 2 work in a lot more keywords in the Description tag content. This time around make the content as descriptive of what the site stands for, inclusive of keywords and compelling to read.

Page Content
Look for opportunities to write or rewrite page content and work in keywords intelligently.

Explain features and benefits to keep visitors engaged at the site.

Make sure a consistent voice is used from page to page. Intersperse keywords within the content and ensure that you have regular calls for action(s) from the content readers.

Keep page content:

Easily readable
Good paragraph headings (hopefully containing keywords),
Bold keywords sprinkled in the body text
As much bullets to explain a point (rather than paragraphical content) as is possible

Review the page from a site visitor’s perspective. Look for anything in the page content that breaks the intended visitor conversion process.

This includes:

Poorly worded sentences
Strange titles or paragraph headings that would puzzle a visitor
Ensure that a site visitor knows exactly what they are expected to do next
Drive them to the information they came for in the first place

Make sure the page is able to convey its purpose visually with great clarity.

Add or change images or page text as necessary to ensure the page provides the site visitor with the best possible visual representation
Internal Inter page linking
Do not miss an opportunity to link to other areas of the website from within page content. Create links using keywords on one page, to other pages, which contain related content.

Images
Ensure that each image has its ALT attribute loaded with appropriate information. Describe the functionality of each image using its ALT attribute and use keywords there where possible. Do not stuff keywords into the ALT tag of any image as search engines penalize this.

Web page Code underlay
Streamline page code.

Try and reduce the amount of code on the page by eliminating unnecessary syntax.

Delete JavaScript functions that are never called in the page ever from the <Script></Script> tags or from the Javascript library being called.
Check and re-check the CSS file for ID’s or Classes or HTML tags styled but not used on the page.

NOTE: There is a Firebug plugin for Firefox that helps in automating this.

Do whatever is necessary that would help increase the web page's download speed.
Ensure there is no bad coding or malformed HTML by checking the page for HTML and CSS compliance. If the page is compliant do not hesitate to place the compliance icons on the page.

In Conclusion:

There is nothing quick about Step 2.

In Step 2 the goal is to get all on-page SEO done as well perfectly as possible.

Edit the page multiple times to ensure that all on-page SEO elements are in their place.

Remember it's unlikely that this will be the last on-page SEO efforts made. It could take further adjustments to get the best search engine page ranks. You can always find ways to improve on-page SEO if you look for them.